BattleMech Technical Readout
Name/Model: Grunt (Infantry Man) 11-B
Designer: Malaki59
Source(s): Custom Mordel.Net Units
Technology: Inner Sphere
Technology Rating: E
Tonnage: 50
Role: Brawler
Configuration: Biped BattleMech
Era/Year: Clan Invasion / 3052
Rules (Current): Standard
Rules (Era): Standard
Rules (Year): Experimental
Total Cost: 5,604,500 C-Bills
Battle Value: 1,369
Chassis: Molly Endo Steel
Power Plant: Key 250
Walking Speed: 54 kph [64.8 kph]
Maximum Speed: 86.4 kph [97.2 kph]
Jump Jets: Cronic
Jump Capacity: 90 meters
Armor: ENUFF with CASE
Armament:
1 Brrrt Ultra AC/5
2 ZAP International ER Medium Lasers
1 Not2Day Anti-Missile System
Manufacturer: Unknown
Primary Factory: Unknown
Communications: String-N-Cup
Targeting & Tracking: MK I Eyeball
================================================================================================
Overview:
The Malakavian Confederacy was founded from a dozen independent systems looking to fend off
Steiner's aggression. It was during the defense of one of a series of raids by Steiner
forces that the MC discovered a hidden stash of Star League-era mechs and a fabled memory
core. It was through bargaining with Steiner and a few other minor houses over access to the
secrets of the memory core and lost weapons and equipment of the Star league that the MC was
able to build it's own mech factories and research labs. The 59th Legion being the MC's only
elite unit of mech warriors was tasked to come up with the requirements for their first
homegrown mech. The 59th decided the new mech needed to be cheap enough to issue on mass
while still being able to stand in the standard line of battle and display consistent damage
at all ranges. They also stated that the new mech would often be required to garrison
isolated positions outside the standard supply chain, so the new mech would not only be
required to have low ammo dependency but also needed to be able to go long periods without
more than simple field maintenance. It took almost a year of design meetings, field tests,
and simulations to finally come up with a mech that Key Engineering believed met all the
specifications outlined, and the 11-B Grunt is the brainchild of those meetings.
Capabilities:
It was decided that 50 tons was an acceptable weight for the new mech, at that weight the
mech could carry enough firepower and armor to keep it alive on the battlefield while still
allowing it to be nimble enough to maneuver and cheap enough to build. The core of the Grunt
is it's 250 standard fusion engine which was chosen for a slew of reasons; first the cost of
the XL engine was found to be too egregious, second the size of the XL made maintenance on
the mech not only tricky but expensive, and third the Standard engine allowed the mech to
stay combat operational even after losing a torso. The 250 Fusion engine propels the grunt
up to a top speed of 86.4 kph, which is respectable for a mech of its size. The
designers splurged quite a bit when designing the internals, not only opting to use Endo
Steel for the frame but also giving it Triple-Strength Myomer for is musculature. The weight
saving from the Endo Steel frame allowed the installation of jump jets in both feet and the
center torso. The grunt is not the most nimble jumper but the 90 meters it is capable of
jumping allows it to navigate terrain features that may trap other non-jump capable mechs.
Due to the lack of any dedicated anti infantry weapons, special care was taken to ensure
each of the legs actuators were well protected against Infantry swarm attacks. A "Not2Day"
Anti-Missile system was added to help lessen the damage from indirect fire while the 9.5
tons of standard armor insure that the Grunt will still be standing by the time they run out
of LRM ammo. The extremely accurate "Brrrt" Ultra Autocannon 5 was added to the right
arm instead of the originally planned Autocannon 10 in order to extend the engagement range
of the Grunt. The UAC-5 was found to cause balance issues during trials, sometimes causing
the mech to stumble. This was remedied by installing a lighter but less capable heat shield
on the weapon. In most mechs the extra heat generated would be considered a disadvantage but
when combined with the TSM it helps the pilot push the mech to peak performance while also
allowing for easier access to the internals of the weapon, making maintenance much quicker.
Both the UAC-5 and the Anti-missile system's ammo are stored in the CASE protected right
torso to prevent any ammo feeding issues and to help mitigate damage from an ammo
explosion. The two medium lasers that were planned for the left arm were upgraded to ER
medium lasers once it was found that the mech had a hard time generating enough heat to
allow the TSM to activate. The upgrade had the unforeseen issue of causing rampant
electromagnetic spikes to rampage through out the mech. This interfered with sensitive
equipment in the mech and led to the cancelation of the planned Guardian ECM suite. The
designers hope that once the ER technology is given time to develop, they may be able to
replace the flawed series with a better version. Finally a 4 ton hatchet was attached to
the left arm for use in charges or in the event of an ammo shortage. When running hot,
pairing the hatchet with TSM allows the Grunt to cleave most light mechs in half. Once you
consider the fact that the 11-B can run at nearly 100 KPH, the massive hatchet becomes a
truly terrifying weapon.
The Grunt has the following Quirks:
Rugged (1): May go twice as long without needing maintenance
Accurate Weapon (1): UAC-5, -1 to hit all ranges.
Protected Actuators (1): Penalty on both battle armor and conventional infantry units
attempting to make Leg or Swarm attacks against the BattleMech
EM Interference (2): 1 on each ER Medium laser, no EW devices may be used in the same
turn as these weapons are fired.
Poor Cooling Jacket (1): UAC-5 +1 heat per turn when fired
Deployment:
The 11-B Grunt has found success in garrison units along the clan corridor. When running
hot, the Grunt has shown the ability to catch up to the more nimble clan medium mechs.
Though usually outgunned by its clan counterparts, it has managed to catch them unaware and
bring the hatchet to bear in numerous skirmishes, much to their opponent's dismay.
================================================================================================
Equipment Mass
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure: Endo Steel 2.50
Engine: 250 Fusion 12.50
Walking MP: 5 [6]
Running MP: 8 [9]
Jumping MP: 3
Heat Sinks (Single): 10 0.00
Gyro: Standard 3.00
Cockpit: Standard 3.00
Armor Factor: 152 9.50
Type: Standard
Internal Armor
Structure Value
Head: 3 9
Center Torso: 16 22
Center Torso (rear): 5
R/L Torso: 12 18
R/L Torso (rear): 5
R/L Arm: 8 16
R/L Leg: 12 19
================================================================================================
Weapons and Ammo Location Critical Tonnage
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jump Jet CT 1 0.50
Anti-Missile System RT 1 0.50
Anti-Missile System (Ammo 12) RT 1 1.00
CASE RT 1 0.50
ER Medium Laser RT 1 1.00
Ultra AC/5 (Ammo 20) RT 1 1.00
ER Medium Laser LT 1 1.00
Ultra AC/5 RA 5 9.00
Hatchet LA 4 4.00
Jump Jet RL 1 0.50
Jump Jet LL 1 0.50
Triple-Strength Myomer -- 6 0.00
================================================================================================
Alpha Strike Statistics
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Point Value (PV): 31
TP: BM, SZ: 2, TMM: 2, MV: 10"/6"j
Damage: (S) 2 / (M) 2 / (L) 1, OV: 0
Armor (A): 5, Structure (S): 4
Specials: AMS, CASE, JMPW1, MEL, TSM
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