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Design Overview
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                 BattleMech Technical Readout

Name/Model:         Phobos
Designer:           Castro
Source(s):          Custom Mordel.Net Units
Technology:         Clan
Technology Rating:  F
Tonnage:            75
Role:               Sniper
Configuration:      Biped BattleMech
Era/Year:           Dark Age / 3150
Rules (Current):    Standard
Rules (Era):        Standard
Rules (Year):       Standard
Total Cost:         16,679,250 C-Bills
Battle Value:       2,506

Chassis:              Endo-Composite
Power Plant:          300 XL
Walking Speed:        43.2 kph  
Maximum Speed:        64.8 kph  
Jump Jets:            None
    Jump Capacity:    None
Armor:                Standard
Armament:             
    4 ER Large Lasers
    1 Laser Anti-Missile System
Manufacturer:         Unknown
    Primary Factory:  Unknown
Communications:       Unknown with ECM Suite
Targeting & Tracking: Unknown with Advanced Targeting Computer

================================================================================================
Overview:
    With the Dark Age burning in the past, and the time of the ilClan in fruition - Clan Sea Fox
    began to dabble again with newer mech designs. While other Clans were developing
    battlemech's to go along with newer technology - Clan Sea Fox took a step back, wanting a
    mech that can go years without resupply and repair. With the popularity of the Regent from
    Coventry Metal Works and Technicron Manufacturing, scientists began designs on what would
    now be known as the Relentless, Vigilant, and Phobos.
    
    The initial development for the Relentless, Vigilant, and Phobos were constantly marred by
    politicking or normal Clan financial struggles, to the point where many thought the
    battlemech's would never see the light of day. Tragically, for a fairly long amount of time,
    all three designs languished in states of half-built, skeletal structures in battlemech
    facilities, never really achieving the financing nor the backing to finish the project. Only
    until Clan Sea Fox began establishing relationships with battlemech developers and factories
    later on in the ilClan era, such as Coventry Metal works, and further realizing that a full
    energy operated battlemech would be more cost efficient (and appealing) to the buyer - only
    then did they begin to put their full effort into turning the three battlemech's from simple
    concepts into realistic designs.
    
    Much like the design philosophy of battlemech's such as the Regent, these battlemech
    "borrowed" certain design elements from many other successful energy dependent mechs; for
    example, borrowing designs from the Black Hawk, Supernova, and structural designs from mechs
    like the Deimos. Thankfully the three battlemech's finally saw production in the late 3100's
    to great success. The battlemechs had two basic philosophies of design and function:
    primarily, to be a battlemech that had a full complement of energy weapons to theoretically
    allow it to work indefinitely during a long campaign or mercenary contract without refit;
    secondarily, to contain an advanced suite of electronics (with the minimum requirement being
    an ECM) to allow it to act defensively as a command mech during battle. While unofficial -
    each battlemech would also have two variants - each providing a different role for the lance
    or star that it was assigned and bought for. Therefore, using those as its principle design
    philosophies, the Relentless, Vigilant, and Phobos were created.
    
    While there was initial criticism that there was some initial criticism of its heavy number
    of lasers taxing the reactor to some degree, either as a battle-line design for a Mercenary
    company or Clan Star that required a mech that required little to no refit and wanted simple
    and easy parts to be rugged and easy to maintain - its popularity rocketed these new mechs
    to the top of sale charts.

Capabilities:
    Weighing a sturdy 75 tons and sporting maximum levels of armour with the rare Endo-Composite
    internal structure, the Phobos battlemech further supplements its survivability with a
    slightly larger cockpit space, which allows Mechwarrior pilots to have more supplemental
    space to fill with survival gear, rations, or weapons in case of long operations. Unlike its
    brother design in the Relentless, this battlemech contains a clan XL engine rather than clan
    fusion engine. This decision effected its survivability and longevity - but most importantly
    it's price - and much to the chagrin of Clan Sea Fox and Coventry Metal Works, this made the
    battlemech slightly more unpopular then its brother the Relentless. However, the Phobos'
    usage of cheap, clan lasers still gave the Phobos an easy to maintain status - as any damage
    to the mech was still easily fixable, and its standard lasers and skeletal structure allowed
    it to take quite a lot of firepower before being marked as crippled.
    
    Along with the internal structure, engineers made it a point to provide the Phobos with
    excellent, if not superior, electronic warfare suites. Ergo, the primary variant of the
    Phobos is hardwired with similar electronic and defense hardware as the Relentless. In the
    right torso can be found an ECM suite - easily masking the presence of the battlemech during
    operations or extended missions. Further, a Laser Anti-Missile system was installed in the
    right torso chassis to provide excellent defense, without the need for ammunition, against
    any incoming missiles that bypassed the ECM suite. Further, in the back of the cockpit, a
    Clan Active Probe sensor suite was placed, giving it a massive boost to sensor ranges as
    well as the ability to communicate and command effectively from the battlefield. This base
    electronic and defensive suite allowed the Relentless to act essentially as a command unit
    to any lance or star - able to defend itself, monitor the battlefield, and defend itself
    with its formidable weaponry. With the base skeletal structure, electronic suite, and
    defense electronics and equipment all laid out, engineers now set out for their actual main
    goal: a mech that requires no ammunition.
    
