Cassowary CSY-1A
Mass: 35 tons
Tech Base: Inner Sphere
Chassis Config: Biped
Rules Level: Era Specific
Era: All Eras (non-canon)
Tech Rating/Era Availability: E/X-X-F-A
Production Year: 0
Cost: 8,308,125 C-Bills
Battle Value: 1,113
Chassis: Hollis Mark IX - Delta Endo-Steel
Power Plant: Magna 245 Fusion XL Engine
Walking Speed: 75.6 km/h
Maximum Speed: 118.8 km/h
Jump Jets: None
Jump Capacity: 0 meters
Armor: Durallex Guardian II Light Ferro-Fibrous w/ CASE
Armament:
1 Hellion X-III ER Large Laser
2 Diverse Optics Sunbeam ER Medium Lasers
2 LFN Linblad Machine Guns
1 Bloodhound Active Probe
Manufacturer: Earthwerks Incorporated
Primary Factory: Calloway VI
Communications System: Sipher Security Plus
Targeting and Tracking System: Corean B-Tech
Overview:
Named in part for the distinctive ridge that runs the length of the torso,
which conceals side-scanning sensors as part of its Bloodhound Probe, along
with the distinctive blue tinge of the armor alloy mix that coats it, the
Cassowary is almost the very definition of a light sniper unit. Nearly
impossible to sneak up on, paired with how its entire armament is either placed
in a full rotation turret, or in stub-arms that can do a complete backwards
rotation like the Rifleman, it excels at picking apart targets at any range.
And what it can't out range, it can normally outrun.
Capabilities:
Designed from the outset to use the 'chicken walker' backward canting legs to
allow the Cassowary to get as close to cover as possible while peeking its
turret above it, the 'Mech looks remarkably like the Raven or Owens. However
its ancestry is more closely related to the pre-Republic era Jackal, as
Earthwerks Inc had picked up the now defunct license for the design, and had
tinkered with it over the decades before finalizing the new unit. Five tons
heavier, and with a elongated torso makes it hard to spot the similarities, but
they are noticable to anyone with a keen eye for engineering.
With a clear line of fire in all directions around it, the advanced large laser
mounted in the Cassowary's spine turret, directly above the waist rotation
point, makes for an excellent long range weapon with superior accuracy even
while moving at maximum speeds over rough terrain. It should also be noted that
by far the largest number of light 'Mech kills are done against green pilots
who turn their backs and run with little to nothing firing into the rear to
discourage a hostile from blowing their back armor out. A large laser able to
reach out and touch them makes for quite a bit of discouragement.
Vestigal arms that for all purposes look to be vastly scaled down Rifleman
arms, with over-under medium laser and chaingun mounts, further the Cassowary's
ability to make life miserable for their targets no matter the firing angle.
When matched to the sensor feed from the onboard active probe, these four
weapons can quickly spell doom for any stealthed units nearby, especially
Battle Armor and conventional infantry.
The only sore point with the Cassowary that has come to light is the placement
of the head mounted turret behind the cockpit. Normally, if ejection is
required the turret uses a series of explosive bolts to rapidly rotate the long
armored barrel clear of the ejection pod. Obviously, that is under rather
generous non-combat conditions. If the turret has been jammed and/or the
detonation wires damaged, this can result in the ejection pod striking the
barrel, and potentially causing serious injury to the ejecting MechWarrior.
Earthwerks is aware of the problem and is working on a minor refit that instead
blows off the front half of the barrel itself, clearing the wa for the ejection
pod, along with adding a wireless link to the detonators as well.
Battle History:
Unfortunately, the Cassowary had not yet cleared it's final pre-production
checks when the Lyran-Wolf alliance blitzed through the Marik-Stewart
Commonwealth, and thus, missed out on the war. Beyond minor border posturing,
it is, as yet, an untested unit. Several FWLM units have requested permission
to probe the Wolf Empire's borders, disguised as a series of 'friendly' Trials,
but these requests have been unilaterally denied in all cases. As the Cassowary
is still so new and in small, yet growing, numbers, the newly reformed League
is loathe to reveal it's capabilities before they are ready.
Variants:
Only two variants are currently in production beyond the 1A.
The 2D, merely removes the active probe and replaces it with a targeting
computer. While far more accurate, it's effectiveness drops sharply when placed
against the increasingly large number of stealthed units that are dedicated
light 'Mech hunter-killers, and means that this model is rarely seen along the
Capellan border. Instead, the FWLM places the bulk of this model along the
Lyran and Wolf Empire borders.
