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                 BattleMech Technical Readout

Name/Model:         Spider (Royal Spider) DSR-5Vb
Designer:           IronRaven Special Projects Group
Source(s):          Custom Mordel.Net Units
Technology:         Inner Sphere
Technology Rating:  E
Tonnage:            30
Configuration:      Biped BattleMech
Era/Year:           Star League / 2730
Rules (Current):    Experimental
Rules (Era):        Experimental
Rules (Year):       Experimental
Total Cost:         6,698,640 C-Bills
Battle Value:       865

Chassis:              Newhart 1200 ES "Spider Special" Endo Steel
Power Plant:          Pitban 300 XL
Walking Speed:        108 kph   
Maximum Speed:        162 kph   
Jump Jets:            Pitban LFT-10 
    Jump Capacity:    300 meters
Armor:                Durallex Light
Armament:             
    2 Aberdovey Mk III Medium Lasers
Manufacturer:         Unknown
    Primary Factory:  Unknown
Communications:       O/P 500A
Targeting & Tracking: O/P TA1240

================================================================================================
Overview:
    The Spider was the light mech of choice for the SLDF's
    elite counter terrorism Blackhearts unit. One of the fastest
    mechs ever made, it's war record is mostly classifed. Along
    with the Blackhearts, it was fielded by other units of the
    SAS and the recon lances of the Black Watch. Other
    Spiders were more public, assigned to recon and raiding
    units of the HAF along with the Mongoose and Mercury .
    A few had even been sold to the Great Houses just before
    the Aramis Coup.
    
    But despite the Blackhearts' visibiliaty as top tier special
    operations unit second only to the Black Watch, and its
    personel recuited from the Terran Hegemony, there is
    something odd about it. History records that almost unique
    among the battlemechs of the Hegemony Armed Forces,
    there was no Royal varient. At least not that history
    shows.
    
    But as any Taurian knows, history books lie.
    
    I had long searched evidence of the machine I knew had
    to exist. I had started to believe that maybe the history
    books were not lying. The blackhearts did use some other
    mechs, almost all Royal models. Maybe they felt the
    Spider was enough for their use, a swift interceptor and
    destroyer of bunkers and vehicles and the like.
    
    On my long bumming about on random tramp freighters, I
    always look for libraries and local historical societies. An
    engagement that was barely a police action for the Star
    League, with a company of troops and a lance of light
    mechs, is still talked about centuries later on a world that
    doesn't rate an HPG station. I found a world where the
    Blackhearts had, for lack of a better word, liquidate a
    movement trying to succeed not only from the Star
    League but also the planetary government. The
    seperatists had threatened to release a bioweapon that
    would kill all plants and fungi on the continent they were
    trying to save. They'd already detonated a fuel-air
    explosive at the space port, destroying the tower and
    turning the terminal building to a burnt out concrete husk.
    The local historical society had the recordings of the
    operation from hundred of traffic and security cameras,
    satellites, and scores of civilians. And an LQ-
    74D/RT/SAS.
    
    If you are among the vast majority who have no idea what
    hat is, I'll need to explain. The LQ-74 was a debriefing
    system used by the Star League Defense Force that
    downloaded the BattleROMs from the mechs, vehicles
    and aerospace fighters in an engagement. Normally used
    to provide analysis to mechwarriors and pilots after the
    engagement, it's also appeared in the SLDF's academies
    so that cadets could walk though a battlefield from every
    angle. The D module lacks the replay system, it is
    basically a data back up module. The RT designator
    indicates that it was taking the information not with cables
    and chips, but wirelessly in real time. The Special Armed
    Services models included the fieds from mechs and
    vehicles, but also the individual troopers' cameras,
    biotelemetry, sensors and weapon sights. Every shot,
    every step, every word, from the time the dropships hit
    atmosphere until the time someone lost this moderately
    expnsive gizmo filled with terrabytes of raw data.
    
