Team Buckaroo, faced with what amounted to carte blanche when it came to design and funding, went to work on the Manticore. While there was little they could do to the formidable unit, they made a few changes, the largest being replacing most of the old thruster/vernier system with a more powerful and compact design. (Flight MA 12, Verniers +4, MV -1). The result was a faster and much more agile Manticore and also a Manticore that was hideously expensive, and the Manticore was already pretty expensive. No one actually believed that the modifications would be used except in very limited numbers.

It was a good design though, and the team was quite pleased with it, though understandably upset that it had been stolen.

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The Myrmidon is a 75 ton suit with a ground MA of 5, a flight MA of 14 and an MV of -3 (by virtue of the super charged power plant and +2 movement verniers. As with the majority of Starblade mecha the verniers and the thruster system are mated. The thrust/vernier system is divided up between the legs and the wing array). The head is medium weight, as are the arms and legs, the torso is light heavy and the four wing arrays are light weight. The heavy hydraulics take one space from each servo.

It has medium heavy Beta type armour on each location.
The shield on the left arm with and SP of 9 and again, Beta armour. It has a DA of -2.
The plasma rifle is 5 damage weapon, with a BV of 2, and held in one hand.
The head phalanx does 2 points of damage and is dedicated anti missile.
The battle ax does 6 points, and is armour piercing and can be thrown. With the servo bonuses it will do 8 points.
The four heavy missiles do 8 points of damage each.
The swarm missiles do 1 point and have extend range to 8. 40 missiles.
The cannon on the left shoulder does 10 points, fires HEAP rounds and the suit carries 10 rounds. +1 WA.
Light Heavy sensors and an ASP.
Virtual controls.
The only cockpit is in the torso and it also serves as an escape pod.

I haven't finished this suit yet, and might not. I just put together a rough outline. If anyone wants to put it together, go for it. I may still do so yet.

OPTIONAL ARMAMENT: Substitude a Roberts MK III VH Plasma Cannon (WA +1, 20K, range 18, W-Up 1, 20 Kills, Wide 60 deegres) for the Heavy Gauss Cannon; requires a second, QCM-ed (for ease of field substitution), Torso Weapon Mount. Add 0.4 Tn fuel to maintain operative range. Total operative mass creeps up to 79.4 Tons (100 Kg more and the MV would have droped!). Total cost 803.7 CP (boy, this gun is COSTLY!)


Edward liked a bit of spectacle. He had everyone in a glassed in booth above the design bay. The bay was completely dark, the light from the room reflected off the glass so all the people inside the booth could see was themselves.
"Ladies, Gentlemen," he smiled. "I would like to present the Star Blade Battalion's new HA design. I give you the 'Myrmidon'."

The lights came on in the bay, illuminating the suit that stood there. It was a large unit, but still a little shorter than other HAs were. It's head looked like some fearsome charicture of a demon, until one realized all the eyes were actually spotlights. It's left arm was partially hidden by the shield it carried. In its right hand was a rifle--the weapon had a long, thin, tapering barrel.

A cannon, almost as long as the suit was tall, was mounted on the suit's left shoulder, swung forward, pointing at the booth.

Edward gave them some time to take the entire weapon system in, time to wonder about some of the other features. He was not too much of a showman, but what he was showing made up for that. "Let us begin with the basics. The suit below you is 18 meters in height, and weighs in at 75 tons. Its ground speed is 90 kilometers per hour, and it can reach a flight speed of 453 kilometers per hour. Just to give credit where credit is due, we have Miss Belin to thank for the flight system."

"It's primary weapon is the rifle in its right hand. The rifle is a type 1, Roberts type, plasma rifle."

"An energy weapon?" someone asked.

Edward nodded. "May I ask that you hold your questions until the presentation is finished. Now, as I was saying, the plasma rifle is its main weapon. This weapon has penetration and damage comparable to the Crossbones' rail rifle and the GRM-14, so no problems there. We also have an unlimited ammunition supply, or unlimited as long as the suit's power plant is still functioning.

"The cannon you see on the left shoulder is similar to the Manticore's main weapon, though ours is not a rapid-firing weapon. It is more accurate though. The lack of automatic fire makes it more stable, and it can be fired with just the support of the weapon mount," as he spoke the cannon began to track back and forth, then swung back, folding behind the suit in its storage position.

