Project Trapdoor
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Project Trapdoor was a joint top secret MIIO-LIC project begun in 3042 following the sobering outcome of the War of 3039.[1] Its aim was to upgrade existing, well-known BattleMech designs with newly rediscovered technologies from the Helm Memory Core for superior performance without significantly altering their appearance in the process, to the point where enemy sensors would not pick up the modifications.[2][1]
The best known design to result from this is the Rattlesnake, which was based on the Jenner and was designed by Dr. Robert Madson.[1]
The idea was to achieve a two-fold effect: On the battlefield, the upgraded designs were superior combatants compared to the base models. They could surprise unwary opponents who had mistaken them for the base models and underestimated their capabilities. Beyond this tactical advantage, the Rattlesnake was also at the same time used on a strategic level to mislead the Draconis Combine. While only small numbers were built, they were deployed in such a way as to suggest they existed in much larger numbers, while exaggerated information about their existence was purposefully leaked.[3] This was meant to lure the Combine into wasting time and resources on trying to find out more about the new design, and create doubt in enemy soldiers about the true capabilities of every Jenner deployed against them (as it could be a much more fearsome Rattlesnake).[2]
It was said that the results of Project Trapdoor had been debatable; the project had already been discontinued by 3049[1] and ended no later than 3052 following the Clan Invasion[2].
The modified Trapdoor 'Mechs continued to be used, implicitly still under a veil of secrecy. Most were destroyed in combat over the next thirty years and only a few survived into the Jihad era.[1] Because of the overall secrecy surrounding Project Trapdoor, with only carefully crafted information being leaked (rooted in fact but designed to mislead and deceive), as of 3084 the Rattlesnake in particular was widely believed to be just an urban legend.[2]
Bibliography[edit]
- BattleTechnology, Issue #21
- Shrapnel (magazine), Issue #9, Rattlesnake II writeup
- Vengeance Games
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Rattlesnake II writeup in Shrapnel, Issue #9, pp. 53-55
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Vengeance Games, part 2 (in Shrapnel, Issue #7)
- ↑ While the article and accompanying short story in BattleTechnology, Issue #21, is technically apocryphal, canonically it was mentioned that the Rattlesnake was deployed in MIIO black ops and an unspecified magazine article was mentioned that "was mostly true, including the Masakari, but there were a few... edits" with the implication that this had been a deliberate leak of misleading information based in true events.