OG-1B Ogoun

"Your judgement on the machine now they you've had time in the cockpit Victoria?"

"In all honesty Father, I can't see why you have such an interest in this. The only title I can give the Ogoun is that of a conscript's mech. The controls are simplistic to the point of insult, and many of the functions that any true mechwarrior should already know how to perform are instead reduced into a series of pre-programmed sequence, automatic and otherwise. It's madness!"

"But you did manage to set all the functions to manual if I recall?"

"Well yes, eventually; but everything was sealed behind multiple lockouts in the mech's systems and if was only due to my rank in our House's military that I could do so."

"Excellent, exactly what I'd hoped for. I'll speak to Kim and Gaul if it will be possible to get a larger portion the next production run."

"What? But fath-"

"Victoria; your view of what mechwarriors are always capable of is...skewed. You and Kamea have great natural talent for piloting and Montgomery trained you both. Other individuals do not have such innate skills (you certainly didn't get it from my side of the family) or such an elite teacher. Not only is the Ogoun a serviceable trooper mech but the systems allow more...average pilots to perform maneuvers that they would otherwise have constant issues with."

-Conversation between Santiago Espinosa and his daughter Victoria is regards to the OG-1B Ogoun battlemech.

Description:
While K&G Enterprises had become semi-famous for retrotech equipment, vehicles and even some battlemechs, the Ogoun is something of an odd duck in that it hadn't originally been intended to be any sort of product. In fact the machine arose from a drinking game that the K&G engineers (with several Terrans joining) had revolving around taking a shot every time they spotted a engineering flaw in any of the design files that the company had on hand. And the GLD-1R Gladiator had enough of such issues (obvious and otherwise) that multiple individuals ended up requiring hospital stays due to aggravated alcohol poisoning. After recovering from the hangovers (and minor liver damage) it was decided that instead the game should instead focus more on coming up with ideas about fixing the various noticed flaws for the foreseeable future (instead of drinking). Rumors persist that this change in heart was primarily brought about to the extensive and...graphic threats delivered by the medical personnel to said individuals. While originally only a handful of the redesigned models (that were essentially completely different mechs under the hood) were built as testing platforms for various systems that various think-tanks and companies on Dumassas; this changed when a most unexpected visitor arrived.

Santiago Espinosa had long been a supporter of a more self-sufficient and secure Aurigan Coalition; and one of the best ways to do that was the capability to produce your own weapons of war. At the time the only battlemechs the Aurigan Coalition had access to were decades to centuries old heirlooms, salvaged and rebuilt machines from pirate attacks or purchased at significant markup from other nations. Coupled with the fact that the majority of replacement parts aside from armor and internal structure components had to be hand-crafted or shipped in; the Coalition's mech forces were never extensive. He hoped to change this state of affairs by proposing a cooperative venture between the Taurian Concordat, Dumassas Union and the Aurigan Coalition for the purpose of constructing a new battlemech factory whose product would be sold to the Concordat, Coalition and Union.

Santiago would provide the planet on which to build the factory along with armor and structural components from the industries that he owned, Taurian companies interested in participating would cover the weapons and reactor, while K&G brought the technology needed for the factory and design specs of the to-be constructed mech. While such a venture would normally be voted down by the rest of the Founding Council, High Lord Arano rightfully pointed out that since House Espinosa was acting on its own accord and not in the name of the Coalition (even if he had given unofficial support to the project) Santiago was within his rights to proceed as he wished. Rumors persist that Lord Espinosa keeps a copy of the video recording of the looks on the Council's faces at this revelation to watch whenever he needs cheering up.

As for the renaming of the machine from the original label, it was a decision based on want to distance the mech from the trash-fire that was the GLD-1R and the fact that aside from general body shape, little of any of the old internal systems remained. Despite this relabeling and greatly improved internals; the mech and its pilots are met with disdain and skepticism, not only due to the mech's origins (particulary in the Combine due to it being a 'dishonored' machine) but a particular piece of equipment that is often included (except in export models).

Weapons and Equipment:
Designed from the ground up as a brawler mech, the OG-1B carries ten and a half tons of armor allowing it to handle oncoming fire quite handily. A 275 rated engine and three jump jets mounted in the center torso and both legs grant the machine similar mobility to the venerable Shadow Hawk while 15 heat sinks serve to handle the energy-heavy weapon load-out. As for the weapons themselves, a Taurian-made large laser on the left arm and two mediums on the right provide all-round reliable firepower but it is the contributions by Dumassas that allow the machine far more utility than one might expect.

