Third Succession War
Across the Inner Sphere the general loss of resources and intelligentsia during the Second Succession War and early Third Succession War had slowed and stopped technological advancement in many areas. Kallon Industries were commited to retaking the lead in omnitechnology after stiff competition from Earthwerks Incorporated and other companies. The opportunity to make their mark again arise in 2881 when Captain-General James Marik asked Earthwerks-FWL to design a new battle tank for the FWL after the loss of the last Tiger medium tank factory, Vickers-Shellingford's Bainsville facility.
While not well-known for vehicle manufacture, Kallon had historically built the Gallant Urban Assault Tank which saw service in the Reunification War only to be discontinued in the early days of the Star League. The Gallant had never been entirely satisfactory but the basic data remained available. Although no such design had been solicited, Kallon Industries revised the Gallant and in 2892 they offered the first Omnitank to James Marik's successor Elisabeth Marik.
Initially the Gallant Omnitank was rejected by the FWLM and received only approval for sale to mercenary commands. However, as Earthwerks' Åžoarece was increasingly delayed by new demands from the LCCC, the FWLM's tank forces were increasingly finding it hard to replace their losses. In 2899, Elisabeth Marik reversed her previous decision and the Gallant entered service. Five years later, when the Åžoarece was formally brought into service, it's slow speed and an engine that while innovative wasn't in line with FWLM logistics led to considerable dissatisfaction. Only limited numbers of the Åžoarece would be adapted and once Shiro III's Grumman Amalgamated factory fell to the FWL, it was replaced as a heavy tank by the Ontos.
The Gallant survived this transition, matching the Ontos in speed but also adding flexibility. While it couldn't handle difficult terrain as well as tracked vehicles, it boasted exceptional armour for its size and was strategically mobile where roads were available. Various configurations moved out of the previous urban roles.
Several Gallants fell into Capellan hands in the early 30th century and they instructed Kallon Industries to put the design into production on Nanking. The prospect of other omnitanks was considered but the relatively low cost of vehicles made them low prorities since it was felt that specialist vehicles were more affordable than the specialist BattleMechs which had been displaced by OmniMechs.
The Gallant did however spur action from the Inner Sphere's largest BattleMech manufacturer. Defiance had been looking at expanding their omnitech range beyond the GRF-3O since Luthien Armor Werks unveiled their updated Quickdraw, but Archon Elizabeth Steiner had kept a tight hand on the purse strings and declined to make investment in Defiance's projects. Her son Eric, who ascended to the throne in 2895, was far more interested in military reforms and the fact that the Lyrans had the least omnitech was a matter of concern to him, particularly after Kuritan omnimechs played a visible role in the invasion of Skye in 2893 and 2894.
Surprising precisely nobody, Defiance decided to take the plunge and build the first assault OmniMech. Rather than an entirely new chassis, they elected to develop the Zeus - a design exclusive to them which they'd been building for over a century and could be confident they understood completely - to use omnitech. Completed in 2909 under tight security, the ZEU-6O was first assigned to the Hesperus Defence Brigade and then to regular Lyran regiments as they rotated through the garrison.
The secret couldn't be kept for too long however and while details weren't available, the ISF reported an omni-assault project was being carried out before the ZEU-6O was even ready for production. In a rare error, however, they reported that the 'Mech being adapted would be based on the legendary Atlas. In one of his last orders, Coordinator Taragi Kurita directed that Yori MechWorks cooperate with Luthien Armor Works to determine the likely capabilities of such an OmniMech.
The report, presented to Taragi's successor Shinjiro in 2910, was that the Atlas' massive weapon payload could result in a very flexible and dangerous OmniMech. The engineers met the concerns of the DCMS high command with a simple proposal: as a result of their analysis they were in a position to present a detailed proposal to build an omnitech Atlas themselves. Naturally, the Warlords appealed to the Coordinator, who approved the project immediately. The most feared BattleMech of the Succession Wars would become even more powerful as a tool of House Kurita.