"Other weapon systems include four heavy missiles in the left side of the torso, and forty, long-range swarm missiles on the right side. We have also given it a rather unique melee weapon."

Below them the suit smoothly locked the rifle into a set of clamps on the rear of the shield, then reached over its right shoulder. A moment later it pulled forth a battle ax. "The ax as been designed not only to cut through armour with ease, but it is also balanced for throwing.

"Again, I owe thanks to Dr. Roberts for the anti-missile system, which, like the rifle, is energy-based. The cockpit design is a gift from Miss Belin, as is the armour. Now, I'd like to move this down to the floor where we can take a closer look at the suit, and I can point out more features. After that I will take your questions. Later today we will be having a demonstration of the suit's capabilities. Now if you will follow me," he started towards the door.

"What do you think Dr. Ryuzaki?" Tess asked as they followed with the others.
"It's an efficient design, quite well thought out. I've already seen the specs, and some of the testing that Dr. Lars has already performed. I suspect it will give the ODF and the SAC quite the surprise the first time they face it."

Notes: Well, when Lars offered me the chance to give this thing a shakedown I jumped at the chance. From all I had heard it was the hottest thing in all of space at that point. Everyone was saying the Myrmidon was going to put all the other suits in their place. I don't know about that, but I will say the other HAs out there better watch their butts.
The first thing I think any pilot is bound to notice it that cockpit. Bunch if different names for it, but I like 'fishbowl' the best. Heard that is what the lady who designed it calls it. Anyways, you enter the cockpit through a hatch in the chest, no head cockpit in these baby's. The hatch is reassuringly thick, and opens with a combination. Damn pad is hard to get at though so I think I'll just leave it unlocked. Anyway, you kind of have to spin about once you get the hatch open, reach up, grab these bars, and pull yourself up, into the seat. All right in low gravity situation, but in normal gravity, pilots without a lot of upper body strength might find it hard to get into their suits. Easily solved though, more push ups for pilots.
Anyway, once you've got yourself pulled into the seat, the seat tilts up, so you don't have to worry about falling any longer. Once you release the handholds, the seat pulls back into the fishbowl, locks into place, nice and secure. Most of the controls are on your arm rests, real easy to get at, with a forward panel that swings into place once you've got yourself all nice and settled.
After I had done this the first time, I was sitting there, wondering what was what. No one had explained the fishbowl to me, so I wasn't up to speed on it. I'm sitting in the spherical space, the interior covered by these odd, gray tiles. Then Dr. Lars is chatting on my head set, telling me to begin power up procedures.
So I do as he says and then, a few seconds later, bam! I'm hanging up midair, looking all around me, trying to figure out where the mech went. You see, the fish bowls interior is covered by high definition flat screens. You got a true three hundred and sixty degree picture of what is going on around you. Look behind you, you see what is behind you, look below your legs, you see what is below you. Wild really, but that first time I was more than a little freaked out.
After I calmed down a little I began to appreciate the fishbowl. Not only can you see three sixty, but wherever you look, the computer tracks you and puts up the sensor data and all that close to where you are looking. Handy, but it can get a bit cluttered. I talked to the Doc about this and he reprogrammed the software. No I choose what info I want to jump around, and the rest remains at the front.
He also added in a faint sort of outline that shows you where the parts of your suit are. It does not interfere with vision and it sure helps in tight quarters. It also makes me feel a little better. That feeling of just floating, with nothing around you, it can get a bit scary, as it were. I think pilots getting use to this thing are going to get a bit freaked at first.
Well, after a while I got use to the cockpit, so, I started working out the rest. Out in space I got to give it a hard ride. What can I say. I'm hooked. This thing is fast. Oh, not as fast as the interceptors or the soldiers, but faster than you'd expect her to be. She just motors, and handles well, for such a monster. No complaints there, though the way they got everything hooked up, you start loosing thrust, you also start getting sluggish. Nothing you can really do about it, but I think I'll do what I can to keep from getting hit, not matter how tough this armour is.
The Plasma rifle is nice, nothing special, but not having to worry about ammo gives makes things easier. Same goes for the laser pod. Takes missiles down real nice. Hear they might be adding another antimissile system to this thing, putting it in the shoulders. Wouldn't say no to that. Missiles can spoil your day big time.
Not much in the way of missiles for this thing, but I like them. They're dumb, but that's okay. I figure I'll use the big ones against ships, nice, easy to hit targets anyway, and use the swarm pack to saturate an area before I go in with the plasma rifle.
When it is time to get up close, that battle axe does the trick. We set up a couple of old mining suits with a lot of boiler plate bolted on just to make them a little tougher, but that thing just went straight through them. And you can throw it as well. The first time any enemy sees that they'll be pretty surprised, and then I figure they'll be pretty dead. What can I say. I like it.
The shield on the left arm is nothing special, but it is big and you can swing it about nicely. Probably will come in handy every now and again. As for the antiship cannon, well, it will probably do its job well enough. That's all I'd ever use it on, unless I was really desperate. I've got lots of other choices after all.
Speaking of other choices, you should see what the feet of this thing can do. They've been shaped so that they cut through armour as well as the axe. You kick something with one of these things, odds are they are going to feel it bad.
As for the rest, well, I'd like some more fuel, but I guess you can't win them all. Also the clips they put on the rear of the shield to hold the rifle when you are not using it kind of suck. After putting the rifle in them, and pulling it out several times, they started giving me grief. Twice the weapon fell out, and once I couldn't pull it free. Lars tells me it is a minor problem and will be easy to fix. I hope so, otherwise that little problem could cause some major inconveniences.
After five days of putting Myrmidon through its paces with a vengeance, I have found no real problems with it. It is a good suit and I have no complaints. Well, perhaps one. It has not been designed to work underwater, or in any other adverse environments. Lars tells me that while such modifications can be made, they won't be used on all suits. It's a matter of saving money. A little disappointing, still I hope to be assigned one.

