Resurgence - Swordsman
SWD-3
A medium mech that experienced the warfare of the Inner Sphere more than a century before was brought back to life as part of General Lee's efforts to rediscover low cost Battlemech designs that could be built near effortlessly by Homefleet's yardships. The Swordsman was originally from the Federated Suns but found its way into the Star League Defense Force. However, after the savagery of the fighting, they were entirely destroyed. None had been seen since, except what appeared to be parts of them on pirate mechs.
Basing the first recreation on the original design theme, General Lee upgraded the regular Medium Lasers to ERs. Rather than have a separate LRM and SRM launcher, he opted for a single MML5 with a ton each of LRMs and SRMs. Finally, a regular autocannon 5 was just too much tonnage spent on a medium mech, swapping it with a light AC5. This left just enough tonnage to add survivability, a CASE is installed in each side torso.
Even if the ammo deotnates in both side torsos, the pilot and Battlemech can survive. Nomad Republic still has significant numbers of warriors and mechs but, General Lee knows there is no benefit in waste.
SWD-4
The SWD-4 variant was intended as a striker unit. Snipe with the Light Gauss Rifle, then when it finds a hole, push through to short range and tear into targets with the combination of SRMs and Small Lasers. Again, keeping with the survivability theme, a ton is spent on CASE in each side torso.
SWD-5
As the final variant put in production on the Homefleet Yardships, the SWD-5 is the most advanced version of the Swordsman. With some many modern Battlemechs requiring XL Engines General Lee continues to press for no new variants with an engine larger than a Light Fusion Engine. The AC5 is replaced by a Large Laser. This provides an additional weapon that doesn't require reloads and without that ton of ammo, cannot blow out the side torso, meaning that the removal of the CASE gives an extra half ton to allocate elsewhere.
It maintains the 50-80 KPH speed of the other variants, however, the Mechwarriors need to be cautious of heat buildup. The machine can bring forth a savage close range attack but heat build up can be an issue if an egress route has not been planned.
Because it has been outfitted with an Angel ECM, the purpose of this variant is formation protection. With the C3 networks that the Blakists will inevitably bring to battle, this mech can be a great deterrent to Malaks and Pretas that come into close range. The X-Pulse Lasers can melt armor while the ECM shuts down the C3 network benefits.