Linesman

Linesman
Production information
Manufacturer	Earthwerks Incorporated/Kallon Industries (prototype)
Model	LMN-1PT5
Class	Assault
Technical specifications
Mass	90 tons
Chassis
Armor
Engine	GM 270
Speed	54.0 km/h
Jump Jets	none
Armament	4xAC-2 2xLRM-15 2xMedium Laser
BV (1.0)	?
BV (2.0)	?

Description

The Linesman was a Capellan Confederation design project developed alongside the Cataphract around 3015. It was built from proven, domestically produced components with the aim of creating a BattleMech that could be built, maintained and supported with relative ease in the relatively resource-poor Confederation with its ailing industry base.

The concept caused a polarized debate among the scientists and officers involved, until Chancellor Maximilian Liao finally stepped in. Since the Capellan industry would only be able to bring one of the two new designs into full production, he decided in favor of the Cataphract and the Linesman design was shelved after five prototypes had been built.

The prototypes were given to McCarron's Armored Cavalry for field testing and saw combat action during McCarron's Long March in 3022 and 3023. They served with distinction on Beten Kaitos, and Earthwerks Incorporated weapons technician Wassili Cherenkow was subsequently awarded ownership of one he had piloted in a critical situation after its assigned MechWarrior had been taken out. Two prototypes were destroyed completely over the course of the fighting, and a third was damaged beyond repair and salvaged for spare parts. The two remaining prototypes were returned to the Earthwerks facility on Tikonov after the Long March. Cherenkow subsequently quit his service with Earthwerks in 3027 and reportedly joined Romano Liao's personal guard with his 'Mech.

Before the outbreak of the Fourth Succession War, Earthwerks sold the plans for the Linesman, along with a prototype, to Luthien Armor Works in the Draconis Combine during the tech transfers made possible by the Concord of Kapteyn. The design eventually became the basis for the Daboku/Mauler (also known as Nainokami). The outer appearance of the Linesman went essentially unchanged in the process.

Variants

When it became apparent that enemy forces could close in on the Linesman to stay below the effective range of its weaponry, the designers considered to exchange the Ceres Arms medium lasers for Sunglow 2S large lasers for better defense at short range. However, this required a speed reduction and came with heat problems and no satisfactory solution could be found. While no change was implemented, these considerations already heralded the weapons layout of the later Daboku and Mauler evolutions of the basic design.

Canonicity

As of yet, the Linesman ("Linienrichter" in German) has only appeared in a apocryphal publications, i.e. in sources that are official BattleTech products yet do not meet the current criteria for Canon.

It was first published along with its background history in Life Support #4, the official magazine of the (first) MechForce Germany.

The German-only book Battletech, Die Welt des 31. Jahrhunderts by Heyne, the publisher of the translated German line of BattleTech novels, mentions the Linesman and its abbreviated background history, but does not provide statistics for the 'Mech.

Further, the expanded German edition of the Solaris VII Boxed Set produced by FanPro included an official record sheet for the MAL-1PT5 Mauler, an exact reproduction of the Linesman in all but name.

It is generally held that the Linesman was meant to give 3025-era players a chance to play a contemporary version of the popular Mauler.

References

• Life Support, issue #4
• Battletech, Die Welt des 31. Jahrhunderts, p. 441

In the translated German BattleTech edition by FanPro, the Mauler was named the Nainokami; the Daboku was not written into the universe yet.