Gurkha

The Gurkha was developed by the Word of Blake in response to a request from Precentor Martial Cameron St. Jamais to keep the production lines on Terra running. The Gurkha itself is engineered as an up-close and personal fighter. To open up as much space as possible for weapons and equipment, the Gurkha is built on a lightweight Krupp 255 Endo Steel chassis and is powered by a lightweight Magna 245 XL engine that gives it a top speed of 118.8 km/h. That, combined with the Gurkhas seven and a half tons of Krupp 155 armor, make taking the 'Mech down a difficult proposition. Its only real deficiency is its lack of jump jets, which make maneuvering in limiting terrain difficult for the 'Mech. As the Word of Blake's opponents realized the power of this little 'Mech, Gurkhas quickly became targets to be eliminated quickly, as the C3i Computer often means that an individual MechWarrior can rapidly find him or herself attacked by up to six extremely accurate 'Mechs.

Weapons and Equipment
The four Diverse Optics ER Small Lasers and the Sword all lend themselves to the up-close style of fighting that the Gurkha is centered around. It can deal a fair amount of damage relatively quickly, but its real strength lies in the C3i that allows the other five members of the pilot's Level II to effectively fire upon the Gurkha's target. The Fusigon Longtooth ER PPC provides a strong long-range punch that may surprise opponents who do not expect such a powerful weapon on a light 'Mech.

Variants

 * GUR-4G : The 4G variant developed in Introduction Year::3065 replaces the ER PPC with a Large Pulse Laser for a stronger (and quite accurate) close-range punch at the expense of the 'Mech's long-range firepower. BV (1.0) = 787, BV (2.0) = 908


 * GUR-6G : The 6G variant introduced in Introduction Year::3067 carries an ER Large Laser and two ER Medium Lasers. The left arm carries three ER Small Lasers. The sword remains, and it is equipped with eleven double heat sinks. BV(2.0)=1,134


 * GUR-8G : The 8G variant developed in Introduction Year::3069 strips out all the existing weapons and replaces them with a Snub-Nose PPC, ER Small Laser, and three ER Medium Lasers. The Sword has been replaced by a Retractable Blade. To increase the amount of physical damage, the 8G is equipped with Triple Strength Myomer. BV(2.0)=1,229