-An excerpt from the pilot log of Geoffrey Lin, Charybdis test pilot.

"So, what's new?"
"Dr. Roberts built a new cannon for the Myrmidon."
"Energy?"
"Yes."
"So she really did not need my help."
"Guess not."
"I hate her."
"Join the club."
"So, what's it like?"
"The cannon? Pretty impressive from what I have heard. The most powerful weapon to ever be mounted on a suit. It takes a bit of time to charge up, but it can blanket a large area of space and rip most suits apart with one blast."
"Sounds like a fun toy."

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Tons: A 58.7, B 56.8, S 59.4, K 54.8
Cost in CP: A 698.9, B 779.2, S 696.8, K 650.2 (1)

Configuration:
MV: MR: Land MA: Flight MA
Humanoid, -3, - , 8, 8
Tank, -4, - , 16, 0

Multipliers:
Supercharged cool powerplant x0.3
Virtual Controls x0.05
Heavy Hydraulics x0.1
Arctic protection x0.05
Desert protection x0.05
Space protection x0.05
Targeting computer x0.05 (2)
Transformation-Tank x0.3
Conditional Movement-No GES in Humanoid form x-0.1
Conditional Movement-No wheels in Tank form x-0.1 (3)

Servos and Armor:
Location, Class, Space, Kills, Armor, DC
Head, Medium weight, 6, 6, 8(10), 4
Torso, Light Heavy, 14, 14, 8(10), 4
R. Arm, Medium weight, 7, 7, 8(10), 4
L. Arm, Medium weight, 7, 7, 8(10), 4
R. Leg, Medium weight, 7, 7, 8(10), 4
L. Leg, Medium weight, 7, 7, 8(10), 4
Pod, Medium Heavy, 16, 0, 8(10), 4

Movement systems:
Type, MA, Location, Kills
Wheels, +2, Legs, 6 (3 per Leg)
Thrusters, 8, Legs and Arms, NA (weapons mated) (4)
GES, 8, Legs and Arms, NA (weapons mated) (4)

Subassemblies:
Name, Location, Kills, Space, Cost
Pilots cockpit in head, armored (5)
Gunners cockpit in pod, armored (6)
Stereo, Head and Pod, NA, NA, .1
Liftwire, Head, NA, NA, .3
Antitheft, Head and Pod, NA, NA, .2
2 spotlights, Head, NA,NA, .4
Storage Module, Pod, NA, 1, 1
Damage Control, Pod, NA, 1, 1
Micromanipulators, Head, NA, 1, 1
QCM, R. Arm/L. Arm/ TMT/TMT/Pod, NA, NA, 5
-3 awareness wheels, R. Leg/L. Leg, NA, NA, 3
+1 cool, all, NA, NA, 1
Maneuver Pod, Head, 1, 1, 4.5
Maneuver Pod, Pod, 1, 1, 4.5
(Ram Kangaroo Only)
12 passenger cockpits, Pod, NA, NA, 12 (7)

Sensors:
Light Heavy in head, range 20, comm 1800, 2 kills, 12CP, 1space
(No back up since loss of head will also result in loss or ejection of pilot, see (5))
ASP in head, 1 space, 10.5 CP

Weapons:
Name, WA, Range, Damage, Shots, Kills, Location, Space, Cost, Notes.

