Gee, I really hope my SRMs don't blow up against my 'Mech's arms or legs...
I think there might be some problems with the Jade Falcon scientists. Yes, I know, there's *
always* been a problem with those scientists, but things seem to have recently taken a turn for the worse. I mean, we have designs called the Nacon, Skadi, Skanda, and Gurzil being produced. Let's take a look at those names for a second:
Nacon: Urban Dictionary tells me that it's "the process of a beautiful woman bringing you bacon while she is naked", and everyone knows Urban Dictionary is never wrong.
Skadi: Norse goddess of Skiing. Alrighty then.
Skanda: Hindu god of war, with his name meaning "That which is spilled or oozed". That's...creepy.
Gurzil: Google images spat out this image:
Please note that the image was...taken? Made?...on April 21st, 2956, which proves that the Jade Falcons sent an advanced scouting party to the lost Canopian worlds and became enamored with mermen.
~ ~ ~
So right away we can see that the Jade Falcon Scientist caste has certain issues. But then you have to remember how each of those designs looks like it was taken straight from a kid's toy box. Oversized wheels, impractical spoilers, lego-like looks...the list goes on. And from this, I've reached the undeniable conclusion that most of the Falcon scientists are, in fact, 10 year-olds.
This conclusion clears certain things up for me, such as "Why would the
Jade Falcons name one of their Totem 'Mechs the
Jade Hawk?" I can just imagine their discussion...
-Scientist A: Now that we've given this new 'Mech these *
sick*
(and not totally impractical) new missile launchers, we can finally think up a kickass name for it!!
-Scientist B: Why not the...JADE FALCON?! JADDDDDE FAAAALCONNNNN!!!
-Scientist A: JAAAADE FALCOOOOOOOOON!!!!
-Technician A: Now wait a se--
-Scientists A+B: JAAAADDDEEEE FAAAALCOOOONNNNN!!!!!
JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADE FAAAAAAAAAAAA---
Right. Anyway. It would explain why Malvina would want the technician caste to develop this machine. Still, someone somewhere decided that Jade Hawk would be a better name. 'Cause come on, a bird is a bird. All things considered though...Hawks use their talons to kill their prey, while falcons use their beaks. So it *sort of* makes sense, I'll give 'em that.
Enough about that, now for the actual design. As I'm sure many of you know, a Clan technician eventually got sick of the whole shebang (probably had one of those migraines...) and ran off with the Jade Hawk plans. The Sea Foxes, ever browsing the "free" section of
www.space-craigslist.innersphere, snatched up the technician and his plans before handing them over to Dynamic Ordnance and Ammunition Corp to be built.
DOA, although apparently independent, could be heavily reliant on Sea Fox shipping. The Partial Wing is directly supplied by the Foxes, and the Starfire 375 XL and Series 1g ER Small Lasers are also respectively found in the Mad Cat and Sphinx BattleMechs. Seeing how the Mk. 22 Type III SRM launchers can be found in the Sekhmet Assault Vehicle, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the Foxes are dumping military surplus taken after the Nova Cats were crushed by the Combine. Then some other essential components (such as the armor and jump jets) are most likely imported from FWL companies, which could be facilitated by the Clan Protectorate acting as an intermediary. The final bits (the Comm and Targeting systems) are probably built right next to Galatea, and should be easy to keep in good supply. The design itself is apparently very popular amongst mercenaries...but the standard variant is terribly mercenary unfriendly. It's a brawling design, with fragile components that are hard to replace and very ammo-hungry weapons. It can pack one heck of a whallop, though.
~ ~ ~
The first design, the
JHK-03, is a bizarrity at first glance. With 4 ER Smalls, 4 SRM 6s (with 2[?!] tons of ammo) and two Claws, the longest it can reach out is 9 hexes. Yikes. Its decent speed, combined with the supercharger and TSM, means that it can close relatively reliably if used intelligently, and the 3 jump jets (boosted to a 120 meter jumping distance by the partial wing) means that it'll be able to navigate through rougher terrain. Quite sturdy, the armor is laid out in a 34/22/22 (center torso, side torsos, arms) pattern with 29 points in the legs and 11/8 in the rear. A Clan XL is protected by the armor. While OK, I think I would have liked more points in the legs considering how often it'll be brawling. 12 double heat sinks (combined with the partial wing) allow it to dissipate all of its heat on a full jumping alpha. More on that later.
The
JHK-04 fire support model is a completely different machine. First off, it's tougher: it has a heavy duty gyro and the maximum amount of armor possible without wasting points, adding 2 points to each side torso and arm, and 3 points to each leg. One point is removed from the center rear torso, a smart move as this variant won't be in the middle of things nearly as often. One ER Small is dropped and another is moved to the center torso, while the SRMs, Jump Jets, Partial Wing and two heat sinks are dropped for twin Streak LRM/15 Launchers with 3 tons of ammo. The Claws remain, and act as one heck of a deterrent, dealing 11 points of damage a pop. I can see Mercs liking this model; it has fire endurance, good toughness and decent flexibility. The Ferro-Fibrous armor is a bit of a downside, though, along with the ton of ammo in the center torso (eep!!).
When the Falcons finally got their act together they pumped out their own
Jade Hawk (Standard). Similar to the JHK-03, it boosts the jump range out the 6 hexes, while giving it the same tonnage of armor as the legendary Timber Wolf, albeit with a touch less protection in the front and a touch more on the back. The SRMs are upgraded to Streak models (with 4 tons of ammo this time), and a Light Active Probe is added. The Heat Sinks are swapped out for the Laser-Lightshow versions, with yet another one added to ensure that the machine is fully heat neutral yet again. It truly is a successor to the Flamberge; weapons only able to reach out to 12 hexes, very decent jump capabilities, some ammo in the arms and a tough shell to crack.
