"The Malice appears in both of the Galatean Defense Force regiments,
as well as most of the mercenary units of any quality that operate off of Galatea."
That's a laugh! Ha ha ha!
Hey chicks and... dudes, P-O-Double-D here to bring you more odd mech of the week articles for your viewing pleasure. This one is a bit of a special case- I went really in-depth, because I had no other jobs to do and could really focus on it.
Yep, none. No other assignments. No-
Oh. Right.
Anywany, this article is for one thing- to peel apart the MAL-YZ, described as a "mixed-technology moving massacre" by the Republic TRO for 3145. The 'mech is such a big deal to me- many saw it as Catalyst throwing off the kid's gloves and making a truely destructive mixed-tech machine. End-all-to-be-all, as it were. In fact, I totally want to ignore all the other variants of the Malice just to get to it faster! But sadly, this is Mech of the Week, and thus I gotta walk through each varaint of this biggun.
With a name like "Malice" I expected much more. Much, much more.
We start with the base design, the MAL-XT. The -XT at first glance uses almost the same structure as the Lyran Berserker, with a dynamic endo steel chassis supporting a massive LTV 400XL. Unless you cannot into math, that means the Malice runs 4/6- a pretty good clip for an assault 'mech of this size, but one that takes up a fair bit of weight and space and makes it much more specialized. This makes the gyroscope a 4-ton chunk of course, and the whole 'mech is protected heavily by the maximum tonnage of standard armor the rules allow at 19.5 tons of Durallex Heavy.
The armor placement is also worth mentioning. The central torso can take two AC/20 hits and still have enough left over for a single SRM, but the rear is armored up to 20 total points- impressive, as I don't think I've seen that much an a 'mech with standard plate. Even the side torsoes can take a beating, as the front can take a couple of gauss hits with the rear armored up to a full 12. The limbs are maxed out too-arms at 34 making for some good shields, and the legs equal the CT at 42 points. Altogether the Malice is heavily armored and impressively fast- if the weapons were well-chosen for the 'mech are a fast attack role it would undoubtedly be a good mainstray.
But instead we get 4 LB 5-X autocannons.
Yeah, read it again. 4 of them. Sure, they are arguably the best anti-air weapons around in the inner sphere and they have good range, but these are on a 100 ton assault 'mech. It doesn't get much better from there, with 4 ER Medium lasers paired up with each gun. 12 DHS make it so the 'mech can alpha with only movement heat to worry about. To be blunt, a 100 ton assault 'mech that can barely force a PSR at 12 hexes is awful- but don't worry! It gets worse!
The MAL-XT has no CASE. With 4 tons of ammo (2 in each side torso) the Malice is awfully succeptable to critical hits and will do far worse then just leaving an unsalvageable hulk behind. I know that the blame of how bad the variant is can be laid at Wizkid's feet, but
****** it's bad. Even 'mechs from 3050 learned how useful the stuff is and the Malice should have not been given an exception.
So what's good about the MAL-XT? Well, with so little firepower and so much ammo lacking CASE, the BV of the -XT is stupidly low for an assault 'mech. 1852 BV is easily met by machines half it's size- so if you really wanted an assault 'mech
that bad the Malice should be easily doable.
Another positive it's it's damage- or rather, it's lack of it. Since it can barely pump out more than 20 points on a good roll in close, the Malice is guaranteed to be ignored, something I never thought I'd say about a 100-tonner in my lifetime. Because of that, if you were running a Malice I'd likely load up nothing but cluster shot and go critseeking, looking for the odd oppertunity where you can kick someone in the kneecaps. CASE or no, the Malice still is a brick of armor and most opponents would be loathe to give that much attention to it.
The next varaint, the MAL-XP, tries to improve the 'mech though clantech but actually makes it more of a deathtrap. While it is still cheap for BV at 2011, the -XP simply trades all it's guns for their clan variants- 2 clan ER mediums in the torsoes with the LB 5s, and twin clan LB 10-X in the arms replacing the origional guns. Each gun is allotted 20 rounds apiece, bringing the total ammo load up to 6 tons of unprotected explosives. This is one of the rare moments where clan tech arguably made something worse- any crit on the left or right torsoes has a 1/4 chance of setting the whole 'mech into a fireball and no matter how improved the damage is, it's just not worth it. Otherwise, nothing has been changed for armor, so it's still a big ole' chunk.
