Macrocarid Explorator vs Triaros

[Magos Takatus]

Hey there. I've been reading through the locked thread about the possibility of Mechanicum models possibly being accepted into the 40k Adeptus Mechanicus in the next Imperial Armour book. Having looked at the Macrocarid Explorator model in the pipeline and actually comparing it side by side with the Triaros I've realised how similar they appear to each other. I am just wondering if some of the 30k experts could explain the two vehicles to me please? As far as I can tell the Explorator is supposed to be a unique vehicle borrowing from early Land Raider hulls and are extensively customized by it's owners. The Triaros seems to be the hull for the Macrocarid Explorator model and both seem to be advanced designs with sophisticated weapons and have defensive force fields so it's not like either of them are a mundane vehicle by any means.

 

Which of these would you see being more likely to end up in a current-era Mechanicus arsenal?

 

 

[Ascanius]

I'm not an expert! However . . .

 

The Triaros seems like the Mechanicum equivalent of a Rhino - primarily an armoured transport rather than a tank.

 

The Macrocarid Explorator is described here as the equivalent of a Land Raider, i.e. a tank which can also function as a transport. The images in that link show the Explorator with a nice big main gun on top where the Triaros only has smaller guns. This is probably the hull-mounted mauler bolt cannon described in the Mechanicum Taghmata Army List book.

 

Since the Explorator has the same basic chassis as a Triaros, though, you could also compare it to a Razorback, which trades reduced carrying capacity compared to the Rhino for a weapon turret.

 

I think the Forge World production model in that link is supposed to represent a specific subtype of Explorator based on the Triaros chassis, rather than something like the earlier Land Raider Proteus-based versions used in the early Great Crusade. If you wanted to field the former as part of your Taghmata army, you could just customise a Proteus model with Mechanicum details.

[MagicHat]

Most likely both will show up in a future 40K IA.

 

Macrocarid is a battle-tank, with 3 heavy weaponry and... 8-10 transport capacity? I think? Basically the Mechanicus Land Raider Proteus, with more weapon options.

 

Triaros is a transport with 1 heavy weapon, 2 small and 20 transport capacity. And a ram. Wouldn't call it close to a Rhino though, too expensive and heavily armed and armoured.

[Magos Takatus]

Thanks for the help. I suppose the Triaros is used to transport large squads of Tech-Thralls about in 30k but if they made it to the 40k setting the extra space would be useful for transporting bulky units. It almost feels like it would be overkill for moving Rangers and Vanguard about, but they still need a transport. Hopefully a follow-up codex can provide that. It looks to me like the main gun in the link you provided is a grav weapon of some kind. It looks very similar to this weapon: https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-GB/Leviathan-Pattern-Siege-Dreadnought-Grav-Flux-Bombard

 

Oh, by the way, what's the top weapon on the Triaros shown in the Forgd World store? Is that the Mauler Bolt Cannons you mentioned? I wasn't sure if you were talking about the Triaros or the Macrocarid Explorator at that point. 

 

Once again, thanks for the clarification. It sounds like both of these transports will be pretty tough nuts to crack open.

[MagicHat]

Triaros is mauler bolt cannon and small volkite. They can transport the bulky Myrmidons and Thallax, so the capacity is used for more then thralls, in theory at least. 

 

Macrocarid is popular with grav imploder and 2 irradiation engines (poisoned torrent flamers from hell) but also have other options, like mauler bolt cannons.

 

Triaros are huge LoS-blockers, very useful to shield squads, even if they aren't transporting them.

 

EDIT:

 

Speaking of the Macrocarid.

 

Outfitted with mauler cannon on top and irradiation engines between the tracks and hull, according to the comments will come with more options then those.