Author Topic: Battlemech of the Week- MAL- MALICE  (Read 17817 times)

Prince of Darkness

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Battlemech of the Week- MAL- MALICE
« on: 21 August 2014, 19:51:47 »


"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 FREEWAY

Finally, 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.   
Cowdragon:
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cavingjan

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Re: Battlemech of the Week- MAL- MALICE
« Reply #1 on: 21 August 2014, 20:15:37 »
Hogarth's mech of choice if he was still around. Looks big and scary. Not necessarily very scary (at least the 4 LB5X model.) It really does seem like a mech meant for intimidate even if it can't back it up.

UnLimiTeD

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Re: Battlemech of the Week- MAL- MALICE
« Reply #2 on: 21 August 2014, 20:32:14 »
Now this is an interesting article. Quirky take at a quirky machine.  O0
I actually like the idea of a heavy mech (in weight, not necessarily class) that uses weak, long ranged weapons to be a consistent annoyance that the opponent just can't bring himself to remove.
But these might actually be a bit expensive for the job.
Yeah, low BV, ok.
The YZ is...  well. "We gotta win the Prototype Competition! How can we impress the judges?"
"Buy the most expensive gear produced in the republic, and then armour it to protect the investment!"
"That sounds valid. No one's gonna look at it's actual capabilities."

Personally, I'd have preferred switching the Pods and one LAMS for the RHS, but then it's not symetrical anymore. *shrugs*
You gotta do what you gotta do.
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SteelRaven

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Re: Battlemech of the Week- MAL- MALICE
« Reply #3 on: 21 August 2014, 21:04:35 »
I was honestly surprised that the Malice wasn't closer to the Annihilator all things considering.

Right now all I can think is "Doesn't the Rifleman do it better?" ???

At least it looks the part of a scary assault mech O0
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Mattlov

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Re: Battlemech of the Week- MAL- MALICE
« Reply #4 on: 21 August 2014, 22:39:38 »
What a weird design.  The base model is ridiculous.  There is NO REASON to buy one from an in-universe perspective.  It isn't as tough, but you can do almost as much damage with a 3025 Banshee.  A 3E Banshee.

The other non-psycho designs still just aren't worth the cost.

The -YZ needs better firepower.  The idea is damn amusing, I am going to have to run around in one as an artillery spotter.  I'd shove some more heat sinks into the engine to upgrade the LPLs to ER PPCs.  At least make it head-capping scary.  Drop the ERs to get the tonnage for heat sinks.  Add either a targeting computer or a pack of ER Mediums.  And a TAG or two.

Fun article, weird 'Mech.
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Orin J.

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Re: Battlemech of the Week- MAL- MALICE
« Reply #5 on: 22 August 2014, 00:56:54 »
i know EXACTLY how you use this thing. it's a parade 'mech. i mean, seriously, you think the guy in the 124 million c-bill 'mech is going to get into a fight? come on!....

that said, it looks very impressive. looks.....
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Re: Battlemech of the Week- MAL- MALICE
« Reply #6 on: 22 August 2014, 01:02:30 »
i know EXACTLY how you use this thing. it's a parade 'mech. i mean, seriously, you think the guy in the 124 million c-bill 'mech is going to get into a fight? come on!....

that said, it looks very impressive. looks.....
I wonder how you could do a "Vasa" with it?  O:-)

SteelRaven

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Re: Battlemech of the Week- MAL- MALICE
« Reply #7 on: 22 August 2014, 01:16:11 »

Replace the LB-5Xs + ammo for ER-PPCs and more DHS or go nuts and make room for 4 Rotary AC/5s
« Last Edit: 22 August 2014, 02:21:12 by SteelRaven »
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Scotty

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Re: Battlemech of the Week- MAL- MALICE
« Reply #8 on: 22 August 2014, 02:08:40 »
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.

