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The basic, flexible, advanced, and battle armor periscopes are
available to the Inner Sphere and Clans. The TAG periscope allows
a mech or vehicle to cower behind hard cover while calling in
honorless semi-guided LRMs or guided artillery, and thus is only
used by the Inner Sphere. Clan periscopes are not (yet) particularly
more or less heavy/effective/damaging/faster/cheaper/compact
than Inner Sphere models.

BASIC PERISCOPE
The basic periscope system is just (effectively) a massless
system for adding to vehicle or mech sensors. It adds 30,000
C-bills to the price tag of a standard sensor suite and gives
the mech (or vehicle) effectively an extra level of clearance
to see over obstacles. Among other things, it allows a vehicle
to spot for itself when using indirect fire, assuming the
extra level of height is enough to see over the obstacle.

Of course the periscope still retains the ability to let a
mech or vehicle see out of water while remaining submerged,
again assuming the extra level of height is adequate to get
the periscope above water.

The basic periscope system is a lightweight, telescoping pole
with a reflector (and fiber optic system) on the end to pipe
visual, IR, etc. signals to the normal receptors of the sensor
suite. It doesn't interfere with vehicle operations - the
input is smoothly integrated and displayed for crew use,
unlike input from a satellite uplink.

While not normally able to be targeted when deployed, the
periscope is destroyed automatically if it's in use and the
mounting location is hit (head for mechs, turret for vehicles or,
only if lacking a turret, the back of vehicles). When a vehicle
with an active periscope is hit by area effect attacks (bombs,
artillery), the periscope is also destroyed. Fortunately,
the bulk of the cost is in adapting the existing sensors to
use the periscope; a new periscope pole is only 5000 C-bills.

The basic periscope is not compatible with the special
features of active probes.

FLEXIBLE PERISCOPE
The name is somewhat misleading; it refers to the ability
to mount the periscope somewhere other than the head of
a mech. It is 0.5 tons, 1 crit, and 40,000 C-bills. Mounted
at the end of an arm (the typical placement), it gives the mech
two extra levels of height for seeing over obstacles as well
as the ability to look around corners without exposing the mech
to fire. When mounted on a vehicle (location specified and
equipment slot used), it may likewise be used to look around
corners or raised upwards to provide a single extra level of
height.

It is destroyed in the same manner as a basic periscope and
likewise not compatible with active probes.

ADVANCED PERISCOPE
This is a 0.5-ton, 1-crit, 75,000 C-bill periscope that
is compatible with active probes. It is otherwise like a
flexible periscope.

BATTLE ARMOR PERISCOPE
A flexible periscope for battle armors. It adds 2000 C-bills
to the price of a battle armor and has no effective mass. It
does not add any levels to the height of a battle armor for
seeing over obstacles - it is primarily a Mechwarrior item
of equipment to allow BA units to see around corners and over
the crests of hills. Length of the BA periscope is 2 meters.

TAG PERISCOPE
The long awaited dream of scout mechs and light vehicles that
have been tired of exposing themselves to savage Clan attacks
so they can get their TAG within its anemic (vs Clans) effective
range. This is a flexible periscope that must be mounted in
the same location as the TAG unit it works with. Each TAG on
a unit (if there's more than one) needs a separate TAG periscope.
It is 1-ton, 1 crit, and 100,000 C-bills.

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Doesn't EI give you a better view of the field than any parascope?

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but I have this big thing about mounting an either frail parascope the flys off when you move or go through some woods, or a stiffly built one that looks very ungainly and completly removes and aestetic kewlness of a mech.

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How about a retractable, telescoping periscope? Use a thin, antenna-like periscope with a lightweight lense at the far end and a thin fiberoptic relay to the sensors down in the mech. It'll look plenty cool.