Lancer (BattleMech)

This article is about the 80-ton BattleMech. For other uses, see Lancer.

Lancer
Production information
Manufacturer	Gibson Federated BattleMechs
Production Year	3058
Model	LNC-X05
Class	Assault
Technical specifications
'Mech type	Mixed-tech BattleMech
Mass	80 tons
Chassis	unknown
Armor	unknown
Engine	240 XL
Speed	54.0 km/h
Armament	Ultra AC/5 Ultra AC/10 Medium Pulse Laser Small Pulse Laser LRM-15 LRM-5 Streak SRM-2 Streak SRM-4 6x Machine gun

An experimental HybridMech mixing Inner Sphere and Clan technologies, the Lancer was devised by Gibson Federated BattleMechs and tested on Solaris VII in 3058.

Description

The Lancer is an 80-ton assault 'Mech design that combines Inner Sphere and Clan tech base. It is relatively slow despite the use of an XL fusion engine, but features three jump jets, two of which curiously are mounted in the right leg while the third was placed in the right torso (instead of a symmetrical layout).

Taking the errata into account (see Notes below), altogether 247 points of armor (almost 15.5 tons) cover the 'Mech, the absolute maximum possible on an 80-ton chassis with available technology. Sixteen Clan-tech Double Heat Sinks keep it cool.

Armament

The Lancer is armed with an Ultra AC/10 and an Ultra AC/5 in the right and left arm, respectively, while an array of missile launchers (an LRM-15, an LRM-5, a Streak SRM-4 and a Streak SRM-2) are installed in the torso sides and six machine guns cover the rear torso. Ammunition supplies for all those weapons (one ton for each) are stored in the arms.

A pair of pulse lasers, namely a rear-facing Small Pulse Laser in the head and an arm-mounted (see Notes) Medium Pulse Laser round out the eclectic weapons suite. Overall, the choice of weapons and surprisingly strong firepower into the rear firing field suggests that the Lancer was designed to face multiple weaker opponents without support, either in response to the Clan formation known as a Nova (combining 'Mechs and Elementals) or infantry swarming attacks, or as a dedicated arena fighter.

Canonicity

Published exclusively in an apocryphal magazine, the Lancer must be considered apocryphal as well.

Wunderwelten was the house magazine of FanPro, who were the German BattleTech licensee at the time of publication and later even held the complete BattleTech license. While Wunderwelten does not technically meet the current criteria for canon, its BattleTech-related content does therefore still have a claim to being an official publication under a valid license.

Notes

• The record sheet for the Lancer was originally published with the Testfall scenarios in issue #39 that introduced the design and gave some background information. Errata for the record sheet were subsequently published in issue #40, clarifying that the tech base should read "Inner Sphere/Clan 3058" and that both arms and both legs should have two armor points less than indicated on the record sheet. (More armor was originally allocated to the arms and legs than the internal structure allowed, with the reduction as per errata reducing the armor to the maximum allowed value.)
• The armament section on the record sheet lists a Medium Pulse Laser in the left arm which does not, however, appear in the critical hit section. The only free slot on the entire record sheet is in the right arm. It can thus either be assumed that the Medium Pulse Laser goes there, or that it takes the place of one ton of ammunition (out of four) in the left arm which is then added to the three tons of ammunition in the right arm.

Bibliography

• Wunderwelten, #39 (September/October 1997), p. 58; #40 (November/December 1997), p. 37