Marauder MAD-SANDS

         The Marauder was considered one of the most effective BattleMechs ever produced. Not surprisingly, all the Houses universally welcomed a redesigned Marauder. The problem for the Capellans was that they had never manufactured the design. During a meeting on Sian with the Strategios this was addressed. The consensus was that Ceres Metal’s plants on Warlock and Capella were perfect to produce the Marauder, as they had been upgraded to build with the latest technologies.
         One hurdle that had to be cleared, however, was that George Hasek was against the prospect of giving the Capellans access to any of GM’s designs. Sun Tzu himself offered the solution to settle this issue, purchasing the rights from GM through a third party and building the design using only Capellan materials.   In return, HildCo would resume export to the Federated Suns. Terms were accepted and agreed upon, paving the way for the Capellans to produce the Marauder.

         The Capellan variant was originally armed with two large lasers and one PPC. The old Dalban HiRez targeting system had problems with two different weapons systems on the same circuit, however. This problem was eliminated by locating both lasers in the arms, while the PPC went into the right torso. Triple strength myomer was installed to give the Marauder greater power and speed. The redesigned body eliminated the old vulnerable rotation ring with a better-protected rotational assembly. The Marauder’s overall profile had been angled and shorted to reduce its radar signature as part of its stealth characteristics.

         Like the rumor of a new production plant within the Marian Hegemony, talk that the Circinus Federation has a new small factory in the mountains on Baltazar III could simply be dismissed out of hand. The proof of its existence is much clearer, however, considering the appearance of new Marauder designs in Federation hands. That the Word of Blake is behind this appears obvious. At this point, ComStar may need to proceed as though most of the Circinus government has been supplanted by Blake supporters.
         The other variants planned may include being armed with extended ranged weapons, an advanced autocannon and electronics. There is one variant that is rumored to be armed with nothing but heavy extended range lasers, streak missiles and special electronics. There are three other variants that all are armed similarly, using rotary autocannons, targeting computers and a variety of other weapons as well.

         The first production run was completed in early July and shipped out to front line units to form “Ying Qiang” (Shadow Lances).