This confuses the hell out of me.  "Barely pump out more than 20 points on a good roll in close?"  Did you forget the ER Mediums on it when you said that, cuz this thing can put out 40 points at 12 hexes.  32 if you're getting average rolls on the -5Xs, and spread into sixteen clusters.  That's an average of a TAC every other salvo, more or less, in addition to PSRs.

Otherwise a fairly good article.
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Re: Battlemech of the Week- MAL- MALICE
« Reply #9 on: 22 August 2014, 04:30:50 »
Modular Armor doesn't get the benefit of Ferro-Lamour, and I think there's some sort of mounting restriction, you can only mount one module per location, but how does it cover both the front and rear of the torso?

drakensis

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Re: Battlemech of the Week- MAL- MALICE
« Reply #10 on: 22 August 2014, 06:05:03 »
Four LB 5-X is also pretty good for anti-vehicle work. Combined with the anti-air potential, the MAL-XT sounds like a bodyguard unit to me: stick one in a command lance or a fire support lance to ward off fast-movers.
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Re: Battlemech of the Week- MAL- MALICE
« Reply #11 on: 22 August 2014, 06:37:46 »
But if the Clan variant is just one big and super expensive artillery spotter, why does it only have a single TAG? AFAIK, there is no rule preventing a unit from having more than just one TAG. If there ever was an opportunity to design the first canon unit with more than one TAG, there it was...

Also, even if one can somehow come to an arragenment with the fact that outside of Clan Sea Fox and Snow Raven, the Republic is the only faction to come up with a single indigenous unit magically sporting Ferro-Lamellor armor, all really needed is just a single Gauss slug to the face to get rid of that thing, despite all that armor. Is it really worht it, I wonder?

Just for clarifcation, an armored engine does not mean I need to crit the engine once to get rid of the internal armor and afterwards it's just your regular (X)XL armor, but I have to hit the engine not 3/4 times, but in fact at least 6 times (if by some miracle I hit the exakt same crits again right after I have removed the internal armor from the crits in question)?
« Last Edit: 22 August 2014, 06:43:27 by Phobos »

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Re: Battlemech of the Week- MAL- MALICE
« Reply #12 on: 22 August 2014, 06:54:34 »
Its interesting design, but i don't think its worth cost to deploy, especially the YZ.   Its quirky, to throw a player given to it randomly a challenge because a perfect mech is boring. Its a challenge, it could make players be a better MechWarriors. The Malice can be a challenge which would require for someone to think on best way to use right and try keep the thing alive.

QUESTION:  How do you know this thing is in XTRO: Republic?  Oh, wait its TRO:3145 Republic of the Sphere! Nevermind...
« Last Edit: 22 August 2014, 09:50:41 by Wrangler »
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Re: Battlemech of the Week- MAL- MALICE
« Reply #13 on: 22 August 2014, 07:51:14 »
When I look at it I think this thing is a 100-ton BattleMech version of the Shildkrote tank. It's a semi-mobile pillbox designed to defend a position. It's like a kidney stone: Eventually you'll get rid of it, but there's going to be a lot of blood and pain involved before you do.

Now whether it makes economic sense to build this is a completely different question.
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Re: Battlemech of the Week- MAL- MALICE
« Reply #14 on: 22 August 2014, 10:17:47 »
I look at people's comments about the MAL-XT, and the only explanation I have is that most of the people in this thread have never moved to Total War and are still playing using BMR rules and Succession Wars attitudes. Either that, or they've decided that actually firing weapons is dishonorable or something. ???

The -XT is a murder machine, pure and simple. In the combined-arms battlefield that is everything since 3060 or so, it is a lethal threat to every unit on the map. It parks tanks from very far away, forcing them to plink at long range, or do nothing at all for the entire battle. It grinds down battle armor to the point that they're easy meat even for secondary guns, so they cannot close to the ranges they're effective at. Even without any burst-fire weapons, it can quickly cut an infantry platoon down to irrelevance, well outside even the increased ranges of most modern special platoons. VTOLs and WiGEs just die, plain and simple. Any aero pilot that flies over the same mapsheet as a Malice deserves eveything he's about to get. I will admit that it is weakest against 'mechs, but that changes the moment you put a skilled pilot in there. Close to medium or short range(and you're packing LB-5s, so that ain't exactly hard), and use called fire(TacOps, p78) to put all your pellets into the punch chart. It might take a few turns, but his pilot probably will run out of hit boxes long before your armor does.

