Something I came up with many moons ago. Enjoy
The Ice Phantom was conceived by the Ice Hellion scientist caste as a heavy high speed quad totem that acted as a head hunter. It would seek out the commander of an Inner Sphere company or lance or clan binary or trinary and destroy them.
The caste chose to utilize a 70ton frame as the basis of the design. This was extremely controversial as everyone had thought that there was no possible way to achieve the speed required for the design specs without dangerous myomer accelerator circuitry or superchargers. The scientists had a trick up their collective sleeves…..they were going to use a new large extra light engine. This was the safest way to achieve the required speed for the desired chassis.
There was a drawback for their choice of power plant though. Its extreme weight severely limited the weapons and armor it can carry. There was serious discussion of the weapons it should carry by the warrior and scientist caste for a long time….many discussions ending is a circle of equals. The simulators and real weapon trials showed that there were several weapon combinations that worked very well. They were, of course, all energy based combinations.
The combination that was preferred by the majority of the mechwarriors was an extended range Particle cannon paired with an extended range large laser. With this weapon combination, the heat spikes momentarily, but is quite controllable as long as the pilot doesn’t get too carried away. The second favored variant uses paired heavy large lasers. This variant has heat issues that can hamper the mech’s performance until it cools down from a strafing run. The third variant that proved popular packs a large pulse laser paired extended range medium lasers and paired heavy mediums lasers. If the pilot gets carried away with using an alpha strike, he will be in trouble from the heat buildup. The last variant that was actually like the most from the pilots was one that utilized a targeting computer that tied in an extended range particle cannon with paired heavy medium lasers.
There was much discussion to adding an ECN system, but the only way to do so was to remove armor and that was not an acceptable solution as the armor was already too thin by most of the mechwarriors who tested the mech. As it stands, the mech’s 10 tons of armor is only 82% of the battlemech’s theoretical maximum coverage.
The scientist caste made one prototype that cured the heat and armor issues. They accomplished this by using a newly developed extra-extra light large engine. This engine weighs in at a scant 1/3 of the weight of the standard version of the engine. It does, however, take up a lot of room in the side torsos. To compensate for the added vulnerability, the armor was increased to 94% of the battlemech’s theoretical maximum. The only weapons are a pair of particle cannons tied to a targeting computer. One surprise that the scientists added was a supercharger for the engine. This boosted the battlemech’s speed to an astounding 130kph….unheard of for a mech of this weight class. This variant came at a price, however, and that was the overall cost of the mech was more than an entire star of front line omni’s.
So far only a binary’s worth of Ice Phantoms has been made, save for the one with the XXL engine. They are being reviewed for production worthiness and further field trials. Only one has seen actual combat and it was the XXL engine prototype. It was in a brief engagement with Clan Wolf. Ironically the Wolf Mechwarrior was piloting an Ice Ferret battlemech. The pilot was shocked that such a heavy machine could move that quickly and pack such heavy and accurate firepower. The Ice Ferret pilot did not stand a chance and the Ice Phantom tore through him without a second thought. The Ice Phantom ended up with 5 kills that day….three Ice Ferrets, a Shadow Cat and a Puma. When the pilot was informed that there was an assault binary incoming to his position he was ordered to return to base lest the prototype be captured. The damage to the Ice Phantom was only average and was fully operational in less than a week after a full inspection.
BattleMech Technical Readout
Type/Model: Ice Phantom IP-1A
Tech: Clan / 3067
Config: Quad BattleMech
Rules: Level 3, Standard design
Mass: 70 tons
Chassis: Endo Steel
Power Plant: 420 Large XXL Fusion with Supercharger
Walking Speed: 64.8 km/h
Maximum Speed: 97.2 [129.6] km/h
Jump Jets: None
Jump Capacity: 0 meters
Armor Type: Ferro-Fibrous
Armament:
2 ER PPCs
1 Light TAG
Manufacturer: (Unknown)
Location: (Unknown)
Communications System: (Unknown)
Targeting & Tracking System: (Unknown)
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Type/Model: Ice Phantom IP-1A
Mass: 70 tons
Equipment: Crits Mass
Int. Struct.: 115 pts Endo Steel 7 3.50
(Endo Steel Loc: 2 LFL, 1 RFL, 1 LT, 1 RT, 1 LRL, 1 RRL)
Engine: 420 XXL Fusion 16 24.50
Engine Supercharger: (LT) 1 2.50
Walking MP: 6
Running MP: 9 [12]
Jumping MP: 0
Heat Sinks: 14 Double [28] 0 4.00
Gyro: 4 5.00
Cockpit, Life Supt.: 5 3.00
Leg Act: Hip + UpLeg + LowLeg + Foot 16 .00
Armor Factor: 230 pts Ferro-Fibrous 7 12.00
(Armor Crit Loc: 1 RFL, 2 LT, 2 RT, 1 LRL, 1 RRL)
Internal Armor
Structure Value
Head: 3 9
Center Torso: 22 31
Center Torso (Rear): 10
L/R Side Torso: 15 22/22
L/R Side Torso (Rear): 8/8
L/R Front Leg: 15 30/30
L/R Rear Leg: 15 30/30
Weapons and Equipment Loc Heat Ammo Crits Mass
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1 ER PPC RT 15 2 6.00
1 ER PPC LT 15 2 6.00
1 Light TAG HD 0 1 .50
1 Targeting Computer RT 3 3.00
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TOTALS: 30 64 70.00
Crits & Tons Left: 2 .00
Calculated Factors:
Total Cost: 145,917,800 C-Bills
Battle Value 2: 3,013 (old BV = 2,199)
Cost per BV2: 48,429.41
Weapon Value: 3,327 / 3,327 (Ratio = 1.10 / 1.10)
Damage Factors: SRDmg = 29; MRDmg = 23; LRDmg = 16
BattleForce2: MP: 6, Armor/Structure: 6/3
Damage PB/M/L: 4/3/3, Overheat: 1
Class: MH; Point Value: 30
Specials: tag
