Name/Model: UrbanMech UM-R61
Designer: IronRaven Special Projects Group
Source(s): Custom Mordel.Net Units
Technology: Inner Sphere
Technology Rating: D
Tonnage: 30
Configuration: Biped BattleMech
Era/Year: Star League / 2700
Rules (Current): Introductory
Rules (Era): Introductory
Rules (Year): Introductory
Total Cost: 1,547,650 C-Bills
Battle Value: 624
Chassis: Republic-R
Power Plant: Leenex 60
Walking Speed: 21.6 kph
Maximum Speed: 32.4 kph
Jump Jets: Pitban 6000
Jump Capacity: 60 meters
Armor: Durallex Medium
Armament:
1 Magna Hellstar PPC
1 Harmon Medium Laser
2 Harmon Small Lasers
Manufacturer: Unknown
Primary Factory: Unknown
Communications: Dalban Interact
Targeting & Tracking: Dalban Urban
================================================================================================
Overview:
The UM-R60 UrbanMech was once nearly ubiquitous in garrison units and planetary, city and
corporate security forces. They served well through the Succession Wars, the Aramis Coup,
and smaller conflicts and raids. Even when many of the common citizen feels fear at the
silhouette of most battlemechs, the Urbie's does not. While many mechwarriors despise the
small, slow Urbanmech, for generations the Urbanmech has been a shield of the people, the
protector that has stopped pirates, bandits and terrorists dead. And even the finest shield
has a weakness.
The biggest one is that it is slow- the Urbie punches out of it's weight class at the
expense of speed. There are two ways to make an Urbie faster. One is to strap it to a rail
car, the other way is walk it off a cliff. But for its purpose, the Urbanmech doesn't need a
lot of speed. And that is part of why the Urbie doesn't scare people- a fit bicyclist can
out run it. It isn't "coming to get you". The other is that while weapons fit is heavy for
weight class, less than a minute of fighting empties the magazine, and the Urbie has to
slowly waddle off looking for an ammo truck. And this part of why it is loved by people. It
is armed to protect, not to oppress. But it can't protect for long.
To be "the shield that is always raised", Orgus developed the UM-R61. Orgus made scores of
one of a kind prototypes and small batch trial and evaluation units to try out various
equipment fits to make the Urbie better. It had to be as good a weapon as the Imperator B to
fight off bandits (or other attacking houses) in other mechs, engage attacking VTOL
gunships, and stopping a loader or loggermech with improvised armour or a "killdozer" that
used to be an earthmover. But not something that can wipe out an apartment building. And
they had to keep it cheap and have cheap, readily available parts. There really was only one
answer.
The PPC is a time tested weapon. It works in all environments, and it is a horrible
ineffective weapon to use on crowds. Price-wise, the typical PPC is comparable to a class-10
autocannon. It also has superior range, is lighter and requires no ammunition. While it does
produce more waste heat than the the cannon, as the basic Urbie is set up it can still
handle that heat load. When they went looking at the specifics, the time honored Magna
Hellstar fit the bill perfectly- it's power and cooling feeds in the Marauder have a
reputation for reliability, durability and ease of maintenance- and was priced right. The
does require changes to the arm, but it becomes shorter and blockier and more like a flipper
with a thumb than a fist.
The next weapon added was the Harmon medium laser. While the PPC is a good mech, it has
difficulty effectively engaging targets at 90m or less; the medium laser comes into it's own
at that range. With half the throughput of the PPC, it does give up a lot but it is still
able to disable light vehicles with a single shot and when used in conjunction with the
small laser it is considered to be an acceptable given that it is a secondary weapon.
As mentioned, the -R61 retains the Harmon small laser on the left arm. The small laser is
capable of being used as antipersonnel weapon, but by selectively targeting each person one
at a time, which makes it great for dealing with a lone gunman or vaporizing a car bomb, but
pointless for liquidating a crowd. The twin mount with the medium is a little bigger than
that on the R60, and it is still a box that can't even make a rude gesture. A second small
laser was mounted to the right arm on this new version, and mounted co-axially with the
particle cannon. In both mounts, it is still the same 5mm firing port, and it isn't very
intimidating. With a guard dog, sometimes the growl means more than the bite, and the right
arm mounting is the embodiment of this theory. Where it is, if the laser is focused at lower
center mass on a human, they have a great view of the PPC's emitter housing. When singling
a provocateur (or a suicide bomber) out, it has a near overwhelming power of suggestion. As
the engineer described it "if you can hear the growl, you can see the fangs".
