Compact fusion engine
Sarna News
Description[edit]
A compact fusion engine is similar to a fusion engine, but utilizes denser radiation shielding and other features to reduce the engine's volume by half. There is a weight penalty for the density; compact fusion engines are 50% heavier than the standard fusion engine, limiting its use to BattleMechs that require a lot of internal space and/or have tonnage to spare. One benefit of this arrangement is that penetrating hits are less likely to hit the smaller profile of the compact fusion engine than they would a bulkier standard fusion engine.[1]
History[edit]
Unsatisfied with the Light Fusion Engine's approach at making a "harder to kill" engine, General Nondi Steiner authorized Lyran Alliance engineers to explore alternate options during the FedCom Civil War, succeeding but at a dramatic weight penalty. With the technology being considered production ready in 3068, during the malestrom of the Word of Blake Jihad then General of the Armies Adam Steiner would share the Compact Engine technology with ComStar to funnel it to Federated Suns and Draconis Combine to aid in their efforts against the Blakists, unfortunately also being captured and reverse-engineered by the fanatical Robes as well.[1]