The Tiger Class Battle Frame is a large Line-of-battle Mecha with emphasis placed on firepower. Recreated by Augury Moonbeam Lynn 69-2114-3289 and Blackwell Defense Industries in 2318 with the Kotoku Data Core, this chassis is the first produced with an eye to claim market share in the Mecha market.

The Tiger's mission profile is designed to act as a main battle mecha. With a ground speed of 65 Kph, solid armor, and heavy weapons loadout, this Mecha fights with overwhelming firepower. With a modular weapons array, like all Battle Frames, the Tiger can bring optimal weapons for the mission. The Tiger carries a comparable amount of weapons as the Lion class battleframe, enabling this chassis to pack a powerful first strike.

Average speed, moderate armor and extensive weapon systems are the hallmarks of the Tiger. While capable of use in any environment, including underwater, this mecha is best used planet-side. Outfitted with a quality targeting matrix and larger weapon load-outs, this mecha wins by shooting first. With the modular nature of this mecha's weapon arrays, you will find dozens of variants within the same unit, each unique to both the pilot and the mission.

With the recovery of the Kotoku Data Core, Jimmy Sorano saw an opportunity to revolutionize the face of modern warfare. Larger, more powerful, and most importantly, more durable battle frames would allow for many groups to engage in battle. The nearly indestructibility of the open style frames allows for a savvy tech or pilot to take a nearly gutted chassis and repair or refit the mecha to nearly new.

Initially, the Great House of Virtu ordered one dozen, mostly as show pieces. The Baba Yaga Space Group, seeing a worthwhile investment, purchased as many as their new Dropships could hold. These would help expand their reach to the harder to access, but more profitable, ground targets. Thus, a new market was born.

The Tiger is one of three new Battle Frames being produced by Blackwell Defense Industries. This particular Mecha was recovered in an operation on Vice during the founding of the Blood Cross Company.

Like most of the Reservoir Battle Frames, the Tiger towers above other Frames with a height of 12 meters. Boxy, angled plate armor covers the Mecha. A variety of weapon ports, such as direct energy weapons, large cannons, and missile launch tubes can be found dotting the Tiger. Digitigrade armored legs support the hunched torso as well as two boxy arms attached to the shoulders.

**Organization:** Blackwell Defense Industries
**Type:** General Combat Use Powered Mechanized Frame
**Class:** BDI-M808B Tiger
**Designer:** Augury Moonbeam Lynn 69-2114-3289
**Manufacturer:** Blackwell Defense Industries
**Production:** 120 initial run, with more buyers interested
**Price:** 7,500,000 W-Credits
**Crew:** 1
**Maximum Capacity:** 2
**Passenger Capacity:** None
**Width:** 8.5 Meters
**Height:** 12 Meters
**Mass:** 85 Tons

**Ground speed: ** 75.5 Kph
**Jumping speed: ** None
**Air speed:** None
**Range:** Intercontinental
**Lifespan:** 5 years

* Body: Medium Armored Large Mecha

The standard cockpit is situated between the shoulders of the mecha, accessible from the top of the mecha via gantry or cherry-picker lift. Pilots can also climb aboard when the mecha is kneeling.

With the modular nature of the Battle Frame system, The Tiger can carry a wide variety of payloads. Instead of fixed weapon systems, the Tiger has a variety of modular hard-points fitted with weapons per the pilot or mission requirements.

The hard-point locations and space available:

* Left Shoulder: One Space Available
* Right Shoulder: One Space Available
* Left Torso: Three Space Available
* Right Torso: Three Space Available
* Center Torso: One Space Available
* Left Arm: Three Space Available
* Right Arm: Three Space Available
* Left Leg: One Space Available
* Right Leg: One Space Available

The weapon systems available and space required per system:

• See Blackwell Defense Industries for more information

The onboard systems of the Tiger Battle Frame.

Systems directly pertaining to the chassis and hull, as well as defensive systems.

The Tiger is well defended, with a resilient Energized Tungsten outer armor, and a sturdy internal Skeleton.

Roughly analogous to the bones in the human body, the frame's internal skeleton chassis consists of a honeycombed nickel core covered with various composite materials, wrapped in woven carbon fibers, and clad in titanium-alloyed steel. Due to the more simple nature of the design, less bones are used in the manufacture, which results in less flexibility and articulation than possible with the human skeletal system.

Nano-muscle fiber clusters are an artificial analog of biological muscles with a greater strength to weight ratio. They are engaged with electrical current and its strength depends on the amount of fibers activated, not the current provided.

Nano-muscle requires large amounts of electrical voltage to function, with the larger "muscles" obviously requiring more energy than smaller. This does however grant an advantage as Nano-muscle cannot be stunned by electrical discharges, even more so as ceramic armor and composite skeletons have a high electrical resistance.