Weapons common to A, B, S, K
R. Hand, 0, melee, 1K+2K, NA, 1, R. Arm, 1, 2, quick and handy
L. Hand, 0, melee, 1K+2K, NA, 1, L. Arm, 1, 2, quick and handy
Laser Pod, +3, 6, 2K, inf., 1, Torso, 1, 10.8, antimissile/antipersonnel-fragile
Laser Pod, +3, 6, 2K, inf., 1, Torso, 1, 10.8, antimissile/antipersonnel-fragile
Laser Pod, +3, 6, 2K, inf., 1, Torso, 1, 10.8, antimissile/antipersonnel-fragile
Weapon Mount, NA, NA, NA, NA, 1, Torso, 1, 2.5
Weapon Mount, NA, NA, NA, NA, 1, Torso, 1, 2.5
Plasma Rifle Type 1, +1, 11, 5K, inf., 5, Torso, 7, 15.4, BV 2
Battle Axe, 0, melee, 6K+2K, NA, 1 Hand, 7, 7.3, AP-Thrown range 4
Kinetic Kill Counter Missile, +3, NA, "1", 20, 2, Pod (Binder for K), 2, 5, dedicated counter missile.
Heavy Missiles, +1, 10, 8K, 4, 3, Pod (Binder for K), 3, 4.8
Swarm Missiles, +1, 8, 1K, 40, 3, Pod (Binder for K), 6, 8.7

A only
Heavy Gauss Cannon, +1, 14, 10K, - , 10, Torso mount, 12, 22.2
Ammunition, - , - , - , 10, 1.9, Cannon, 1.9, 7.6, AP
Heavy Gauss Cannon, +1, 14, 10K, - , 10, Torso mount, 12, 22.2, crosslinked +2CP
Ammunition, - , - , - , 10, 1.9, Cannon, 1.9, 7.6, AP

B only
Mark 1 Very Heavy Plasma Cannon, +1, 18, 20K, inf., 20, Torso mounts, 28, 107.5, Warm up 1- Wide angle 60

S only
Gauss Howitzer, 0, 1600, 20K, - , 20, Torso mounts, 22.6, 28.6, x10 scale long range
Ammunition, - , - , - , 20, 5.3, Howitzer, 5.3, 31.8, x10 scale Blast 1 (at 1:1 scale Blast 5)

K only
Binder, Medium Heavy, Standard, DA-4, SP 8, DC 4, Torso mount, 10.9 CP, holds swarm missiles
Binder, Medium Heavy, Standard, DA-4, SP 8, DC 4, Torso mount, 10.9 CP, holds heavy missile rack and KKCM

Notes

Michael Gilson sent me this suit design. It will not show up in this story, it does make a good 'Post Story' suit.

Here are preliminary stats for the transforming GA awaiting commentary. I'm assuming this is a post or late war design. I'm also assuming that Jeffrey Lyons is the principal designer, and that he named it "Ram" after the WW II Canadian tank in a (successful) attempt to interest Tess and get more input from her.

1. These are all expensive suits, costing more than Myrmidon, though less than Plasma Cannon Myrmidon and 2nd Gen ODF suits. Price could be reduced by using Overcharged plants, reducing MV and Land MA by 1, or using Standard plants and reducing by 2. You would still equal Nachtmarens MV and surpass its Land MA.
2. I can't find targeting computer rules in Z, Z+, or SBB, so I just used the one from Nachtmaren. I have one space to fit it in, so if it takes more the cost of space efficiency will have to be added to final cost.
3. Nothing in the rules says you can take CM twice, but nothing says you can't, so I did.
4. According to the rules, thrusters can operate as GES at no extra cost. Therefore in humanoid form these act as 8MA flight thrusters, but in tank form they add to act as 16MA GES.
5. A head cockpit saves a little space and money. I'm gambling that the fewer kills will be balanced by the ejection bonus for a comparable survivability. If not, 1 laser pod and the targeting computer can be moved to the head, pilots cockpit and m-pod moved to the torso, back up sensors purchased, and torso hydraulics efficiencied to zero.
   If standard rules are being used take the extra action. But if 'Let's Active' is in use I'm not sure if the extra action is worth the MR penalty
6. Room for 6 PAFS troopers or 12 infantry or 12 stretcher cases or cram in 24 evacuees with just their clothes.

