From my AU:
http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,24120.30.htmlHIstory: With the collapse of central authority in the Federated Suns after the short but telling conquest of Avalon by the Clans, The Democratic Union of Filtvet was formed. While they had some battlemech facilities, the new nation quickly chose to focus on vehicles and battle armor, both for mateial and ideological reasons. Unfortunately, unlike the Union of Worlds, they did not have Terra's mighty industrial machine behind them. Nor did they have the same skillset, and so the Battle Armor that was to showcase the new nations determination was...lacking. in fact, perhaps its only saving grace was decent armor, but in every other respect it was lackluster. As a medium suit, it was slower than some heavy battle armors, had no jump capability and was seriously outmatched by nearly every other BA then fielded.
It's weapons were also very light-- a light machine gun could slaughter unarmored infantry, but the light recoiless rifle that was to provide anti-armor capabilities was unimpressive in the extreme. On the other hand, the lack of any energy weapon fit simplified repair and support, something important for the region.
Nonetheless, the Filtvet Consolidated Militia command was not happy with their new toy, but with no other alternative, started to mass produce it, hoping to match the enemy in numbers if not in quality, privately dreading the day when such suits woudl go up against the the DCMS, the Clans, or even the Union of Worlds.
However, fate smiled on Filtvet, and the only forces they had to go up against were pirates and raiders, as Filtvet avoided any major conflicts through the remainder of the century. As they gained more skill in battlearmor design, and entered into cooperative arrangements with the Nova Cat Autonomous Zone, Filtvet started disposing of the suit on the private market, where it's failings were often overlooked by those seeking relatively cheap firepower. In fact, although production ended in 3090, a Filtvet kept spare parts manufacturers open well into the 32nd century.
Suit:
Type: M Weight:
Standard: 175
MP: 2 40
Jump: -
Right Arm: Basic Manipulator
Left ARm: Basic Manipulator
Armor: 10 points (standard) 500
Light Machine Gun(100) RA 85
LRR(20) LA 195
AP weapon mount LA 5
Total weight: 1000.
(It's pretty ugly looking, but I'm trying to do this by hand). The idea is for a very non-optimal suit, that gets produced because once you have the factory lines running, you don't want to stop for the time it takes to retool.
