IPS-N Humboldt

IPS-N's business model can be explained in a few short statements that follow logically from one another. In order to make as much of a profit as is theoretically possible, the highest amount of cargo must get from point A to point B as fast as possible. Once you have obtained a throughput ranging in the billions of kilotons per second, you start to feel the effects of even a 0.01% percent cargo loss. You therefore must devote a considerable sum to making sure that as many items that leave port manage to make the journey. In the current galactic environment, that means developing the best possible anti-pirate infantry weapons, escort ships, and mechanized chassis.

Of course, life is rarely ever that simple.

Any engagement with pirates, even if no items wind up stolen at the end of it, entails damage to cargo simply by virtue of a battle having occurred near it. Thus, the returns gained from a new anti-piracy countermeasure are bound to hit a plateau as the amount saved inevitably hits the ceiling as the amount lost from collateral damage. This will not do. There must always be more growth.

The above quandary, termed the "Lose/Lose Problem" in internal IPS-N memoranda, was listed as one of the corpro's top ten urgent problems of the Fifth Millennium, coinciding with a 2,000,000 manna contest among all IPS-N labs and subcontractors throughout the Orion Arm for designs that managed to address, in whole or in part, each of the problems in the list. Together with the Caliban, the Humboldt was created as part of that contest, going on to win the fist prize in the Lose/Lose division.

The innovation of the Humboldt was this: It deliberately minimized the amount of conventional weaponry it fielded to reduce the amount of shots fired and thus missed and hitting cargo by mistake. In order to achieve kills despite this, it uses a cocktail of chemical agents specifically designed to penetrate chassis and target the pilots thereof, leaving behind pristine battlefields sterilized and completely devoid of life.

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The IPS-N HUMBOLDT is not an official Lancer product; it is a third party work, and is not affiliated with Massif Press. The IPS-N HUMBOLDT is published via the Lancer Third Party License.

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