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Design Overview
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                 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    
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                                               
    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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Code Release 2.24.13 (2024-05-02T16:46:03-04:00)