Board Thread:Off Topic/@comment-29646689-20180430203301/@comment-29646689-20180528142526

tl;dr some weird lady in a very large haunted house

The SP-AP, short for Self Propelled Artillery Platform, is the solution to the constant lack of long-range ground artillery bombardment that the Imperial Army suffered. Based on its predecessor the Self Propelled Heavy Artillery, it is supported by sixteen massive legs and requires support to be fully effective, as it is larger than the SP-HA.

Researched by Furnace Engineering and manufactured by Kuat Drive Yards, this long-range bombardment platform is designed to rain waves of explosive Orbital Cannon projectiles, and with practice can even hit space targets. Instead of the heavy turbolaser of the SP-HA, the SP-AP instead has a dozen 125mm Orbital Cannons capable of firing at a rate of 2/sec, delivering massive waves of explosive plasma projectiles and destroying everything in its killzone. For shorter range defense, the SP-AP is equipped with 12 rotary cannons to counter infantry and 6 50mm autocannons for armored targets. For additional support, the SP-AP carries 30 Clone Troopers for rapid deployment. Due to its immensely heavy armor and legs, it has a low move speed.

The SP-AP was first tested on a siege against a Blackwing-infested city with great effectiveness, destroying it in mere hours as batteries of SP-APs rained explosives onto the city and incinerated all traces of biohazards. After this, the Empire placed an order of 500,000 SP-APs to supplement its existing force of SP-HAs, SP-MAs, and AT-MC-A Artillery variant. As the SP-AP is modifiable like the AT-MC, there has been other variants of the SP-AP. Examples include the "Super SP-HA" that carries a dozen heavy turbolaser beams, capable of tearing through the strongest shields and slicing through even meter-thick duranium.

There are also turret variants of the SP-AP, which are loaded with extra heavy Orbital Cannons and designed as planetary defense against attaking fleets. These are starting to replace the older Ion Cannon Spheres, which are prone to sudden systems overloads.