Crab (50t)
		Model by Primus BuS
	The Crab was designed as a medium-weight raider and stay-behind fighter. First built in 2719, fewer than 1,000 of these 'Mechs were delivered before the outbreak of the Succession Wars. The Crab received favorable initial reports, but experts saw the 'Mech's inability to jump as a limitation on its usefulness as a raider. When first delivered to the field, the Crab contained little new technology. Except for the targeting system and the communications equipment, every major component on the Crab was first tested and proven on another 'Mech design. Technicians dream of assignment to a Crab, because it requires less than half the maintenance time of other 'Mechs in its class. In fact, the slang term "Crab walk" is synonymous with easy duty. Most pilots consider the Crab's armor protection acceptable, though the replacement of its composite armor with the homogenous steel now used has reduced the Crab's survivability somewhat. Its arms and legs are well protected, and even its weakest points can withstand a direct PPC blast without a breach. The Crab possesses good speed overall and can survive for weeks without resupply. All of its weapons are energy-based, which makes the Crab run slightly hotter than other 'Mechs of its weight class. The Crab might well have become the standard medium 'Mech of the Star League Defense Forces, had events not forced General Kerensky and his loyalists to leave the Inner Sphere.