    Taking inspiration from designs like the Supernova, Black Hawk, and other  battlemech's that
    had sole usage of energy weaponry - the Phobos has a simple yet effective armament.
    Designated as a sniper by any who pilot it, the Phobos boasts a ridiculous four ER Large
    Lasers, with two found in each arm. The arms were of particular interest in the design, as
    it features the ER Large Lasers in very different parts of the arm - with one being located
    upon the lower assembly and one mounted to the shoulder. This did give problems when the
    lasers were attempting to converge on a single target, but pilots found that the higher
    mounted lasers were excellent for peaking over hills at enemy mechs, while the lower lasers
    were maneuverable enough to target flyers and VTOL's. All of the energy weapons are
    hardwired to the clan Targeting computer found in the left torso for further accuracy, as it
    is typical to clan philosophy to design a mech whose systems work together in harmony. In
    order to make sure the mech and pilot do not suffer through the massive amounts of heat the
    Phobos puts out with its energy armaments - engineers were able to fit no less than 25
    Double Heat Sinks throughout the mech, which allowed the mech to consistently fire most of
    its weapons without a worry of generating an excess amount of heat.

Deployment:
    While this battlemech should have seen deployment earlier in its development - its
    production near the end of the Era of the Dark Age sadly left most of them in their
    production facilities either half-built or collecting dust. Rather than forgotten, building
    a new mech was seen as "not needed" by Clan Sea Fox, and they had not developed the
    relationship they had now with many Battlemech manufacturers. However, with the new
    prosperity found in the ilClan Era, as well as the Relentless, Phobos, and Vigilant
    blueprint rediscovery, there is now new life brought into the battlemech, and Clan Sea Fox
    has started to see its benefit (and money) selling it to many a buyer across the Inner
    Sphere and Clan space.
    
    Thankfully, with the Phobos' high level of common parts and rugged status, coupled with its
    ability to essentially never need refit on long campaigns or contracts, the Phobos has begun
    to collect battle scars instead of dust particles.

Variants:
    Due to the unpopular nature of this battlemech over its much more successful cousin, the
    secondary variant that should have been slated was left somewhat incomplete and unsold. The
    Phobos 2 makes some drastic changes to the model, returning back to a standard engine for
    added survivability, however, it removes the Laser Anti-Missile system for a Light TAG in
    order to provide targeting telemetry for its lances/stars missile armed battlemech's, or,
    coordinates for coordinated strikes from battlefield artillery. It does keep all the rest of
    its internal electronic defensive suite in the form of an ECM, Active Probe. and Clan
    Targeting Computer. It further continues the changes to the original design by downgrading
    the ER Large Lasers to Improved Heavy Medium Lasers.
    
    However, what made it wholly unpopular was the fact that engineers went wholeheartedly
    against the initial design philosophy of an all energy mech and added a Streak LRM-5 system,
    as well as a Streak SRM-6  system. Why the engineers decided to added an ammunition based
    armaments to a mech whose sole design philosophy was to be energy independent is a complete
    mystery, however, they did provide more than enough ammunition for an extended campaign. No
    matter, the explosive nature of the Improved lasers as well as the explosive nature of the
    ammunition left this design languished in factories, abandoned to the realm of dust.

================================================================================================
Equipment                                                             Mass                      
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure:                       Endo-Composite               6.00                     
Engine:                                       300 XL                   9.50                     
    Walking MP:                                 4                                               
    Running MP:                                 6                                               
    Jumping MP:                                 0                                               
Heat Sinks (Double):                         26 [52]                  16.00                     
Gyro:                                        Standard                  3.00                     
Cockpit:                                     Standard                  3.00                     
Armor Factor:                                  231                    14.50                     
    Type:                                    Standard                                           

                                    Internal         Armor     
                                    Structure        Value     
    Head:                               3              9       
    Center Torso:                      23             37       
    Center Torso (rear):                               9       
    R/L Torso:                         16             26       
    R/L Torso (rear):                                  6       
    R/L Arm:                           12             24       
    R/L Leg:                           16             32       

================================================================================================
Weapons and Ammo                                       Location          Critical     Tonnage   
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Active Probe                                              H                 1          1.00             
ECM Suite                                                 RT                1          1.00             
Laser Anti-Missile System                                 RT                1          1.00             
Targeting Computer                                        LT                4          4.00             
2 ER Large Lasers                                         RA                2          8.00             
2 ER Large Lasers                                         LA                2          8.00             

================================================================================================
Alpha Strike Statistics                                             
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Point Value (PV): 51
TP: BM,  SZ: 3,  TMM: 1,  MV: 8"
Damage: (S) 5 / (M) 5 / (L) 5,  OV: 0
Armor (A): 8,  Structure (S): 4
Specials: AMS, ECM, ENE, PRB, RCN
 
"None but a coward dares to boast that he has never known fear." - Ferdinand Foch
Copyright © 1995-2024 Scott Bukoski. All rights reserved.
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Code Release 2.24.13.1 (2024-09-02T12:52:21-04:00)