From: coganman@soda.berkeley.edu (Andrei Cogan)
Newsgroups: rec.games.mecha
Subject: BTECH: LCT-F1 Fire Locust
Date: 4 Jan 1993 10:24:03 GMT
Organization: None whatsoever...
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: soda.berkeley.edu


	This is the first of several MAJOR redesigns of the "standard" mechs
to incorporate 3055 technology...



Type	LCT-F1   Fire Locust
						Tons
Tonnage		20 Tons		20
Internals	Endo Steel			1
Engine		180 XL				3.5
  Walk		9
  Run		14
  Jump		0
Heat Sinks		10			0
Gyro						2
Cockpit						3
Armor Factor		63 FF			3.5
			IS	Armor
  H			3	7
  CT			6	10 / 2
  LT/RT			5	8 / 2
  LA/RA			3	4
  LL/RL			4	8

Weapons and Ammo	Loc.		Crits
Med Laser		CT		1	1
Med Laser		CT		1	1
Med Pulse Laser		LT		1	2
Med Pulse Laser		RT		1	2
Flamer			H		1	1

Cost (in current configuration) 	2,381,400 C-Bills

Overview
--------

	With ComStar's victory over the Clans, Free Worlds Defense
Industries realized that retrofitting of new technology into older
machines would not be enough to stop the Clans when their attacks
resumed. Although by the mid-fifties many completely new mech designs
had come out of Inner Sphere factories, many mechwarriors were
reluctant to use them, as, for better or for worse, the new designs
were considered untried and untested.

	With these thoughts in mind, FWDI engineers then visited the
Draconis Combine to get first-hand impressions of Clan tactics, as
well as the opinions of warriors who had been involved in much of the
fighting. The engineers came away with several conclusions:

o	Some of the success of the Clans could be attributed to the
surprise value of mechs being able to carry many different weapons
loads on the same basic chassis.
	The Combine warriors noted that the unpredictability of the
Clan designs often caused considerable hesitation on the parts of
Inner Sphere warriors. Although this hesitation was measured in
seconds, as these warriors tried to ascertain the current
configuration of their opponents, such pauses were often disastrous,
as the Clan warriors generally did not have these sorts of worries
about THEIR opponents.

o	Redesigned mechs should try to preserve the appearance of the
original as much as possible.
	Firstly, this ensures that spare parts that were intended for
older models of the mech would also work with the newer one. Secondly,
Inner Sphere mechwarriors had been using the original models for
centuries, and although the technology had changed, many techs were
still familiar only with the older ones. This way, maintenance and
repair is made easier, and this also soothes the nerves that
mechwarriors often have about using new machinery. Lastly, the mere
existence of new designs would cause the same hesitation on the part
of the Clan warriors that Inner Sphere soldiers often suffered.

o	Unpredictability works both ways.
	If their opponents were confusing them, the soldiers figured,
they couldn't they do the same thing? The FWDI engineers realized
that if a mech preserved the appearance of the original, it would
cause the opposition to underestimate it, leading to a tactical
advantage on the part of the new mech. This would serve the eliminate
the "hesitation gap," as one Tai-i put it.      

o	Although as a combined package, Star League technology could
be very powerful, individual advances did not really make much of a
difference on their own.
	As examples, the engineers looked at the Guillotine mech sold
by their competitors, Irian BattleMechs Unlimited, and realized that
for all the expense of the Endo Steel chassis, the weight savings did
not make for a substantially more powerful machine.
	Similarly, the LCT-1A, the original SLDF Locust, had an Endo
Steel chassis and a medium pulse laser for armament. With the general
collapse of technology, the Endo Steel was replaced with standard
materials, and the MPL was replaced with a standard medium laser.

o	Overall mech tactics have been revolutionized by the Clans.
	The new tactics are much more demanding of speed, firepower,
resilience and accuracy, especially when compared to pre-Clan Inner
Sphere combat models. Since combat today is much faster and more fluid
than in the past, most mechs should be as well. Furthermore, given
that most IS-Clan conflicts until 3067 will be low-level raids, the
four directives above are strong indicators of the current demands
placed on BattleMechs.

o	New technology is in demand.
	Given the high demand for new weaponry, anyone who put out a
good product at a good price was certain to make high profits. Every
the shrewd businessmen, FWDI executives let their engineers come up
with a new generation of mechs.


Capabilities
------------

	Given all these different design priorities, FWDI announced,
in October 3054, the F series of Locusts. The F series was a complete
redesign of the machine, incorporating large amounts of recovered
technology, including XL engines, ferro-fibrous armour, Endo Steel and
pulse lasers.

