Lightning Bolt LB-1A
Mass: 25 tons
Chassis: LB-W
Power Plant: Nissan 225
Cruising Speed: 97.2 kph
Maximum Speed: 151.2 kph
Jump Jets: None
Jump Capacity: 0 meters
Armor: Durallex Light
Armament:
1 Medium Laser
1 LRM 5
Manufacturer: Gibson Federated Battlemechs
Primary Factory: Gibson
Communication System: Garret T10B
Targeting & Tracking System: Wasat Aggressor
Introduction Year: 2762
Tech Rating/Availability: D/C-E-D-D
Cost: 2,236,250 C-bills
The Lightning Bolt could be seen as many things. An indication of the decaying relations between the First Lord and the Star League Council, an example of the many different sources that Amaris had tapped to funnel arms to his secret army, or even a sign of how corporate greed worked to compromise the safety and security of the entire human race. Instead, what it is most commonly known as is a monument to marketing and wishful thinking over real engineering.
Conceived on the order of Ewan Marik as a scout hunter, the original design proposal for the Lightning Bolt immediately stands out for being clearly aimed as countering the capabilities of the SLDF. In particular, the original proposal for the Lightning Bolt was for a mech specifically able to hunt down and eliminate the Hussar, Hermes, Mongoose, and other similar light and fast SLDF mechs. While there is nothing unusual about one power evaluating and attempting to exceed the military capabilities of another, even if those powers are technically friendly, the contracts for the Lightning Bolt were awarded at a particularly contentious point in the Star League's history. First Lord Richard Cameron had just issued Executive Order 156, demanding the elimination of house and private military forces, and there was absolutely no ambiguity in Ewan Marik's decision to call for more military procurement in response. While the Star League Council would ultimately force the First Lord to rescind his executive order, at the time the possibility of actual conflict between the SLDF and the member states had been very real.
Even with the crisis over Executive Order 156 defused, as well as the passing of Ewan Marik, development of the Lightning Bolt continued, with the contract awarded to Gibson Federated Battlemechs on the strength of a very promising offering of a 25 ton design capable of over 160 kilometers per hour at a full run, mounting an armament of two medium lasers and a small LRM rack, and a reasonably thick armored hide to protect it from return fire.
The star (pun intended) of this technological show was an advanced extralight powerplant. Not exactly earth shattering on its face, however Gibson Federated Battlemechs had promised revolutionary new improvements to the design and manufacturing of these engines that would allow the Lightning Bolt to be manufactured by the thousands at a competitive price to lower tech designs of a similar weight, something basically unheard of outside of the Terran Hegemony. The marketing department had put on a fantastic show and had secured an initial contract for three thousand units, but in the end it all proved to be largely hot air. Revolutionary new manufacturing techniques never materialized, cost per unit ballooned from the promised three million to close to five million star league dollars, and delays plagued the program relentlessly until the FWLM simply washed their hands of it and cancelled the program after less than one hundred of the planned three thousand units had been delivered.
This, however, left Gibson Federated sitting on nearly a thousand completed chassis and piles of subcomponents with no buyer. Even if the company could overcome the bottleneck on XL engine production, League laws would not allow them to sell such advanced technology on the open market, and the FWLM had made it clear they wouldn't take the material off their hands. So Gibson went back to the drawing board.
Though the refit was intended to preserve as much of the Lightning Bolt's original capabilities as possible, the end result was a distressing series of compromises, starting with the the new powerplant. Swapping in the fusion core from the Sabre aerofighter required a bit of adaptation, but the Nissan powerplant was relatively cheap and easy to come by and had only a minimal affect on the battlemech's ground speed. Making up for the weight of the engine, however, would require shaving off half the armor protection as well as sacrificing one of the medium lasers. The remaining laser would also be moved to the mech's head, ostensibly to slightly improve its firing arc and elevation, though some cynical individuals have stated (possibly jokingly) that it was meant to preserve the valuable weapon when the mech was inevitably gutted on the battlefield.
With only two and a half tons of armor protection, engineers knew they could not provide adequate protection to the entire mech. Instead armor is concentrated most heavily over the most vulnerable areas, in particular the fusion reactor and the ammunition bay for the LRM launcher, though even in this case it's only enough to absorb a single medium laser hit from the front without being penetrated (This uniquely lopsided armor profile was also present in the original prototypes, though its overall heavier armor protection made it less apparent). The low, sleek profile of the mech is intended to provide additional protection by making for a harder target, however the engine replacement may be more valuable in that respect, as the chassis was originally engineered for a bulky extralight engine, and large sections of the mech can now be shot away without compromising its survival.