Adding another medium laser to each arm, and shifting from the turret mounted
large laser to a light particle cannon, the 4H changes from a sniper, to an
all-range combatant. Magshot Gauss Rifles replace the machine guns as well. The
switch from an active probe to an Angel ECM suite means that it's targets will
rapidly find any advanced systems they carry to be so much dead weight,
although this variant had to shave off half a ton of armor to make the
exchange. To slightly make up for this and the higher heat levels, it utilizes
advanced myomer bundles to boost its performance while warmed up, allowing it
to better dictate the engagement range. Much like its sibling variant, this
model is heavily found along the Wolf Empire's border working in concert with
the 2D and other units to hopefully heavily degrade the Clan's more advanced
equipment in case the Empire makes further aggressive moves into Free Worlds
League territory.
There were studies being done on a possible missile carrying variant, but work
on it seems to have been canceled, and the prototype for it has been
acknowledged as being stripped down and rebuilt as the standard production
model before being sold.
[DETECTED ENCRYPTED REPUBLIC GHOST TRANSMISSION]
[USE ENCRYPTION CODE OMEGA-CHARLIE-PANCAKE]
[DECRYPTION CODE ACCEPTED. DECRYPTION STARTING]
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Yes, there's a missile variant out there, and nobody knows it. In fact, there's
a missile sub-class for all *three* main production models, hiding quite
literally in plain sight, by utilizing concealed rocket launcher packs. The
1Ac, 2Dc, and 4Hc, with 'c' unimaginatively standing for 'concealed', all carry
twin fifteen tube rocket launchers in their right torso in place of the probe,
targeting computer, and ECM suite, respectively.
This is likely one of the reasons why the FWLM is so opposed to revealing the
Cassowary's true capabilities, as it's publicly known that they want to finish
rebuilding their forces first before getting too adventurous, as the various
regions within the reformed League are still struggling to merge their forces
back together. Earthwerks appears to be fully going along with the plan, and is
probably one reason the Cassowary uses pseudo-Omnitech in that section of the
chassis. If someone suspects anything, techs can pull the rocket packs out in a
matter of minutes and partially slot in the appropriate system for the standard
model while 'appearing' to be performing maintenance on it. Its only if you
pull that entire module out, that you'd see that there is a lack of certain
connection ports required to mount it properly.
It almost fooled me until I got a closer look at the access port for it. They
disguised it well, but you don't need a rapid snap open/shut armored panel,
surrounded by a series of exhaust ports to vent internal gas, on a compartment
meant to hold a computer or sensor module. I almost pity the first MechWarrior
that these are unleashed on, considering Cassowarys crews are trained to go
after light and medium weight targets that simply don't have enough armor to
withstand that kind of hammering.
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[ENCRYPTED TRANSMISSION END]
Design Quirks (All variants share the same quirks) -
Easy to Maintain
Modular Weapons
Difficult Ejection
================================================================================
Equipment Type Rating Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure: Endo-Steel 58 points 2.00
Internal Locations: 1 CT, 3 LT, 3 LA, 3 RA, 2 LL, 2 RL
Engine: XL Fusion Engine 245 6.00
Walking MP: 7
Running MP: 11
Jumping MP: 0
Heat Sinks: Double Heat Sink 10(20) 0.00
Heat Sink Locations: 1 RT
Gyro: Compact 4.50
Cockpit: Torso-Mounted 4.00
Actuators: L: SH+UA R: SH+UA
Armor: Light Ferro-Fibrous AV - 118 7.00
Armor Locations: 3 LT, 2 LA, 2 RA
CASE Locations: 1 LT 0.50
Internal Armor
Structure Factor
Head 3 9
Center Torso 11 16
Center Torso (rear) 5
L/R Torso 8 12
L/R Torso (rear) 4
L/R Arm 6 12
L/R Leg 8 16
================================================================================
Equipment Location Heat Critical Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ER Medium Laser RA 5 1 1.00
Machine Gun RA 0 1 0.50
ER Medium Laser LA 5 1 1.00
Machine Gun LA 0 1 0.50
Bloodhound Active Probe RT 0 3 2.00
(T) ER Large Laser HD 12 2 5.00
@MG (1/2) (100) LT - 1 0.50
Mech Head Turret CT - 1 0.50
Free Critical Slots: 10
BattleForce Statistics
MV S (+0) M (+2) L (+4) E (+6) Wt. Ov Armor: 4 Points: 11
7 3 2 1 0 1 0 Structure: 2
Special Abilities: BH, RCN, CASE, SRCH, ES, SEAL, SOA
-=-
Thoughts on this anyone?
Please comment.
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