The Atlas project consumed vast resources, with Luthien Armor Works' own factories having to short their maintenance as parts were sent to Al Na'ir to support Yori's efforts. Towards the end of the project in 2923 - by which time the ISF had had to confess their error when agents in Lyran logistical command identified that omni-pods were being directed to Zeus battlemechs rather than Atlas 'Mechs - Yori even closed down all their production lines for almost twelve months in order to make the necessary upgrades.
In contrast to the secrecy around the Zeus, the Atlas was announced in a blaze of publicity. The DCMS had been making great progress against the Lyran Commonwealth of late but with priorities focused there, the Federated Suns front was far less successful and several worlds had been lost. While an influx of fresh assault machines had little material effect on the grand scale, the Combine's media made much of local victories won when the AS-7O was committed against the surprised AFFS.
Concerned that this might indicate a shift in DCMS priorities just as he was considering refocusing his own energies into a major offensive against the Capellan Confederation, Prince Joseph Davion ordered a moderation of the AFFS' offensive actions and moved them into a more defensive posture. Combine authorities were ecstatic: the AS-7O had brought their most dangerous enemy to a standstill.
With this victory to boast of, other potential uses for omnitech were solicited by the DCMS. The sheer expense of the AS-7O made the Coordinator wary of further Omni-Mechs but Omni-Vehicles offered a less expensive alternative. The DCMS' armored battalions had long since used hover-tanks from Scarborough Ltd as the backbone of their fast-strike capacity and all three designs (Saladin, Saracen and Scimitar) shared a large number of components, while the production lines were on Al Na'ir, with ready access to the engineers of Yori Mech Works.
The Sharif omnitank, a single chassis that could provide the approximate capabilities of either the Saracen or Scimitar was completed in 2929 - well ahead of schedule. The one complaint of the DCMS was that Scarborough had failed to include a configuration capable of matching the formidable firepower of the Saladin. When presented with the estimated costs of modifying the chassis to accomodate both the super-heavy autocannon of the Saladin and the turret required by the other two designs, Coordinator Hugai Kurita gave Scarborough his blessing for the decision.
A second omni-vehicle project that began at the same time took considerably longer to complete. It wasn't until 2937 that Joint Equipment Systems was able to begin deliveries of their new JES Missile Carrier, which was proposed as a replacement for both the LRM Carrier and the SRM Carrier. This, however, began a legal war with Quikscell, the firm from which the basic design had been licensed. Already faced with a long history of seeing thinly disguised copies of their Carriers being manufactured by many other firms, the 'defection' of the one firm they felt had dealt with them in good faith was the last straw.
In 2938, Quikscell formally advised Coordinator Kurita that until such time as their license was respected they would no longer sell their products to the Draconis Combine. At first furious that mere merchants would presume to make such a threat, the Coordinator was won over when the senior representative explained that they saw the JES Carrier as an affront to their honour and offered to commit seppuku rather than change his position. Amused, Hugai declined his consent for this and instructed JES that they must license their modifications back to Quikscell for a token fee.
Armed with the Coordinator's favour, Quikscell quickly adjusted their own plants to produce the JES Carrier and launched a flurry of lawsuits against the manufacturers who were infringing upon their intellectual properties. By 2941 all such corporations in the Combine had been forced to either pay license fees or cease production. Outside the Combine, such lawsuits seemed likely to have less effect, being seen as a frivilous attack upon the concept of missile carriers in general, rather than in regard to specific copying of Quikscell's centuries old designs.
Quikscell's secret weapon was the JES Missile Carrier: the chance to get their hands on cutting edge omnitech from the Combine swayed all four of the other House Lords into granting the cases their support. Scores of manufacturers were forced out of business and Quikscell frequently bought up their properties, converting them to manufacture the JES Missile Carrier. Outraged by what he saw as a betrayal of his support, Coordinator Kurita promptly retracted his decision and all Quikscell possessions in the Combine were seized and handed over to Joint Equipment Systems. All of the officials who had presented him with the ultimatum three years before were arrested and executed along with their families, with the exception of the senior member who was permitted to fulfill his earlier offer of seppuku.
