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Bolo Mark XXIII (Invincibilis)
Year of Introduction 2912
Weight 15,000 tons
Road Speed 80
Sprint Speed 148
Indirect Fire Tactical
Self Aware Autonomous
Armament

2x 80cm Hellbore

18x Ion Bolt Infinite Repeater

6x 30cm BL mortars

VLS Missile systems

The Mark XXIII followed quickly on the heels of the Mark XXII , largely as a result of worsening relations between the Concordiat and the Quern Hegemony . Although the Quern managed to achieve strategic surprise when they actually launched their attack, worsening Human-Quern relations between 2880 and 2918 had driven Bolo research at a breakneck pace. The original Mark XXIII was only a marginal improvement (in electronic terms) on the Mark XXII , but the main armament was doubled to a pair of 80cm 'super' Hellbores in fore-and-aft turrets, and provision was made for quick conversion to the molecular circuitry whose early perfection the R&D bureaus anticipated. Secondary armament was also upgraded—to eighteen ion-bolt infinite repeaters in two nine-gun lateral batteries—and a new generation of battle screen was augmented by internal disrupter shielding around critical systems. The outbreak of the Quern Wars put a halt to major psychotronic research, as all efforts were bent upon design rationalization to aid in mass production, but the anticipated molecular circuitry appeared almost on schedule. Although it was not applied throughout, late-series Mark XXIIIs incorporated the new circuitry within their psychotronics, which enormously increased capability without increasing volume requirements. It was possible to restore the 'secondary brain' feature to the Mark XXIII with no degradation in base capability, which made it much more resistant to battle damage. Despite its increased armament, the Mark XXIII, like the Mark XXII, hovered around the 15,000 ton mark, primarily because of the weight savings of its new molycircs and the shift to later-generation duralloy in place of flintsteel, which permitted armor thicknesses to be halved for the same standard of protection. Speeds remained largely unchanged from the Mark XXII.

A variant of the XXIII, B-0075-NKE (Model B, Experimental), was 11 meters longer, with additional space between infinite repeaters three and four, covering the length of the missile deck between both turrets. An experimental unit of the Enhanced Combat Capabilities Program, the first Bolo to be equipped with a "brain box".



Source: A Brief Technical History of the Bolos by Prof. Felix Hermes, Ph.D.

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