Design Notes of Jeffrey Lyon:

Our new GA is done. While admittedly it is expensive with all variants costing more than the basic Myrmidon, cost inflation is actually less than typical for late war suits. And the payoff in performance is certainly worth it- The Ram is tough and insanely fast for ground combat yet still more than adequate in space combat. Much thanks goes to Designer Emiritus Belin whose input kept us from forgetting the hard learned lessons of designing the Arrow.

The Ram design started out as a Myrmidon Chassis with the wing array replaced with a single pod. The result was a suit with the strength and protection of an HA but the weight of a Soldier! Then the Myrmidons basic weapon suite was installed internally in the torso and pod. A choice of heavy weapons was mounted externally. To simplify the design and logistics the two direct fire variants mount Myrmidon guns. The Ram A mounts two linked Heavy Gauss Cannon, in effect doubling the firepower. The Ram B mounts the Mark 1 Very Heavy Plasma Cannon so it has the same firepower as the Myrmidon Plasma, but oddly enough the Ram B costs less. For the artillery Ram, which we named Ram Sexton, we adapted a light Naval Gauss Gun. While a bit of a handicap for small point targets it shines in delivering area effect. Finally for our infantry fighting vehicle, the Ram Kangaroo, we pulled the missiles from the pod to make passenger room and moved them to two shields we placed in the torso weapons mounts. Since weapon mount articulation is insufficient to parry with the shields only the shield contents receive protection. Theoretically the shields could be dismounted and used in humanoid form, but we shaped them to look like heavy gauss cannon in order to fool enemy observers, and so they would provide little coverage.

The Ram has a slow transformation to save expense. In space once away from a spacecraft deck only one form, humanoid, would be viable. And on the ground we assumed the crew could always find some cover when it was necessary to change. During the transformation the forearms fold back onto the upper arms, then the whole arm twists so the forearm is outboard. The shoulders slide back onto the pod and the pod tilts back till is parallel with the waist pivot of the torso. The upper torso tilts back to reduce height and improve the slope of the armor, becoming a turret, and the head becomes a cupola. The lower legs fold back on the upperleg then twists so it is outboard, then the knees come together. After the joints come together and panels fold up to fill gaps the result appears to be a turret on a wedge.

The movement system when transformed is the result of a suggestion by Designer Belin. A tiny amount of thrust is bled off to power lift fans. With the fans now supporting the Ram, thrust that formerly had to be used for lift can now all be used for propulsion.

Designs by Michael Gilson
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Boy, they rocked...

SHEET:
Cost: 1628 Weight: 45 Tn Maneuver Pool: +284%

CONFIGURATION MV LAND MA FLIGHT MA HIDRO MA
Hibryd +2 6 (108 km/h) 31 (Mach 2.3) 10 (56 knots)

CP 60.5 SENSORS TONS 1.5
SENSOR LOC RANGE COMM KILLS
Standard Head 7 Km 1000 Km 1
Backup Torso 1 Km 300 Km 2
ASP Head
Radio/radar analizer Head
x128 image intensifier Head
x128 sound intensifier Head
Target analizer Head
marine suite Head
magnetic resonance Head

CP 73.5 MOVEMENT SISTEMS TONS 6
SYSTEM MA LOC KILLS
Thrusters x4 1 each Wings
Thrusters x2 1 each RL/LL
Thrusters 2 Torso
Wheels/ Treads +2 RL/LL 1x6 per leg
Notes: Thrusters variable Hidrojets.
It should be 3 weels and 3 treads per leg, but it's a 6-big-weels
in line array per leg (gamewise identical, aesteticaly better)

CP 0 COST MULTIPLIERS +x3.02
POWERPLANT SOURCE XS MV MA MP COST
Hot Supercharged Combustion 5 +2 +2 +67% x-0.03
Notes: Water or H2 fuel, 1 week (aprox.) for 1000 l.
CONTROL SYSTEM MP COST
Voice-Activated Virtual Reality (TM) +50% x0.7
SYSTEM NOTES COST
Verniers +3 MV Mated with Thrusters x0.3
Thought Control (pilot) +2MV, +67%MP,+1WA,etc x0.5
Proteccion All-Env. x0.4
Basic Cloacking Combat & Fire Control x0.65
Stealth Anti-Radar x0.2
ACE +100% MP x0.2
Internal Automation Nivel 1, Mecha Pilot x0.04

