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Design Overview
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                 BattleMech Technical Readout

Name/Model:         Vigilant 2
Designer:           Castro
Source(s):          Custom Mordel.Net Units
Technology:         Clan
Technology Rating:  F
Tonnage:            100
Role:               Juggernaut
Configuration:      Biped BattleMech
Era/Year:           Dark Age / 3150
Rules (Current):    Standard
Rules (Era):        Standard
Rules (Year):       Standard
Total Cost:         28,634,333 C-Bills
Battle Value:       3,086

Chassis:              Endo Steel
Power Plant:          400 XL
Walking Speed:        43.2 kph  
Maximum Speed:        64.8 kph  
Jump Jets:            None
    Jump Capacity:    None
Armor:                Standard
Armament:             
    4 ER Large Lasers
    14 ER Small Lasers
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 massive 100 tons and sporting maximum levels of armour with Ferro-Fibrous
    structure, the Vigilant 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. However, most
    shocking to the design is the absolute disuse of the stereotypical clan XL engine in favor
    of a heavier, but more centralized, clan fusion engine. This allowed the initial build and
    repair cost of the chassis to remain low, and, allow the durability and repairability to
    remain quite high - a bonus with many who sought after a rugged Battlemech to purchase for
    longer campaigns or contracts. This usage of cheap, yet common, parts gave the Vigilant its
    rugged and easy to maintain status - as any damage to the mech was easily fixable, and its
    standard engine and skeletal structure allowed it to take quite a lot of firepower before
    being marked as crippled. What made it even more durable was the Reinforced internal
    skeleton placed inside the chassis - making it wholeheartedly one of the most durable mechs
    on the battlefield for its tonnage.
    
    Along with the internal structure, engineers made it a point to provide the Vigilant with
    excellent, if not superior, electronic warfare suites. Ergo, this variant of the Vigilant is
    hardwired with the similar electronic and defense hardware to its brethren. 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 Vigilant 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 Vigilant boasts a capacitor fed ER PPC in each arm,
    providing a terrifying amount of long range firepower when fully charged. A further four
    more ER Medium Lasers are found on the bottom section of each side torso, allowing for
    further damage at medium range. 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 Relentless puts out
    with its energy armaments and Laser Anti-Missile system - engineers were able to fit 24
    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 Vigilant's high level of common parts and rugged status, coupled with
    its ability to essentially never need refit on long campaigns or contracts, the Vigilant has
    begun to collect battle scars instead of dust particles.

Variants:
    The second variant of the Vigilant, much like the Phobos, is vastly different from its
    original counterpart. Starting with its armour, it replaces the Reinforced internal
    structure with Endo-Steel, and replaces the Ferro-Fibrous Armour with standard plates. The
    engine is also gutted completely - removing the standard engine and replacing it with a Clan
    XL engine. This does vastly increase the speed of the Vigilant by a large margin, but it
    cuts down on its overall survivability and and repairability (and cost) - which led to lower
    sales initially then expected (however they rose quite high after a short period of time
    after seeing it in combat). For reasons which will become apparent in a few moments, it also
    removes almost all of its electronic warfare equipment, retaining only the ECM suite - which
    was moved to the cockpit - and the Targeting computer, which remained in the left torso,
    albeit pushed down due to the engine now taking up space.
    
    However its biggest departure is the Vigilant's change to its weaponry. Its ER Medium Lasers
    in either side torso get upgraded to ER Large lasers, which provided much more punch at
    longer range than the original did at the expense of the ability to assassinate a enemy
    pilot with a clean head shot. However, whether because a joke was made, or some form of
    hilarity needed to ensue - the ER PPC's were replaced in either arm for no less then 14 ER
    Small Lasers - split evenly between two arms. While ironically, this generated similar heat
    and damage to the ER PPC, this "laser fist" (as it was dubbed) was so taxing on the
    generator that pilots reported feeling an ionization charge in their cockpit when firing
    either fist. Whether this was detrimental to the pilot is yet to be determined - however,
    the effectiveness of so many ER Small lasers at a relatively medium range cannot be
    understated - and while the Vigilant 2 was effectively missing much of the defenses of its
    original variant - no mech would dare stand within 120 meters of the ER Small Lasers
    effective range for fear of being absolutely shredded by sheer force of the bombardment. Due
    to this characteristic, the secondary variant of the Vigilant become more popular over time
    as mercenary companies and stars found more useful mechs to perform electronic warfare.

================================================================================================
Equipment                                                             Mass                      
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure:                         Endo Steel                 5.00                     
Engine:                                       400 XL                  26.50                     
    Walking MP:                                 4                                               
    Running MP:                                 6                                               
    Jumping MP:                                 0                                               
Heat Sinks (Double):                         23 [46]                  13.00                     
Gyro:                                        Standard                  4.00                     
Cockpit:                                     Standard                  3.00                     
Armor Factor:                                  307                    19.50                     
    Type:                                    Standard                                           

                                    Internal         Armor     
                                    Structure        Value     
    Head:                               3              9       
    Center Torso:                      31             50       
    Center Torso (rear):                              12       
    R/L Torso:                         21             34       
    R/L Torso (rear):                                  8       
    R/L Arm:                           17             34       
    R/L Leg:                           21             42       

================================================================================================
Weapons and Ammo                                       Location          Critical     Tonnage   
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ECM Suite                                                 H                 1          1.00             
2 ER Large Lasers                                         RT                2          8.00             
2 ER Large Lasers                                         LT                2          8.00             
Targeting Computer                                        LT                5          5.00             
7 ER Small Lasers                                         RA                7          3.50             
7 ER Small Lasers                                         LA                7          3.50             

================================================================================================
Alpha Strike Statistics                                             
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Point Value (PV): 64
TP: BM,  SZ: 4,  TMM: 1,  MV: 8"
Damage: (S) 8 / (M) 8 / (L) 5,  OV: 4
Armor (A): 10,  Structure (S): 5
Specials: ECM, ENE
 
"Yesterday I dared to struggle. Today I dare to win." - Bernadette Devlin
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)