BattleMech Technical Readout
Name/Model: Centurion CN9-A3
Designer: Sleeping Dragon
Source(s): Custom Mordel.Net Units
Technology: Inner Sphere
Technology Rating: E
Tonnage: 50
Role: Brawler
Configuration: Biped BattleMech
Era/Year: Civil War / 3064
Rules (Current): Standard
Rules (Era): Standard
Rules (Year): Standard
Total Cost: 3,631,000 C-Bills
Battle Value: 1,058
Chassis: Endo Steel
Power Plant: 200 Fusion
Walking Speed: 43.2 kph
Maximum Speed: 64.8 kph
Jump Jets: None
Jump Capacity: None
Armor: Standard with CASE
Armament:
1 Autocannon/10
1 LRM 10
2 Medium Lasers
Manufacturer: Unknown
Primary Factory: Unknown
Communications: Unknown
Targeting & Tracking: Unknown
================================================================================================
Overview:
The CN9-A3 Centurion looked like a living fossil when it was introduced in 3064, but it was
born out of necessity. With FedCom Civil war raging all around the Corean Enterprises found
themselves bogged down in a logistics nightmare as many units sent urgent requests for spare
parts that were out of production for decades. Various militia units still used outdated
equipment and the old CN9-As still presented a significant percentage of Federated Sun's
medium 'Mechs. With their durability there was no wonder that a lot of these durable
workhorses survived since the Succession wars, but when the D model was introduced the older
As survived from stockpiles of older parts. Around 3060's the amount of parts were already
depleted and the 'Mechs were hastily moth-balled only to be reactivated only a few years
later to make up for the losses. The management of the Corean Enterprises decided to reduce
the amount of parts produced to a few more or less universal models which can be produced
en-masse and included in any Corean design even in field conditions.
Capabilities:
It was decided that for the older Cents the main upgrade will be the Endo Steel skeleton.
Standard CN9 skeletons weren't produced since 3049 and the more advanced materials became
standard on all later models. Corean decided that instead of rebuilding every Centurion in
the main factory they'll send all necessary parts to the units to be completed on the spot.
The skeleton manufacturing plant was expanded and the completed skeletons equipped with
basic accessories started to be distributed to Davion militias. The engines and heat
dissipation units are usually taken from the old 'Mech or from any other local source,
because the 200 rated engines are pretty common these days. Lasers and missile system
remained unchanged as well, but the same can't be said about the Luxor-D autocannon. The old
gun was notoriously known for it's unreliability, so the chassis comes already equipped with
a Mydron Excel gun along with an expanded ammo bay consisting of three separate magazines
and an ammo feeding mechanism optimized for use of various special AC munitions. The torso
structure had to be reworked slightly to accept standard engine, so the designing team
jumped at the opportunity to reinforce the forward torso armour plating and hip armour to
allow the reworked Centurion to survive one or two hits from heavy guns without suffering
any adverse effects. In addition both side torsos were equipped with CASE panels to increase
the survivability. All the other systems including the gyroscope, targeting and
communication, remained unchanged, which helped to cut the development costs significantly,
but Corean had to re-open the manufacturing hall for these systems and even went so far that
they hired what remained of the original staff. The 'Grandpa's Factory' immediately caught
the attention of the media and it was used extensively for work and social reintegration
programs for seniors.
Deployment:
First production runs were distributed evenly among various militias around Davion space,
but Duke James Sandoval managed to secure large parts of third fourth runs for his forces in
a desperate attempt to bolster his 'Mech forces. Thus the Draconis March now has the highest
percentage of reworked Cents among it's militia forces.
Variants:
With the do-it-yourself nature of the upgrade there is no wonder that quite a few minor
variants appeared shortly after the introduction of CN9-A3. Some units replaced the lasers
with ER variants, but the most common modifications included the replacement of the AC with
a different weapon. Some units used the LB guns from scraped Centurion D's, but hey usually
had to replace the three magazine ammo bin with a smaller one found on the more advanced
model, because the LB ammo was incompatible with the ammo feeder. Two tons freed by this
modification were used to expand the LRM launcher to fire 15 missiles instead of ten. Other
units used more recent Mydron Tornado, a rotary AC newely fielded and included on the
CN9-D5, but the old targting system requires heavy software modification to accept the gun
and needs to be reprogrammed for every gun individually, which is annoyin and takes time.
Most units were forced to use the remaining tonnage to expand the heat disspation unit to
cope with the additional heat, but the chassis also allowed the installation of a reactor
equiped with double-strength freezers. This allowed some techs to expand the LRMs as well,
but at termendous cost in time, because whole left torso had to be remodelled to make this
modification possible. There were some attempts to enhance the LRMs with an Artemis FCS, but
the targeting system refuses to work with it. One or two serviceable machines were equiped
with the Artemis, but the techs refuse to say how was that possible and they are unable to
reproduce te process on different mahines. Draconis march units even used some of the
captured Kuritan equipment to repair their 'Mechs, so there are about three cents equipped
with a MRM-20 launcher. Neither variant earned it's official designation and the main
factory doesn't intend to produce them, although they are easy to make with the right set of
parts.