    Reviewing the media footage, I saw the Blackhearts'
    trademark Spiders were on the battlefield. I timed them. I
    went to the library to look up old maps. The time seemed
    off, but only for the Spiders. After several days of
    watching, I had to conclude Something odd was going
    on. I looked at the plain grey housing of the LQ-47 over
    and over. It seemed to be taunting me. It would be the
    rawest data imaginable. I had never used the system,
    much less looked through it's data. It would have
    everything, down to every single heartbeat. But I had to
    know. Even if there was no planetary satellite navigation
    system, the bearings to the command post and drop ships
    would be recorded.
    
    With the board of the hystorical society watching me like
    they expected their mysterious and complicated trophy, I
    powered it up for the first time in centuries. If smoke
    poured from it, I figured I'd be hung in the town square. It
    loaded in seconds. I found that it had help files. Good
    ones. Other than coming up for food and caffiene, I
    averaged three hours a sleep a day for the next three
    weeks. By the time I was done, I could make the following
    conclusions:
    
    1) The four Spiders could move up to 162 kph.
    2) They could jump up to 300m at a bound.
    3) They engine data was oddly coded.
    4) The LQ-47 recorded too much data.I'm looking at you,
    the pilot with the callsign JATO, and your prolific
    flatuance!
    
    These speeds were 25% higher than they had any
    business being. It would require a 19-ton, 300-rated
    engine. When closely examined, these machines had five
    jump jet nozzles on each side of the torso. That required
    that 24 tons of the 30 ton mech was devoted to the drive
    train. That explained the prefixes in the engine data- I'd
    never seen the datalogs for an extralight engine. From the
    cooling system's data, they were never running more than
    80% of potential, which confirms that whatever engine
    was being used it had double efficency, SLDF-spec
    heatsinks. This machine was solid collection of LosTech.
    
    There was a squad of troops on a rooftop, at chest level
    with the Spider. The trademark red sealent between the
    armour plates were clearly visible, bur rather than being
    red they were a nearly cobalt blue. Not only was it thicker
    through the chest, this Spider had an extra plate of
    armour. This thing was 60-70cm taller than any other
    Spider in any picture in my collection. This squad was also
    forty meters away when the mech took a large laser to the
    chest. You could see that it had damaged the machine,
    but this Spider rather than falling with it's guts hanging out
    jumped  at the enemy. Landing behind the enemy Firebee,
    a pair of medium lasers fired from only meters away as
    rabbit punch smashed down on the cockpit. No Spider
    should have been able to do that after taking that many
    kilojoules. All this told me the armour had been improved.
    A lot. That explained why the arms and legs were thicker
    to match the torso.
    
    Another machine took multiple small hits along the arm
    and the side torso. We could observe the inner structure.
    There was additional bracing and struts in the endo
    skeleton. Further, the exposed material was an odd,
    coppery color
    
    A Royal Spider, that could blend in with regular models
    unless you were very close and it was holding still. No
    civilian would ever be close enough to notice. Any pilot
    who did would be fighting the Blackhearts, not freezing
    frames and taking notes. All the Star League had to do
    was never tell anyone about it and no one notices. And
    since they never had to tell anyone the specs, I can only
    guess at the details but we can make assumptions.
    
    Lacking an official designation, lets call this chasis the
    "Spider Special". Into it, Newheart stuffed a 300XL
    engine, probably made by Pitban or maybe GM. It is
    possible that it was a Vlar product, but there is no record
    of them producing such a reactor. Nor are there records of
    Pitban producing one, but there are reasons to suspect it.
    One of the things about the Spider is that unlike most jump
    jet equipped mechs, the Spider doesn't have to stop
    running before it jumps. These wild leaps with the legs still
    "running" in the air, with the mech landing and instantly
    sprinting off is characteristic of the Spider. Part of why it
    was possible was because engine, jump jets, gyro aand
    myomer bundles were all made by Pitban, and optimized
    with the assistance of Newheart. That integration is what
    seperates Star League era Spiders from the newer ones
    or those rebuilt with more common components.
    
