Smoke Jaguar Dossier: Shadow Cat

Jade Falcon Shadow Cat and Elementals on Coventry

Smoke Jaguar Dossier

Type: Battlemech

Name: Shadow Cat

Mech Class: Medium (Omni-mech)

Weight: 45 Tons

Tech Base:Clan

Description:
The Shadow Cat was first encountered by Inner Sphere forces at the Battle of Luthien. They were subsequently used during the Battle of Tukayyid. The OmniMech was developed by Clan Nova Cat to replace the Ice Ferret in the early 31st century. Use of the Shadow Cat has spread to other Clans since its introduction.

This expensive OmniMech makes use of weight-saving technologies in the form of an Endo Steel internal structure, an XL Engine, and seven tons of Ferro-Fibrous armor. All of these together allow the Shadow Cat to employ more pod space than the Ice Ferret at the expense of speed. To counteract this, the base chassis employs enough jump jets to vault up to 180 meters in a single bound and Myomer Accelerated Signal Circuitry that enables it to move up to 130 km/h in bursts.

Armament: 
The primary configuration of the Shadow Cat wields a Gauss Rifle allowing it to handily defeat smaller opponents, often before they can get within range. A pair of smaller ER Medium Lasers back up the rifle, together able to deal almost as much damage as the gauss rifle can. An Active Probe gives the Shadow Cat the ability to detect hidden units, making it a capable scout. 

Variants:
* Alt. Config. A - The first alternate configuration is also potent at long range, but it uses a pair of ER Large Lasers to gain that potency. It retains the Active Probe of the prime, but uses a Streak SRM-6 for backup. It also utilizes three extra double heat sinks to keep heat levels comfortable.

* Alt. Config. B - This variant is also a fusion of long-range weaponry with a scouting system. This configuration adds a pair of Artemis IV-guided LRM 15s to the Active Probe. It also has a pair of ER Medium Lasers for backup, though it adds an ECM Suite to the electronics package.  

Captain Nash's Mission #2 Analysis:  Was able to reestablish brief contact with Merloni.  Got a quick SitRep from him.  Seems there are two Stars of Clanners in his area.  One is all Clan mechs being led by a Shadow Cat.  He thinks it was the prime configuration with the Gauss Rifle but he is not positive.  Logically, the Jags are using a Shadow Cat, possibly the most durable scout mech in their arsenal.  If you do stumble across this clanner, don't mess around with him. Take him down fast.  That Gauss is a threat to any battlemech ever produced. I'm not even going to tell you what it could do to our current mech options.    


Tech Readout:  http://www.solaris7.com/TRO/HTMLBattleMech/BattlemechInfo.asp?ID=2405