Meanwhile, Defiance executives were smarting at having their ZEU-6O so clearly upstaged by the ASO-7. Fighting against the Free Worlds League on Wing and Callison in 2924 had shown that the Zeus was certainly capable of matching up against FWLM ARC-3O and CRD-3O omnimechs but didn't have the sort of superiority that was being displayed by the DCMS' newest weapon. Archon Tatyana Steiner, who retired in 2937, had authorised the development of something to counter this with the addition that they weren't just to copy the Atlas.
With the 100 ton Atlas off the table, Defiance turned to their next largest 'Mech chassis. The BNC-3E had been markedly unimpressive over its long history, despite the success of earlier versions of the Banshee. By reducing the engine size - which lowered the top speed of the 'Mech to that of older models and left it on par with the Atlas - large amounts of tonnage and internal space were freed up.
The first BNC-3O was completed in 2950 and as with the Zeus, the LCAF decided to build up a reasonable reserve before committing them to action. The need for this came only a few years when a raid on Alexandria by DCMS-employed mercenaries escalated into a two year campaign between ever growing numbers of regiments from the LCAF and DCMS. The new Archon, Giovanni Steiner, ordered the BNC-3O be shipped to regiments fighting there.
DCMS mechwarriors had developed a dangerous level of contempt for the underarmed Banshee and it came as a nasty shock when BNC-3O lances opened fire with at least twice the expected firepower. When they petitioned for ASO-7 Atlas assault 'Mechs to counter the new threat, the high command were unable to comply.
In 2953 Hugai Kurita had clashed with ComStar over his sister's decision to join the organisation and faced with interdiction and possible military intervention by ComStar employed mercenaries been forced to back down. For the next ten years, the Coordinator retreated to his gardens and refused to be disturbed. As a result the DCMS were unable to have his previous instructions that all ASO-7 OmniMechs be assigned to face the Federated Suns countermanded. The clash of giants was averted until after Hugai's death in 2963, by which time the DCMS had developed other approaches to handling the BNC-3O.
In the Capellan Confederation, Chancellor Ingrid Liao took office in 2950. Unlike her predecessors, Ingrid was deeply interested in developng the aerospace arm of the CCAF. She authorised a number of new projects, one of which would include the Transgressor heavy fighter (completed under her son, Tormax Liao in the 2980s). The most ambitious, however, was the application of Omnitech to aerospace fighters.
The CCAF had been operating at a numerical disadvantage for decades against the AFFS and FWLM. Only a higher level of quality - both in personnel and material - could counter this and this was evidently to be an uphill struggle. Under the new Chancellor, a significant amount of resources were poured into hoped-for 'super-weapons'. The omnifighter project was built around plans for the Deathstalker fighter, an unsuccessful prototype of Andurien Aerotech under the Star League. While Andurien had long since fallen to the FWL, under the Star League it had been a Capellan system and data remained in archives on Sian.
Mujika Aerospace were granted access to the Deathstalker schematics and development began in 2955. Less agile than other Capellan fighters, the Deathstalker' design lent itself to a formidable heavy attack fighter and several configurations were developed to optimise for various targets. In 2979, a flight of Deathstalkers put on a stunning display of firepower for the now aged Chancellor only for one of the fighters to crash due to what was later identified as a complete crash of the overloaded computer systems.
While Ingrid Liao was incandescent, her heir took a more measured approach. In addition to conventional weapons the Deathstalker had carried two new weapon systems devised especially for it. The Medium Range Missile and the Rocket Launcher were simple weapon systems but for this reason they could be developed in large quantities at a large cost. Refocusing discussion on these, Tormax diverted his mother's attention to them and undoubtedly saved Mujika from her wrath. When he took office himself, a year later, Tormax commissioned one further round of improvements to the Deathstalker before accepting it for service in 2990.
Unwittingly, by fielding new and previously unseen weapons Tormax had sparked interest by both Janos Marik and Ian Davion in doing likewise. As the Third Succession War wound to a close, a new phase of weapon developments had begun.
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Topic: Omnitechnology developed in the Succession Wars (Read 8481 times)