In this article I will introduce one of my favorite Force Commander custom figure, a Mobile Proton Torpedo launcher driver, and the vehicle itself. The machine costs 550 command points, and with this price it is the most expensive rebel vehicle. However that is not enough to build a dozen of this, and attack the enemy, it is important to know its advantages and disadvantages. It has a powerful attack strength, and shielded (150 HP, and 150 shield), but in close combat it is vulnerable against anybody. From distance, the MPTL can destroy anybody or anything, so it is a perfect choice against both infantry or armored vehicles. Rebel anti-armor and anti infantry warfare was created by the need to seek technology and tactics to destroy walkers and other imperial armored vehicles and their supporting infantry during the Galactic Civil War. Because walkers represent an enemy's greatest force projection, anti-walker warfare has been incorporated into the doctrine of every combat arm and service. The Rebellion could fight against armored vehicles before the MPTL has been developed, but that vehicle brought the best solution.

There are 3 different ways in the Star Wars: Force Commander game to fight against the walkers. The rebel infantry had highly destructive grenades used by their heavy troopers, which were great to demolish AT-PTs, to damage AT-STs, but were ineffective against AT-AT walkers. But against ATATs there were the infiltrators. Their task was to shot a harpoon into the walker's bottom as Luke did on Hoth. But this unit does not put a detonator in the walker, but infiltrate into its interior, takes out the crew, and gets, or maybe we can say steals the walker. So the first method against imperial walkers was using specially trained, and equipped rebel infantry units.

The second method was installing turrets. Both the Rebellion and the Empire had anti-infantry and anti vehicle turrets. They had great firepower, but they were static, and stood there were they were planted. But keep in mind, you cannot bring your turrets with you on mission, since they are ground based installations, but your mobile units, such as heavy infantry and vehicles can escort you into enemy territory, and they can keep your army relatively safe. MPTL can follow you while you attack, or while you retreat, however they were not as strong as a turret can be. Anyway, turrets are the second method.

The third method the Loratus Mobile Proton Torpedo Launcher, or the MPTL-L itself. The word "mobile" is in its name, showing us it can move, while the turrets are static, the MPTL can follow your army. The Mobile Proton Torpedo Launcher was a crawler-type artillery mobile weapons platform fitted with a proton torpedo launcher used by the Rebel Alliance during the early stages of the Galactic Civil War. MPTLs can be used against tanks, armored infantry units, and also functioned as cannon, siege machinery, being able to destroy turrets, walls, or even complete structures, such as command centers, or other buildings. Heavy artillery warfare developed rapidly, particularly in the Imperial Army, the Rebel Alliance were lack of that technology before the MPTL has been developed. The crawler type vehicle could advance many types of terrains, sand, snow, ice, rocky ground, no matter, so the MPTL could be used almost everywhere. However this vehicle was a typical rebel armed vehicle, one of the units was brought along with a New Republic strike team during the early portions of the Battle of Hanoon in 6 ABY.

It was manufactured by Loratus that was made for taking out enemy units at far range with the help of a spotter. The Mobile Proton Torpedo Launcher has a fair line of sight and target distance, but if we play with fog of war, we can make benefit applying a scout, or artillery observer. The artillery fire may be directed by a probe droid or a speeder biker scout for the Empire, who has a great line of site, detecting the enemy much earlier, and much further, but the Rebellion had none of them. Swoop bikers are also good for this purpose. Or a single trooper in camo outfit with a binocular, lying on the ground, hiding in the bush, or on top of a hill, does not matter, just have somebody in visual contact with the enemy. So transferring the reconnaissance data with a Mobile Proton Torpedo Launcher can help us destroy the incoming threats from a great distance, earlier then they can even react. The only combat in which a Mobile Proton Torpedo Launcher is unable to take part in is the close quarters combat, and air defense. The same way, as in every strategy games, if a unit gets to close to a ranged unit, it stops firing, retreats, until it has the needed distance again to launch its projectiles, be it an arrow in Age of Empires, a plasma bolt in Galactic Battlegrounds, or a plasma blast in Force Commander. So the best way to fight against a Mobile Proton Torpedo Launcher, to move within its attack range, getting to is place it will stop attacking us, and retreat. But while it retreats, we will have plenty of time to destroy it from direct close. Also, attacking Mobile Proton Torpedo Launcher from the air is a good idea, since it cannot do anything against imperial Tie fighter and Tie bombers, which can quickly tear them apart. So defending your artillery platforms is highly recommended! While standing by the briefing room table Taskeen warns us, telling us the Mobile Proton Torpedo Launcher is great against infantry, good against armored vehicles, but has no use against air units.

