Linesman

Revision as of 08:12, 10 January 2010 by Frabby (talk | contribs) (copyediting)
Linesman
Linesman
Production information
Manufacturer Earthwerks Incorporated/Kallon Industries (prototype)
Model LMN-1N
Class Assault
Technical specifications
Mass 90 tons
Chassis
Armor
Engine GM 270
Speed 54.0 km/h
Jump Jets none
Armament
BV (1.0) ?
BV (2.0) ?


Description

Built from proven components produced locally, the Linesman was a Capellan Confederation design project developed alongside the Cataphract from 3015 on. The Linesman concept caused a polarized debate among the scientists and officers involved in the design project that prompted Chancellor Maximilian Liao to personally intervene. Since the Capellan industry would only be able to bring one of the two new designs into full production, he decided in favour 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. Two were destroyed, and a third was damaged beyond repair and salvaged. They served with distinction on Beten Kaitos, and technician Wassily Cherenkov was awarded ownership of one. Both remaining two prototypes were returned to the Earthwerks Incorporated facility on Tikonov after the Long March.

Earthwerks sold the plans for the Linesman along with one of the prototypes to Luthien Armor Works in the Draconis Combine during the tech transfers made possible by the Concord of Kapteyn. The design became known as Nainokami in the Combine and became the basis for the Daboku/Mauler. 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 herald the weapons layout of the later Daboku and Mauler evolutions of the basic design.

Canonicity

The Linesman ("Linienrichter" in German) does not meet the current criteria for Canon.
It was published in Life Support #4, the official magazine of the (first) MechForce Germany. 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