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.

All 'mechs and combat vehicles are assumed to have a single ton of Communications Equipment onboard, per Tech Manual p. 212. You are correct that a C3 Master can monitor extra sensors, per TacOps, page 375. So the Malice can monitor one sensor on its own, but the Malice won't be monitoring any, unless we're talking about a double blind game and it's using them to keep tabs on otherwise hidden enemies. But in it's role as the Spotter from Hell That Will Never DIE, it's the other guys that will be monitoring those sensors. Y'know the ones loaded to the gills with artillery, LRMs, mortars, and whatnot. The Malice's job is to make sure they can see the enemy. Their job is to make the enemy regret life. >:D
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Re: Battlemech of the Week- MAL- MALICE
« Reply #15 on: 22 August 2014, 11:57:27 »
Yeah, I think I'm with Weirdo.... which worries me some, but I digress. :D The Malice isn't the best in your lance on lance pickup game, sure.  But in a large multi unit battle it's going to kill everything.  No really, EVERYTHING.  But mechs you say... it gives you 20 chances at TACs every round of fire.  20!
I hate TAC's, my least favorite rule in the game.  But somebody at CGL loves them, and designed the Malice.  And they work when you have 20 chances/turn.  Eventually your pilot does or something breaks. 

Oh and all that stuff about electronics and spotting/C3 gear too.

Fear the weird one!


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Scotty

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Re: Battlemech of the Week- MAL- MALICE
« Reply #16 on: 22 August 2014, 12:02:00 »
My biggest disappointment with the -XT is that we don't have a certain with Clan LB-5X and ERML that put the saved tonnage into CASE II and then use the extended Clan range to murder everything even harder.
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Re: Battlemech of the Week- MAL- MALICE
« Reply #17 on: 22 August 2014, 12:04:32 »
My biggest disappointment with the -XT is that we don't have a certain with Clan LB-5X and ERML that put the saved tonnage into CASE II and then use the extended Clan range to murder everything even harder.

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Re: Battlemech of the Week- MAL- MALICE
« Reply #18 on: 22 August 2014, 12:26:55 »
The YZ is even better using Alpha Strike rules.   Except for a base PV of 61...  8)

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Re: Battlemech of the Week- MAL- MALICE
« Reply #19 on: 22 August 2014, 12:48:54 »
But mechs you say... it gives you 20 chances at TACs every round of fire.  20!
I hate TAC's, my least favorite rule in the game.  But somebody at CGL loves them, and designed the Malice.  And they work when you have 20 chances/turn.  Eventually your pilot does or something breaks.

I'm not talking about TACs. I'm talking about pulping the pilot with head hits. TO-style called shots essentially switches your fire back to BMR-style partial cover rules...with all shots hitting on the punch chart. }:)
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Re: Battlemech of the Week- MAL- MALICE
« Reply #20 on: 22 August 2014, 13:03:03 »
I look at people's comments about the MAL-XT, and the only explanation I have is that most of the people in this thread have never moved to Total War and are still playing using BMR rules and Succession Wars attitudes. Either that, or they've decided that actually firing weapons is dishonorable or something. ???