    The new chassis should have saved a ton and a half, the
    new engine would have made another two tons available.
    The extra jump jets would consume a ton of that, but there
    are no signs of additional weapons or electronics. There is
    no reason not to continue the Aberdovey lasers- its uses
    the same part supplies, tells no subcontractor something
    new is happening, and the Aberdovey lasers are amon the
    finest. So it is safe to assume it's all armour. Nothing
    suggests it was the foamed, ferro-fiberrous armour, just six
    tons of (presumably) the same Durrallex plate as the
    "plebian" Spider. Lets assume the front center armour can
    stop a PPC, while the rear can take a large laser; the
    sides could take a large laser, while the rear could survive
    a medium laser. The arms and legs would be able to
    survive a PPC as well. This is the kind of protection one
    associates with an Urban mech, on a machine that can
    outrun even a Locust or Mongoose.
    
    For a mech designed to work hand-in-hand with elite jump
    infantry, this upgrade works. With all the secret devices
    rumored to be available to the Special Armed Service, it
    shouldn't be a surprise. After all, the Blackheart operators
    were wearing a suit of what appears to be suits of
    powered armour with optical and thermal camoflauge. And
    some of the footage the Spiders repeated disappearred
    from view, just the like the legends of the Exterminator. In
    many of these videos, you could only see the mechs while
    jumping and firing. Just like the infantry. When discussing
    being able to see the blue filler between the armour of the
    royal Spider, it was most clear when it was the only part of
    the Spider that could be seen as anything but a blurred
    shimmer.So whatever was done to the armour is now the
    stuff of fairy tails.
    
    Yes, there was a royal Spider, perhaps used only the the
    Blackhearts. It was the Battlemech equivelent of a
    commando in a sneak suit, armed with a laser carbine and
    a vibroblade. And it was operated on a need to know
    basis. I hope someone had their career ended for losing
    the LQ-47D/RT/SAS, but I'm glad they screwed up and
    left it behind.
    
    As for me, I have a dropship to catch. Every world has a
    mech who's story is worth telling, and I want to hear them
    all. Even the mythical ones. Especially the mythical ones,
    like a ghost Spider.

================================================================================================
Equipment                                                             Mass                      
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure:                         Endo Steel                 1.50                     
Engine:                                       300 XL                   9.50                     
    Walking MP:                                 10                                              
    Running MP:                                 15                                              
    Jumping MP:                                 10                                              
Heat Sinks (Double):                         10 [20]                   0.00                     
Gyro:                                        Standard                  3.00                     
Cockpit:                                     Standard                  3.00                     
Armor Factor:                                   96                     6.00                     
    Type:                                    Standard                                           

                                    Internal         Armor     
                                    Structure        Value     
    Head:                               3              8       
    Center Torso:                      10             10       
    Center Torso (rear):                               8       
    R/L Torso:                          7              9       
    R/L Torso (rear):                                  5       
    R/L Arm:                            5             10       
    R/L Leg:                            7             11       

================================================================================================
Weapons and Ammo                                       Location          Critical     Tonnage   
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 Medium Lasers                                           CT                2          2.00             
5 Jump Jets                                               RT                5          2.50             
5 Jump Jets                                               LT                5          2.50             
Chameleon LPS                                             *                 6          0.00             

* Chameleon LPS occupies 1 critical slot in each location except the Head and Center Torso

================================================================================================
Alpha Strike Statistics                                             
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Point Value (PV): 26
TP: BM,  SZ: 1,  TMM: 4,  MV: 20"j
Damage: (S) 1 / (M) 1 / (L) 0,  OV: 0
Armor (A): 3,  Structure (S): 1
Specials: ENE, STL
 
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Code Release 2.25.4 (2025-10-27T17:56:12-04:00)