Cyclops

Ferrite:	19500
Bioptics:	15400
Niodes:	100

The Cyclops comes in at 95 tons. Not the heaviest Mech designed, just a force to fear.

What strikes most at first glance is the unusual, one-eyed Cockpit. The designers found this to be more effective after thousands of would-be pilots had tried various viewing positions.

Older hands take some time to adjust to the bigger field of view, but as most combat input comes through screens and pilot implants, it doesn't make much of a difference. But for the techs who are to move it around in often cramped hangars, the increased field of view should reduce bumping and scratching.

Another innovation not seen from the outside is the powerplant, or rather the power plants. The design team noted that as output got higher, so did the weight and bulk, and not in a linear fashion either, more like an climbing curve. So to reduce weight and the odds of a lucky shot depriving the Cyclops of all its power, they installed three of the PalmarTek power plants normally found in the Fides. This gives an abundance of energy, more than enough to give it some intrinsic speed when fully developed in addition to powering up to eight Engine modules.

The targeting computer, the Mandori 8000+ is another radical departure from the traditional AI system. Here they actually dumbed it down, at least in most respects.

What began as a Chess computer was fed all available data on Mechs and how they can move. The resulting computer is a moron in most regards, but a savant when it comes to adjusting fire to where an opponent most likely will be in a split second. This gives the Cyclops the third highest unaided Precision attained on any Mech (32) only surpassed by the Antithesis (47) and Boreas (51). The Mandori 8000+ can also be connected to seven additional modules to further improve the targeting solutions.

Defensively the Cyclops is more traditional. The Mandori 8000+ does manage to twist it a tiny bit to make the most obvious shots a bit less likely to hit, and having room for six additional Chassis modules it should be as hard to hit as most Mechs of its weight class.

If the Cyclops have an Achilles heel, it is in the shielding department. While it will deflect a quarter of the incoming projectile fire and a fifth of all secondary damage, (Trample, Splash, Fork and Wide Fork) it have room for just four Shield modules, and dont have any general shielding at all.

What the designers did spend time on was giving it offensive qualities. All Lasers fired get their normal damage boosted to almost double strength. A late change in the boosters came when news of the 60% damage potential increase the Redeemer sported came in. Two sets of general damage enhancers were installed, one for the traditional 50% and one for the newer 60%. As a further bonus, the targeting computer will in about one of seven shots fired manage to damage the primary targets neighbours as well.

Legendary Pilots

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  Karl Kash

  After a dark incident, the Mech pilot Karl Kash took refuge for many years in the Waradium mines of the Epsilon sector in Hades System, to avoid the Illyrian justice, picking a job as MPU operator, mine prospecting units consisting in mechs discarded for combat and adapted for the extraction of heavy metals in the most aggressive environmental conditions.
  
  In spite of this hard activity, he remained well trained and when the Blackwing pirates assaulted the mines, they faced a bizarre army of old mechs ready for battle and under the leadership of Karl himself. The pirates were defeated, but the installations got seriously damaged during the fights and the mining company was forced to close them and dismiss all the personnel.
  
  However, the achievement of Karl had transcended, and was recruited by the Affiliation Mercenary Clans, among whom he found his true calling, guiding a formidable mecha Squad that he leads from the cockpit of “Big Chill”, his Cyclops class Mech, tuned with a smiling one-eyed skull.