Loosely inspired by the Autocannon thread.
The Sultan STN-1A is a Command Battlemech of the Free World League. First produced in 3075, and although perfectly functional as a Command Battlemech, it received a poor reputation and a condescending nickname of "Brazen Bulls" due to a memorable incident a few years prior due to one questionable design decision with the prototype.
The prototype of the Sultan, the STN-X, was remarkably similar to the future STN-1A production model. Not intended to be on front-line duty, the STN-X is equipped with a quartet of Light Gauss Rifles for a reasonable level of direct fire support of its accompanying lance, which it leads with a Command Console.
The 3070 STN-X prototype differs in its choice of heat sinks. The prototype was selected to use Single Heat Sinks in a regenerative-cooling system, instead of Double Heat Sinks.
In fact, the STN-X was originally designed around Double Heat Sinks by the engineering design team. However, early in its development, their head Project Manager mandated that the crystalline polymer DHS design for a less expensive graphite SHS design, citing the limited heat of the Gauss Rifles as the reason.
The Lead Engineer of the project protested the decision, citing their design team's thermal analysis of a damaged engine. Her simulation determined that the SHS design lacked the heat rejection effectiveness to keep the Sultan cool in the event of engine damage. This would raise the temperature of the mech and the coolant fluid for an extended period of time, which would degrade the coolant and result in an even less effective heat rejection system, causing a positive feedback loop that would eventually destroy the engine and overwhelm the pilot's life support, making the SHS a bad, unsafe design.
The concerns were dismissed, and the lead engineer was let go.
Two years pass. The project leader is happy and very confident with the progress of the Sultan project and schedules a live-fire demonstration, akin to that of the Mackie's centuries ago. He hires a famous Battlemech pilot, Jeff Withers (AKA "Old Ironsides") to pilot the 'mech controls for the demonstration, and another pilot of lesser note on the control console. A great spectacle was to be made of the demonstration, with members of the FWL parliament, other corporations, other important persons and even casual observers (for a fee) invited to witness the demonstration.
The demonstration began harmlessly enough. J. Withers, though well past his prime at the time, still proved to be a crack shot, handily knocking out Drone conversions of Scorpion tanks and Warrior VTOLs with the quad-gauss rifles from a wooded position.
Suddenly, there's a bright flash in the right torso, followed by a deafening BANG, a light clank of a fallen decapitated right arm, and an eerie, screeching CLANK as the rest of the Sultan falls head-first into the ground.
(From the footage, it was later determined to be the result of a lucky Autocannon shot from a Warrior drone that had found its way through the armor and into the machine gun ammunition compartment.)
The staff disabled the combat drones by now, but the damage had already been done.
The explosion caught the nearby foliage on fire, which quickly grew from smoldering flames into a wild inferno. The command console crewman manually ejected, and was found nearby with severe burns as well as physical trauma. The injured Mr. Withers's ejection system had failed on the fall, leaving him trapped in the Sultan cockpit, becoming hotter and hotter from both the damaged engine's heat and the environmental wildfire around it. The confused and horrified spectators watched the crippled Sultan writhe as "Old Ironsides" attempted in vain to stand up or crawl away.
By the time the fire-fighting crews had handled the brush-fire and reached the Sultan minutes later, it was too late. Old Ironsides was an unrecognizable, charred husk. The 'Mech itself wasn't in much better condition; most of the engine had melted. The STN-X was clearly a complete write-off of a 50,000,000 C-Bill prototype.
The Free World League mourned the loss of their war hero, who evaded death in the field only to succumb to his own Battlemech. The Sultan Project Manager cursed his his missed opportunity to make a good impression to his potential buyers.
The FWL set up a commission to learn how such an accident could have possibly happen.
Just one day later, a whistle-blower (the former Lead Engineer) was called up by the commission. She detailed the exact issue with the Single Heat Sink design that lead to the the STN-X's fate.
Within a day, the FWL seemed to shift from mourning to anger. The company was sued by both the government and Jeff Withers's surviving family for a total of tens of billions of C-Bills. The Sultan Project Leader was also sacked and eventually jailed for gross negligence leading to the preventable death of a test pilot. The new Project Leader rapidly switched the design over to Double Heat Sinks in time for the production model STN-1A, fixing the runaway heat issue.
However, by then the Sultan's reputation as a pilot fryer was cemented in the minds of the Mechwarriors.
One change, simply to save 120,000 C-Bills, resulted in loss of a life and billions of C-Bills for the company down the road, only saved from bankruptcy by the collapse of the Free World League in 3079. The Sultan today stands as a cautionary tale of what can happen when you cut corners on safety to maximize your profits.
Sultan STN-1A
Mass: 100 tons
Chassis: Endo Steel Biped
Power Plant: 300 Light
Cruising Speed: 32.4 kph
Maximum Speed: 54 kph
Armor: Standard
Armament:
2 Light Machine Gun
4 Light Gauss Rifle
Communication System: Unknown
Targeting & Tracking System: Unknown
Introduction Year: 3075
Tech Rating/Availability: E/X-X-E-D
Cost: 20,030,500 C-bills
Type: Sultan
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Standard)
Tonnage: 100
Battle Value: 1,992
Equipment Mass
Internal Structure Endo Steel 5
Engine 300 Light 14.5
Walking MP: 3
Running MP: 5
Jumping MP: 0
Double Heat Sink: 10 [20] 0
XL Gyro: 1.5
Command Console: 6
Armor Factor: 304 19
Internal
Structure Armor
Value
Head 3 9
Center Torso 31 46
Center Torso (rear) 15
R/L Torso 21 31
R/L Torso (rear) 10
R/L Arm 17 34
R/L Leg 21 42
Weapons
and Ammo Location Critical Tonnage
Light Machine Gun Ammo (100) RT 1 0.5
2 Light Machine Guns RT 2 1
Light Gauss Rifle Ammo (32) RT 2 2
CASE RT 1 0.5
2 Light Gauss Rifles LA 10 24
Light Gauss Rifle Ammo (32) LT 2 2
2 Light Gauss Rifles RA 10 24