The left over reduction in mass left Orgus with three choices. Make the mech lighter, which
would have meant a new engine and changing many components. Buy a new, faster engine. Or the
logical choice, keep the same engine and since they'd doubled the heat load of the mech put
in more heatsinks. With four more heatsinks, it is only slightly overtaxed if you use
weapons constantly and if properly managed will never overheat. A little more armour was
added as well, so it take small cannon or medium lasers to the back.
The end total is an Urbanmech that is independent of ammunition and the very most armour
that can be supported by a frame of this size. It has superior range and the firepower just
increases as you get close enough for it to kick you in the shins. Looked at clinically and
using the SLDF's tactical calculus algorithm, this Urbie has a unit value of 545, up a full
forty points over the most common model. And despite all this, UM-R61 is still an Urbanmech.
An Urbie- a short, chubby waddling thing that if viewed at a distance looks like it should
"squish" when hugged by a toddler. Even up close, it looks like it should be painted in
bright colors and hidden in the forest for children to find.
To correspond with the release of the UM-R61, Orguss engaged in a widespread marketing
campaign. They took the idea of "hug an Urbie" several steps further, including children's
programming. Hello Urbie was a heavily chibified, animated white "Urbie White"
character, who with her friends learned about life. Orguss even convinced other Mech
manufacturers to join the project, with her friends including Jackie (a black Blackjack),
Zoom (a hyperactive red Locust) and their teacher Mrs Thunderbolt. The marketing campaign
included everything from lunch boxes and water bottles, computer games (mostly educational),
clothing and toys. They finally made a plush Urbanmech that really was huggable, and for
older kids a remote controlled Urbie with a foam ball launcher (which the animated version
had as well, and used it to fight off the neighborhood bully Fat Mackie and the ghostly
Screech the Banshee in several episodes prior to the introduction of a local police officer
Deputy M. Rauder). And that was far from the only marketing, with the manufacturer loaning
it's prototypes and it's test pilots to holo and film studios, cementing its place in pop
culture as the "plucky" and "friendly" "good guy mech" for centuries.
So what killed it? Why did the all energy Urbie fade away while the AC/10 armed version
continues on after the chaos and destruction of the Succession wars? It wasn't the price,
the unit price was a less than 2% difference between the -R60 and -R61 with a 5% lower
annual maintenance and training budget (assuming normal levels) over the life of the mech.
The simple answer is, it was war. It wasn't the usual answer of some component becoming
lostech, everything that is needed can be made today. But with the superior combat
capability the -R61 equipped units were at higher priority targets making them casualties of
centuries of conflict. Many were simply vaporized by Aramis nukes and then by the First
Succession War. The records don't show that the Krensky's Exodus Fleet had any among their
forces, which which given the number of Mackies they carried off suggests just how few
UM-R61s survived to that point. And while the Cappellans do have limited ability to produce
more UrbanMechs, their ongoing lack of particle cannons make it unlikely they will make this
version.
Variants:
Most of the few that have survived have had their PPCs replaced with large lasers.
Unfortunately, this rebuilding usually often also at the cost the second small laser. For
those mechs, a medium laser and/or heatsinks is sometimes mounted, or they are underweight
and unbalanced resulting in poor performance. The most visible of these is are actually on
Sian, where the Capellans have turned them into fixed turrets overlooking several major
infrastructure sites. The others have had the right arm replaced entirely. Lacking the
loading mechanism found in the R60s, these poor -R61s are usually fitted with missile racks
and ammunition racks in a self contained assembly with only basic power and data lines run
through the shoulder joint.
There is what can be consider an intermediary configuration between the UM-R61 and the
LRM-equipped -R60 variants. The records indicate that only two were made by Orguss for
internal evaluation, these were armed with a large laser and LRM-10 rack in the right arm
and the small laser in the left. With two tons of ammunition and a twelfth heatsink. They
experienced all the the problem that the -R60M experienced with off-axis reloading, while
the power lines had binding issues. While subtle modifications to the arm servos and torso
could have resolved these issues, the UM-61 was simpler and required no modifications to the
main parts. These prototypes would have offered a good mix of direct and indirect fire, but
the energy only -R61 gave superior endurance and required no custom tooling. Records
indicate that one was scrapped and the second was placed in to the Orguss prototype vault.
Sometimes refered to as the "green room" or the "Easter basket" in surviving records, it was
supposed to contain at least one specimen of UrbanMech made, including prototypes. This
vault is believed to have been part of their testing facility, and would have been lost when
the factory was destroyed.
