file photo of a Cosmos running through its paces.Cosmos CSM-1X (Bi-modal LAM)
IS experimental
25 tons
BV: 521
Cost: 1,958,542 C-bills
A persistent little mystery, the Cosmos is a previously unknown Land-Air Mech design unearthed by Republic engineers on Mars in the early 3090s, and its existence is a headache for everybody concerned. The Cosmos is a bi-modal design, lacking the airmech mode that ultimately made LAMs so effective. These design standards were abandoned for good reason back when the first Shadow Hawk LAMs were being experimented on, and it is unknown why anybody would decide to repeat that failure. Also, the Cosmos isn't even particularly good as an aircraft. Even beyond the limitations inherent in being an LAM, the Cosmos is built as a saucer. It has all the same problems as the Thrush and Sholagar, but worse, because it has no control surfaces at all and has to maneuver using pure thrust. The craft handles so poorly that our only atmospheric test flight resulted in it burying itself into the side of Mount Hood in Oregon (not Mount St Hellens,
Dave. Learn your geography). The Cosmos handles much better in space, leading us to wonder if it wasn't intended as some sort of purely spaceborn combatant.
We recovered four of these Cosmos battlemechs from the Martian cache and relocated them to our Groom Lake research facility (which for some reason Dave won't stop giggling about). Of the four, three were equipped with a normal cockpit and controls, while the fourth contains the remains of a half put together robotic control system. I'd pay money to see a robotic brain try to fly one of these things in the atmosphere.
Design Quirks: Atmospheric Flight Instability, Hard to Pilot (in atmosphere only), Non-standard parts, Obsolete (2777)
Movement: 5/8/5
Engine: 125
Heat Sinks: 10
Gyro: Standard Gyro
Internal: 43
Armor: 64/89
Internal Armor
--------------------------------------
Head 3 9
Center Torso 8 9
Center Torso (rear) 2
Right Torso 6 7
Right Torso (rear) 2
Left Torso 6 7
Left Torso (rear) 2
Right Arm 4 6
Left Arm 4 6
Right Leg 6 7
Left Leg 6 7
Weapon Loc Heat
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Medium Pulse Laser LT 4
Medium Pulse Laser RT 4
Equipment Loc
----------------------------------
Standard None
Standard None
(and because I've not been the least bit subtle about it, the Cosmos type Autobops fighting with the Autonomous Barony would use standard lasers to make room for their robotic brains, and get a half ton of extra armor in the deal). :P