The -XT is a murder machine, pure and simple. In the combined-arms battlefield that is everything since 3060 or so, it is a lethal threat to every unit on the map. It parks tanks from very far away, forcing them to plink at long range, or do nothing at all for the entire battle. It grinds down battle armor to the point that they're easy meat even for secondary guns, so they cannot close to the ranges they're effective at. Even without any burst-fire weapons, it can quickly cut an infantry platoon down to irrelevance, well outside even the increased ranges of most modern special platoons. VTOLs and WiGEs just die, plain and simple. Any aero pilot that flies over the same mapsheet as a Malice deserves eveything he's about to get. I will admit that it is weakest against 'mechs, but that changes the moment you put a skilled pilot in there. Close to medium or short range(and you're packing LB-5s, so that ain't exactly hard), and use called fire(TacOps, p78) to put all your pellets into the punch chart. It might take a few turns, but his pilot probably will run out of hit boxes long before your armor does.

All 'mechs and combat vehicles are assumed to have a single ton of Communications Equipment onboard, per Tech Manual p. 212. You are correct that a C3 Master can monitor extra sensors, per TacOps, page 375. So the Malice can monitor one sensor on its own, but the Malice won't be monitoring any, unless we're talking about a double blind game and it's using them to keep tabs on otherwise hidden enemies. But in it's role as the Spotter from Hell That Will Never DIE, it's the other guys that will be monitoring those sensors. Y'know the ones loaded to the gills with artillery, LRMs, mortars, and whatnot. The Malice's job is to make sure they can see the enemy. Their job is to make the enemy regret life. >:D

I might be my scientifically uninformed opinion, but I almost look at the YZ variant as the final word in "Come At Me Bro" mechs.  Park it some place like a major choke point and encourage all comers. The artillery and fire support do all the rest...
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Re: Battlemech of the Week- MAL- MALICE
« Reply #21 on: 22 August 2014, 13:42:47 »
Yeah, I think I'm with Weirdo.... which worries me some, but I digress. :D The Malice isn't the best in your lance on lance pickup game, sure.  But in a large multi unit battle it's going to kill everything.  No really, EVERYTHING.  But mechs you say... it gives you 20 chances at TACs every round of fire.  20!
I hate TAC's, my least favorite rule in the game.  But somebody at CGL loves them, and designed the Malice.  And they work when you have 20 chances/turn.  Eventually your pilot does or something breaks. 

Oh and all that stuff about electronics and spotting/C3 gear too.

Fear the weird one!

Yeah with Weirdo on this one, it is a little disturbing. 

Would have really loved to see a clan tech LB-X version and the YZ is really the ultimate screw you design. It can spot for the rest of it's lance or company and you are not going to put it down very quickly.

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Re: Battlemech of the Week- MAL- MALICE
« Reply #22 on: 22 August 2014, 15:04:30 »
But somebody at CGL loves them, and designed the Malice. 
Bear in mind the stats of the -XT and -XP both come from WizKids so blame/thank them for that.  ;D

Continuing with Weirdo's train of thought, the Malice is by no means exclusive to the RAF but remember that once you get toward the heavy and assault end of their more common 'Mechs big hole punchers are quite common. 'Mechs equipped to exploit those freshly minted holes less so. Especially out to the ranges the -XT and -XP can reach. Stick one in a lance with a Doloire, Lament, and a Peacekeeper. Let the good times role and the crits abound!

Alex mentioned the AS stats for the -YZ, the -XV is no slouch in that arena either.  8)

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Re: Battlemech of the Week- MAL- MALICE
« Reply #23 on: 22 August 2014, 19:39:39 »
Given the mech is a posterchild, how come no one ever slapped SB-Gauss on it? All for the Symetry?
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Re: Battlemech of the Week- MAL- MALICE
« Reply #24 on: 22 August 2014, 19:59:11 »
Given the mech is a posterchild, how come no one ever slapped SB-Gauss on it? All for the Symetry?