The
Jade Hawk 2 seems to take a page from the JHK-04, dropping all of the Jump Jets, the Supercharger and the Partial Wing. The Streaks are replaced with ATMs of the same size, but unfortunately the ton of ammo per gun stays the same as well. An ER Small is dropped and another moved to the CT once again, but this time two ER Large Lasers are added onto the arms instead of the Claws. 15 laser heat sinks don't give it full heat dissipation, but they certainly make things manageable.
The last variant, the
Jade Hawk 3, combines features from both the Standard and the 2. This time the Jump Jets are retained and combined with the ATM/6s, but the ER Large Lasers are dropped down to Medium Pulses. A smidgeon of armor is dropped with the swap from Ferro-Fibrous to Standard armor (which is strange, since it has the crits for Ferro), and the number of laser heat sinks are dropped down to 12; this doesn't cause many issues since the heat burden is greatly reduced.
~ ~ ~
So, how do you use them? Depends on which model you get. For the JHK-03 and Standard, you point them at the enemy, charge forward, and try to wreck as much face as possible. The Standard works well as part of a team with more lightly-armored Summoners and Hellbringers, while some slow, big-gunned bruisers and fire-support machines are the JHK-03's friend. You have very little ammo endurance, so pick your targets wisely. You're there to distract, disrupt, and destroy. The limited ammo can be a bit of a boon - with 7 1/2 turns of full effectiveness (double that for the Standard), chances are any ammo bin hits will not completely destroy your machine and you can back off once your job is done.
The JHK-04 and 2 are great all-arounders, capable of fighting at any range. Use them depending on your own playstyle, but don't forget that you no longer have any Jump Jets. For the 2, I'd suggest packing one ton of ER ammo, one of Standard, and two of HE. Wear the enemy down, then move in for the kill. While the -04 has very good ammo endurance, the 2 only has a total of 10 shots per gun. Don't shoot in the wind.
The 3 is another brawler, straight up. It doesn't have much ranged damage output besides what the ATM can push out, so I'd suggest going all-in and packing on as much HE ammo as you can, with *maybe* a ton of Standard. Make things regret ever getting near you.
Addendum: The JHK-03 and TSM
Right. I said I'd write more on this later, so here it is. The JHK-03 is a bit of an oddity, since it has full heat dissipation (after actually adding additional heat sinks) on a TSM'd 'Mech. It's very usable, though, once you get the hang of it. Some intelligent tactics would be to:
-Only use 7 DHS. Run and fire everything, and you're at +9 heat.
7(17) -> 2 (run) + 8 (er small) + 16 (srms) = 26 heat
-Next turn, you can run and fire your SRMs for +10, or walk for a +9 again. Or you can jump, but you need to plan ahead.
7(17) -> 1/2 (walk/run) + 9 (heat) + 16 (srms) = 26/27 heat
8(19) -> 3 (jump) + 9 (heat) + 16 (srms) = 28 heat
-If you plan on running nonstop you can turn on another heat sink every other turn. You'll be alternating between +9/+10 heat. You should run out of SRMs before you max out your heat sinks.
8(19) -> 2 (run) + 10 (heat) + 16 (srms) = 28 heat
-If you aren't planning on using the claws (lets say kicking turns you on) things change a bit. After the first turn of only having 7 double heat sinks, you want to immediately jump back up to the full 12. Jumping takes the most advantage of the heatsinks you have running in this scenario.
12(27) -> 3 (jump) + 9 (heat) + 8 (er smalls) + 16 (srms) = 36 heat
Why use the TSM? Well, it's what makes the machine a near-unique (and huge) threat. TSM'd claws on a 75-ton machine deal a total of 22 points of damage, per claw. Let me repeat that:
22 damage per claw. Get into punching range, and you'll make your own holes for those SRMs. 22 points of damage is enough to completely wreck the armor on the arms and side torsos for most designs 75-tons and lighter, and that's ignoring the massive overkill that'd happen with a head hit. Any following SRM spread is nearly guaranteed to go internal and crit something. With a single claw strike forcing a PSR (and two making it even harder, if using TacOps rules) you stand a chance of knocking your foe to the ground, which makes 'Mechs using Hardened Armor, Torso-Mounted Cockpits or Small Cockpits very attractive prey.
How do you deal with it? For the -03, Standard and 3, play keep away. Try to abuse initiative to stay far from the massive Claws/Streaks/ATMs or to force it into uncomfortable positions. As usual, heat-causing weaponry is an annoyance for the -03, but won't cripple it. Its extra heat sinks (if functional) give it some flexibility here. The -04 and 2 are a bit harder to deal with. Hope for that CT crit on thet -04, or get into its rear arc. Don't hug it, though!! Those Claws, even without the TSM, are still dangerous!!
Links
You can find the Jade Hawk on IWM here:
http://ironwindmetals.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4116Although I can't find any painted versions of this model on CamoSpecs, you can find examples of the beautiful DFA version on here:
http://camospecs.com/MiniList.asp?Action=Detail&ID=1163The ever-useful Master Unit List provides introduction dates and availabilities here:
http://masterunitlist.info/Unit/Details/6564/jade-hawk-jhk-03