Orguss did proposed an advanced technology version to the Star League. The details were lost
when the main plant was destroyed by orbital bombardment and it is unclear if there was ever
a prototype built. [Editor's note: After the recovery of the Helm memory core, it is
theorized that it was to be an ER-PPC armed version equipped with high efficiency heat sinks
and more lasers.]
Notable MechWarriors:
Constable Katerina Westcape: As the protagonist of the Tikonov Broadcasting Company's
Mech Police!, the fictional Katerina Westcape entertained viewers for six years. A
young traffic officer transferred to the Advanced Armoured Response Team of police mech
pilots, the series was set in the fictional city of Luneria. Westcape and her partner Al
piloted their unique, command consoled and turbocharged UM-R61 Bonapart in the protection of
the city against raiders, terrorists, organized crime and corruption both in and out of
their mechs. It was surprisingly successful combination of police procedural, military soap
opera, and romantic comedy in the environment of a company of mechs and tanks. It was
criticized by many for it's over the top and almost cartoonish depiction of excessive force,
particularly by their commander Commander Albion (who's Behemoth was destroyed at least once
a season). Despite the objections it was popular with veterans and emergency service workers
for the accurate sarcasm and dark humor. While the action was praised for it's accuracy, no
city was ever such a hive of crime and terrorism to the point the final season actually
commented on it and made a story arc about binary psychotropic agents in the municipal water
supply and selective restaurants, combined with subliminal messages. The series ended before
the romantic tension which had been a corner stone of Mech Police! was ever resolved,
the fans all agree that Al would have been second in Katarina's heart of Boneparte and he'd
have been fine with it. It was widely syndicated for about thirty years after it's
conclusion, with the Swedenese dub being considered supremely funny for how bad the dubbing
was. It is still a cult classic among police mech units, who once Sphere-wide adopted
Albion's claim "We get a crime of some kind every 36 seconds within the precincts of the
city we patrol. My main job as a police mechwarrior is to make sure it doesn't rise to 1 in
every 35 seconds. Get it?"
Mech Police! had in addition to the one Urbanmech a mixed lance of Stingers and Wasps
that eventually became a lance of Wasp -2A ISMs, a pair of Locusts for highway enforcement,
a mixed and everchanging lance of medium and fast heavy mechs, and a trio of the Von
Luckners and the aforementioned Behemoth. The producers of the show mostly relied on
corporate product placements for the mechs, but they did go directly Tikonov-based CCAF
units and the planetary militia for "casting", which gave the producers access to front line
vehicles and equipment for props. In the last three seasons, it was a actually a reward to
be an extra or a guest villain on Mech Police! within these units and resulted in the
"bad guys" also using realistic tactics, which forced the actors and the writers to make the
heroes that much more realistically competent. By the final season, this had taken the
action from borderline slapstick to fast paced, realistic depictions of the tactics and
techniques used by elite tactical response teams, and explored the dilemmas of situations
where there is no right answer, only the least bad one. The comedic oafishness of Albion and
the officers remained, as was the love triangle between Katerina, Al and Boneparte (yes, the
mech), but the lightness was gone, and so the show was cancelled. It should be noted that
during the "grim" final season, there was also a story that involved a cargo zeppelin and a
slung-loaded Boneparte vs a stolen LAM, so seriousness is relative. There would be three
movies made from it, who's canonicity is disputed, and several attempted to reboot (with and
without authorization) that all failed.
================================================================================================
Equipment Mass
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure: Standard 3.00
Engine: 60 Fusion 1.50
Walking MP: 2
Running MP: 3
Jumping MP: 2
Heat Sinks (Single): 15 5.00
Gyro: Standard 1.00
Cockpit: Standard 3.00
Armor Factor: 104 6.50
Type: Standard
Internal Armor
Structure Value
Head: 3 9
Center Torso: 10 11
Center Torso (rear): 8
R/L Torso: 7 10
R/L Torso (rear): 4
R/L Arm: 5 10
R/L Leg: 7 14
================================================================================================
Weapons and Ammo Location Critical Tonnage
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 Jump Jets CT 2 1.00
PPC RA 3 7.00
Small Laser RA 1 0.50
Medium Laser LA 1 1.00
Small Laser LA 1 0.50
================================================================================================
Alpha Strike Statistics
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Point Value (PV): 18
TP: BM, SZ: 1, TMM: 0, MV: 4"j
Damage: (S) 2 / (M) 2 / (L) 1, OV: 0
Armor (A): 3, Structure (S): 3
Specials: ENE |