CP 93 SERVOS & ARMOR TN 57.5
SP DC KILLS LOCATION LVL ADD+ ARMOR TYPE
7 4 5 Head HS - LH Beta
7 4 6 Right Arm HS +1 LH "
7 4 6 Left Arm HS +1 LH "
7 4 6 Right Leg HS +2 LH "
7 4 6 Left Leg HS +2 LH "
7 4 12 Torso HS - LH "
5 4 3 R. Upper Wing ST - HS "
5 4 3 R. Lower Wing ST - HS "
5 4 3 L. Upper Wing ST - HS "
5 4 3 L. Lower Wing ST - HS "

CP 80.35 WEAPONS TN 31.85
WEAPON WA RNG DMG SHOTS KILLS LOC NOTES
Hands +1* - 1+1 each - 1/1 R/LA Q&H
Mek-Buster Laser +1* 12 16 K - 19 Torso
Meroka Gun +4* 3 1 K v 14.4 T WM Anti-personal /Phalanx
Meroka ammo (+1) - - 40 17.3 T WM Tracer
Riot Control Water Gun -1* 2 "5K" 10 1 RA BV inf, Hydro, "Clip"-Fed, Fragile
4 Extra Water "clips"- - - - - LA Actually, water tanks
Chain Cutter -1* - 11 K - 10 1h AP
Notes: All weapons have +1 WA from T. Control.
1 Hydro clip also stores enough water for 1 week

CP 22.5 SHIELD TN 5
CLASS TYPE DA SP DC LOC
MW Beta -0 10 4 LA

CP 108.85 ADDITIVE SYSTEMS 2 TN + 4.1 TN
CREW LOC TYPE ENCLOSURE NOTES
Pilot, Copilot, Torso Voice/Virtual Armored Mated E-Pods for 5
3 pasengers
5 Commandos Torso Saddle E-"Seats" for 5
SYSTEM LOC NOTES
4 x Wing Wpn Mounts + QCM Wings Hardpoints
Torso Weapon Mount + QCM Torso
QCM x 10 E-Pods, Limbs, Head and Wings
QCM + E-System Torso For Powerplant
Stereo, Liftwire, Deluxe Anti-Theft Torso
Storage Pods + E-System RL/LL 1 Tn
2 Spotlights, 1 IR Spotlight Head
Micromanipulators x2 RA/LA
Damage Control LA
Silent Running 5 For each of Walk, Flying, Weels
Tech Analizer Torso +1 TEC
+3 COOL
ECM 5(All types) / ECCM 5 Torso Mated
1000 Km Fuel (4.1 Tn)

Weight Efficience: 117.7 CP (-58.86 Tn)

375.7 CP before multipliers
03.85 Tn before efficiency
x4.02 cost
1508.3+117.7=1628 Cp total

MM-SBB-XT KÖNIGSTIGER
(XT stand for Extraction Team)

MISSION PARAMETERS: It's a Extraction Team Carrier - a Mek conceived to carry undetected a team of commandos into a fry, open a breach for them, cover them with supresive and anti-tank or anti-mek fire, and take them and someone or something out of it. Combat wise it's a fast-moving, hard- hitting hunter killer, not as a long-standing first-line fighter. On SBB, it could be a refit of the Arrow (well, there is already a fighter transformer with high-tech armor in the game) or a stand-alone model.

DESIGN CONCEPT: To comply with the mission parameters, we need a mek kind of a tiger (the beast, not the WWII tank); a solitary, powerful one who hunts in ambush. We need:
- a sofisticated sensor suite (to look for the one or ones to be extracted), including a radio/radar analizer (to homing onto a rescue signal);
- stealth capabilities and ECM;
- high velocity, high maneuverability and reentry/transat
- be able to operate in a wide range of terrains
- a powerful quick-kill weapon (don't have time to stay and play!), not necessary a long-range one, and without too many collateral damage effect (remember, there are friendly people here!)
- lots of defensive and anti-infantry weapons and the like;
- and of course being able to carry many people and deploy and recover them quickly.

