Bolo Mark XXX
A Bolo is a fictional type of artificially intelligent superheavy tank. They were first imagined by author Keith Laumer, and have since been featured in numerous science fiction novels and short story anthologies by Laumer and other authors. Many Bolo stories are told from the viewpoint of the Bolo itself, with it's internal thoughts printed in italics throughout the story.
The Bolo was a heavily armed and armored fighting machine with the latest AI systems, and was to conduct operations with very little need of human intervention. Even in the early models, Bolos could perform such tasks such as unassisted guard duty and fire support. With the introduction of the Bolo Mark XX, the supertanks gained limited self-awareness which grew and improved with each successive model. The Bolos served in various capacities for over a thousand years.
History
The first Bolo was supposedly evolved from the standard main battle tank of the 20th century. There were many models of the Bolo with various weapon systems, and finishing in the year 3366 with the Bolo Mark XXXIII which weighed in at 32,000 tons and had a variety of weapons systems and served as a global defense platform.
Abilities
Bolos aren't your normal tanks. Their designers decided that bigger was better, so that pretty much the only thing that can take down a Bolo is another Bolo. The Bolo designs kept getting bigger and bigger, to the point where the stealth Bolo tanks massed 1,500 tons.
Bolos are extremely intelligent, often with surprisingly human personalities. Many of the stories focus on the relationshipt between the Bolos and their human superiors, since Bolos want to defend their human companions at all costs. Bolos are equipped with a psychotronic brain (starting with the Mark XX), which gave the Bolos artificial intelligence. The Bolos psychotronic brain could turn insane when damaged. This could occur during battle, from enemy fire or from lack of maintenance.
Early Bolo Marks used projecticle weapons for their main battery. As the Bolos progressed and their energy-storage capabilities grew, the projectile weapons were replaced, first by laser cannons, then by the Hellbore (a plasma canon derived from a battlecruiser's main battery).
The armor of a Bolo is designed to withstand direct hits from all current weapon systems, including nuclear weapons.
Bolo Mark XXIV- in action on planet Muir
