The Armstrong-Thorneycroft Armed Transport

[Rheged]

I'm not absolutely sure where this item should go, so I'll put it in the Idea Bank and if anyone finds an old Star Wars AT-AT in a charity shop they can make the model.  As usual, I invite people to add to or improve the story.

The Armstrong-Thorneycroft Armed Transport.

Following the remarkable and somewhat unexpected success of the Hawking drive, interplanetary travel became a viable proposition. By 2290 AD, Earth's main power blocs all had vast areas of Mars under their administration.  The Commonwealth controlled much of the Northern hemisphere as a protectorate under the auspices of the United Nations. Other protectorates were held by Panamericana, the Eastasian Confederation and the European Community. Unfortunately, the wide boundary areas between protectorates became "Debatable Lands" where piracy, 'free trading' and even slavery were common.  In these circumstances, it became necessary for the Royal Space Navy of the Commonwealth (the military arm of the administration) to develop vehicles to patrol the outlying areas of Her Majesty's Martian Administration.

Armstrong –Thorneycroft Aerospace had for some years had a thriving engineering base near the foothills of Olympus Mons, building logistics vehicles and exo-atmospheric craft.  Their experience of the rocky, dusty Martian surface had resulted in their rejection of wheeled or tracked craft, as they raised a huge dust cloud when moving. The "walking machine" raised least dust, could cope with an uneven rocky surface and also created an imposing presence.

An initial group of light weight 'transport walkers' was used to supply outlying settlements, but the depredations of lawless bands called for an armed response. The Armstrong-Thorneycroft Armed Transport, known colloquially as the AT-AT was the result.   Small AT-AT units were constructed for both the   European and Panamericanan administrations, but the ultimate AT-AT was the Mastodon class of the Royal Navy. Her Majesty's Land Ships plodded around the protectorate borders, delivering supplies quelling pirates and freeing slaves. The Mastodon, Mammoth, Leviathan, Oliphaunt, Behemoth and Titan served successfully for over 60 years before being superseded by heavily armed skimmers with gravitron propulsion units.

HMLS Behemoth, commissioned in 2319 AD by Queen Charlotte's Lord Lieutenant for Syrtis Major, had a crew of five and was armed with two Vickers 5 gigawatt proton rifles and four smaller electromagnetic particle weapons. In troop carrier mode, up to 20 fully equipped Royal Commonwealth Marines (the so called Ultramarines) were carried and, as a cargo unit, 18 tons of stores. Behemoth's first captain, lieutenant  Sylvia Tualagi, is credited with destroying  three pirate desert tractors and freeing over 40 slaves within a week of taking command.

Martian law enforcement is currently a United Nations function and the planet a much more civilised place  but  the  sight of a dusty Mastodon flying the Royal Commonwealth Navy white ensign whilst plodding  through the Martian desert on patrol remains an iconic  image in the history of the red planet

[Old Wombat]

I like it! I'm not going to build it but I really do like it!

[Weaver]

Hmm - I do actually have a toy/model hybrid AT-AT...

The description makes it sound steampunkish. What would be better: add steampunk detail to an actual AT-AT or build something similar that was steampunk to the core?

Question: is this Mars the real Mars, i.e. cold and with a thin atmosphere, the real Mars terraformed to some degree, or is it a period fictional Mars such as in Edgar Rice Burroughs' books?

[Old Wombat]

I don't know Rheged's view but I was assuming Option B.

[Rheged]

Question: is this Mars the real Mars, i.e. cold and with a thin atmosphere, the real Mars terraformed to some degree, or is it a period fictional Mars such as in Edgar Rice Burroughs' books?

I had initially thought of a "terraformed" Mars, with a breathable atmosphere but as I wrote this piece I left it somewhat undecided, so that you have the choice of Rice-Burroughs OR real Mars.  Whichever you chose, I'd be delighted to see the model.

............and YES, I did have a steampunkish view  in mind.............just think what our esteemed colleague Radish could do with it!!

[zenrat]

Assuming Hoth, Endor and Scarif have similar gravitys to Earth (based on my observations of falling objects and human movement) then on Mars, given that it's gravity is 2/5 of Earth's, AT-ATs would be able to frolic like spring lambs.

[Weaver]

Assuming Hoth, Endor and Scarif have similar gravitys to Earth (based on my observations of falling objects and human movement) then on Mars, given that it's gravity is 2/5 of Earth's, AT-ATs would be able to frolic like spring lambs.

Or as the cynical, walking-machine-hating side of me immediately thought, "hey, they might be repairable after they inevitably fall over..."

[Weaver]

I had a look at the model earlier. It's very small, fit-the-box scale and inaccurate since it has a damned great clockwork motor in the middle to make the legs work. The latter feature also means it has dead straight one-piece legs with no knee bend which looks a bit wierd and awkward: you almost always see them posed with some kind of knee bend in pics.

[jcf]

"Inflatable" feet like Syd Mead's original design from the '60s, for that deep Martian dust
dessert. Or so they used to think.

[Joe C-P]

An AT-AT with shorter legs, to reduce their vulnerability from the top-heaviness.

Now, would you rather add the Barsoomians, or the Ice Warriors, into the mix?

[Rick Lowe]

I do like the scenario and the images conjured up.
And the Captain's name is a nice nod to a future PI officer.

Well played and imagined, Mr Rheged.