Gibson Federated Battlemechs no doubt fully expected their revised Lightning Bolt would be a tough sell on the open market given how the FWLM contract fell through. As such they were no doubt pleasantly surprised when the entire run of nine hundred and seventy units found buyers almost instantly upon hitting the market, shipping out in twenty to fifty unit lots for delivery at points all around the Inner Sphere and beyond. In a couple short years, they would begin to reappear in the hands of periphery separatists.
While experienced pilots may have been able to use the unique characteristics of the Lightning Bolt to their advantage in the dirty, confused conflicts that were the Periphery Uprising, the inexperienced and undisciplined periphery rebels found the mech particularly hard to use and began to almost despise it due to poor performance against SLDF units, and only a lack of equipment kept the periphery armies from simply discarding their Lightning Bolts. Instead, more experienced pilots and scarce supplies were allocated to more desirable mechs, while green recruits got the increasingly badly patched and ramshackle dregs like the Lightning Bolt, which only magnified the mech's poor reputation among periphery forces. Once the fighting had ended, and the survivors turned to rebuilding, the handfuls of remaining Lightning Bolts were removed from service with the major states and found their way into the hands of minor states and independents.
In the Free Worlds League, the relatively small number of original as designed Lightning Bolts would give decent service during the Succession Wars, and new production out of Gibson would even swell their numbers to as many as two hundred during the early years of the conflict. Between the loss of technology and damage to the production lines, however, production was halted before the end of the First Succession War. Surviving examples would be stripped of their advanced engines and either scrapped completely or downgraded as war resumed, and by the end of the Second Succession War the number of Lightning Bolts in service in the Free Worlds League were believed to be down to single digits. Today, there is only one Lightning Bolt listed as active within the borders of the Free Worlds League, and even that sole example traces back to the periphery uprising by way of the Magistracy of Canopus.
Variants:
As mentioned previously, the original LB-1X model used a 250 rated extralight engine to provide greater ground speed than the SLDF mechs it was designed to face, in particular the Hussar. The mech's weapons were also selected with the Hussar in mind. The single small LRM rack might seem to be at best an annoyance to most opponents, but against the famously thin skinned Hussar, it could prove deadly at an engagement range the Hussar would struggle to match. Once the battle became close, the Lightning Bolt's two medium lasers were expected to be decisive, while its substantially heavier armor would allow it to shrug off the Hussar's return fire long enough to end the battle. That armor protection also indicates that the lopsided protection seen on the 1A model was not entirely unprecendented, as the armor protection over the LRM rack and ammunition bay is slightly thicker than the other side of the torso, sufficient to resist a single PPC impact.
An alternative to the 1A variant attempted to retain the ground speed of the 1X prototype by mounting a Magna 250 engine to the chassis, though accomplishing this meant giving up the LRM rack entirely and shaving off an additional precious half ton of armor. This variant retains the twin lasers of the original version, and redistributes the armor to the bare minimum over most of the mech to provide resistance against a medium laser over the legs and vitals. Though only rarely seen on the battlefields of the Periphery Uprising, pilots were said to prefer this version to the original model, as they felt that the higher speed and the slightly better protected legs made it feel more survivable.
Type: Lightning Bolt
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Introductory)
Tonnage: 25
Battle Value: 490
Equipment Mass
Internal Structure 2.5
Engine 225 Fusion 10
Walking MP: 9
Running MP: 14
Jumping MP: 0
Heat Sink 10 0
Gyro 3
Cockpit 3
Armor Factor 40 2.5
Internal Armor
Structure Value
Head 3 4
Center Torso 8 7
Center Torso (rear) 2
R/L Torso 6 6/3
R/L Torso (rear) 2
R/L Arm 4 3
R/L Leg 6 4
Right Arm Actuators: Shoulder, Upper Arm, Lower Arm, Hand
Left Arm Actuators: Shoulder, Upper Arm, Lower Arm, Hand
Weapons
and Ammo Location Critical Heat Tonnage
Heat Sink RT 1 - 1.0
LRM 5 Ammo (24) RT 1 - 1.0
LRM 5 RT 1 2 2.0
Medium Laser HD 1 3 1.0
Features the following design quirks: Compact Mek, Narrow/Low Profile, Bad Reputation (Inner Sphere), Weak Legs
Author note: The Lightning Bolt is based on the first mech my brother ever made using the 3rd edition rulebook, and while the details have been lost to history, the basics; 25 tons, 10/15 movement, two medium lasers, LRM 5, and lopsided armor to protect the ammunition, are still clear as day. As is the fact that this would never have actually fit on an introductory 25 ton mech. Look, it was 1994, the rules were brand new to us, and we didn't have design software.
How to fit it into the universe at large is my own bit, though.
