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Design Overview
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                 BattleMech Technical Readout

Name/Model:         Black Knight BL-15-KNT
Designer:           09-Tyba
Source(s):          Custom Mordel.Net Units
Technology:         Inner Sphere
Technology Rating:  E
Tonnage:            75
Role:               Sniper
Configuration:      Biped BattleMech
Era/Year:           Civil War / 3063
Rules (Current):    Standard
Rules (Era):        Standard
Rules (Year):       Standard
Total Cost:         7,551,250 C-Bills
Battle Value:       1,961

Chassis:              Technicron 1L Endo Steel
Power Plant:          Vlar 300 
Walking Speed:        43.2 kph  
Maximum Speed:        64.8 kph  
Jump Jets:            None
    Jump Capacity:    None
Armor:                Valiant Lamellor Ferro-Fibrous
Armament:             
    1 Imperator Dragon's Fire Gauss Rifle
    2 Diverse Optics Sunbeam ER Large Lasers
    3 Diverse Optics Medium Lasers
Manufacturer:         Kong Interstellar Corporation
    Primary Factory:  Connaught
Communications:       TransComm Alpha
Targeting & Tracking: TransComm Beta

================================================================================================
Overview:
    Imported from fan-made TRO:3063, organized and directed by Steve Satak. Which of the writing
    team created this mech is unknown.
    
    Introduced by the Star League within five years of its founding, the Black Knight saw
    widespread service in the Reunification War. The original BL-6-KNT Black Knight featured an
    endo steel chassis and a special sensor suite. They were quite advanced for the period, but
    damage to Kong Interstellar?s facilities and the subsequent loss of technology led to a
    downgraded BL-7-KNT. The reintroduction of Star League technology allows Kong technicians
    not only to recreate the BL6, but also to improve upon it.

Capabilities:
    The Black Knight BL-15-KNT is a ?bolt-on? upgrade of the BL6-KNT. The original featured a
    single PPC, two large lasers, four medium lasers, a small laser and a Beagle Active Probe.
    Twenty single heat sinks struggle under this burden, and are not enough to compete against
    more modern designs. These antiquated units were removed, along with the standard armor and
    all but three medium lasers, preparing the platform for significant changes. The BL-15-KNT
    does not disappoint.
    
    Kong?s technicians first installed thirteen double heat sinks, a good choice given the new
    weapons suite. Replacing the motley collection of laser weapons are several new weapons.
    First is an Imperator Gauss rifle that is pivot- mounted on the right arm. Dual Diverse
    Optics Sunbeam extended range large lasers are mounted in similar fashion on the left arm.
    Finally, one Diverse Optics medium laser is installed in each of the torso sections.
    
    As a weight-saving measure, Kong refitters mounted ferro-fibrous plate. This bulky armor is
    expensive to manufacture, but it gives the ?Mech an even stronger hide as well as a new
    look. The result is a ?Mech with much greater reach and striking power, better protection
    and more balanced heat dissipation than the original.
    
    That these refits cost only about a million C-bills each is astonishing. That each refit
    takes only thirty-two days from start to finish is proof of Project Retread?s effectiveness.

Deployment:
    The timely appearance of a large number of BL-6-KNT units was a driving force behind
    choosing the Black Knight for Project Retread ? still rebuilding its factory on Connaught,
    Kong Interstellar is unable to achieve that economy of scale. These machines, officially a
    gift from the Word of Blake to House Marik, enabled the Free Worlds League to begin refits
    at several other BattleMech manufacturers.
    
    Agents of Our Blessed Order have encountered discrepancies between manufacturers? shipping
    manifests and those that arrive at FWLM regiments. The Oriente Hussars in particular have
    been unable to account for the whereabouts of all refurbished Black Knights. We are
    uncertain whether this is deliberate or simply a matter of poor bookkeeping. It is possible
    that the ?gift? of Black Knights was a ruse, with the refurbished BL-15-KNT units being
    quietly reabsorbed into the Word of Blake Militia.

Variants:
    There are two further Marik upgrades to the Black Knight. The first is based on the
    surviving BL-7-KNT models and is nearly as effective as the BL-15. Keeping the original
    large lasers and dispensing with the remaining weapons, the BL- 13-KNT switches to ten
    double heat sinks, a Gauss rifle with two tons of ammunition, three extended range medium
    lasers and a head-mounted ER small laser.
    
    The second variant under consideration, the BL-16-KNT, is meant to fight primarily at long
    range. It features a light Gauss rifle and twin ER PPCs and is powered by an extra light
    fusion engine. Four extended range medium lasers and six additional double heat sinks round
    out its firepower. This version has apparently been put on hold due to lack of funding ? its
    cost is twice that of a refurbished Black Knight.

Notable MechWarriors:
    Adept Wilson Hirshfeld
    
    Hirshfeld represents one of the few pieces of solid evidence regarding covert activity in
    Project Retread. When the Word of Blake Militia?s First Division ambushed the Screaming
    Eagles on the Chaos March world of Epsilon Eridani in 3062, a retreating mercenary?s Battle
    Recorder caught footage of a BL-16-KNT with Hirshfeld?s call sign stenciled under the
    cockpit. The Word of Blake subsequently accused the Eagles of spying for the Federated
    Commonwealth, lending credence to the footage.

================================================================================================
Equipment                                                             Mass                      
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure:                         Endo Steel                 4.00                     
Engine:                                     300 Fusion                19.00                     
    Walking MP:                                 4                                               
    Running MP:                                 6                                               
    Jumping MP:                                 0                                               
Heat Sinks (Double):                         13 [26]                   3.00                     
Gyro:                                        Standard                  3.00                     
Cockpit:                                     Standard                  3.00                     
Armor Factor:                                  231                    13.00                     
    Type:                                 Ferro-Fibrous                                         

                                    Internal         Armor     
                                    Structure        Value     
    Head:                               3              9       
    Center Torso:                      23             37       
    Center Torso (rear):                               9       
    R/L Torso:                         16             26       
    R/L Torso (rear):                                  6       
    R/L Arm:                           12             24       
    R/L Leg:                           16             32       

================================================================================================
Weapons and Ammo                                       Location          Critical     Tonnage   
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Medium Laser                                              CT                1          1.00             
Gauss Rifle (Ammo 8)                                      RT                1          1.00             
Medium Laser                                              RT                1          1.00             
Medium Laser                                              LT                1          1.00             
Gauss Rifle                                               RA                7         15.00             
Gauss Rifle (Ammo 8)                                      RA                1          1.00             
2 ER Large Lasers                                         LA                4         10.00             

================================================================================================
Alpha Strike Statistics                                             
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Point Value (PV): 44
TP: BM,  SZ: 3,  TMM: 1,  MV: 8"
Damage: (S) 4 / (M) 4 / (L) 4,  OV: 1
Armor (A): 8,  Structure (S): 6
Specials:
 
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Code Release 2.24.12 (2024-04-24T21:08:37-04:00)