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Description
For NationStates; Modeled in DoGa after too much time spent playing MW5...

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The 'Stormtalon' is the first of the OSA's 'Next Generation' BattleMech program, which was established to take advantage of the organization's accumulating body of 'Mech and Combined Arms combat. The design is traditional in its basic form but there are some key differences over previous models. The most notable is the placement of the various weapon systems and of course the 'why'. Primary gunnery consists of two 15-cell box launchers on each shoulder and four laser-type weapons of various intensities mounted on the torso; two extended-range large lasers in the left and right torso under protective cowlings and two medium lasers under the nose. Secondary gunnery defaults to a pair of high-cycle accelerators on each arm, as well as a grenade launcher high on the center torso.

Placement of each of these weapons was for a specific reason. Firstly, the most common component casualty for OSA 'Mechs in the field was their arms. Second, the first system to typically run out of ammunition was the missile launchers or accelerators. These were most often used up quickly in 'Alpha Strike' scenarios and that is their proposed use in the 'Stormtalon'; once empty, they are now ablative. Both are reasonably inexpensive systems as things go, with the missiles themselves comprising most of the cost for the launchers and the accelerators being mostly magnets and wiring. This puts the weapons with staying power - the lasers - in the torso where they have protection both from the thicker torso armor and from the now-ablative arms.

This particular loadout and its accompanying design requirements also makes the 'Stormtalon' particularly friendly to customization. The arms are jointed to the torso for their up-down axis and then below the box launchers for their left-right axis - missiles generally finding their own way in life - and so the arm-mounted systems can be readily replaced with other options and the most popular are supported from the factory. Those who find themselves in a fire-support role often discard the accelerators completely and increase the missile cells to 20, while those in a close-assault role will replace the missile cells with anti-missile systems and additional ammunition for the accelerators.

Description
For NationStates; Modeled in DoGa after too much time spent playing MW5...

----

The 'Stormtalon' is the first of the OSA's 'Next Generation' BattleMech program, which was established to take advantage of the organization's accumulating body of 'Mech and Combined Arms combat. The design is traditional in its basic form but there are some key differences over previous models. The most notable is the placement of the various weapon systems and of course the 'why'. Primary gunnery consists of two 15-cell box launchers on each shoulder and four laser-type weapons of various intensities mounted on the torso; two extended-range large lasers in the left and right torso under protective cowlings and two medium lasers under the nose. Secondary gunnery defaults to a pair of high-cycle accelerators on each arm, as well as a grenade launcher high on the center torso.

Placement of each of these weapons was for a specific reason. Firstly, the most common component casualty for OSA 'Mechs in the field was their arms. Second, the first system to typically run out of ammunition was the missile launchers or accelerators. These were most often used up quickly in 'Alpha Strike' scenarios and that is their proposed use in the 'Stormtalon'; once empty, they are now ablative. Both are reasonably inexpensive systems as things go, with the missiles themselves comprising most of the cost for the launchers and the accelerators being mostly magnets and wiring. This puts the weapons with staying power - the lasers - in the torso where they have protection both from the thicker torso armor and from the now-ablative arms.

This particular loadout and its accompanying design requirements also makes the 'Stormtalon' particularly friendly to customization. The arms are jointed to the torso for their up-down axis and then below the box launchers for their left-right axis - missiles generally finding their own way in life - and so the arm-mounted systems can be readily replaced with other options and the most popular are supported from the factory. Those who find themselves in a fire-support role often discard the accelerators completely and increase the missile cells to 20, while those in a close-assault role will replace the missile cells with anti-missile systems and additional ammunition for the accelerators.