In a way, Nano-muscle is the reason Battle Frames are the advanced war machines they are; the Nano-muscle is an extremely efficient and load-bearing form of locomotion, but cannot be used in a wheeled, tracked, or airborne platform due to the nature of its operation. As such, even though Battle Frames present much greater surface area that must be armored, and much more structure to be carried, Nano-muscle still allows them to bear more weapons and armor per-ton than any other form of armored fighting vehicle.

The Frame moves it's limbs with numerous nano-muscle fiber clusters, each one enhanced by hydraulics and electric motors. This system gives the Tiger the ability to move its extremities.

Energized armor is composed to two separate plates, separated by an carbon weave reinforced ceramic layer. One of the armor plates holds an enormous electrical charge, while the other acts as a ground. When a penetrator pierces the insulating material, a connection is formed between the charged plate and the grounded plate. This releases the enormous electrical charge through the penetrator, causing it to vaporize instantly. Converted to a heated gas the penetrator becomes effectively harmless.

Lower capacitor charges can vaporize pre-heated matter, such as explosive shaped charges and plasma weapons. At higher charges, the discharge can also vaporize solids such as projectiles. Unfortunately, energized armor offers little in defense against energy and mass-less weapons.
In an attempt to compensate for this weakness, Blackwell has began manufacturing energized armor with tungsten composites, rather than the usual carbon nano tube style. Tungsten has a higher melting point than any other non-alloy in existence, as well as robust durability on par with that of depleted uranium. By using tungsten composites, energized armor has a much higher resistance to energy weapons than it would otherwise, as well as a healthier defense against projectiles.
The end result is known as Energized Tungsten Armor. The relatively low cost of tungsten combined with the simplistic design of energized armor results in a cheap and easy to produce defense superior to other low tech armors.

The Tiger has a standard life support system, with a pressurized cockpit, oxygen scrubbers, and a temperature-humidity regulation system. The Tiger also has an inertia control system to keep the g-forces on it's pilot to a minimum.

The power supply for the Tiger Battle Frame.

Owing to its large size, the Tiger uses a powerful Nuclear fusion reactor, located in its chest, to generate the majority of its power, as well as to generate plasma for propulsion. The Tiger's reactor requires Deuterium-Tritium liquid fuel in order to operate. The Tiger carries enough fuel for six months of operation.

As a backup, the Tiger has three Stirling radioisotope generators (SRG), which in normal use supply backup power to the frame's electronics. During an emergency, the SRGs can be used to power the entirety of the frame for a short time, though there is not enough power for lengthy combat operations.

In order to transfer the plasma and power from the nuclear reactor to weapons and auxiliary thrusters, the Tiger has a series of Plasma Conduits which transfer plasma and coolant from the nuclear fusion power plant to the Frame's systems, as well as smaller auxiliary thrusters which line the back of the frame's legs. The parallel coolant conduits help regulate the temperature of the overall chassis as well as the fusion reactor during peak performance, such as in battle.

The Tiger uses an On-board AI systems suite to assist the pilot, easing his workload and making him/her much more effective in combat. This mecha's AI is designated "Sweetie".

The heart of the On-board AI suite is an extremely advanced quantum computer, capable of performing nearly endless amounts of data-churning and possessing untold memory. Quantum computers, unlike old computers which could only process 1 and 0, can process an effectively infinite range of digits. The Tiger's computer is located in an armored box, just below the cockpit seat.

The On-board AI suite has sensors which, in passive mode, can detect things up to 100 miles away, and in active mode can detect and provide information (Heading, velocity, size, ship type, energy signatures) on objects up to 55 miles away. All of the Tiger's sensors are located inside the frame's main cockpit housing with secondary optics on both sides of the head, in the chest, and back shoulders. The Tiger has a variety of sensors including:
* Electromagnetic sensors
* Neutrino sensors (nuclear reaction sensors)
* Visual sensors
* Mass Detectors

The On-board AI Suite has a targeting control system that can give detailed information (Heading, velocity, size, vehicle type, and energy signatures) on ten targets, as well as position and orientation (IFF) on up to 25 more targets.

For close-range transmissions, it is more difficult for the enemy to intercept, because they have to be in the area of the beam. Also limited to light-speed.

Full spectrum, Dual-Modulation, range theoretically unlimited except by interference. Practical range is short, since the waves only travel at light-speed.

The Frame uses a Mind-Machine interface control system, linking the pilot up to the Frame directly. Interface is achieved when the pilot dons the specialized helmet. The mind-machine interface is a step above manual controls, and allows for pilots transferring to the new frame to have a shorter time to synchronize with it. The Interface also gives the frame faster movement and quicker reactions times due to linking with the pilot's neurological system.

Another design feature of the Frame is the SMM System. The heart of the SMM System is a large gyroscope located in the lower center of the Frame's torso. The gyroscope serves to keep the Frame steady during aiming, movement, and maneuvering.

Bullroarer created this article on 2018/05/06 10:45.
Art by Gloombloom
"Grandfathered" by [[users:bullroarer4]] on 2019/12/07.

Taken from [[https://www.catalystgamelabs.com/battletech/|Battletech]]. All rights reserved to The Topps Company, Inc..