In skimming several rule/source-books as research, something strange caught my notice. The Tech Manual entry on the ERPPC states that the SLDF introduced the ERPPC in 2760, and the fluff which follows agrees with that date. Yet look at the SLDF platforms produced (or refitted) with ERPPC mounts before the Amaris Coup:
From TRO3050U
BL-6b-KNT Black Knight 'Mech
From TRO3075
Puma assault tank
PXH-1b Phoenix Hawk Special 'Mech
MAD-2R Marauder 'Mech
THE-11Eb Thug 'Mech
BLR-1Gb BattleMaster 'Mech
IRN-SD1b Ironsides aerospace fighter
From Historical: Operation KLONDIKE
GRF-2N Griffin 'Mech
CHP-1Nb Champion 'Mech
TDR-5Sb Thunderbolt 'Mech
WHM-7A Warhammer 'Mech
RPR-200 Rapier aerospace fighter
STU-K5b Stuka aerospace fighter
That's one tank, three ASFs, and eight 'Mech designs, and all of them are remarkably well-designed to make maximum (or at least very efficient) use of the ERPPC. Moreover, there are two TRO entries which explicitly put the ERPPC in the field before the TM date of 2760:
- the entry on the Black Knight (p.212, TRO3050U) specifically says that the -6b Royal model (armed with an ERPPC and two LPLs) went into service in 2751.
- the entry on the GRF-2N Griffin (p.159, Historical: Operation KLONDIKE), which explicitly states that the refits which produced the GRF-2N were carried out at the start of the 28th century.
Did the SLDF simply phase in the ERPPC with unusual alacrity, forethought, and engineering skill in those 'official' six years between 2760 and 2766? Or is the intro-date in Tech Manual in error, and the ERPPC was introduced far earlier than 2760, as the entries in TRO3050U and Operation KLONDIKE states?
EDIT: data on the Royal Black Knight added.
