Or if you're in the DragonCat universe, the Shrike)
Although sharing some 'DNA' with the Onager, the Shrike is a different beast entirely. At 95 tons it shares the weight bracket with the Turkina for heaviest front line Mech produced by Clan Jade Falcon, and indeed was built to supplement the older Mech, trading firepower for mobility and accuracy.
Built around an endo-steel skeleton and powered by a powerful 380 rated XL engine that can push the Shrike up to 64kph. The addition of a Partial Wing System allows for leaps of up to 120 meters with far greater control than the typical brute force required for normal jumps.
The Shrike also features a curiosity amongst The Clans, a full head ejection system. The Mech was designed with an eye to it being the ride of an Officer, and with the Falcons suffering such heavy losses amongst their Officer corps something was needed to improve the life expectancy of the surviving officers. Whilst somewhat controversial at first, it was recognised that Spheroid opponents would try targetting a Commanders Mech to weaken the Clans forces coordination and throw battle plans out of sync, so the system was accepted as a 'necessary evil'.
Built to engage at long range the Shrike is armed with a pair of ER Large lasers, each one mounted in a semi-gimbaled mount that allows them to fire at targets off center of without having to turn the Mech's torso, which is handy in a jump. A HAG-20, currently imported from Clan Hells Horses provides additional long range firepower as well as acting as a lethal anti-aircraft weapon and sandblaster against heavily armoured targets. The HAG is fed by three tons of ammunition, giving it long battlefield endurance.
For short range work a SRM-6 is also installed, which is useful when targets close or finishing off a weakened foe or one bold enough to try getting under the HAG's minimum range.
The Shrike also features a potent electronics system, an ECM shields the Mech from hostile C3 systems and targetting equipment whilst a targeting computer is linked into the lasers and HAG.
Whilst lighter on firepower than the Turkina the Shrike's mobility and speed allow it to control the range against an opponent and it can jump a huge distance without relying on massively heavy Improved Jump Jets.
Subject to a brutal trial by fire against a Turkina, the Shrike has started entering limited production with Clan Jade Falcon with one of the pre-production Mech's claimed by Khan Jaina Pryde.
Shrike
Mass: 95 tons
Tech Base: Clan
Chassis Config: Biped
Rules Level: Experimental Tech
Era: Dark Ages
Tech Rating/Era Availability: F/X-X-E-A
Production Year: 3132
Cost: 30,163,120 C-Bills
Battle Value: 3,110
Chassis: Unknown Endo-Steel
Power Plant: Unknown 380 Fusion XL Engine
Walking Speed: 43.2 km/h
Maximum Speed: 64.8 km/h
Jump Jets: Unknown
Jump Capacity: 120 meters (150 meters)
Armor: Unknown Standard Armor
Armament:
1 HAG-20
2 ER Large Lasers
1 SRM-6
1 ECM Suite
Manufacturer: Unknown
Primary Factory: Unknown
Communications System: Unknown
Targeting and Tracking System: Unknown
================================================================================
Equipment Type Rating Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure: Endo-Steel 145 points 5.00
Internal Locations: 2 LT, 1 RT, 2 RA, 1 LL, 1 RL
Engine: XL Fusion Engine 380 20.50
Walking MP: 4
Running MP: 6
Jumping MP: 4 (5) Standard
Jump Jet Locations: 2 CT, 1 LT, 1 RT 8.00
Heat Sinks: Double Heat Sink 13(29) 3.00
Gyro: Standard 4.00
Cockpit: Standard w/ Full Head Ejection System 3.00
Actuators: L: SH+UA+LA R: SH+UA+LA+H
Armor: Standard Armor AV - 288 18.00
CASE Locations: LA, RA 0.00
Internal Armor
Structure Factor
Head 3 9
Center Torso 30 45
Center Torso (rear) 14
L/R Torso 20 30
L/R Torso (rear) 9
L/R Arm 16 32
L/R Leg 20 39
================================================================================
Equipment Location Heat Critical Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ECM Suite HD 0 1 1.00
ER Large Laser RT 12 1 4.00
Targeting Computer RT - 4 4.00
ER Large Laser LT 12 1 4.00
Partial Wing LT/RT - 3/3 5.00
SRM-6 RA 4 1 1.50
HAG-20 LA 4 6 10.00
@SRM-6 (15) RA - 1 1.00
@HAG-20 (18) LA - 3 3.00
Free Critical Slots: 9
BattleForce Statistics
MV S (+0) M (+2) L (+4) E (+6) Wt. Ov Armor: 10 Points: 31
4/5j 5 4 4 0 4 1 Structure: 5
Special Abilities: ECM, CASE, SRCH, ES, SEAL, SOA, FLK 1/1/1
Quirks;
Distracting
Reinforced Legs
Command Battlemech
Static ammo feed - SRM
Difficult to maintain
Non-Standard parts
Features a Full Head ejection system
Drawn by the amazing Matt Plog, this version of the Shrike came of my desire to change the Mech around a bit, and as good as the original art was, I felt it was too flat and broad across the chest and just looked a bit off. Plus the partial wings were way too small, a drawback of having to base the art on the clickytech models.
Plog produced a much more angled and aggressive looking machine whilst keeping the same kind of feel for it.
The negative quirks are due to it being pretty damn new, the non-standard parts would probably dissapear in a few years but these would almost certinally be the perview of Cluster and Trinary Commanders and above, so not that common really, with the Turkina likely to remain the Falcons big 'line trooper' assault Mech thanks to its greater firepower.
Thoughts and comments are always most welcome
