I rather liked
Colourbrand's art, so I decided to do a full writeup and toss it into my AU. I saw someone comment that it'd make sense as a Taurian mech, so I went in that direction. Shameless plagiarism ahoy! :P
Oh, and this thread now has over 15,000 views! A noticeable chunk of them are just me reviewing the thread for the sake of checking my internal canon when I don't have my desktop PC available, but to everyone else reading my ramblings, thanks! :)
Fighter FIT-1B
Mass: 50 tons
Tech Base: Inner Sphere
Chassis Config: Biped
Rules Level: Tournament Legal
Era: Age of War/Star League
Tech Rating/Era Availability: D/C-F-D-A
Production Year: 3035A
Cost: 3,986,000 C-Bills
Battle Value: 1,020
Chassis: TTI Mk.III
Power Plant: Magna 250
Walking Speed: 54.0 km/h
Maximum Speed: 86.4 km/h
Jump Jets: None
Jump Capacity: 0 meters
Armor: Durallex Medium w/ CASE
Armament:
1 Pontiac Light Autocannon
1 Diverse Optics Type 18 Medium Laser
1 Delta Dart LRM-5
2 Bical SRMs
Manufacturer: Taurus Territorial Industries
Primary Factory: Taurus, Sterope (3040 on)
Communications System: Neil 9000
Targeting and Tracking System: O-P 911
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Equipment Type Rating Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure: Standard 83 points 5.00
Engine: Fusion Engine 250 12.50
Walking MP: 5
Running MP: 8
Jumping MP: 0
Heat Sinks: Single Heat Sink 10 0.00
Gyro: Standard 3.00
Cockpit: Standard 3.00
Actuators: L: SH+UA+LA+H R: SH+UA+LA
Armor: Standard Armor AV - 136 8.50
CASE Locations: 1 LT, 1 RT 1.00
Internal Armor
Structure Factor
Head 3 9
Center Torso 16 20
Center Torso (rear) 7
L/R Torso 12 17
L/R Torso (rear) 6
L/R Arm 8 12
L/R Leg 12 15
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Equipment Location Heat Critical Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Medium Laser LT 3 1 1.00
LRM-5 LT 2 1 2.00
Autocannon/5 RA 1 4 8.00
2 SRM-2s LA 4 2 2.00
@AC/5 (40) RT - 2 2.00
@LRM-5 (24) LT - 1 1.00
@SRM-2 (50) LT - 1 1.00
Free Critical Slots: 34
BattleForce Statistics
MV S (+0) M (+2) L (+4) E (+6) Wt. Ov Armor: 5 Points: 10
5 2 2 1 0 2 0 Structure: 4
Special Abilities: CASE, SRCH, ES, SEAL, SOA
Overview: The heavy military reforms and rebuilding undertaken by the Taurian Concordat in the 3030s and '40s also included efforts to populate their medium 'Mech weight class. Their domestic production boiled down to decent numbers of
Phoenix Hawks and
Griffins, with the occasional
Wolverine thrown in for flavor. With imports few and far between, and with the absolutely terrifying potential threat of the Confederated Suns right across the border, Taurus Territorial Industries rapidly delivered an inexpensive 50-tonner to bolster TDF formations. This new Mech's early prototypes were rather unimaginatively nicknamed
"Fighter", with the full intention of coming up with a better name later, but the name stuck.
Capabilities: TTI decided to build a new chassis altogether rather than adapt one of the Concordat's existing designs. This was in part to gain their scientists and Techs experience in doing so for future projects, and in part to keep as much in-house as possible for reasons of prestige.
Because most engine prototyping in early-3030s Concordat space consisted of incremental engine size changes rather than radical resizes, a 250-rated engine was considered easier to make steps toward than a 200, which would have matched common 'Mechs like the
Centurion. The 250 engine rating meant that the new
Fighter would match the TDF's other mediums in speed, if not in maneuverability.