The MAL-XV is another mixedtech machine that uses some clan guns, but really gains marks for how... interesting, it is. Again using the same chassis, the MAL-XV adds 5 more DHS bringing to the total to 17 to cool off it's plentiful guns- 4 LAC/5s, and 4 improved heavy medium lasers of indeterminant origion. Actually able to reliably force a PSR (once in range of course) the -XV really trades range for damage but it's arguable if it's worth it. However, the addition of a C3 slave module in the head means the -XV is one mean bodyguard and it's 8 tons of munitions means it can use a variety of ammos and types to achieve it's goals. Thankfully, this design rubbed two brain cells together and added CASE II- a nessessary thing, as this mech has no less than 12 different things that can explode horribly. If you use one akin to a shootist or a hunchback it'll serve you well, though battle armor might pose a bit of an issue.
Finally, we get to the Malice -YZ, the described mixed-tech moving massacare. The 125 million C-bill (er, what used to be c-bill) monster undoubtedly hand-built on Eris, the Malice -YZ is undoubtedly one of the most impressive examples of TRO: 3145, both by the sheer laundry list of components and parts added to it. No doubt- I plugged this thing's guns into SSW and the program gave me a frowny face.
I really don't know where to start- the 'mech honestly needs it's own article, because absolutely everything about it is different from the base design. For starters, nearly every piece of equipment is clan tech. The only things that are sphere-made is the Angel ECM, the C3 slave and the compact gyroscope- and even the angel system doesn't have the "IS" tag in front of it. This really raises a good question of what clan production the republic worlds are capable of- the Dolorie showed that many clan weapons and technologies are home-built in Stone's worlds, but us fans have never been pivy to any production lists or known exchanges. What we DO know, is that Eris (where the -YZ is built) is now in the fortress- so when the fortress walls fall, lord knows how many of these wallet-stompers will come walking out.
Anyway, to make a -YZ, you first have to start with a clan-built endo steel chassis and then slap 21.5 tons of Ferro-lamellor armor over the thing with the arms built up to 32, 41 for the legs, 30 on each torso and 42 centerline with the same 12/20/12 mix on the rear. Note the clan structure gives you CASE in all locations. Now go to the bar and get blasted, the whole way thinking of cooler ideas while you smoke things not
quuittee legal yet.
"Dude... what if we, like, we put armor,
ONNN our armor?"
Woah. Minds blown. Like, the walls are brain matter grey now.
Every section sans head has a single ton of modular armor, which provides 10 extra points of standard towards the first attacks that hit it. Coupled with the 21.5 tons of Ferro-Lamellor and it's ability to absorb 20% of all damage that strikes the machine, the Malice -YZ essentially has 400+ points of armor- without resorting to Hardened! Though it is questionable if the 'mech would have a gain from switching (all points of modular armor must be removed/destroyed before the 'mech can move at normal speed) the Malice -YZ is one of the best armored 'mechs in the entire game and can take an absurd amount of punishment, coupled with this is the armored components- but they require their own paragraph.
See, the Malice -YZ doesn't just have armored hips and gyro- that's standard stuff, and the Republic's gotta do what it takes to win back their rightful worlds. So realizing that they had such a great time at the bar again, the engineers decided to completely armor the engine- 7.0 tons worth, bringing the engine used to just under the weight of a 400XL at 24.5 tons. In case you haven't read the armoring rules (and think it's wierd to use 7 tons to defend "one crit" as some think) armoring a location doesn't protect the whole part- but rather, the slot its in. In other words, if you were shooting for crits on a mech with an armored engine and hit the first crit location, you'd have to hit that exact spot a
second time to get that crit! It's a really neat idea and brings up a lot of neat concepts- already, an armored light 300 only weighs 0.5 tons more than a basic standard, and an armored 300 standard would weigh 25 tons versus 27.5 for a compact. Of course the law of diminishing returns applies, but it's a novel idea that really sets the Malice -YZ apart from other 'mechs- aside from the Clan-grade 400 XXL engine that powers it.
Heh, bet you wondered why it cost 124 million, huh? The whole darn thing is one armored sun-in-a-can, and without the modular armor would push the 'mech to the same speeds as it's forebears. I can't begin to think of the implications of this- Eris, where this is made, is in the fortress so it has to be a in-house built engine!
Electronics are also a big, big deal here. The Malice -YZ pulls no punches about using the much-superior combination of standard C3 slave and Angel ECM over the proliferation of boosted C3, but my assumption hinges on the fact that I can't remember if boosted requires LOS like it's parent does after recent errata. Either way, it ensures that the link can never be severed unless someone had two Angel-toting 'mechs on the field. The Angel also protects other systems too- the Malice -YZ also carries a pair of remote sensor dispensers and a single TAG spotting laser in the head. While the TAG has obvious purposes, the remote sensors are the head-scratcher here,as unless C3 slaves are considered a ton of communications equipment, the Malice -YZ can't observe it's own placed sensors. I would think that the Master carrier can, but I have never found any rules for it.
