The original Rhino battlemech was first introduced in Battletechnology Issue 12, and was described as a mech meant to solve the problems seen in other quad designs by... being exclusively designed to smash into other mechs. To accomplish this it got a funky piece of technology called a "ram plate" which increased the charge damage it inflicted, and a structure that weighed twice as much but reduced damage from some but not all physical impacts.
It was a neat, quirky little bit of apocryphal battletech lore until the Hanseatic Crusade, where we got stats for a clan version of the Rhino and rules for the ram plate (but not the unique structure, the clan design used spikes for much the same affect), but absolutely no fluff to describe where it came from.
So anyway I recreated the original, giving it reinforced structure to match the weight and provide some form of increased toughness, and also adjusted the armor to be... you know... legal.
Then I made a royal version. Which is finally me getting to the point of this post. Based on the fluff of the Rhino in Battletechnology, this would have been a purely hypothetical "paper" design. The Star League wasn't buying Rhinos, so they weren't going to buy a more expensive version of them. But those design notes, pulled out of some old archive by a wandering drug addled warrior archeologist, could have helped Goliath Scorpion scientists go from the low-tech, oddball original to the modern clan incarnation. Or something like that.
Rhino RHN-10b
Mass: 60 tons
Chassis: Reinforced Quad
Power Plant: 360 XL
Cruising Speed: 64.8 kph
Maximum Speed: 97.2 kph
Jump Jets: None
Jump Capacity: 0 meters
Armor: Ferro-Fibrous
Armament:
4 Medium Laser
2 Medium Pulse Laser
Manufacturer: Unknown
Primary Factory: Unknown
Communication System: Unknown
Targeting & Tracking System: Unknown
Introduction Year: 3090
Tech Rating/Availability: E/X-X-X-F
Cost: 13,644,800 C-bills
Type: Rhino
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Experimental)
Tonnage: 60
Battle Value: 1,377
Equipment Mass
Internal Structure Reinforced 12
Engine 360 XL 16.5
Walking MP: 6
Running MP: 9
Jumping MP: 0
Double Heat Sink 10 [20] 0
Gyro 4
Cockpit 3
Armor Factor (Ferro) 188 10.5
Internal Armor
Structure Value
Head 3 9
Center Torso 20 29
Center Torso (rear) 10
R/L Torso 14 20
R/L Torso (rear) 8
FR/L Leg 14 21
RR/L Leg 14 21
Weapons
and Ammo Location Critical Heat Tonnage
2 Medium Laser FRL 2 3 2.0
Medium Pulse Laser LT(R) 1 4 2.0
2 Medium Laser FLL 2 3 2.0
Ram Plate CT/RT/LT 1/1/1 - 6.0
Medium Pulse Laser HD 1 4 2.0
