Resurgence - Bellerophon
BEL-2X
With the loss of their nation, Nomad Republic lost many manufacturing capabilities outside of the twin yardships set aside and secretly guarded by Devlin Stone. He made sure they had the capabilities to construct Battlemechs and replacement parts.
However, even with the capabilities of such awesome space vessels, they were not nearly as efficient as ground based factories. Even though various factories on Terra were stripped of parts prior to Homefleet's departure, it would take time to create efficient processes of mech and component construction.
While many Battlemechs in the RAF's arsenal were devastating, many were constructed with components that were more on the fragile side such as Extra-Light Engines and Gyros. While those could be built with the infrastructure available, General Lee decided to focus on staying power. Looking through hundreds of possible designs he found the Bellerophon.
An overall simple design but, there were some issues in the early days of Battlemech construction regarding balance, those issues even existed when it was attempted again during the Jihad. As he reviewed the schematics, given many mechs like the Gallant, Hollander, Solitaire, and more had been built during the Republic's existence, he knew the issues could be solved with the current technologies.
Before even arriving at Abbeville a full lance had already been constructed of the BEL-2X. The design was simple: a standard fusion engine, two Large Lasers, two ER Medium Lasers, and a Streak SRM4. The addition of the SRM ammo in the left arm and Medium Laser dramatically reduced balance issues. For added safety a CASE system was placed in the left torso, should the ammo detonate.
Eventually though, with the additional variants, all of the balance issues were resolved. With the increased speed of 50-80 KPH, it would function well with many Republic designs such as the Lament and Prefect.
BEL-3X
The BEL-3X was a more advanced variant that began production just before arrival at Abbeville by the Nomad Republic. This variant, while very similar, made use of Endo-Steel Structure and Ferro-Fibrous armor. It also utilized a compact gyro while adding a Beagle Active Probe and Guardian ECM.
It retained the base speed of 50-80 KPH but sacrificed some small amount of armor.
BEL-4X
The BEL-4X is the greatest deviation from the original design. It kept the 50-80KPH speed bracket, however, it makes use of a Light Fusion Engine. The lance of 2X variants on Abbeville performed quite well, however, the ferocity of the Blakists showed a variant was needed that could reliably and continuously hammer the seemingly indestructible Celestial Battlemechs.
While General Lee absolutely refused to make use of the limited quantity of remaining XL Engines, he did allow Light Fusion Engines to be used in this new variant. This led to the creation of the 4X. Both Large Lasers were swapped for Large Pulse Lasers and the ER Mediums replaced with Medium Pulse. Even with needing to be in brawling range, the Light Fusion Engine allowed the mech to live on, even if a torso was destroyed.