2
The first reported use of Commandos by the Sword of Light was during the 4th Succession War. Like most DCMS units, the Swords of Light relied primarily on Jenners as scouts, and used the Panther in the role the Lyran Commonwealth employed the Commando. However, due to general losses during the war, most DCMS units began to rely on salvage to supplement their supply chain, and the Commando became much more common sight, even within the favored ranks of the Sword of Light. This being the case, though, while its armament load-out was deemed sufficient, its lack of speed was considered to be too detrimental for the Commando to be anything but an ad hoc replacement for faster light mechs.
Unlike most line units, the Sword of Light could afford to overhaul the chasse with more expensive equipment, and did so with several of its Commando 1B variants. The original DCMS Engineering Corps design simply dropped the original weapons systems from the 1B variant, and upgraded the engine to a GM 180. This gave the Commando a more impressive 116kph, and weapons were replaced with three arm-mounted medium lasers, and a Streak-2 system in the center torso.
While several regular units deemed the refit adequate, Sword of Light's engineers knew adequate was nowhere near good enough to wear the red. Since expense was not a consideration for these units, the regimental engineers decided to first lighten the mech with an endo-steel internal structure, and replace the GM 180 with a Wakazashi WAS-195 fusion engine typically used for Lucifer-class aerospace fighters. A GM 210XL engine was also considered, but rejected due to the general tendency in light mechs to take torso damage. The new design gave the Commando a top speed of 126kph, making it an especially dangerous opponent for scout mechs like the Jenner or Locust.
The design had one final, almost crippling flaw, which was its heat-dissipation characteristic. Its heat sink load-out provided a mere 9% above nominal heat loss, and mechwarriors had to be very mindful of their heat to avoid shutting down. This was solved with the introduction of double heat sinks - refitting the engine and installing two in each side torso increased the heat dissipation to 29% above nominal, allowing unrestricted weapons fire in all but the harshest of conditions.
Edited by SwordofLight, 21 December 2012 - 10:48 AM.
