The era of the Star League saw unparalleled advancement in weapons technology, which gave the SLDF's Royal Forces a tremendous technological advantage over the private armies of the Great Houses. Even so, comparatively little of this technology found its way to the Regulars that made up the bulk of the Star League military, even in the League's later years. This was seen as something of a problem. Despite the overwhelming numerical advantage of the SLDF over the Houses' private forces, the SLDF was not willing to accept any level of parity with a potentially rebellious House Lord. At the same time, many generals did not trust the idea of handing over the most advanced weapons in the League to Regulars drawn from those same great houses.
Thankfully, a sort of middle ground was quickly found. Among the centuries of engineering and thousands of designs spawned by the introduction of the battlemech had produced numerous almost innocuous incremental improvements, such as the advanced combat control computer of the Stalker or the powerful integrated sensor systems of the Ostscout. Starting in the early 28th century, SLDF engineers began combining some of the more impressive of these incidental systems into standardized refit packages that would boost the combat capabilities of even the oldest machines operated by the SLDF's Regulars. These refit packages were mission specific, and for simplicity focused on improved computer and sensor systems than any significant structural or weapons changes that would greatly complicate the program. Even so, the improvements were considerable, with aging mechs like the Locust, Warhammer or early generation Marauder able to suddenly perform beyond expectations.
Production of these standardized refit kits was concentrated in the Terran Hegemony, and as a consequence, the program was yet another victim of the Amaris Coup and First Succession War. Refitted mechs were highly prized by the great houses, but any similar programs were cut short by the devastation of the Succession Wars. Even so, battlemechs equipped with Star League electronics packages were known to have survived in small numbers well into the Succession Wars.
Though the post-helm recovery conceivably opened the door for the return of these specialized electronics packages, the Great Houses universally concentrated their efforts on more impressive primary systems such as weapons and material technologies, rather than these relatively humble subsystems. The Magistracy of Canopus and Taurian Concordat were something of an exception for a time, seeking ways to upgrade their militaries without access to the technical wonders of the Inner Sphere, but even with these states, research into these electronics packages fell by the wayside as more advanced technologies began flowing into the periphery.
Mechanics:
Not really a piece of equipment in the normal sense, each of these Electronics Packages are represented by a set of positive design quirks, and are thus not really useful unless the rules for design quirks are in play.
For the purposes of upgrading a battlemech in gameplay, either in a Star League era game or with a package pulled out of a cache, each electronics package is represented by a single "item" with the following stats: Cost: 500,000 cbills/star league dollars, Tech Rating: E, Availability Rating: E/F/F/X. For the purposes of cargo storage, the refit package weighs one half ton (though it takes up no mass or space on a mech once installed).
Installation takes 600 minutes and is made with a +1 skill modifier. In addition, as these are not standard equipment destruction of either the sensors of cockpit will also destroy the refit package, necessitating acquisition of another package to restore the lost quirks. If playing during the Star League era, this could be as simple as requisitioning another package. In other settings, it may prove an adventure all its own.
Scout Electronics Package
Improved Sensors
Improved Communications
Battle Electronics Package
Combat Computer
Improved Life Support
Multi-Track Targeting
Command Electronics Package
Command Mech
Improved Communications
Support Electronics Package
Improved Targeting/Long
Improved Communications
