Penthesilea

Description
The Penthesilea has the distinction of being the heaviest unit built by the Magistracy of Canopus. The 75 ton 'Mech is constructed not on Detroit, but at Majesty Metals' factory on Dunianshire. This places the production line squarely under Magistracy control, something the Magestrix needed for political reasons.

The Penthesilea isn't the fastest heavy 'Mech on the field, but the presence of three jump jets allows it to cover 90 meters in a single leap. This helps offset the fact that the Penthesilea has an average top speed. Using an Endo Steel chassis allows the design to carry twelve tons of ferro-fibrous armor. In addition, the Endo Steel frame allows the 'Mech to carry more weapons, without resorting to a vulnerable XL engine. To further enhance pilot survivability (long a tradition in the Magistracy Armed Forces) the design uses a standard engine and a Compact Gyro. These tougher systems allow the Penthesilea to remain in combat after taking damage that would put other 'Mechs out of the fight. (A political side benefit was the spread of knowledge from the Detroit based production facilities to the Majesty Metals production lines on other worlds.)

The two ton autocannon ammunition bay is located in the arm alongside the weapon. Though an ammunition explosion is unlikely, designers installed a CASE system in the right torso to route any explosions out the back of the 'Mech. This accomplishes two things: First it allows the MechWarrior to survive the explosion, and second it allows the damaged Penthesilea to return to service rather than disappear in a fireball.

The biggest drawback to the Penthesilea is the lack of heat sinks. As it is, the thirteen double heat sinks are hard pressed to dissipate all the heat from the weapons.

Weapons and Equipment
To minimize logistical concerns, the Penthesilea uses several energy weapons. An ER PPC and Light PPC harass an enemy at longer ranges, while the LB 10-X AC can fire solid shot to penetrate armor or use cluster rounds to capitalize on armor breaches caused by the other weapons. When the range drops, the trio of ER Medium Lasers mounted in the center torso can easily carve up an opponent.

Though the use of energy weapons does ease logistical concerns, the MechWarrior piloting a Penthesilea must monitor the heat closely. As mentioned earlier, the thirteen double heat sinks installed in the chassis are barely enough to dissipate the heat generated by the energy weapons, and careless weapon fire can quickly overwhelm the cooling system.

Variants

 * PEN-2MAF : Designers at Majesty Metals have experimented in Introduction Year::3085 with a version of the Penthesilea that removes all the standard weapons except for the ER PPC and a single ER Medium Laser. In their place are an LB 20-X AC and an ER Large Laser. The Compact Gyro and Jump Jets have also been removed, and replaced by an XL Gyro. The remaining ER Medium Laser was moved to the head to make room for the XL Gyro. This version carries an extra heat sink to help dissipate heat. Finally the designers removed the standard ferro-fibrous armor and replaced it with Light Ferro-Fibrous armor. BV (2.0) = 1,834


 * PEN-3H : This variant of the Penthesilea was created as a test of Actuator Enhancement Systems in Introduction Year::3129. Its top speed is reduced to 54 km/h thanks to a smaller compact engine, but it retains the ninety meter jump radius of its forebear. Fitted with a variety of weapons systems, this Penthesilea carries a Bombast Laser and three Medium Lasers in the right arm; the left arm carries a Medium VSP Laser and Light AC/5. Both arms are equipped with AES. Four Light Machine Guns are carried as well: One in the right torso, while three more are carried in the center torso in a Machine Gun Array. Ammunition for the machine guns and Light AC/5 is stored in the left torso in a CASE II protected bay. Fourteen tons of Light Ferro-Fibrous armor protects the 3H. BV (2.0) = 1,666

Design Quirks
The PEN-2H Penthesilea has the following Design Quirks:
 * Rugged (1)
 * Stabilized Weapon (CT ER Medium Lasers)

The PEN-3H Penthesilea variant is subject of the following Design Quirks:
 * EM Interference (Bombast Laser)