Ths all-told is a wierd combination that I had to think about for a bit- an assault at 3/5 with Angel ECM, that can't monitor it's own sensors and TAG? What's the point? It can't move the site quick enough to not be hit by stray fire, and it's gonna take some time before it get's there. But then I thought about those crazy drunken 'mech designers and realized I was going about this backwards. "What was so stupid it had to make sense?" I asked myself.
TAG. Remote sensors. Could only have more armor by using hardened. The Malice -YZ is an artillery spotter-
by being where the artillery is supposed to hit, or absorbing the stray shot. THIS MECH IS GETTING ONTO THE KENNY LOGGINS FREEWAYFinally, after all this the Malice -YZ has some 24 tons for guns, which for a 'mech of this size and speed is similar to the old Scylla after it blew 8 tons of them on jump jets. And it does wierd things. For starters its all lasers, which is good. For bad, it has 12 DHS. I'll just throw it out here-
2 Large pulse lasers, mounted in the arms with no shoulder/upper arm actuator
2 ER Large lasers, in each side torso
2 Laser AMS systems in each arm
2 coolant pods in each torso
The Malice -YZ has TERRIBLE heat troubles, and it's engine making 2 heat just by standing doesn't make it any better. While I can argue that a player would likely be using the LPLs far more than anything else (dat arm flip), the addition of the Laser AMS really poses a challenge to using the 'mech as they're rarely a good time to use them- namely, when the Malice is putting out only one 10 point shot, which at that point I'd rather take it's MAL-XT brother and it's walking anti-air battery. Heck, even when standing still the Malice -YZ can't fire both ER Larges without building 2 heat, and while I get this thing is a massive artillery spotter it's running into the same "ignore" problems as it's faster brothers. It's sole saving grace are the coolant pods, which allow the DHS in the 'mech to dissipate another 50% when activated- but they are one-shot, and the -YZ only has two of them. Like many other 'mechs before it, the Malice-YZ would have benefitted greatly from the use of the RHS over the coolant pods, allowing it to consistently dissipate 36 heat when things get dicey.
Otherwise, whats my impression of the Malice -YZ? Honestly, I think it tries too hard. The use of an XXL engine makes it roasty as-is and the use of laser weapons makes it harder to control- having to choose between half your laser weapons is no bueno, expecially when your average damage output can barely force a PSR. The problem is, I don't know what I would do with the -YZ to make it better- I would have to keep the LPLs where they are for obvious reasons, but I don't know what I'd do with the ER larges. The range is great and it needs them for the speed, but the 'mech itself just can't take the heat. I'd probably drop them for a single LRM- the cool symmetry would be gone, but a single clan LRM 15 with artemis and a couple tons of CASE II'd ammo would likely see more use than the twin lasers. I'd also find some way to get a ton to replace the twin coolant pods for an RHS- the
badical heat system is awesome since it allows a 'mech to push it's heat like a MASC, and I doubt the attached "difficult to repair" quirk wouldn't affect a clan XXL engine'd mech much.
Another idea is to build up that crazy spotting ability- drop all the lasers, get the spare space for a supercharger and MASC, give it an assload of medium pulse lasers and B-pods and just sent it wading into the enemy, letting artillery do it's work for it. Stupid? Yeah. Awesome? Ohhhhhhh yeah.
How do you use one? Well, it's hard to say- it really boils down to how much artillery you have (if you have a Duat the answer is "yes") and how much it want it to shoot. The combination of C3 slave and angel ECM makes it a potent pointman if the Malice can cross the distance, but when it gets in the best it can hope for is a few good kicks. Worse is if a lot of missiles are headed your way- Laser AMS can generate plenty in a short period and a missile-heavy opponent might force the Malice down to firing a single LPL a turn.
I guess the best way to think of it is the biggest annoyance possible- throw it at your enemy that needs some arrow IV loving that you know doesn't want to devote much firepower to it and watch the frustration mount. The trick is similar to all other Malice-es (Malices? Malci?)- make it seem too small of a threat for your enemy to want to devote the time to removing it. Funny enough, because of the speed decrease from the modular armor it makes them a poor choice for the 'mech and it's role, but that's neither here nor there.
The Malice and all it's variants can be found in TRO: 3145 or Republic XTRO: 3145, depending on what you bought if you want to try it out. Personally, I'd rather take something with actual bite.