	The F series designs tried to adhere to the new guidelines as
much as possible. The F Locusts all have strong armor, increased
speed, and much greater firepower than any of their predecessors.
Additionally, FWDI decided to take custom orders, to fill the
individual needs of both the pilots and different military units and
objectives. The standard, F1 model, is takes up only 40 percent of the
mechs thus produced, with the remaining 60 percent being variants of
one sort or another.

	The Marik engineers took their design guidelines so seriously,
and achieved their goals so well, that to an outside observer, the F
series machines are almost indistinguishable from the 1V model, based
on external appearance alone. Only the dual center-torso mounted
lasers hint that the F series is not a standard model, and even this
is of use, as 1E variant of the mech carried two lasers in a similar
mount.

	Both because of the "F" label and the flamer mounted on
the standard model, the F series have already garnered the nickname of
"Fire Locusts," an appellation that FWDI does not really approve
of, but which is already in such wide-spread use that the company may
consider making the name change official.

Variants
--------

(Note that all the following variants are for factory orders only --
 further modifications are subject to a 5 percent surcharge. Stock
 modifications replace the head-mounted flamer with the listed equipment.) 

o LCT-F1	The standard production model, as described above.
		This model directly led to the nickname of "Fire
		Locust."
o LCT-F2	Carries TAG instead of the flamer. This model is in
		tremendous demand in the Capellan Confederation. This
		model been attached to the artillery lances of
		several elite Capellan regiments, requiring a
		substantial reorganization of such specialized
		lances. Standard configuration now consists of 3
		CPLT-CL's, 1 RVN-2X and 2 LCT-F2's.
o LCT-F3	Replaces the flamer with a C3 slave unit. This model,
		along with the F2, are already strong sellers in the
		Draconis Combine.
o LCT-F4	This is another common variant, replacing the flamer
		with MASC equipment. This model favored by scouts and
		also coming into use by the Skye Rangers of the
		Federated Commonwealth. A subvariant of this one has
		been seen at least twice. This variant simply removes
		the two center torso-mounted lasers, lowering the
		mech's weight by ten percent, which allows the Locust
		thus modified to achieve speeds up to 216 kph,
		comparable to that of the Dasher Omnimech. This
		modification voids FWDI's warranty, and also leaves
		the mech unbalanced at high speeds, and thus is not
		recommended.

	FWDI also sells a model with double-strength heat sinks, at an
extra charge of 20 percent. The designers felt that normal heat sinks
were adequate for the F series, as none of the variants produce an
inordinate amount of heat, and all are fast enough to run away and
cool off, if necessary. Such machines are noted by an "H" after
the variant number, as in "LCT-F1H," which signifies a
flamer-based mech equipped with Freezers.

	One unique prototype uses salvaged Clan equipment to further
increase the power of this model. Using two captured Clan ER medium
lasers and two captured medium pulse lasers, along with the Freezers,
this mech, named "Dorothy" after the youngest daughter of the
CEO of FWDI, is currently on display as a semi-permanent guard of the
FWDI production facility on Gibson.


Notable Mechs and Pilots
------------------------

	A few of these redesigns have already fought the Clans. The
most notable of these has been "Brunhilda," an F2H model piloted
by Talon Sergeant Inge Yasuda of the Draconis Combine. Attached as an
artillery spotter on a raid by Ryuken-san into Smoke Jaguar space,
everything was going according to plan until two Omnimech stars
attempted to cut the returning raiders off from their dropships. As
three of the Archers of the artillery lance surrounded the Omnis with
a minefield of FASCAM rounds, the Omnis slowed down to exit the mine
field. At this time, the two LRM carriers that had been modified to
carry the Arrow-IV missile system started firing salvo after salvo.
Yasuda used her TAG equipment to focus the fire down on to the
now-trapped Omnis. Six were immediately destroyed or damaged beyond
repair. The remaining four sought to retreat, but stumbled directly
into the path of the returning raiders. Badly outnumbered and heavily
damaged, the Clan warriors surrendered and pledged their allegiance to
the Combine. They are currently being debriefed at a classified
location deep within the Combine. Yasuda has been prompted to Chu-i,
and is in command of a lance of mostly F2H's and F4's that serve
as spotters and runners for the regiment.


	-Andrei Cogan
	Tai-i Pendo Matsuura of Ryuken-ni
	Blantleff of the 21st Centauri Lancers on the MUSE

   Andrei Cogan (coganman@soda.berkeley.edu)   |||    When in doubt, panic.
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|   even if you take into account Hofstadter's Law.                           |
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