Shadow Hawk SHD-1P
Mass: 50 tons
Chassis: RA SHD-P
Power Plant: Royal Armory 240 Fusion
Cruising Speed: 43.2 kph
Maximum Speed: 64.8 kph
Jump Jets: Royal Armory Model 5
Jump Capacity: 90 meters
Armor: Royal Foundry Cemented
Armament:
1 Medium Laser
1 LRM 5
1 Large Laser
Manufacturer: Royal Armory
Primary Factory: Plymoth, Brighton, Blackpool
Communication System: Chatham Model 5
Targeting & Tracking System: Chatham Targa 7G
Introduction Year: 3055
Tech Rating/Availability: D/X-X-X-F
Cost: 3,435,000 C-bills
Though it is the largest and most populous of the Thelos Sector's "Great Powers", the military industries of the Kingdom of Plymoth must still fight uphill against the feudal politics of its noble class and the often blatant neglect of the kingdom's civil infrastructure, and because of the inherent corruption and waste infecting those industries, the most common battlemech operated by Plymoth's Knights continues to be their home grown clones of the ancient SHD-1 series Shadow Hawk.
While the Kingdom's forces continue to rely on a mech that is objectively obsolete compared to those uses by their rival powers and would have been considered hopelessly obsolete anywhere in the Inner Sphere six centuries ago, Plymoth's engineers seem committed to accomplishing as much as they can with what they have. The current standard 1P model is at the very least a marked improvement over the Age of War era 1R, replacing the autocannon with a more powerful large laser, also freeing up space for a small LRM rack on the opposite shoulder while retaining the servicable mobility and armor protection of its ancestor. Not content to simply copy the work of others, these Plymoth built Shadow Hawks also correct the defects in the original's leg joints, as well as incorporating the reinforced hands and improved life support system that the Hegemony would introduce on the 2H design. Centuries of battlefield experience with the irregular technical and logistical support inherent to the feudal mess that is His Magesty's Army has also led to a gradual evolution of the Shadow Hawk's design as experience from pilots and technical staff has filtered back to the Armories. Unnecessarily complicated components have been simplifed, wear parts have been strengthened or, where possible, eliminated. Weak points in the design and maintenance headaches have been gradually eliminated. In a way, this humble battlemech has become something that one almost never sees in the Inner Sphere today, a fully refined, perfected combat platform, that has had its various problems and quirks worked out over the course of generations. While it is objectively inferior to the standard mechs of Plymoth's rivals, or for that matter the prized Royal Hawks given to the most prestigious of Plymoth's Knights, there are precious few technicians in the Thelos Sector who could honestly say they'd rather be assigned to any other mech.
Plymoth's Royal Armory manufacturers the Shadow Hawk at three major factories across the Kingdom, and at least a dozen smaller facilities divided up among the major land holds are also capable of final assembly and manufacture of at least some components for the mech, keeping production levels quite high for even the more developed states of the Thelos Sector. In theory, this should mean that while a Plymoth-built Shadow Hawk isn't really a match for its potential opponents in a one on one engagement, then at the very least His Magesty's Army should have numerical superiority. However, the Kingdom's feudal system often puts the lie to those simple mathematics. Political or personal conflicts between lords, general disunity between feudal levies, or an individual lord's desire to preserve his own resources can sap the strength of forces raised for a given campaign. Also working against Plymoth is that every mechwarrior is a landed knight primarily responsible for himself and his own retinue (the "Lance" in the parlance of Plymoth consists of the mechwarrior, their mech, and whatever household troops and support personnel they choose to bring along). While a lord will most likely have other knights in his domain, whether those knights regular train together and actually cooperate or whether they are bitter rivals who see each other as an impediment to their own ambitions can vary wildly. In a nutshell, Plymoth's mechwarriors generally have little experience and training working together, even less when it comes to working with the large numbers of poorly trained conscript infantry that will be raised to fill out the forces assigned to a given campaign, and at best an informal and murky command structure. Though this can make it difficult for the enemy to anticipate the actions of individuals or small groups of warriors, it more often than not means that the commander of a force can't manage more than "scream and leap" tactics from the troops under their command, and every major campaign can expect to take heavy losses. Individual warriors are just as likely to rush into the fray imagining themselves as the next Harrold Dinesin as they are to cautiously hang back to preserve their own mech and status and let the braver fighters take the losses.
Efforts to reform Plymoth's confused mess of a military have been going on for generations, though they have always run afoul of a feudal system that places much of the Kingdom's political and military power in the hands of over a dozen major families rather than in the hands of the Royal Family. Though the King technically has sole authority to raise an individual to knighthood, and theoretically that knight's oath demands loyalty to the King above all, in practice, the majority of knights draw support and patronage from the lord whose domain their land hold is located in, and those lords are consistently resistant to any military reforms that threaten their own power an authority.
Type: Shadow Hawk
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Advanced)
Tonnage: 50
Battle Value: 981
Equipment Mass
Internal Structure 5
Engine 240 Fusion 11.5
Walking MP: 4
Running MP: 6
Jumping MP: 3
Heat Sink 11 1
Gyro 3
Primitive Cockpit 5
Armor Factor (Primitive) 150 14
Internal Armor
Structure Value
Head 3 9
Center Torso 16 22
Center Torso (rear) 7
R/L Torso 12 18
R/L Torso (rear) 6
R/L Arm 8 16
R/L Leg 12 16
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 LL 1 - 1.0
Jump Jet CT 1 - 0.5
Jump Jet RT 1 - 0.5
Large Laser RT 2 8 5.0
LRM 5 Ammo (24) LT 1 - 1.0
Jump Jet LT 1 - 0.5
LRM 5 LT 1 2 2.0
Heat Sink RL 1 - 1.0
Medium Laser RA 1 3 1.0
Features the following design quirks: Battle Fists (LA), Battle Fists (RA), Easy to Maintain, Improved Life Support, Rugged (2 Point)
The record sheet for this particular Shadow Hawk, as well as many more units suitable for a deep periphery campaign, can be found in the book accessible from the link at the start of this thread:
https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=84454.0Author's Note: The primitive Shadow Hawk miniature (or at least the version that came in the bounty hunter set) includes a circular five tube LRM launcher that can comfortably nestle on the right shoulder of the mini with a little work, despite the actual stats of the canon mech not having a missile launcher. Whether this was included to give users the option of making a passable SHD-2H back in those days before the classics, I don't know, but it did inspire this guy's weapon load and layout.
The Thelos Sector is something I came up with quite a while ago, and the concept is... well... too big to completely cover in a book focused on the rest of the deep periphery. So rather than covering all... *checks notes* ...249?!? units I have generated for the various major, minor, and intrusive powers in the Thelos sector, I selected only a unit or two to represent each major power. Here's hoping that I can finish this book, so I can start on one focused on the Thelos Sector.
