Rotwang
07/20/14 07:22 PM
94.226.248.136
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Roland RLD-1R
Mass: 90 tons Tech Base: Inner Sphere Chassis Config: Biped Rules Level: Tournament Legal Era: Age of War/Star League Tech Rating/Era Availability: E/D-F-E-A Production Year: 2590 Cost: 22.537.800 C-Bills Battle Value: 1.894
Chassis: Unknown Standard Power Plant: Unknown 360 Fusion XL Engine Walking Speed: 43,2 km/h Maximum Speed: 64,8 km/h Jump Jets: None Jump Capacity: 0 meters Armor: Unknown Ferro-Fibrous Armament: 2 PPCs 2 LRM-10s 4 Medium Lasers 2 SRM-4s Manufacturer: Unknown Primary Factory: Unknown Communications System: Unknown Targeting and Tracking System: Unknown
Overview: Built as a battlefield superiority mech, the Roland was one of the most expensive mechs the SLDF ever produced the high cost and complexity means it was almost exclusively available to Royal Regiments and was only released to regular units less than a century before the Amaris Civil War.
Capabilities: At over twice the price of a pair of Atlas mechs, the Roland was designed in the late 2500's, it was one of the first mechs to use an XL engine, though early models were considered unreliable and would often break down in the field. An crash upgrade program that fixed over two thousand flaws was instigated and by 2610, the Roland was considered reliable, though the media continued to refer to the Roland as a failed design, causing great concern among the public that the SLDF had been sold a lemon.
Once proven in battle, the Roland became an SLDF workhorse, though the high cost remained a serious limiting factor, as the SLDF would invest only in relatively limited numbers.
The massive engine was a technological marvel, giving the Roland the ability to keep up with most heavy mechs like the Warhammer and Thunderbolt.
The armament was designed to pound away at the enemy while it closed in and finished the job with quad medium lasers and two SRM4. Often compared to the Battlemaster it lacked the provisions that made the latter so suitable as a command mech.
Sixteen double strength heat sinks allowed the Roland to fire away at the enemy without having to worry too much about the heat gauge.
Given some of the best protection available with more than fifteen tons of ferro-fibrous plate, the Roland was expected to be able to stand and fight any mech or vehicle and survive.
It wasn't until a newer genration of mechs such as the King Crab, Flashman and Atlas went into service that the Roland began to be considered obsolescent. A successor concept was made, but it never got beyond the project stage, until some of the research was incorporated into what later became Clan Wolf's Imp.
Battle History: The Roland served faithfully with the SLDF until it was dissolved during the First Succession War. Because it was so costly the Successor States only used the sparingly at first, but eventually the need use such a valuable resource eventually made an end to its limited use. If it had escaped the First Succession War relatively unscathed, the Second Succession War was very different and almost 75% of casualties occurred in this period. The rest was lost in the opening stages of the Third Succession War when the Great Houses used up their last advanced units in a final bid to defeat their enemies.
Comstar inherited only a handful of Rolands, keeping them in reserve to guard Terra. It is believed they were destroyed in the fighting against the Word of Blake invasion.
The design resurfaced during the Jihad under Blakist colours. The design was upgraded with ER PPC's and a small cockpit, which allowed the installation of CASE.
Deployment: Used mainly in Royal regiments, about three-fourths left with Kerensky, a few hundred were produced until 2807, when the factory supplying the XL engines was destroyed. The surviving technicians and engineers were unable to come up with a satisfactory refit solution and the factory was shut down for good in 2809.
Production lines were restarted by the Word of Blake and small numbers served with Blakist forces.
After Devlin Stone retook Terra, the design was incorporated into the Republic Military.
Variants: The World of Blake modified the Roland, replacing the PPC's with ER versions, while switching to a light cockpit to allow the installation of CASE.
The Republic Variant builds upon the WoB variant, but drops the LRM and SRM launchers in favour of twin MML9's.
Notable 'Mechs & MechWarriors: "Freeman", named after the Union artillerist who found at Gettysburg, it was the personal mech of Major Gustav Thornhauser, an artillery officer on General Kerensky's staff. Freeman was modified with state of the art communications and replaced one of the SRM4 with a TAG unit and an SRM2-Streak.
Thornhauser often had access to almost all artillery assets in range and was a master at plotting barrages that devastated enemy forces that targeted General Kerensky.
After joining his commander in the exodus, Thornhauser became an early follower of Nicholas Kerensky, but had a falling out when Kerensky refined Clan doctrine to reject support weapons in favour of one-on-one duelling. Thornhauser eventually joined Clan Widowmaker. Though he opposed the killing of the mechant class , he remained faithful to his Khan and it was his artillery barrages that slowed down Wolf reinforcements long enough for Nicholas Kerensky to be trapped and killed. Thornhauser was killed in combat a few days later when he called a devastating artillery strike on his own position, vaporizing his Roland. Ironically this action only served to further the Clan dislike for artillery and marred the memory of one of the finest artillery officers in the SLDF.
================================================================================ Equipment Type Rating Mass -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Internal Structure: Standard 138 points 9,00 Engine: XL Fusion Engine 360 16,50 Walking MP: 4 Running MP: 6 Jumping MP: 0 Heat Sinks: Double Heat Sink 16(32) 6,00 Heat Sink Locations: 1 LA, 1 RA Gyro: Standard 4,00 Cockpit: Standard 3,00 Actuators: L: SH+UA+LA R: SH+UA+LA Armor: Ferro-Fibrous AV - 277 15,50 Armor Locations: 1 HD, 2 CT, 2 LT, 2 RT, 2 LA, 2 RA, 1 LL, 2 RL
Internal Armor Structure Factor Head 3 9 Center Torso 29 44 Center Torso (rear) 12 L/R Torso 19 28 L/R Torso (rear) 10 L/R Arm 15 30 L/R Leg 19 38
================================================================================ Equipment Location Heat Critical Mass -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SRM-4 RA 3 1 2,00 2 Medium Lasers RA 6 2 2,00 SRM-4 LA 3 1 2,00 2 Medium Lasers LA 6 2 2,00 PPC RT 10 3 7,00 LRM-10 RT 4 2 5,00 PPC LT 10 3 7,00 LRM-10 LT 4 2 5,00 @LRM-10 (12) RT - 1 1,00 @SRM-4 (25) RT - 1 1,00 @LRM-10 (12) LT - 1 1,00 @SRM-4 (25) LT - 1 1,00 Free Critical Slots: 3
BattleForce Statistics MV S (+0) M (+2) L (+4) E (+6) Wt. Ov Armor: 9 Points: 19 4 4 5 3 0 4 2 Structure: 4 Special Abilities: SRCH, ES, SEAL, SOA, IF 1
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GiovanniBlasini
07/21/14 02:47 AM
75.85.176.204
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I like it, but I'm curious why you focused all the short-range weaponry in the arms, rather than mount, say, the PPCs there. At its mass, punches would be pretty devastating, but would also prevent it from firing its close-in weapons.
Member of the Pundit Caste
"Which side are we on? We're on the side of the demons, Chief. We're evil men in the gardens of paradise, sent by the forces of death to spread devastation and destruction wherever we go. I'm surprised you didn't know that." -- Col. Saul Tigh, BSG2003
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Rotwang
07/22/14 04:36 PM
94.226.248.136
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Two reasons, one is that I wanted to do it like the old TR's full of warts, flaws and mistakes and second the mech would end up like a Warhammer clone with the guns in the arms.
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