Early prototypes matched the common SHD-2H
Shadow Hawk in armament and armor, albeit with the weapons in different places. The development of (early) CASE led to the removal of a heat sink and the reduction to eight and a half tons of armor. (
FIT-1A: 991 BV; cost 3,971,000 C-Bills.) The FIT-1B, introduced a scant few years later, gained a ton of free weight from the upgrade to modern CASE technology, and used it to add a second SRM rack to the left arm.
The result of all this is that the
Fighter, as it comes from the factory, is a rather uninspiring multipurpose "trooper" that lacks the agility to match the classic 55-tonners, the firepower to compete against slower 'Mechs, or the armor to last in lengthy engagements.
What the chassis does have going for it, though, is a tremendous amount of customization options. TTI's designers wanted an all-purpose testbed, and used lessons learned from the New Dallas Core's primitive
Orion data to make the torso and arm bays as easy to work on as possible, and even to accomodate larger engines (an impressive feat, given the fragmentary data on non-Standard engines that existed in 3032). The legs and center torso can accomodate jump jets, though the legs' fuel hookups are occasionally balky (a problem fixed in later models).
The result of all this is that, weight and gyro-stress considerations aside, the
Fighter chassis is absurdly rugged, and can be modified and tinkered with to almost the same degree as the old
Orion. Not only is this a boon to the far-flung TDF, which sometimes has to make do with what's available, but it has also made the 'Mech popular with Taurian-friendly mercenaries.
Deployment: All active Corps of the Taurian Defense Force now use the
Fighter in quantity. TTI has expanded its manufacturing to the relatively new colony world of Sterope, and several smaller companies manufacture parts, armor upgrades, and refit kits for the
Fighter under license.
Outside the Concordat, the
Fighter is most common among mercenaries, though the rugged 'Mech has been exported in small-to-moderate numbers to the Commonwealth, the Combine, and Tamar Pact as part of the Taurians' (grudging) efforts to support anti-Clan efforts. The ConSuns and the League invariably sell any
Fighters they obtain to one of those three states.
TTI has been in talks to license the design to smaller manufacturers outside the Concordat, but these talks have been going on for almost two decades and have borne little fruit.
Variants: Though the base chassis has been upgraded and modified countless ways since its initial prototypes were built almost thirty years ago, the
Fighter has comparably few factory variants.
The
FIT-1T upgrades the armor to Semi-Ferro using a widely available third-party kit, which was later given official support and licensing by TTI. (
FIT-1T: 1,046 BV; cost 4,017,875 C-Bills.)
The lack of production of the 250 Trimmed Engine in Taurian space meant that the upgraded
FIT-2T was a rare sight, usually making use of engines either salvaged or smuggled from the ConSuns or League. Like the -1T, it also upgraded to Semi-Ferro armor. The extra ton and a half of free weight was used to add a pair of light machine guns to the right arm, fed by half a ton of ammo. TTI never produced this variant new from the factory, instead offering this as a series of limited-time factory upgrades. (
FIT-2T: 1,041 BV; cost 5,382,250 C-Bills.)
The
FIT-3T, by contrast, is a full factory variant which debuted barely a week before the start of the War of Silence. Using a Light Engine and Semi-Ferro armor, the -3T changes out the autocannon for a standard Large Laser and adds a quartet of double-strength Freezers to the engine's ten standard models. A full set of jump jets also gives it greater mobility, and the arm-mounted SRMs are changed out for a pair of the new Light SRM launchers. (
FIT-3T: MLAS, LRM-5/1@, 2 LSM-4/1@, LLAS, 2 LMG/0.5@. 250 LFE, 14[18] SHS/DHS, 5/8/5. 1,226 BV; cost 6,972,375 C-Bills.)
The 3T2, introduced in 3055, upgrades the 'Mech further by changing all the heat sinks out for Improved sinks and swapping the lasers out for a large extended-range model and a heavy medium. Demand for the latter variant has long outstripped supply. (
FIT-3T2: LRM-5/1@, 2 LSM-4/1@, erLLAS, hvMLAS, 2 LMG/0.5@. 250 LFE, 5/8/5, 14{21} IHS. 1,314 BV; cost 7,179,375 C-Bills.)