In the war industry, there are revolutions like the introduction of the BattleMech, radical innovation like the development of the XL Engine and incremental one that refines and extends an existing design.
The first two receive all the public attention as they are more glamorous and are where most money and efforts are purred in. However, the last one, the incremental innovation is usually the one most liked by armed forces as they are step by step improvement not really costly and that allows for quick adaptations to new problems or new reality.
Such an example is the ARC-5Sa designed by Defiance Industries on the basis of a ARC-5S after having reports from the Clan fronts and after trials of a much similar design by the Sky Tigers on Solaris VII (some would say that it was only through some special connections that a down on its luck stable could still feature so many advanced ‘Mechs).
The first idea was to turn the Archer into something more adapted to arena fights where combats were fought at closer ranges and to test the potential of the Narc Beacon when used by its own carrying ‘Mech. This didn’t come from Defiance Industries or the Federated Commonwealth but from one of the repairs and customizing workshops found on Solaris VII. However when representatives of the R&D teams of Defiance Industries saw what they had made of their ARC-5S, they decided that there was some potential in this idea and that they could perhaps create something out of it by optimising it.
The final result, the ARC-5Sa is a totally new approach to the Archer, one that takes into account the arrival of the Clans and the need to find new solutions to fight them. The decision was therefore made to turn the Archer into a more flexible design, one that could be used at all ranges and in all kinds of roles.
The first step was to increase the speed to allow it to compete with Clan OmniMechs. However, the solution had to leave the maximal amount of weight available for weapons, making the TSM so used on the only solution, even if it would complicate the selection of weapons. Another positive point was that once activated, the massive battle fists of the Archer would be even more dangerous, giving the Inner Sphere ‘Mech another advantage.
The next delicate work would be to select the weapons to first activate the TSM and then keep it active while allowing the new Archer to fire at all ranges.
Since by trade agreement, a Narc Missile Beacon from Doering Electronics had to be included in every ARC-5S, part of the weapons would have to be missile launchers to maximise the usefulness of the Narc Missile Beacon. The designers quickly found out that 4 LRM-5 (launching the same numbers of rounds as the usual LRM-20) would produce as much heat as 2 SRM-6. The difference in range was seen as the key to better control the heat while giving the Archer the needed flexibility to deal with opponents.
The main weapons selected were Lasers with 1 ER Large one in the Left Arm (along the Narc system) and 4 Medium Lasers split into the Torsos and the Right Arm.
To increase the mobility and to provide even more flexibility with the selection of weapons, 4 Jump Jets were added.
The final result was a ‘Mech that could unleash a tremendous firepower at closer ranges, allowing it to put Narc missiles on its target and to active its TSM, giving it the needed extra edge before withdrawing and fighting from middle ranges or stay at closer ones and in both cases the Archer ARC-5Sa could keep its TSM active.
The final result was a ‘Mech able to dance around his selected target, weakening it with “banderillas” while getting in and out of this fight almost at will and with several options to active the TSM and make every shot count.
Of all the Archer ARC-5Sa pilot, no one did this better than ‘MechWarrior Sam Park, which was one of the first test pilots of the new Archer. In his Changquan or Long Fist, he designed most of the tactics of this new ‘Mech thanks to his long experience in the arenas of Solaris VII. Although a pure product of the Davion system, he is of Capellan origin and thinks that someone had a bad sense of humour when assigning him to a TSM equipped ‘Mech. He is more than eager to test his new ‘Mech against a real worthy worthy. His request to raid Clan territory have been denied and he has been assigned to train ‘MechWarriors into the finest arts of one vs. one fights, while using “dirty” Inner Sphere tricks to gain the upper hand.
Innovation and design creation, Dr Emily Bracket, Doons School of Business Press, 3062
Archer ARC-5Sa
Mass: 70 tons
Tech Base: Inner Sphere
Chassis Config: Biped
Rules Level: Tournament Legal
Era: Clan Invasion
Tech Rating/Era Availability: E/X-X-E-D
Production Year: 3052
Dry Cost: 15 143 373 C-Bills
Total Cost: 15 377 373 C-Bills
Battle Value: 1 820
Chassis: Earthwerk Archer Standard
Power Plant: Edasich 280 Fusion XL Engine
Walking Speed: 43,2 km/h (54,0 km/h)
Maximum Speed: 64,8 km/h (86,4 km/h)
Jump Jets: Devil A7
Jump Capacity: 90 meters
Armor: Maximilian 100 Standard Armor w/ CASE
Armament:
1 Cyclops Incorporated/Cyclops XII ER Large Laser
2 Coventry Metal Works/Coventry 90mm SRM-6s
4 Trellshire Heavy Industries/Diverse Optics Type 18 Medium Lasers
4 Coventry Metal Works/Coventry Five-Tube LRM-5s
1 Doering Electronics/Doering Electronics Glowworm Narc Launcher
Manufacturer: Defiance Industries
Primary Factory: Hesperus II
Communications System: Neil 9000
Targeting and Tracking System: RCA Instratrac Mark XII
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Equipment Type Rating Mass
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Internal Structure: Standard 107 points 7,00
Engine: XL Fusion Engine 280 8,00
Walking MP: 4 (5)
Running MP: 6 (8)
Jumping MP: 3 Standard
Jump Jet Locations: 1 CT, 1 LL, 1 RL 3,00
Heat Sinks: Double Heat Sink 11(22) 1,00
Gyro: Standard 3,00
Cockpit: Standard 3,00
Actuators: L: SH+UA+LA+H R: SH+UA+LA+H
TSM Locations: 1 HD, 1 CT, 1 RT, 1 LA, 2 RA
Armor: Standard Armor AV - 208 13,00
CASE Locations: 1 LT, 1 RT 1,00
Internal Armor
Structure Factor
Head 3 9
Center Torso 22 33
Center Torso (rear) 10
L/R Torso 15 24
L/R Torso (rear) 6
L/R Arm 11 22
L/R Leg 15 26
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Equipment Location Heat Critical Mass
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Medium Laser RT 3 1 1,00
4 LRM-5s RT 8 4 8,00
Medium Laser LT 3 1 1,00
2 SRM-6s LT 8 4 6,00
2 Medium Lasers RA 6 2 2,00
ER Large Laser LA 12 2 5,00
Narc Launcher LA 0 2 3,00
@LRM-5 (Narc) (48) RT - 2 2,00
@Narc (Homing) (6) LT - 1 1,00
@SRM-6 (Narc) (30) LT - 2 2,00
Free Critical Slots: 9
BattleForce Statistics
MV S (+0) M (+2) L (+4) E (+6) Wt. Ov Armor: 7 Points: 18
4/2j 3 4 2 0 3 1 Structure: 3
Special Abilities: TSM, SNARC, CASE, SRCH, ES, SEAL, SOA, SRM 1/1/0, IF 1