I'd like see that.  SB Gauss Rifles aren't as wide spread as other weapon I think in aftermath of the Jihad's tech innovation boost everyone got.   After what everyone has said about the Malice, I hadn't thought of the potential in really a Combined Arms universe that Dark Age is.  This thing's quad of LB-X 5s will properly bring a lot vehicles to a screeching halt if enough bee bees smack into it.  anti-vehicle Mech wasn't something I considered.  I guess I play too much old school Battletech, but I think that's good role for something may end up facing combat vehicles/tanks  that are in some cases bettered armed than Mechs they face.
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Re: Battlemech of the Week- MAL- MALICE
« Reply #25 on: 22 August 2014, 20:16:18 »
so the YZ has 28 tons of weaponry, if i did the math right?


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Re: Battlemech of the Week- MAL- MALICE
« Reply #26 on: 22 August 2014, 20:22:40 »
I'm not talking about TACs. I'm talking about pulping the pilot with head hits. TO-style called shots essentially switches your fire back to BMR-style partial cover rules...with all shots hitting on the punch chart. }:)

Wait you can do wha... holy crap that's nasty!

I'm more of a club them via Hellstar than do something that creatively evil kind of guy.  I like the idea on a great big over armored monster.  Though I agree CASE and clan range on the LBs would be horrifying.


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Re: Battlemech of the Week- MAL- MALICE
« Reply #27 on: 22 August 2014, 20:24:21 »
I'm all for specialist anti-armor, anti-infantry, or anti-air mechs, but wasting enough BV for a 100-ton mech or enough C-bills for a super-expensive 400XL engine on such a specialist unit is rather nutty.  It's even more nutty when the combination of 400XL and no CASE turns that unit into a well-armored tinderbox.  No thanks, I'll take a company of Partisan tanks over one Malice -XT or -XP. 

I'm all for specialist close-combat mechs, but they have to be able to maneuver in close-terrain and position themselves well in the inevitable knife-fights that result.  Succession Wars-standard 4/6/0 movement doesn't cut it.  No thanks, I'll take a lance of Wolverine -Ks or -Ms over one Malice -XV.

I'm all for specialist artillery and fire support spotting units, but they have to be able to get to the enemy before my artillery and fire support units do, and they have to cost less than all my artillery and fire support units combined.  No matter how well-armored, 4/5/0 movement and 125 million C-bills for one spotter is ridiculous.  It's even more ridiculous when so much Clantech gets wasted on one spotter.  No thanks, I'll take a company of Ostscouts over one Malice -YZ.

I also have to say that the Malice continues the trend of grossly undergunned RAF assault mechs like the superheavy tripods and Atlas III.  A couple Clan-grade ER PPCs on the occasional Poseidon or Ares will only get RAF assault operations so far when the bulk of their ranged firepower consists of RAC/2s, LRM-5s, and LB 5-X ACs.

It's too bad that so many baseline Dark Age mech variants and configurations are so constrained by poor clickytech design.  But the Malice compounded and worsened the problem with the new -XV and -YZ variants.  Here's hoping that saner designs that we want to field fill precious TRO and RS pagecounts after the Dark Age.

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Re: Battlemech of the Week- MAL- MALICE
« Reply #28 on: 22 August 2014, 22:48:46 »
I'm all for specialist anti-armor, anti-infantry, or anti-air mechs, but wasting enough BV for a 100-ton mech

I thought the article made it fairly clear that you're not spending as much BV as a normal 100 ton 'Mech.  Hell, 1850 (roughly) BV makes you peers with a ****** Enforcer III, and actually less than some Clan light 'Mechs.

It's a flat-out steal for the armor and anti-everything it brings to the table.
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Re: Battlemech of the Week- MAL- MALICE
« Reply #29 on: 22 August 2014, 23:19:37 »
I have to agree with Wierdo ---
I HAVE used the Malice ..... and it eats Savannah Masters like the potato chips that they are......... Using it on other units is just as good. I have used it against just about everything on the field, and it's pretty much a roving war crime in progress...... by the end of one battle, I had more pilot deaths, vehicle crew kills, and dead battle armor, that I could attribute to this mech, than I have ever seen on any other battlefield. And that battle was against WOB ----- think about it, a mech that could be considered a walking war crime against the Word of Blake.

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