Huntress (BattleMech)

This article is about the 100-ton BattleMech. For other uses, see Huntress (disambiguation).
Huntress (BattleMech)
Huntress
Production information
Manufacturer Rebel Industrial Technologies Inc.
Model HNT-1S
Class Assault
Technical specifications
'Mech type Inner Sphere BattleMech
Mass 100 tons
Chassis Reb L1
Armor Star Slab
Engine Vlar 300
Communications System ROMTECH 100
Targeting Tracking System ROMTECH 125 J
Heat Sinks 14 single
Speed 54.0 km/h
Armament


Description

Designed as an ArtilleryMech, the Huntress was the most successful of the experimental designs produced by Rebel Industrial Technologies in the late Star League era. When the Star League attacked the Rim Worlds Republic world of Crellacor in late 2767, a battalion of Huntress ArtilleryMechs was deployed against "Fortress Green" hidden in the world's dense and near-impassable jungle, softening up the defenses from afar.[1]

Built from highly reliable components, an estimated thirty to forty functional Huntress 'Mechs survived into the late Succession Wars era, mostly with House Steiner and House Kurita, although the Huntress was never produced in great numbers to begin with.[2]

Weapons and Equipment

The Huntress was built around its two Thumper artillery pieces which define the design and its role. The mass of these guns made the design heavier and slower than originally intended.[2]

For defense against more direct threats the Huntress also sports two Delta Dart LRM-10 launchers and two Martell medium lasers.

Canonicity

The Huntress was only described in BattleTechnology, which is not counted as a canonical source anymore. Consequentially, the Huntress must be considered apocryphal as well at this time. (A ruling by then-Line Developer Randall N. Bills to the effect that all 'Mechs from BattleTechnology are canonical was officially rescinded by his successor as Line Developer, Herbert A. Beas II.)

Notes

  • The Huntress as described is an illegal design under current construction rules. At the time of the publication of the Huntress, formalized Design Quirk rules did not yet exist; arguably, the "Illegal" quirk should apply to a design that takes such liberties with the construction rules.
    • The Thumper artillery pieces take up more critical spaces (15) than are available in the side torso sections where they are mounted (12). According to its write-up, the 'Mech lacks three internal structure boxes in the side torso sections "to mount such big guns".
    • Although the side torso locations are mentioned to have their internal structure reduced to 18 points (from normally 21 points for a 100-ton 'Mech), altogether 43 points of armor are allocated to each front/rear side torso location, which is one more than even a 21-point structure could support.
    • In the absence of an official Record Sheet for this design it is possible that either or both of the aforementioned illegal construction features were in error, as they could easily be corrected by moving no more than three critical slots around on the Record Sheet and rearranging armor distribution: Judging from the artwork the Huntress is unlikely to feature hand actuators. Construction rules would allow to split the artillery guns' critical slots between the respective torso and arm sections (with no need to reduce the internal structure) if the design either has no hand actuators or another critical slot is moved elsewhere, such as moving the LRM ammunition to unallocated critical slots in the legs.

References

  1. BattleTechnology, Issue #14, p. 53
  2. 2.0 2.1 BattleTechnology, Issue #14, p. 52

Bibliography