The Cronus was a product of the War of Usurper that 

took place in the second half of the 28th century.  As the 

loyalist forces of the Star League began to retake the core 

worlds of the Terran Hegemony, the renegade First 

Lord Stefan Amaris ordered the development of a new 

series of mechs to defend the Hegemony.  The Cronus 

was amoung the most successful of these designs, able to 

engage the enemy effectivly both at long and short range, 

and carrying enough armor and ammo to last through 

even the longest engagement.  It's lack of heat problems 

also made it very popular with it's pilots.  It's slow speed 

and lack of energy weapons was not considered an issue 

the design was primarly intended to serve as a defensive 

one, operating near supply nodes.  However, when given 

proper logistical support the design was very powerful on 

the offense as well.  



However successful the Cronus design was, it wasn't 

enough to prevent Kerensky's loyalist from defeating 

Amaris.  In the Succession Wars that followed the Cronus 

continued to be produced in small numbers by several 

manufacturers.  The design's very high rate of survivability 

and the production of replacements and spare parts 

served to keep it present on the battllefield while most 

designs of it's era dissapeared.  HardfordCo was 

responsiable for most of the new production Cronus, and 

HartfordCo's own plants are usually guarded by a few 

hired pilots in Cronus mechs.