The variable ordinance launchers mounted on the left and right shoulders of the mech are weapons directly inspired by the infamous K12 40mm grenade launchers utilized by the Terran marauders. While far less compact and lacking the micro-fabricator seen in the Terran version of the weapon, the VOL is far smaller and lighter (if shorter ranged) than contemporary mech-scale autocannons while being capable of using specialized ammunition types. Standard load-outs for both launchers include 20 rounds of 'Hammer' anti-armor shells and 20 'Beehive' fragmention shells. Of note the latter rounds are based off the rounds fired by the Vulture hoverbike so they are perfectly viable for use against battle armor unlike 'conventional' fragmentation munitions. In addition, the VOL does not rely on any Terran-made components. If a world can produce SRMs, autocannons and any grade of laser, they will have the capability to produce spare parts and new ammunition.

Additionaly both the Terran and Dumassas engineers working on the project wanted more safety for an ejecting pilot than just a seat and parachute as was 'normal' for mech pilots. As such, the cockpit is designed so when ejecting, a section of it seals around the pilot making a small air-tight 'capsule' containing a homing beacon, multi-hour oxygen supply and the machine's blackbox recorder and more vital electronics etc. This pod then blasts away from the mech to safety. While not as extensive as the Full-Head Ejection System seen on the Hatchetman as only part of the 'head' is ejected, nor does it allow for easy reconnection to another mech (only the eltronics can be repurposed); it does provide similar protection to the pilot as the FHES and is noticely cheaper.

The final element (and the largest source of derision from 'traditional' mechwarriors) in the battlemech is the Computer-aided Piloting system or CaP. Designed by Haven programmers, it is Terran-based code designed to run on Inner Sphere systems (though requiring a noticeable expansion of storage and processing units in the mech due to the limitations of IS computers) for the purpose of easing some of the inherent issues of a war machine that relies on a man-machine interface. When aiming at a target, the program taking in data from myomer movements and the mech's gyroscope before making adjustments to the gait and/or weapon arm in order to improve targeting. In other cases it will use velocity readings along with distance to the ground in order to reserve a given amount of jump jet thrustin order to land safely. Similarly it provides the needed impulses to myomer bundles in order to stabilize the mech as much as possible whenever it becomes unbalanced. In certain cases, action sequences can even be programmed and then triggered as a primitive autopilot if the pilot needs to direct thier attention elsewhere.

Variants:
OG-2R: A 'royal' varient of the mech utilized by the Dumassas Legions that replaces the standard engine with a Cold Fusion Cell Engine. The weight saving and additional sinking capability allows an increase of armor to 11.5 tons, the replacement of the large laser with a PPC, two additional jump jets and a third medium laser.

OG-1C: A common Aurigan modification before their industries could adapt to producing the components and ammo for the variable ordinance launcher. By removing a ton of armor and the VOLs, two LRM 5 launchers supported by a single ton of ammo are added to create a more general purpose machine since they could not utilize combined arms tactics the way the larger nations could.

OG-2A: The initial export model to the Inner Sphere (though few were ever ordered) is almost a return to the original Gladator deisgn. By removing the VOLs, assoicated ammo and a half-ton of armor, a SRM-6 with one ton of ammo is installed in the left torso along with basic blow-out panels. Intialy it was intended not to include said panels but the Terrans refused to have any part in designing and building a 'death-trap' of a war machine.

OG-2F: More often seen in Federated Sun hands by modifying the 2A. This version strips five heat sinks, reduces the armor to 9.5 tons and then removes the SRM and large laser. In thier place an AC10 with two tons of ammo becomes the main weapon while mobility is improved with two additional jump jets. Davions and their autocannons am I right?

OG-4R: An evolution of the 2R as more advanced technology became available. A 330-rated XL engine drives the machine up to 97 KPH while reverse engineered TSM can push it even faster. The traiditional VOLs are retained but the arm weapons are now mirrored with a snub-nose PPC and extended range medium laser in each. The armor is replaced with 9.5 tons of Ferro-fibrous along with the now traidional Dumassas 'small cockpit' alowing for a total of 13 double heat sinks that keep the mech's heat under decent control provided the pilot isn't constantly alpha strikeing.

AN:
For appearance of the VOLs, take the stovepipe things on the gladiators back, shrink them down a bit and have them aim over the shoulders like the Shadow hawk's gun (but a fair bit stubbier).

Variable Ordinance Launcher: crits 3, heat 3, tonnage 1.0, Min 0/Close 1-4/ Medium 5-8/Long 9-12
Provides CASE protection for two crit slots of VOL ammo provided they are adjacent to the weapon.
Hammer rounds: Damage 5, not effected by AMS. Can take in 0.5 ton (20 rounds) size bins or 1 ton (40). Both use 1 crit slot.
Beehive rounds: Damage 2 + 3D6 vs. Infantry/ 2D6 versus battle armor, not effected by AMS. Can take in 0.5 ton (20 rounds) size bins or 1 ton (40). Both use 1 crit slot.

Quirk (Computer-aided Piloting): Cockpit takes up one additional critical space. When taking a piloting check all detrimental modifers are reduced by one. When firing weapons, modifers for the mech's movement and position (walk, run, jump, prone) are reduced by one. Has no effect on the target's movement modifier or any other potential factors.