This Technical Readout is the result of two years’ intensive labor on the part of Our Order in general and the men and women of the Archives and Records arm in particular. It is intended to educate new Adepts of Our Order and simultaneously present a concise brief to more experienced members of the current state of battlefield technology, including (but not restricted to) the BattleMech. As such, it is classified Secret and not for dissemination outside of Comstar.

   The current political climate can be summed up in three words: ‘business as usual’. The Federated Commonwealth split, after 30+ years of cooperation, has begun to polarize members of the former Federated Suns and the Lyran Alliance. Rumors of an impending Civil War between factions loyal to Archon Melissa Steiner-Davion or Our Precentor Martial, Victor Steiner-Davion are rife, and with good reason. The fighting between the Capellans and the Saint Ives Compact rages on, although the outcome is not much in doubt.

And so we have war

   With wars come machines designed to conquer; BattleMechs, tanks, VTOLs, hovercraft and various and sundry support equipment. But one of these will be enough for this, the initial release of the Technical Readout for 3062. This first volume will focus on the current state of Inner Sphere and Clan BattleMechs. Here we will take a brief look at the standouts, starting with 20 ‘Mechs from all over the Inner Sphere and another fifteen from Clan Space.

    Some are updates of older machines, while a select few are brand-new concepts. The reports on all of them have been thoroughly researched and vetted from multiple sources. Note that only the more significant upgrades have been included; minor tweaks to an existing frame or a ‘one-off’ destined for the Solaris stables does not qualify a ‘Mech for inclusion. They do not, in our opinion, ‘make the cut’.

    A word of caution before proceeding – some of the designs contained herein feature weapons systems which are still very much in the development stage. Principal among these are the Heavy Particle Projection Cannon and the Snub-nose PPC. The Houses are always hard at work inventing and perfecting such improved gunnery and it is only natural each should field-test its designs at the earliest opportunity. That said, Our Order does not expect either of the aforementioned weapons (or any similar prototype) to appear in full production numbers for at least another five years. Our best estimates project that such variants will debut with House Kurita first. But it is only a guess.

    Thanks be to Precentor Martial Victor Steiner-Davion, whose inspired leadership was responsible for the utter destruction of a Clan. It may be said that he is a ‘hero without worship' in his home realm; yet We who know all, know best what this man has done for Mankind. His name is enshrined forever; he is Legend. It humbles us that he has not only given his gracious permission for the issue of this edition of the Technical Readout, but personally attended to its final edit, donating precious personal time and energy despite the heavy load he bears.

    Finally, I wish to express a personal debt of gratitude towards Precentor Thule Martin, who came out of retirement to offer his inexhaustible professional knowledge of the Clan’s weapons systems, battlefield tactics, logistics capability and way of thinking. He has proven a priceless resource time and again. This edition of the Technical Readout would not have been possible without him.