Rotwang
09/24/14 03:57 PM
94.226.248.136
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Bobcat BBC-1R
Mass: 45 tons Tech Base: Inner Sphere Chassis Config: Biped Rules Level: Tournament Legal Era: Age of War/Star League Tech Rating/Era Availability: D/C-E-D-A Production Year: 2750 Cost: 3.578.890 C-Bills Battle Value: 1.089
Chassis: Unknown Standard Power Plant: Unknown 225 Fusion Engine Walking Speed: 54,0 km/h Maximum Speed: 86,4 km/h Jump Jets: None Jump Capacity: 0 meters Armor: Unknown Standard Armor Armament: 1 PPC 1 Large Laser Manufacturer: Unknown Primary Factory: Unknown Communications System: Unknown Targeting and Tracking System: Unknown
Overview: One of the first "modern" mechs of the Terran Hegemony, the Bobcat was designed to provide energy weapon support to units with high ammo dependency.
Capabilities: The Bobcat was a swift design for its time. With a top speed of over 84kph, it could pick the optimum fighting range and the enemy at arm's length.
8.5 tons of armour give the Bobcat reasonable staying power. Because the design was never intended for protracted fighting this was considered sufficient.
The armament was unusually heavy for its day, combining a PPC and a Large Laser, it had something to fight at any range and with careful heat gauge monitoring could deliver a mid-range alpha strike if required. The PPC was notable in that it was cooler than other existing weapons due to an advanced cooling jacket and had a more focussed beam which was up to 20% more effective than similar weapons, but this caused a huge electro-magnetic spike that was kept in check by a special shielding incorporated in the cooling jacket. But this required careful and frequent maintenance to maintain the cooling jacket as heat could quickly degrade the shielding, fortunately the PPC was a very rugged design and if maintenance was somehow absent, the weapon would automatically power down to a level comparable to other existing PPC's though the electro magnetic output remained higher than average.
With only 14 heat sinks the Bobcat pilot had to be extremely careful to avoid extended engagements which might lead to reckless shooting and eventually a shutdown.
The crowning glory was the TM1250 targeting system, considered to be the most accurate systems of its era, it allowed the pilot to shoot with previously unseen accuracy. The TM1250 is one of the reasons the Bobcat lasted well after more advanced designs were introduced.
Battle History: Eventually the Bobcat began to show its age. By the late 2600's they were being withdrawn from frontline service and by the early 2700's they were offered to the various Inner Sphere houses who greedily snapped up as many as possible. Questions were raised about giving the rest of the Inner Sphere access to systems like the TM1250, but SLDF believed their forces had superior equipment on several levels, better training and support.
Shortly after the Houses deployed their Bobcats, a fatal flaw was revealded. The cooling jacket of the PPC also provided shielding from the PPC's highly dangerous electro-magnetic interference which could fry most of the mech's electronics and even cause dangerous fluctuations in the engine's magnetic bottle.
Accusations of a conspiracy to provide the Houses with pre-sabotaged equipment became the talk of the day, but the SLDF showed that they had been long aware of the problem, which was dealt with by frequent maintenance. Sadly the Houses lacked the resources to provide the same level of support to their units and despite repair and replacement kits being provided free of charge the Bobcat soon fell out of favour.
When the First Succession War broke lose the various Houses couldn't throw their Bobcats into the front lines fast enough and attrition meant that less than a hundred survived by the time of the Fourth Succession War and it is believed that less than a dozen survive to this day. Experts believe that a further fifty might sit in hangars, mothballed for all but the direst emergencies.
Deployment: The Bobcat could be found in small numbers in most SLDF units to provide support. When newer designs such as the Crab, Cestus and Lynx appeared the survivors were sold off or scrapped. None are known to have travelled with Kerensky and none have been spotted among the Clans so far.
House Liao was one of the major customers of the Bobcat and usually deployed them alongside their home-grown Vindicator. Most were lost in the setbacks the Capellan Confederation suffered over the centuries, often sacrificed to buy their other units time to escape.
The other major user was House Marik. Oddly enough Comstar never deployed any as it no longer existed in the SLDF's arsenal for the ComGuards to take over. Sseveral were purchased by the NAIS and used to build two complete models, which were used for testing purposes. The TM1250 playing a major role in the development of an early targeting system that was tested during the Fourth Succession War. After the discovery of the Clan Targeting Computer this knowledge was critical to developing an Inner Sphere version decades before the other Inner Sphere powers.
Variants: The SLDF made minor upgrades over the years, such as a modified cockpit, faster actuators and a more durable cooling jacket with better shielding.
The most common modification was to either replace the vulnerable targeting computer or the advanced PPC with a standard model. Even the handful that had managed to mainting their shielding often had to replace parts damaged in combat, which means that by the mid 2900's none had either the original targeting system or the PPC in an operational state.
An upgrade was tested by the NAIS which replaced the weapons with ER versions, switched to 13 double strength heat sinks and added a full ton of armour. Because the Bobcat is so rare none have been reported in the field so far.
================================================================================ Equipment Type Rating Mass -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Internal Structure: Standard 75 points 4,50 Engine: Fusion Engine 225 10,00 Walking MP: 5 Running MP: 8 Jumping MP: 0 Heat Sinks: Single Heat Sink 14 4,00 Heat Sink Locations: 1 CT, 2 LL, 2 RL Gyro: Standard 3,00 Cockpit: Standard 3,00 Actuators: L: SH+UA+LA+H R: SH+UA+LA+H Armor: Standard Armor AV - 136 8,50
Internal Armor Structure Factor Head 3 9 Center Torso 14 20 Center Torso (rear) 5 L/R Torso 11 17 L/R Torso (rear) 5 L/R Arm 7 13 L/R Leg 11 16
================================================================================ Equipment Location Heat Critical Mass -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PPC RT 10 3 7,00 Large Laser LT 8 2 5,00 Free Critical Slots: 37
BattleForce Statistics MV S (+0) M (+2) L (+4) E (+6) Wt. Ov Armor: 5 Points: 11 5 2 2 1 0 2 0 Structure: 4 Special Abilities: ENE, SRCH, ES, SEAL, SOA
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KamikazeJohnson
09/24/14 08:15 PM
24.114.90.154
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Interesting idea. Wouldn't call 5/8 "fast" for anything under 60 tons, but sufficiently mobile for a support 'Mech. Large Laser takes over at close range, enough heat sinks to fire both weapons for a few consecutive volleys if pressed.
Curious why you went 2750 era with no advanced tech...just fluff reasons?
Peace is that glorious moment in history when everyone stands around reloading.
--Thomas Jefferson
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Rotwang
09/25/14 01:29 AM
94.226.248.136
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It's supposed to be 2500's era, when the second generation of mechs appear that have 2025 style tech and no longer burdened by "primitive" systems. It's an ode to the clunky, less than optimal designs from TR2750 and TR3025.
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