We DON'T need many nor long-ranged weapons, big size (indeed, better a small one), heavy armor nor extended range nor such stuff.

DESCRIPTION (lacking picture): Similar to a Macross Veritech Fighter (it's able to change the three forms but has the same performance on all three) with a X-Wing Star Wars fighter wing array, with feline head, a large (I said LARGE) gun over the right shoulder, a pintle-mounted Meroka gun (the superb Spanish-made version of the Phalanx) over the left one, and three external clamps to the rear (at the "small of the back") and two to the front (at both sides of the torso cockpit) to hold 5 Power Armors.

DESIGN NOTES:
- The cost upper limit was set at 1628 CP (that of the Vogel, the more expensive "militar standar" unit of the entire game). (Incidentally, it managed to cost exactly as intended!!)
- In our original design, the transat, sublight and FTL was handled by a small cutter (1:1 scale, as the Packfighter of Mekton Z, pag. 156) called DRAGON, and the mek, the TIGER, had cloacking. On SBB, there are no mek- sized cloacks, but there is no need for a specific design of a cloacking Cutter (the SturmKutter will work just fine, and it will also be roomier - kind off - for the long way home), and the TIGER now has basic cloacking (She just call for it). It also has LOTS of ECM, silent running, IR spotlights, etc.
- The original design was a Mek-Hybrid-Fighter eficient transformable, the eficient transformation being rather to be able of both Humanoid and Fighter performance at the same time (as the GodGriffin or the Cuttle King from the "Mecha Manual") , but now I'd rather design a Hybryd (could be a Humanoid for better face changing, but I'm not so munchkin and the Hibryd looks beautyful), then give it high speed and MV, then just CALL it an "efficient transformer" (this kind of things being especifically allowed in MTS, it would really SUCK not to use them). ;D
- The thought control is handled trought a sofisticated datalink software; the control system is a voice-activated virtual one (halfway to the reflex); the I.A. is one of my personal design touches, the autopilot (note it's awfull low and it's not thought-controled, it's NOT an A.I.); the "magnetic lens" actually represents several of many surveillance systems (indeed, "fine aplications" of the ASP) able to locate people inside buildings, just like the Blue Thunder police chopter in the old movie; and the Tech Analizer is to help the operator to understand the sensors and locate the target of the extraction quickly.
- The four-wing verniers-thrusters were sugested precisely by the SBB, so it's no conversion here :). The H. Striker size is just apropiate for a Striker-Work unit ( ;) again). The weight was set beforehand at 45 Tn to honor the Phoenix Hawk (my prefered Battletech one); that's about a 50% reduction (actually, a 55% one), who is high but not excessive.
- The hot supercharged combustion powerplant represent a fusion one whose hidrogen-recycling system is not 100% eficient (just cause it's hot and supercharged) and last for some a week instead of some a couple months before recharge with water (if it's not still empty and can separate it in O2 and H2) or hidrogen (if it's dry; this is NOT advisable on a still-hot Mek ^_^). The 1000 l (1 Tn) weight is to make extra fuel's B-Mod easy to calculate.
- Finally, the copilot is a side-by-side (like on the A6 Intruder) ECM and radio operator, the passenger space is a trio of back seats (yes, the cockpit DOES look like a sedan! It ejects thogeger, so it's mated and QCM-ed) and the five saddle mounts are external clamps and life-suport-feeds for PAFS or power armors, ready to jump out (the E-seats) but vulnerable to fire, althoug protected by the ECM and the re-entry equipment.

Wing and Fuselage Hardpoints

An explanation of how to handle weapon hardpoints with MTS was posted in rec.games.mecha a while back. That post is repeated here.

1. Define a Hardpoint as a Weapon Mount with a Quick-Change Mount (i.e., for 2 Spaces and 3CP you can carry an interchangeable load of as many spaces as the spaces of the servo that the Hardpoint is fitted to).
2. Design your Mecha with Hardpoints, but don't fill them.
3. Calculate your Mecha's weight, MAs and MV.
4. Build whatever equipment you like, as long as it can fit into the Hardpoints (efficiency time).
5. Equip your Mecha with whatever load of mixed Hardpoint equipment you like; to determine the effects of that load, add up all kills of all Hardpoint equipment and divide by 20 -- the result is the B-Mod of the hardpoint equipment load (see Z+ p.64 for a definition of B-Mod).

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