Iga MBT

A Biological main battle tank grown by the UAC for the HF military.

The Iga MBT is named after a skilled Harkas War-Engineer, Iga, who is renowned for designing excellent bioships and for their military genius.

It uses about 10 large, well armoured legs for movement (the actual number can vary slightly, but the vast majority of Iga tanks have 10 legs). These allow the biotank to climb up on surfaces that many conventional tanks cannot, but it is also noticeably slower than conventional tanks. The efficiently constructed nature of the legs means they are still significantly faster than infantry. The legs can also make for a weapon, stabbing nearby enemy forces.

They are notable for having a single crew member who is positioned in a well protected place near the rear in a low position. This individual is very well protected because biotanks do not usually get ammunition or fuel fires, and the Iga definitely does not. Making use of a large number of perception organs of the tank (e.g. eyes, ears and even equipment like laser rangefinders and night vision equipment), the crew person can see and feel everything the tank feels using an intuitively constructed harkas hivemind interface. They can also send commands to the tank using this interface, such as where to walk (when it matters, they can also individually control the legs but that takes focus) and enemies to shoot at. Though this means training can take many years, coordination between harkas and tank is extremely good.

The Iga features many perception organs, such as eyes that can zoom. The eyes can change to different frequencies of the EM spectrum, picking up IR light or even radio signals. These eyes are positioned such that the tank has a 360° vision. The tank also has sensitive hearing, alerting its crew member to any nearby threats that may be unseen.

The Iga's primary armament is a large railgun-like weapon with no easily visible barrel which relies mainly on its rails to accelerate the round. Using matter plasma in its blood, it will construct very hard railgun shells. After firing, a stringlike material is created which carries the current and acts as the rail. This way, the barrel will never get stuck on trees and similar objects as there is no barrel. Additionally, rail maintenance is cheapened as the biotank's body will 'digest' the rails after use and grow new ones, eliminating the issue of rail structural integrity. The initial propulsion of the shell is achieved by annihilating a very small amount of antimatter sent form its antimatter reactor.

It is powered and sustained by a small antimatter engine at a very low, well protected elevation near the front. If it ruptures, the antimatter fuel is teleported out of the tank, similar to HF starships. This is surprisingly safe.