tgsofgc
11/10/03 04:13 AM
67.4.199.197
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Warning what follows is a TRO style attempt by myself for an intressting though incredibly flawed mech I made while just playing around in the mech editor. I believe the mech would be fairly good at its role, if you were able to over look this one flaw.
So let it begin
3059 had not been a good year for most of the Draconis Combine. Sure there was the annihilation of the Jagaurs but even that hardly imaginabl act could do little to bolster the economic hard times that reached into every facet of combine life, well except military hardware. This lead to many merchant companies and independent investing firms that helped fuel civilian life started to dissapear. This was of particular intrest to one Malcolm Kurita a distant cousin and minor duke of the family. Malcolm while living fabulously well by most inner sphere standards was a very poor man in comparision to most of his family. At his dissposal was a small landhold of about 50,000 km2 on an ancient war torn planet near Terra. The planet long forgotten was of little use except as a strategic jump point, though the two working factories still on planet (producers of a number of advanced laser rifles) maintained a steady out put. So as economic disparity swept through the combine while military investors were making record profits (except those held to under priced contracts by "necessity"), Malcolm hatched a scheme. Malcolm planned to take his entire fortune and sink it into a new small upstart mech manufacturer. The manufacturer had to date only produced custom refits of mechs to ship to Lyran mercenaries, a risky business to say the least, and was finally ready to go legit with a bid on a new scout/deep penetration raiding mech. The design requirements called for a modern mech capable of avoiding even the best sensors currently fielded, with an energy based weapon load that would allow the mech long field activity when used in a guerilla or raiding roll.
As this commision became available Kuritan designers already taxed heavily by increased production of omni designs basically ignored the comission, due to its likely low profit margin on modern "electronics" mechs. This simple request by the combine was where Malcolm met the small mech makers, whom happened to be only a single jump away. With his initial investment in the group Malcolm made two key changes to the firm that would destine the firm to eventual failure. The first of these changes was to appoint himself cheif design consultant. This move didn't make Malcolm many friends but the pay was great and his ideas didn't usually sound that bad, if slightly radical. The first design decissions Malcolm made was to encourage engineers to shift their initial plans from a versatile 35 ton mech to a much heavier 50 ton chasis. This move would make the design one of the largest scout/raider mechs ever conceived, resulting in increased intresst by a number of other investors excited at the promisse of a combine made Stealth. Engineers quickly realized that the design likely couldn't move at the high speeds originally hoped for due to limitations imposed by extremely large engine ratings. To correct this problem engineers proposed two possible solutions to Malcolm. The first solution was to cut the power of the engine, resulting in a more moderately speedy design instead of the "Mongoose" originally envisioned. The second solution would be to investigate a newer widely unused technology being developed to reduce the weights of extremely large fusion reactors. The technology had been abandonned early by most mech makers as being far too expensive and ineffective to justify use on any but the largest reactors. The young Kurita loathed what he considered to be "pussy footing" and encouraged engineers to adapt this technology to battlemech use, "...at any cost". The result was a mech sized engine of out put normally found only in the heaviest of mechs now being put in a squarely medium sized design. Unfortunately the sheilding required for these advanced units was immense and nearly filled the mechs internals entirely, with out room for even adequate cooling tubes. At this point all looked lost till Malcolm in another shrewd business move, with plenty of cbills backing his opinion, suggested to the engineers that perhaps they should simply add more space to the inside of the mech. Utilizing high strength endo steel and countless hours at the drawing board the amazing Sermia (Malcolm's second change to the firm was choosing this name, the name of his planetary holding) designers managed to devise unique ways to run cooling tubes over the out side of the mech and then armor plating the coolant tubes. The result was slightly poorer heat dissipation than average but coincidentally the mech ended up exhibiting properties much like the ancient SLDF exterminators. This process however proved expensive and virtually impossible to standardize adequately enough for manufacturing. Finally finishing the design and prototype of a mech that at this time had begun to be known as the "spruce mongoose" by savy engineers only to realize the mech had yet to install any weapondry. This was solved in one afternoon of adhoc "tuning" directly before the showing of the mech. These improvements ripped off the mech's lower right arm and installing a poorly mounted heavy ER PPC. The weapon's innovative design allowed it to be routed through the previous sensor cables to the hand actuator. The weapon's weight however resulted in the mech nearly toppling over when released from the design harness, luckily a skilled pilot could account for the mech's "rocking".
The unveiling went over like a lead balloon as the mech hyped as the ultimate scout was sent into a field to hide and attack a simulated supply train guarded by medium mechs. The trial started out well when the mech quickly dissapeared from sensors, due to a short in the new PPC causing a freak shut down, only to miss its window of oppurtunity. Two hours later when the mech was dragged from the field the naive duke arrived to optimistically congratulate his dutiful design firm. When told of the unvielings failure the duke insisted to simply reschedual for another field test. By this time all sane investors pulled out of the project and in two weeks, and three more failed test runs, the duke recieved a rather unplesent call from his financial advisors. In the end nearly 2 billion cbills helped a duke play mech designer. Unfortunately the innovative Sermia Design Group was disbanded another two weeks later when the cash stopped flowing and their name had officially become a joke across the inner sphere.
Specifics:
This design is huge for its agility, toping the scale at a hefty 55 tons. The mech moves fast too and is fully jump capable. This along with the heavy armor make a mech that would be very hard to kill... aside from the fact that nearly the entire inside of the mech is engine. The mech uses a single large energy weapon, an ER PPC, backed by an ER small laser. this gives the mech great range and an incrediable staying ability, assuming its one important arm doesn't get blown off. The sophisticated electronics systems are top par and are installed in its boxy shoulders. Lets not even mention the cost...
Tech Lvl: IS/3
Year: 3059(Begun), 3063(Completed  )
Engine: Triple Special XXL 385 14.5 tons
Walk MP: 7
Run MP: 11
Jumping MP: 7
Internal Structure: Endosteel (though its more of an engine carapace) 3 tons
Cockpit: 3 tons (Extremely cramped)
Gyro: 4 tons
Armor 11.5 tons of Valiant Chainmail 184 pts
H: 8/3
R/L Torso: 20
R/L Torso Rear: 6
Center Torso: 26
Center Torso Rear: 10
R/L Arm: 18
R/L Leg: 26
Weapons and Equipment:
Null Signature System 1 crit everywhere but head
Jump Jet x3 RT 3 crits 1.5 tons
Jump Jet x3 LT 3 crits 1.5 tons
Jump Jet CT 1 crit 0.5 tons
Bloodhound Active Probe LA 2 tons 3 crits
Angel ECM Suite RA 2 tons 2 crits
ER PPC RA 7 tons 3 crits
ER Small Laser H 0.5 tons 1 crit
Note no hand or lower arm actuators in the RA
Note every other crit is occupied by XXL Engine or Endosteel
BV: 1,303
Ok now hold for applause....
Cost: 53, 238, 211 cbills
Cost Analysis, just to drive it home:
Thats 5.09 Stealths or
11.79 3025 Kurita Wolverines or..
23.88 SLDF era Mongoose or
I find that 'pinpoint' accuracy during a bombing run increases proportionally with the amount of munitions used.
-Commander Nathaniel Klepper,
Avanti's Angels, 3058
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Cray
11/10/03 06:47 AM
67.8.168.19
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Ah, XXL, hence the expense.
That is an electronic wonder that could get out of hand in a military procurement branch.
Mike Miller, Materials Engineer
Disclaimer: Anything stated in this post is unofficial and non-canon unless directly quoted from a published book. Random internet musings of a BattleTech writer are not canon.
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