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This design came from one of my many strange "is it possible" thoughts, "Can you effectively hide an artillery mech?"
Closely followed by the preliminary questions "Do you need to be able to hide an artillery mech?", "What do you need to hide it from?", and "What kind of artillery works best when you're trying to hide it?"

Well, this is my response to those questions.
Do you need to be able to hide an artillery mech? Well yes, unless you want to lose a big investment in C-Bills and training.

What do you need to hide it from? Obviously you need to hide it from enemy forces, be they Mech, Aero, Vehicle, or Infantry (not much can hide from a Warship in orbit, so no point trying). As primary detection systems are generally electronic, that is the most imporant system to hide from. Visual detection can easily be dealt with through planning and camo-netting.

What kind of artillery works best? Well, Arrow is popular, but I like the big guns. Although they are fired in an "easy to back-track" arc trajectory, they're smaller rounds, quieter, and unless you can figure out which direction they're actually coming from, I think they'd be harder to actually track because they don't have a contrail to follow. (You also get much more ammo per ton, which while not useful in game terms, In-Game terms, it's a more efficient use of resources)

Anyway, that's my theory behind this mech.

               BattleMech Technical Readout

Type/Model:    Yeramba YM-25SP
Tech:          Inner Sphere / 3080
Config:        Biped BattleMech
Rules:         Level 2, Custom design

Mass:          95 tons
Chassis:       StarCorp 100 Standard
Power Plant:   285 Vlar Fusion
Walking Speed: 32.4 km/h
Maximum Speed: 54.0 km/h
Jump Jets:     None
Jump Capacity: 0 meters
Armor Type:    Ceres Heavy Stealth
Armament:      
  1 Thumper Artillery
  1 Maxell Large Pulse Laser
  1 Imperator Code Red LB 10-X AC
  1 Telos Four-Shot SRM 4
  1 Arkum Flamer
  1 McArthur II Anti-Missile System
  1 Model 2B Guardian ECM
Manufacturer:  Taurus Territorial Industries
  Location:    Taurus / TC (TTI)
Communications System:  Neil 9000 w. Guardian ECM
Targeting & Tracking System:  Octagon Tartrac System

--------------------------------------------------------
Type/Model:    Yeramba YM-25SP
Mass:          95 tons

Equipment:                                 Crits    Mass
Int. Struct.:  145 pts Standard              0      9.50
Engine:        285 Fusion                    6     16.50
   Walking MP:   3
   Running MP:   5
   Jumping MP:   0
Heat Sinks:     11 Double [22]               0      1.00
Gyro:                                        4      3.00
Cockpit, Life Supt., Sensors:                5      3.00
Actuators: L: Sh+UA+LA    R: Sh+UA+LA       14       .00
Armor Factor:  264 pts Stealth              12     16.50
 (Armor Crit Loc: 2 LA, 2 RA, 2 LT, 2 RT, 2 LL, 2 RL)

                          Internal    Armor
                          Structure   Value
   Head:                      3          9      
   Center Torso:             30         42      
   Center Torso (Rear):                 11      
   L/R Side Torso:           20      29/29      
   L/R Side Torso (Rear):              7/7      
   L/R Arm:                  16      29/29      
   L/R Leg:                  20      36/36      

Weapons and Equipment    Loc  Heat  Ammo   Crits    Mass
--------------------------------------------------------
1 Large Pulse Laser      RA     10           2      7.00
1 LB 10-X AC             LA      2   20      8     13.00
  (Ammo Locations: 2 LT)
1 Thumper Artillery      RT      6   40     17     17.00
  (Ammo Locations: 2 LT)
1 Anti-Missile System    LT      1   24      3      2.50
  (Ammo Locations: 2 LT)
1 SRM 4                  LT      3   25      2      3.00
  (Ammo Locations: 1 LT)
1 Guardian ECM           CT      0           2      1.50
1 Flamer                 HD      3           1      1.00
  Stealth Armor Heat            10
CASE Equipment:          LT                  1       .50
--------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS:                         35          77     95.00
Crits & Tons Left:                           1       .00

Calculated Factors:
Total Cost:        10,925,850 C-Bills
Battle Value 2:    1,959 (old BV = 1,558)
Cost per BV2:      5,577.26
Weapon Value:      1,842 / 1,842 (Ratio = .94 / .94)
Damage Factors:    SRDmg = 35;  MRDmg = 24;  LRDmg = 16
BattleForce2:      MP: 3,  Armor/Structure: 7/7
                   Damage PB/M/L: 6/3/2,  Overheat: 0
                   Class: MA;  Point Value: 20
                   Specials: ecm, artT

I've gone with Taurian construction, because although it utilises Capellan Stealth armour, they had a co-operation when it came to dealing with the FedSuns, which very well could have included the stealth technology.
The heat sink level was chosen so that the prime "secondary" weapons could be fired while the stealth armour is active, without building up any heat (in aid of hiding from electronic detection); but as soon as an enemy gets too close, you'd probably end up shutting it off anyway so the mech would end up "over-cooled".
If you insist, it is also very simple to replace the Thumper and its ammo, with an Arrow IV and 2 tons of ammo.

There is a mech floating around with two arty pieces on it...called the Huntress.

_________________
Karagin-

Darkness is a friend of mine. Sometimes I have to beat it back, or it would overwhelm me. Shirley Meier

[url]http://karagin12.livejournal.com/[/url]

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