I told you previously, that in close combat the MPTL cannot do too much, just to retreat. Which is true. But while retreating, it can lay mines! It can not use its primary weapons, the plasma cannons, but the secondary is still can be used, that is why rebel engineers developed it a multifunction vehicle.  These units were also capable of laying mines to blow up unwary Imperial units. Not too much, but 6 mines were in each MPTL. There were several different types of anti-personnel mine. Most were triggered by physical pressure, such as a footstep. A land mine was an explosive device, concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets as they passed over or near the device. he LX-4 proton mine was a self-detonating defensive mine. The mine was buried to a depth of half a meter as part of creating an effective defensive perimeter. It utilized two sensor suites: a gravity-sensitive sensor which detected the magnetic disturbances of passing vehicles, and a thermal sensor which detected body heat. An intruder detected within five meters of the mine caused it to detonate.

These mines were rather good for setting a trap. If we plant a mine or some mines in a narrow canyon where we suspect enemy attack, we can prevent their advance on that area. We can be alerted if we hear some mines detonating in the distance, knowing somebody is coming, and we can even know their place too (where are they coming from, and how far they are), hearing where the detonation sounds coming from. In better scenario we can even get rid of them, if they were all blown up, and was killed, the fight can be prevented.

But these mines are not only good for setting traps, but they are great for self defense. I told you previously, that in close combat the MPTL cannot do too much, just to retreat. Which is true. But while retreating, it can lay mines! It can not use its primary weapons, the plasma cannons, but the secondary is still can be used, and if the chasing vehicle steps on a mine, it can be destroyed. Imagine that situation, when an MPTL fires torpedos from a distance against an imperial AT-ST. Let's say the distance is 8 squares. This is ideal for the torpedo launcher, not too far to miss the target, an not too close to be able to fire ballistic missiles. While the AT-ST coming towards the MPTL the imperial walker cannot fire back, because this large distance is only good for the MPTL, which is a kind of artillery that fires just on large distances, and unable to fire short ranges. That is the only chance of a walker, if it comes so close, that the MPTL cannot continue firing, but to retreat a bit, to gain back its optimal fire range. But if a walker gets close to the MPTL, it can fire against it finally, and some shots can be lethal. So the MPTL cannot retreat forever, since 4-5 great shots can destroy it. Its only chance is to drop some mines while retreating, hoping that the AT-ST step on some. If it really step on one mine, it may be destroyed, especially if the previous plasma attacks from the torpedo launcher when the AT-ST was further damaged enough its armor, and the mine can finish it off. And if it happens, the MPTL can continue the long distance bombing of an other unit from its torpedo launcher.

They had an advantage over many other types of heavy artillery, such as being able to fire their ordnance with reasonable accuracy while on the move useful during raiding operations and in avoiding counter-battery fire simply by moving away and the bomb falls there where the MPTL was a few seconds ago. You do not have to deploy, then undeploy it as an imperial artillery, it can fire all the time, when on the move. It has a great targeting system, so it can fire with a great hit rate while traversing on almost all kind of terrains.

 The MPTL-L was the precursor to the MPTL-2a vehicle, a medium artillery variant. Both, however, saw contemporary use throughout the Galactic Civil War. The MPTL-L was capable of being upgraded to a heavier version The MPTL appears in several Star Wars real-time strategy video games. Its role is significant in the Force Commander game, that is why I study it in this section. We can command our first MPTL in the battle of Endor mission, after the ewoks, Han, and the rebels destroyed the shield bunker. Brenn Tantor then gets reinforcements from the space, some tanks, repair droids, troopers, and some MPTLs.  But we can have mobile proton torpedo launchers in the game Galactic Battlegrounds, too. It can be played if we select the Rebel Alliance as our civilization. But in this game the MPTL has an other function, it is a kind of anti air tank, which is weird. On its top we can see AA rockets instead of the usual torpedo launcher.