I just couldn't justify the use of spikes to myself -- every design I tried was lackluster and didn't really highlight the spikes. To be fair, I think they're about as useful as B-pods, which is to say, not really at all except in edge cases. So instead, I turned the Quickdraw into the ultimate Kuritan C3 spotter, complete with TSM and hatchet for some close-in action. I was inspired in this case by the Shiro and Rokurokubi (I name-check both below), only with the optimized equipment included here that were missing on them. This 'Mech is effectively a Ti Ts'ang that trades speed for far greater armored protection and jumpjets. Since it's Kurita, I also threw in a metric ton of Japanese references, including a couple nods to weapons designers from WW2 Japan. That's why it's the 7K, because Seven Samurai.
Type: QKD-7K Quickdraw “Iaijutsu”
Production: Draconis Combine (Luthien Armor Works, Luthien)
Combat Value: 2036 BV
Total Cost: 13,636,960 C-Bills (including x1.6 tonnage premium)
EQUIPMENT
Tonnage: 60
Internal (Endosteel): 3t
Engine: Vlar 300 XL: 9.5
Walking: 5 (6)
Running: 7 (8 )
Jumping: 5 :5t
Heat Sinks: 10 Singles: 0t
Gyro (Standard): 3t
Cockpit (Standard): 3t
Armor (Hardened): 25t (200/400 armor)
Head: 3/9(18)
Center Torso: 20/25(50)/14(28)
R/L Torso: 14/18(36)/10(20)
R/L Arm: 10/20(40)
R/L Leg: 14/28(56)
Quirks: Hyper-Extending Actuators, Exposed Actuators
WEAPONS INVENTORY (11.5t)
1x Hatchet (4cr, 4t) RA
– Triple-Strength Myomer (6cr), 3RT/3LT
1x Guardian ECM Suite (2cr, 1.5t), RT
1x C3 Slave (1cr, 1t) H
4x Medium Lasers (4cr, 4t), 2RT/2LT
2x Small Laser (2cr, 1t), LA
As part of the response to the Clan Invasion, the Draconis Combine’s weapons manufacturers were sent scrambling for an edge – any edge – against the superior technology of the Clans. One of the very few innovations pioneered by the Combine was their C3 Network – and Luthien Armor Works put their most out-of-the-box thinkers into a skunk work to develop as many potential uses for the C3 system as possible.
The engineers of Skunk work Team “Raiden” coupled the Combine’s C3 systems with gifted (and/or reverse-engineered) Federated Commonwealth technology, melded to one of LAW’s already-existing, and somewhat underwhelming, production lines: the Quickdraw-5K, a medium-laser-heavy design packed to the gills with (at the time scarce) double heat-sinks and covered with “Durallex Super Medium” branded Ferro-Fibrous armor, shipped in from Independence Weaponry on Quentin.
The upgraded Quickdraw-6K featured a Vlar 300XL engine, imported (once again) from Independence Weaponry on Quentin – that firm having over-produced engines for their Atlas upgrade that had suffered numerous shakedown delays during the hectic early days of the Invasion – but substituted the “Durallex Super Medium” for a prototype “Extra Super Dura-ferrite” hardened armor, a near replica of the designs being tested by the Federated Commonwealth. Over 40% of the weight of the ‘Mech was allocated to the heavy armored carapace, giving the 6K unmatched protection on the battlefield, exceeding by a third the effective armor of even the legendary Atlas. The prototype “ESD” severely hampered the mobility of the 6K and limited its acceleration and top speed, but the QKD chassis was chosen by the design team precisely because of its highly articulated actuators – the hope was that the Quickdraw’s inherent limberness would help offset the stiffness and sluggishness that a heavy layer of Hardened Armor would impose.
The armor and engine are both in service to the mission of the 6K: to get its C3 node into point-blank range with the enemy as quickly as possible – its 75kph top speed is just enough to threaten speedier Clan ‘Mechs, and its Chilton 460 jumpjets give it excellent mobility over broken and dense terrain. Once there, the hardened armor shell gives the Quickdraw incredible staying power. And, to protect the integrity of the C3 system against the occasional Clan ECM system, as well as to potentially disrupt Clan C&C, the Quickdraw is fitted with an in-house “Sipher Commsys” brand communications system with integrated Guardian ECM Suite.
In keeping with the 6K’s close-in mission, the ‘Mech carries no long-range weapons at all, trading out ammunition-dependent (and explosion-prone) missile racks for more lasers, a very Kuritan philosophy. A brace of in-house “Victory” brand medium and small lasers give the 6K a nasty short-to-mid range punch, and the ‘Mech is deliberately designed with single heat sinks, in recognition of the Combine’s massive shortage of double heat sinks in the years immediately after the Clan Invasion. In fact, suggested OP is to ‘turn off’ two of the ten integral sinks, the faster to activate (and maintain) the heat-sensitive Triple-Strength Myomer bundles, another Federated Commonwealth innovation that helps offset the reduced top speed of the 6K due to its hardened armor, and the first Combine ‘Mech to be so out-fitted. To take advantage of yet another Inner Sphere innovation, the design team added a close-combat weapon; a heavy four-ton hatchet, echoing the fearsome Hatchetman that had terrorized Combine units for the prior few decades – representing one final Inner Sphere advantage over their Clan opponents.
LAW conceptual artists found fertile ground to add stylized samurai motifs to the heavy layers of Hardened armor, adding sode-style spaulders to protect the shoulder actuators, kote-style gauntlets to reinforce the hand and wrist actuators for combat, and a redesigned kabuto-style helmet. The brutally functional hatchet was shaped like a broad-leafed Japanese-style masakari axe, a sly dig at Clan Smoke Jaguar and their distinctive assault ‘Mech that had caused so much devastation among DCMS forces.
Intended primarily for heavy C3 companies, the Quickdraw-6K saw limited but steady production throughout the 3050s, with its speed, mobility, spectacular armored protection, and brutal melee ability endearing it to many Combine pilots. With its Japanese iconography, the Quickdraw-6K was frequently nicknamed the “Iaijutsu” (for a classical pre-spaceflight quick-draw technique), but traditionalists complained that a true Samurai ‘Mech would be quick-drawing a sword, not a peasant farmer’s hatchet. When Cosby Battlemechs released their competitor 70-ton No-Dachi in 3058, complete with a TSM-powered ‘Mech sword, LAW bowed to pressure and offered their own a katana-stylized variant 6K a few years later. Ever-responsive to procurement fads, LAW also began offering a Mace-armed variant (styled in the form of a massive Japanese tetsubo) in 3064, marketed under the designation “Benkei”, a legendary nigh-unkillable warrior-priest from Japanese folklore.
Starting in the mid-3060s, shortly before the start of the Jihad, LAW also began offering field upgrades to DCMS units that wanted to equip ER medium and ER small lasers. It was part of a kit that also allowed a ‘Mechbay upgrade of the engine-integral single heat sinks to double-strength freezers – allowing even faster ‘heat-up’ of the Triple-Strength Myomers with one or more of the double heat sinks turned off, but also making for an incredibly cool-running ‘Mech at full dump, short of a full alpha combined with jumpjets.
Decades later, in the Republic era, the continued success of their hardened-armor melee ‘Mech throughout the FedCom Civil War and the Jihad inspired a new generation of LAW engineers to design the 35t Rokurokubi and 75t Shiro in 3135 as home-grown complements to their venerable Quickdraw design.