Notable MechWarriors:
Mechwarior Terence Milton
Terence made a name for himself as a 'Cat Hunter' when he managed to defeat two Kuritan
Panthers in built up area on Proserpina. His precision rounds easily found their targets
while they tried to jump around. ironically an Alley Cat managed to kill him on the same
spot during the Kuritan counterattack months later.
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Equipment Mass
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure: Endo Steel 2.50
Engine: 200 Fusion 8.50
Walking MP: 4
Running MP: 6
Jumping MP: 0
Heat Sinks (Single): 10 0.00
Gyro: Standard 2.00
Cockpit: Standard 3.00
Armor Factor: 144 9.00
Type: Standard
Internal Armor
Structure Value
Head: 3 9
Center Torso: 16 20
Center Torso (rear): 7
R/L Torso: 12 15
R/L Torso (rear): 6
R/L Arm: 8 16
R/L Leg: 12 17
================================================================================================
Weapons and Ammo Location Critical Tonnage
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Medium Laser CT 1 1.00
Medium Laser CT (R) 1 1.00
Autocannon/10 (Ammo 30) RT 3 3.00
CASE RT 1 0.50
CASE LT 1 0.50
LRM 10 LT 2 5.00
LRM 10 (Ammo 24) LT 2 2.00
Autocannon/10 RA 7 12.00
================================================================================================
Alpha Strike Statistics
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Point Value (PV): 28
TP: BM, SZ: 2, TMM: 1, MV: 8"
Damage: (S) 2 / (M) 3 / (L) 1, OV: 0
Armor (A): 5, Structure (S): 4
Specials: AC1/1/-, CASE, IF1, REAR1/1/-
Distribution
Name/Model: Centurion CN9-A3
Technology: Inner Sphere
Tonnage: 50
Configuration: Biped BattleMech
==========================================================================================
Left ArmHeadRight Arm
1. Shoulder 1. Life Support 1. Shoulder
2. Upper Arm Actuator 2. Sensors 2. Upper Arm Actuator
3. Lower Arm Actuator 3. Cockpit 3. Lower Arm Actuator
4. Hand Actuator 4. Endo Steel 4.Autocannon/10
5. Endo Steel 5. Sensors 5.Autocannon/10
6. Endo Steel 6. Life Support 6.Autocannon/10
1. Endo Steel 1.Autocannon/10
2. Roll Again 2.Autocannon/10
3. Roll Again 3.Autocannon/10
4. Roll Again 4.Autocannon/10
5. Roll Again 5. Endo Steel
6. Roll Again 6. Endo Steel
Left TorsoCenter TorsoRight Torso
1. Heat Sink 1. Fusion Engine 1. Heat Sink
2.LRM 10 2. Fusion Engine 2. Autocannon/10 (Ammo 10)
3.LRM 10 3. Fusion Engine 3. Autocannon/10 (Ammo 10)
4. LRM 10 (Ammo 12) 4. Gyro 4. Autocannon/10 (Ammo 10)
5. LRM 10 (Ammo 12) 5. Gyro 5. CASE
6. CASE 6. Gyro 6. Endo Steel
1. Endo Steel 1. Gyro 1. Endo Steel
2. Endo Steel 2. Fusion Engine 2. Endo Steel
3. Endo Steel 3. Fusion Engine 3. Endo Steel
4. Endo Steel 4. Fusion Engine 4. Roll Again
5. Roll Again 5. Medium Laser 5. Roll Again
6. Roll Again 6. Medium Laser (R) 6. Roll Again
Left LegRight Leg
1. Hip 1. Hip
2. Upper Leg Actuator 2. Upper Leg Actuator
3. Lower Leg Actuator 3. Lower Leg Actuator
4. Foot Actuator 4. Foot Actuator
5. Roll Again 5. Roll Again
6. Roll Again 6. Roll Again
1 out of 1 users (100.00%) have found this review useful
Rating:
3.00
Comment:
The needed total disassembly of the mech to get an ES chassis is quite a problem for me. But i can see the use of a better protected Centurion without that dangerous XL-engine of the 3050 model. The standard AC plus its voluminous ammo bin makes this a well liked model for Davion special ammo fetishists! All in all the speed and SW-aera weapons place it in the garrison or periphery category. I like it but i think it won't have much chance against most modern mediums.
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Member Review - mud : 12-Feb-2008 17:42
1 out of 1 users (100.00%) have found this review useful
Rating:
2.50
Comment:
I'm not certain that I buy the idea that units are going to rebuild their old Centurions with endo steel just to add a ton of ammunition and CASE. We're not talking about a field modification here, but about completely tearing down and rebuilding the entire 'mech. This would probably cost close to a million c-bills in man-hours alone.
While I appreciate that the fluff doesn't just say, "They upgraded the 'mech to endo steel", as too many people try to say, I'm just not buying this idea.
A topic has been started for this review [Read Topic]
"Fear is the tax that conscience pays to guilt." - George Sewell
Autocannon/10
5. Endo Steel 5. Sensors 5.
Autocannon/10
6. Endo Steel 6. Life Support 6.
Autocannon/10
5. Roll Again 5. Endo Steel
6. Roll Again 6. Endo Steel
Left Torso Center Torso Right Torso
1. Heat Sink 1. Fusion Engine 1. Heat Sink
2.
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