T-42

The T-42 was Eodor's first heavy tank, created per the military's request for a heavy tank from the original design plans for a tank entered into a competition against the T-39. Such is the design of the T-42, especially it's adaptability, that it remains in active service today, with the 23rd Tank Division of the Red Army. The T-42, and all of it's variants, were designed by the Meretaks Design Bureau, before the Bureau handed over to the Nagarythe Design Bureau to continue making minute adjustments to the tank.

Design
The predecessor to the T-42: designated "P-08", was entered into a state sponsored competition for a universal battle tank against the P-11, the predecessor to the T-39. The P-08 was rejected in favour of the P-11, due to the latter fitting the competition's intentions better. Nevertheless, Meretaks continued working on the P-08, drawing up blueprints and plans for a host of variants, including a tank destroyer and a super-heavy tank.

The P-08 was entered into a later competition, in 1940, to provide the Red Army with a dedicated Heavy Tank, to confront other tanks of similar calibre on the battlefield. The P-08, after numerous more revisions to the suspension, armour and main gun, became the T-42. Trials of the T-42, and modifications thereafter, lasted 2 years, before the T-42 was put into production and deployed to frontline units.

The original gun was provided by the Ultanovsk plant in near Lothern, but was later replaced with a simpler and better gun provided by Yatravsk of Naggrond. The first 200 T/42/42s produced were equipped with the Ultanovsk gun, with the rest being equipped with the Yatravsk variant.

The T-42's original armour suffered an issue in that it was far too strong, making repairs and maintenance difficult. To rectify this, hatches were placed at strategic locations inside the tank, allowing access to areas that may need maintenance. The added bonus of this was that repairs could be carried out on the move, some the hatches also acted as ad-hoc escape hatches.

The T-42 had well-sloped armour, even more so than the T-39, as well as a powerful engine and main gun. The gun was proven capable of penetrating the frontal armour of a T-39 from 1,100 metres.

Variants

 * T-42/42: The first production model of the T-42, faced no issues. Only 400 of these were produced, before production was fully switched over. The remaining T-42/42s are now in museums.
 * T-42/66: Greater armour all around, with a 135mm gun and a more powerful engine, creating 700hp. This model's turret was slightly larger to accommodate the larger gun.
 * T-42/S1: Super Heavy tank variant, armed with a 140mm gun and far thicker frontal and turret armour. Side and rear armour increased somewhat. 25 were produced before production was cancelled due to the slow speed.
 * ST-240: Tank destroyer variant, armed with a 160mm gun and had a much larger turret. Slightly slower than T-42/42 model due to slightly thicker frontal armour.
 * T-42/88 "Iron": Super Heavy tank, designed for urban warfare, 135mm gun with twice the frontal armour, but half of the rear armour. Two extra 7.62mm machine guns and one extra 12.7mm, 50 were produced for the 27th and 41st Shock Armoured Divisions.