Felt inspired, and it struck me that the Periphery never got any non-RWR gunboat. They didn't have much yard capacity to pick from so the Leopard seemed like the best candidate...
Leopard Class gunboat
Overview:
The deployment of the Leopard class gunboat by the Taurian Concordat, rapidly followed by the Magistracy of Canopus, in the last decade (the actual date of when this class entered service is not known at this time) of the century came as a surprise to those few who bothered to keep track of events in the Periphery. Since there existed no known manufacturing plants that could manufacture heavy missile systems outside the Inner Sphere it was first suspected that the gunboats were armed with salvaged weapon systems scavenged from the battlefields of the Periphery revolt but the numbers of these gunboats that have been deployed suggests otherwise.
It is uncertain when the Leopard gunboat project started but the trigger might have been the brutal "Road to Sarna" campaign or more likely the Andurien offensive, both which saw extensive use of Marik gunboats, particularly the Andurien campaign which was fought close to the Periphery.
Despite the hardship and shortages in the battle-scared and war-torn Periphery gunboat warfare was a threat that could not be ignored and, unlike more conventional naval warfare with regular warships, it was something the Periphery could actually still participate in, and indeed had to participate in if they wanted to avoid the fate of the Rim Worlds Republic. The gunboat forces of the Periphery states have grown thanks to the relative peaceful condition outside the Inner Sphere and today they constitute a significant deterrence against opportunistic adventurism from the Inner Sphere.
Capabilities:
The Leopard is generally considered a poor gunboat. It combines the many flaws of the earlier conversions such as weak skin, limited secondary weaponry and inadequate number of missile tubes - but it does so at the expense of a much more valuable ship class.
The Leopard gunboat is not without merits and it features a streamlined secondary weapons load as well as a marginally increased armor protection and more effective cooling system that allows the ship to use the weaponry it actually does have. To improve the gunboat's survival chances an anti-missile laser cluster have been mounted on the bow, a rare but valuable feature on a gunboat.
The main punch of the Leopard is it's single Killer Whale missile system, which is awkwardly mounted in an armored pod on the port side of the ship and is reloaded from the magazines inside the old mech bays.
Designed for operation in the expanses of the Periphery the Leopard have been modified with extended range fuel tanks and a generous cargo hold.
note: Some analysts speculates that the large cargo capacity is spare mass intended for a future refit, probably of the hull structure and armor protection.
Variants:
The Magistracy version of the Leopard Gunboat have been noted to carry secondary weapons of different make, but otherwise seems identical to the Taurian original.
Deployment:
The Taurian Leopard Gunboats are deployed mainly in squadron strength around the remaining industrial worlds outside of the Hyades Cluster of the Taurian Concordat but there also exist a small gunboat flotilla with integral Jumpship and carrier support intended for rapid deployment to any threatened system, this force have clashed with the Capellan March Militia's Impalas and the Capellan Confederation's Divine Furys on several occasions in various border skirmishes with mixed results.
The small Canopian gunboat fleet is concentrated in two flotillas for the defense of Canopus IV itself and the yards at Duncanshire, which is also suspected to be the source of the Canopian gunboats themselves.
So far all efforts to acquire a Leopard Gunboat either by independents or any of the Inner Sphere nations have been fruitless although traders in the Outworlds Alliance have reported sightings of what might be a squadron of Leopard gunboats training gunboat tactics with the elite OWA AeroSpace Fighter wings.
Leopard Class gunboat
Type: Military Aerodyne
Tech: Standard
Mass: 1,600 tons
Fuel: 150.00 tons (6000)
Tons/Burn-day: 1.84 tons
Safe Thrust: 4
Max Thrust: 6
Heatsinks: 135
Structural Integrity: 7
Armor: 31.5 tons standard
Nose: 160 (16)
R/L Wings: 130 (14)
Aft: 112 (11)
Weapons:
Arc (Heat) Type Short Medium Long Xtreme
Nose(57 Heat)
1 KillerWhale (10 rnds) 4 4 4 4
1 LRM 20(30 rnds) 1(12) 1(12) 1(12) -
2 Large Laser 3(26) 2(16) - -
2 Medium Laser
6 small Laser 2(18)* - - -
LW/RW(56 Heat)
1 LRM 20(30 rnds) 1(12) 1(12) 1(12) -
2 Large Laser 3(26) 2(16) - -
2 Medium Laser
Aft(22 Heat)
2 Large Laser 3(26) 2(16) - -
2 Medium Laser
Cargo:
Bay 1: Cargo ( 170.0 tons ) 1 Door
Escape Pods: 2
Crew: 3 Officers, 4 enlisted, 6 Gunners
