Mass: 55 tons
Tech Base: Inner Sphere
Chassis Config: Biped
Rules Level: Tournament Legal
Era: Age of War/Star League
Tech Rating/Era Availability: E/D-F-E-A
Production Year: 2504
Cost: 4,676,841 C-Bills
Battle Value: 1,179
Chassis: Technicron Heavy X Endo-Steel
Power Plant: Vlar 220 Fusion Engine
Walking Speed: 43.2 km/h
Maximum Speed: 64.8 km/h
Jump Jets: Rawlings 130
Jump Capacity: 120 meters
Armor: Numall Modular Standard Armor
Armament:
1 Mydron Model B Autocannon/10
1 Deadeye-10 LRM-10
1 Harpoon SRM-6
1 Maxell Medium Laser
Manufacturer: Kong Interstellar
Primary Factory: Connaught
Communications System: TransComm Alpha
Targeting and Tracking System: Transcomm Beta
Overview: By 2502 the Terran Hegemony had a problem.
Jump jets had been introduced with the Wasp battlemech in 2464. They had proved to be an invaluable tool to massively increase the maneuverability of a unit on the battlefield.
The Hegemony had applied this technology to heavier and heavier mechs over the following decades, until in 2499 they applied the technology to the largest battlemech to date, the Guillotine.
Upon its debut the Guillotine was a technical marvel. It possessed an unparalleled combination of firepower, durability, and maneuverability.
And almost no one could pilot it.
The Terran Hegemony had spent decades training their mechwarriors to fit specific roles. Until the Guillotine those roles were generally divided by tonnage. No Hegemony pilot had the experience required to exploit the Guillotine to the extent of its abilities.
Kong Industries, a recently founded manufacturer on the planet of Connuaght, had an idea. They would introduce a new mech intended to serve as a training device for mech pilots already in the field. The mech would be lighter than the Guillotine, cheaper than it, but contain all the elements that would allow someone to "graduate" from their new mech to the Guillotine.
Capabilities: In 2503 they introduced a prototype of the Squire. The squire was originally designed as a "scaled down" version of the Guillotine, and was intended to mimic it not only in handling but in firepower. After some conversations with the THAF, however, they decided that it should have a more well-rounded weapons suite. This was intended to serve dual roles.
First, while the Guillotine was an excellent close-assault machine, its longest ranged weapon had a maximum range of only 450 meters. The THAF wanted a machine that could serve as a more general training machine, rather than one specifically for Guillotine pilots.
Second, once it was convinced that the Guillotine did not require a dedicated
training mech, Kong intended to sell the design to the other Great Houses. Those nations had no interest in a design designated only for training, and Kong wanted a machine that could hold its own on the battlefield.
Accordingly, Kong gave the design a mix of weapons. Primary was a Mydron heavy autocannon. The gun was chosen initially for its low heat and similar range profile to the Guillotine's heavy laser.
This weapon, and all other ammunition-dependent weapons on the Squire, was provided only a single ton of ammunition. This was seen as a way to train pilots to husband their ammunition more carefully. A 6-tube SRM rack was included as well, also to mimic the Guillotine.
Unlike the Guillotine's suite of close range lasers however, the Squire only mounts one. Instead, Kong equipped the Squire with a 10-tube LRM rack. This was an addition requested by the THAF, who wanted their heavy mech pilots cross-trained for fire support roles.
The Squire massed only 55 tons, a full 15 lower than the design it was originally intended to emulate. To handle all the desired equipment Kong was forced to equip it with an endo-steel chassis. Armor was good for it's size, but much lower than that of a comparable heavy mech at only 10 tons.
The "party piece' of the design was the jump package. Kong was able to fit extra stabilization equipment into the torso, and mounted all of the jump jets there. This made the Squire much more stable in flight than the Guillotine, although it did not allow for as great a degree of control.
Deployment: Kong's initial proposal for units was accepted by the THAF in 2503. A limited run was produced before production was stopped in 2550.
By that time the THAF has decided that its training requirements had changed. new pilots were trained in the use of jump jets from the start. While the Squire's once vaunted simplified jump package was once invaluable, now it was seen as a liability because of its simplistic nature. A good Guillotine pilot could land in an area much smaller than that of a Squire pilot.
Kong pointed out that the Squire had been designed as a more general training mech for heavy mech pilots, but the THAF had in 2510 already adopted the Chameleon as their solution to train all of their new pilots. Finding themselves without a buyer, Kong sold off their remaining stock before tasking the Squire's production line to a new mech. That mech would be fully introduced in 2578 as the Black Knight.
Variants: A single variant of the Squire was produced.
Because of technology export laws, Kong was unable to sell its initial design to the other Great Houses because of its use of an Endo-Steel chassis. Because they wanted as large a sales market as possible they developed a downgraded version for export sales.
This required the development of a chassis from more readily available materials. The new chassis was nearly double the mass of that of the original design. To compensate Kong replaced the heavy autocannon with a lighter one. Because insurgencies were more common among the other nations, they also equipped the left arm with a pair of machine guns, drawing from a half-ton ammo bin.
This version was initially popular, but ultimately lost out to the upgraded version of the Shadow Hawk when it was introduced in 2550. Most observers cited the Shadow Hawk's superior cruising speed as well as its greater parts availability as to why the Squire did not attain more widespread acceptance.
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Equipment Type Rating Mass
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Internal Structure: Endo-Steel 91 points 3.00
Internal Locations: 1 HD, 1 CT, 3 LT, 3 RT, 4 LA, 2 RA
Engine: Fusion Engine 220 10.00
Walking MP: 4
Running MP: 6
Jumping MP: 4 Standard
Jump Jet Locations: 2 LT, 2 RT 2.00
Heat Sinks: Single Heat Sink 10 0.00
Heat Sink Locations: 1 LL, 1 RL
Gyro: Standard 3.00
Cockpit: Standard 3.00
Actuators: L: SH+UA+LA+H R: SH+UA
Armor: Standard Armor AV - 160 10.00
Internal Armor
Structure Factor
Head 3 9
Center Torso 18 25
Center Torso (rear) 6
L/R Torso 13 21
L/R Torso (rear) 5
L/R Arm 9 15
L/R Leg 13 19
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Equipment Location Heat Critical Mass
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Medium Laser CT 3 1 1.00
LRM-10 RT 4 2 5.00
SRM-6 LT 4 2 3.00
Autocannon/10 RA 3 7 12.00
@LRM-10 (12) RT - 1 1.00
@SRM-6 (15) LT - 1 1.00
@AC/10 (10) RA - 1 1.00
Free Critical Slots: 14
BattleForce Statistics
MV S (+0) M (+2) L (+4) E (+6) Wt. Ov Armor: 5 Points: 12
4j 2 3 1 0 2 0 Structure: 5
Special Abilities: SRCH, ES, SEAL, SOA, IF 1
