This is my proposed standard League Stalker, with a nod to the Confederation since the Shiro III facility was, until relatively recently in-universe, a Capellan manufacturer. With its Combat Computer quirk, it shouldn’t have any real heat problems when acting purely in a support role, and can handle a few heat spikes at close ranges if you bracket fire a little.
Type: STK-6M Stalker
Production: Free Worlds League (Irian BattleMechs Unlimited, Shiro III)
Combat Value: 2031 BV
Total Cost: 8,553,475 C-Bills (including x1.85 tonnage premium)
Internal Struc (std): 8.5t
Engine: Strand 255: 13t
Walking: 3
Running: 5
Heat Sinks: 13(26): 3t
Gyro/Cockpit (std): 6t
Armor Factor (Ferro): 14.5t (261 pips)
Head 3/9
Center Torso 27/42/12
R/L Torso 18/28/8
R/L Arm 14/28
R/L Leg 18/35
Quirks: Combat Computer, Ubiquitous, No/Minimal Arms, Arms Flip
2x LRM-15+Artemis (8cr, 16t) RA/LA
4x Medium Lasers (4cr, 4t) RA/LA
5x Ammo (LRM) 40 (5cr, 5t) 3RT/2LT
2x CASE (2cr, 1t) RT/LT
2x PPCs (6cr, 14t) RT/LT
Although IBMU-Shiro III had quietly replaced the parent company’s shoddy Stalker 5M design with their brutally straightforward 6LL variant by mid-3052 (see contest entry above), they continued work on a true upgraded variant, utilizing a true mix of lostech components and equipment. With the ‘acquisition’ of several key pieces of technology, mysteriously transferred from the Central office on Irian to rival ‘subsidiary’ Shiro III sometime in late 3052 or early 3053, the last elements of a new variant Stalker came into focus. By August of 3053, as the Third Marik Civil War was starting to truly gear up, the first of the new 6M variants were starting to step off the production lines on Shiro III, with remarkably few examples of this new design managing to find their way into “loyalist” Marik units. How very odd!
The 6M variant represents literal years of effort by IBMU-Shiro II to recreate themselves as an independent, and modern, Mech production facility, as opposed to the “reconquered” and clearly subordinate branch division that Irian Central had relegated them to since the close of the Third Succession War. Although the core Stalker design has seen little change since the 3F, Shiro III’s designers were clear in their design philosophy – assault ‘Mechs should be maximally armored, maximally durable (thus, no expensive and fragile extra-light fusion engines), and intended primarily for use as a fire-support platform, but one capable of credibly defending itself in a brawl. Equipped with its original comms and targeting system, including the famed Spar 3c Tight Band computer with its Star League era fire control systems, the 6M’s thirteen double heat sinks are capable of handling impressive levels of built-up combat heat.
Apart from the targeting systems, the 6M’s major upgrade over the 5M is two-fold. First, it incorporates the CASE technology missing from the 5M, which protects its five tons of LRM ammunition, spread across both torsos of the ‘Mech. Second, it upgrades the fourteen and a half tons of armor from Valiant Lamellor to Jolassa-328 Ferro Fibrous, a lostech ferro-fibrous weave originally recovered and used by Irian Central on their 30-ton Hermes design, but now produced on Shiro III as well, providing nearly the maximum effective protection for the 85-ton Stalker.
Irian Central was, in a word, unamused when they discovered that they had “shared” this technology.
The alleged intra-corporate espionage was not complete, however, as the new variant also incorporates Artemis IV fire control technology on its twin Irian Weapons Works V7 LRM-15 launchers, providing greater firepower than the 3F or 5M – lostech still in pre-production at Irian Central when Shiro III unveiled its use with the Stalker 6M. The Diverse Optics ‘Sunbeam’ ER Large Laser of the 5M was traded out for a more classic arrangement of paired heavy energy weapons, but as all Magna Mk III Large Lasers were being utilized in Shiro III’s 6LL variant, the new design instead fits a matched pair of Parti-Kill Heavy Cannon PPCs. Although it is not clear how these were sourced, the weapons are manufactured by a half-dozen major armaments firms throughout the Inner Sphere, primarily for the Manticore and Myrmidon tanks, and Shiro III is clearly interested in creating an independent supply chain for any imported systems.
Finally, four Magna Mk II medium lasers, in the traditional arm-mounts, below the LRM tubes, round out the ‘Mech’s firepower. With the ability to flip the LRM-launchers (and co-axial medium lasers), the Stalker 6M has the same 360-degree arc of fire that made its predecessors such respected (and versatile) fire-support and brawler ‘Mechs. Although designers had to drop the SRM racks of the classic Stalker, the heavier ranged firepower is intended to make up for the loss of close-in firepower, particularly with a full five tons of missiles feeding the two LRM launchers, theoretically capable of over three minutes of sustained fire. The new machine is intended to be a credible threat even when facing Clan forces, at an extremely reasonable price-point given the incorporation of lostech (at just 15% more than the cost of a classic 3F, or the so-called 5M ‘upgrade’), and advance orders are already being placed by a number of Major Houses, included the Commonwealth, Combine, and (to absolutely no one’s surprise, as the Third Marik Civil War heats up) the Capellan Confederation.
