Technical Data
Model number: MCF-C260 Cyclone
Code name: Cyclone
Nickname: Cyke
Classification: mass production transformable combat frame
Manufacturer: UC Arms
Operator: CDF, MRV, PAX, UCP
First deployment: CY 99
Crew: 1 pilot in cockpit in chest
Height: 20 meters
Weight: 119 metric tons
Armor type: “1D” carbyne laminar armor
Powerplant: Two-series cold fusion reactor, max output 3754 KW
Propulsion: EM impellers: 1x 141,218 kg, 2x 70,609 kg; top speed 3803 kph; maneuvering impellers: 25, 180° turn time 0.68 seconds; legs: top ground speed 193 kph
Sensors: gravitic, radar, thermal, optical array; main camera mounted in head
Fixed armaments: Cyclonic cannon, x6 barrels rated at 3.3 MW each, chest-mounted; x2 plasma cannon, output rated at 2.0 MW, chest-mounted, detaches to form plasma sword, rated at 0.89 MW, hand-carried in use
Special equipment: ion field projector, transformation system
Pilot: Rawle Nyanzi, Kaiser Eckhart
Propulsion: EM impellers: 1x 141,218 kg, 2x 70,609 kg, 2x 25,676 kg; top speed 4626 kph; maneuvering impellers: 25
Fixed armaments: Cyclonic cannon, x6 barrels rated at 3.3 MW each, nose-mounted; x2 plasma cannon, output rated at 2.0 MW, mounted above and behind cockpit
As the Ynzu siege of Earth neared its fourth decade, UCP strategists realized that a long war of attrition favored the enemy. It was concluded that while the original mass-produced XSeeds had checked the alien threat, they were insufficient to defeat it.
ISBC had prototyped a Two-series XSeed in CY 95, but the UC military deemed the Eschaton-inspired design too difficult and cost-ineffective for mass production. Instead, they turned to arguably the most successful One-series unit, the MCF-122 Emancipator.
Great artists steal, which UC Arms essentially did by building their new combat frame on BEC’s trusty model. The new platform would be a transformable unit with CF and fighter modes, armed with powered-up versions of the Mance’s transforming plasma cannon/sword main weapons. The intermediary carbine configuration was discarded, but UCA engineers compensated with graviton lensing borrowed from the Ynzu. The resulting weapons not only boasted higher outputs than the Mance’s main armament, their gravitic effect weakened targets’ molecular bonds on impact, effectively reducing armor and structural integrity.
Yet these improvements failed to surmount the Emancipator’s tendency to punch below its weight. Assuming acquisition of ISBC’s Two-series reactor technology, UCA designed a new main weapon to compensate for their new model’s underwhelming damage potential.
By most metrics, they overcompensated. This time cribbing from the XCDS-00M0 Metatron, the UC armory combined six plasma emitters, each with comparable output to an XSeed Marine rifle and upgraded with gravitic lensing, into a single Gatling style rotary cannon. The whole proved greater than the sum of its parts, attaining a respectable fraction of Metatron-level destruction with reasonable power requirements. Dubbed the Cyclonic Gun for the orange-yellow plasma cone it produced, the terror weapon lent its name to the new design: the Cyclone.
The Cyclone’s devastating centerpiece replaced the standard sensor cone, making the new model lead with its nose. In CF mode, the Cyclonic Gun jutted from the unit’s chest, flanked by the pair of plasma cannons that could double as swords. While this configuration concentrated the Cyclone’s firepower on its forward arc, its high maneuverability and ability to rotate 360 degrees at the waist mitigated that drawback. The addition of a new, 30% stronger ion field bolstered the Cyclone’s defenses. And if a shot did make it through the field, its laminar carbyne armor and high structural toughness could take all but the heaviest direct hits.
Still in final trials when the Ynzu Siege lifted, the Cyclone seemed to face stiff competition from ISBC’s XCD-AK201 Angel King. But association with the disgraced Guardian Angels following the Battle of Earth cast the AK into disfavor. Though its generator was less powerful, the Cyclone won the bid to become the UCP’s official Two-series combat frame. In a twist of fate, the Cyke would excel as the UC military’s “XSeed killer,” responsible for wiping out entire CF inventories of rebellious ExSols. It became a favored tactic among Cyke commanders to line up teams of CFs so their cones of fire overlapped and deploy them as mobile artillery. As one might imagine, wayward colonies to which Cyclones were deployed soon fell back under the UCP’s sway.
Experience the Cyclone in action.
