As àrt of my Urbie Celebration, I thought I would try to bring to life some of the many wacky, wonderful and downright absurd Urbie variations I came up with over the course of a 20 year Urbanmech campaign. (No promises about the Urbie LAM, but I might knock out the Shahid and Fire Support Variants)
This one, is nicknamed the "Pocket Awesome".
It's the product of the FedSuns Military Industrial Complex of the late 3030s/early 3040s. Originally it was a test mule for the new NAIS Double Heat Sinks, and Ferro-Fibrous Armor. A few nobles from the Draconis March liked the idea though, and financed a short run of refits on their existing Urbanmech forces.
Taking a base UM-R60, the mech was stripped to it's bare chassis, and a DAV 90 fusion plant installed, increasing it's top speed to 54.6 kph. Retained were the stock jumpjets, though they were moved to the side torsos to free up room for the larger engine. In place of the stock 6 tons of armor, are 4.5 tons of Ferro-Fibrous, netting in slightly less overall protection, but with the intended role, and lack of volatile ammunition supply, it was deemed an acceptable trade off. The familiar light laser was moved from the left arm over to the head or center torso, depending on preference. And in place of the medium-heavy autocannon, 2 Donal PPCs were installed, 1 in each arm. Keeping their fierce heat in check? 10 of the new Double Heat Sinks.
The idea of having the punch of a Warhammer or Marauders twin PPCs, in such a small package was intoxicating. But even better, was the price. Brand new, they cost a scant 1.8 million to produce, but if it was a refit, it cost less than 1 million cbills per unit. Compared to the price of 6.5 million for a single AWS-8Q Awesome, and it was too tempting.
While certainly no replacement for an actual assault mech, they proved useful. 3-4 could be purchased for the price of a single Awesome, providing 2-3 times the firepower. While their armor protection is obviously MUCH lighter, the fact that one had to destroy multiple targets help alleviate that. Also, the weapons were intentionally high mounted to allow the new UrbanMechs to fire easily from armored defilades, for minimal exposure. Lastly, their jump jets give a little extra mobility.
As the 3050s approached, they were already being obsoleted by newer, more heavy designs using the new tech, and by the Clan Invasion, they were relegated purely to backwater militia status with the rest of the Urbanmechs, but for a few brief years, the Pocket Awesome got to shine in several engagements against Pirates and Combine forces who were not prepared for 30 ton garbage cans with legs to pack so much firepower.