Name: Albatross 3230

Appearance


Height: 6 Meters

Weight: 20 Tons

History and Development
In the beginning...
The Albatross 3200 was for a short time a golden standard for mobile, equipment-oriented mechs focused on tactical warfare as compared to slugging with weapons and tanking with many tons of armor. Developed in by Shrike Hepatic Mobile Technologies and Battlemaster Relic Incorporated, it featured the most raw equipment to be safely put on a single mech to date, putting it ahead in targeting, agility, and hit deflection tactics. It reached peak fame the Grand Tournament a year after release, yet was defeated a mere few matches away from ultimate victory. The Albatross 3200, being an early model of mech design, was quickly outstripped by new technologies and fell into obscurity, leaving Battlemaster Relic near bankruptcy and Shrike Hepatic relegated to back-end technology sales.
Now...
The latest tournament, however, has spurred corporate leaders of Shrike Hepatic to create a new project with the foundation of the 3200 model, financially boosting Battlemaster Relic to allow the former alliance of engineering to flourish once more. The result, still closely under wraps and barely known outside internal circles, is the Albatross 3230 - a mech more than twice as efficient (statistically and by early testing) as the original of its time and sponsoring new technologies barely out of experimental stage. It has seen several internal tests, but it has not as of yet seen proper combat, and the companies sponsoring the project feel the pain of finding a pilot capable of piloting one of the more complex machines of its time - the 3200 model was considered one of the hardest to pilot, and some claim it failed to win the Grand Tournament simply from user inexperience. The 3230, if rumor is to be believed, is even more complicated.

Equipment
Armor: Medium-Light Steel IV Alloy, durable, slightly flexible, resistant to heat and somewhat effective at reducing the impact of raw ballistics when lucky. Does not do well against direct hits - however, the shape of the mech is expected to help reduce the blows of more accurate hits by deflecting them ever so slightly to the edges of the frame. Supported by a heavier Medium Steel IV Alloy Shield mounted on a reinforced left arm designed to take some hits. This variant of proprietary steel is unique in that it does not share metal's normal ability to carry electrical charges and has the flexibility of metal with the magnetic potential and electrical connectivity of a slab of stone. Despite the advantages, it only barely keeps up with the average armor of its type.
AI: The mech uses a proprietary system developed exclusively by Shrike Hepatic that provides a basic foundation for targeting, data input, equipment and weapon management, and all other electronic components. It is not an independent system, but it is very efficient and built with several interlinked microchips that form a closed network - if one is destroyed, the others can duplicate code and either repair itself or simply ignore the missing segment, while one that is not sustained by the network will wipe itself. It was designed with security against live hacking and durability in mind, not so much for raw functionality and accessibility. It is effective for its purpose. For security reasons, access is only permitted by direct connection - the wiring is an important part, though it is not as vulnerable as some may assume. It includes modules for basic targeting, more advanced sensor systems (see the capabilities section), and to a lesser extent components mentioned in the first sentence.

Power: Safe Fusion developed by Battlemaster Relic, providing an ample supply of power while designed to reverse traditional effects of breached reactors: instead of exploding, the resulting impact will eat itself. The reactor is crushed, but the mech is otherwise intact. It is the second most heavily armored piece of the mech, the first being the basic skeleton around which it is based (for trivia, 3rd is cockpit and 4th is shield)

Targeting: Caspian 34 Microbit Assistant Module, designed to snap onto desired locations when acquiring target locks as designated by the built in AI. It makes reasonable guesses against moving targets, though it becomes less effective against targets moving erratically. It serves as an addition to the AI and can be disabled or removed.

Additional Protection: Tanger Electronic Blocking Mechanism (TEBM), a jetpack extension creating deceptive heat signals in a 20 foot radius all around the mech with 16 small round balls that move to intercept moving projectiles. Effective anti-missile weapon, but not fast enough to take down small, quick streams of fire, "agile" swarm shots, or weapons designed with a "dummy" system where a false round is positioned in front of a heavier one. 256 standard quantity, one ball replaced every 3 seconds (up to 4 in a 1 second period). Functionality is controlled by the AI network.

Jet Packs: Allows for jumps up to 60 feet in the direction of the mech's legs with limited mid-air turning and no mid-air direction change. Recharge is slow, but is more efficient when less than 30 feet's worth are used. The pack is connected to the mech's AI but can be disconnected and triggered independently.

Modular arm slots: Both arms allow detachment and attachment of items to the elbow, including heavy fists, ranged and melee weapons.