Onager – Edward Scissor-hands 90 tonne cousin.BackgroundAfter the Jihad the Tourman of Clan Jade Falcon was in terrible shape. With the loss of the Homeworld’s production facilities many staples of the Clan were at risk of going extinct due to a lack of parts and replacements.
Whilst this was true of all the Clans in the Inner Sphere the Falcons were able to somewhat cushion the blow thanks to them turning inner sphere factories into fully functional Clan level ones in an imitation of the Ghost Bear’s and unlike the Wolves who suffered from the loss of their logistic tail far worse than the other invader Clans.
Central to this survival is the huge factories on Pandora and Sudeten both of which were upgrade to produce Clan level equipment. It seems though that the facilities on Pandora were chosen to produce second line standard Battlemech’s as well as vehicles whilst the Olivetti works on Sudeten produced Omni Mech’s and was the main Falcon factory in the Inner Sphere whilst the Pandora facility is definitely a support site.
Still despite this the Falcons used Red Devil’s facilities on Pandora to produce a new but definitely second line and Garrison Mech to replace their worn out Homeworld machines as well as older Inner Sphere machines they had been forced to use in the lean times following the loss of contact with the Homeworld’s and after the pounding of the Jihad.
DesignThe Onager is a meaty looking machine and uses both Endo-steel and Ferro-Fibrous armour in its construction yet it uses a rather simple to produce (and thus cheap) standard rated engine that is built on site on Pandora. A traditional biped design the Onager boasts a meaty 15 tonnes of protection and thanks to its standard engine this makes this machine irritatingly difficult to put down.
With 15 tonnes of Ferro-Fibrous plate strapped to the Endo-Steel skeleton the Onager has a thick hide. The legs can take a pair of gauss slugs and then a large laser hit, whilst each arm can resist a pair of gauss slugs before going internal. The left and right torso can withstand a heavy gauss rifle hit at close range whilst the chest can soak up a pair of AC-20 rounds. This is meaty protection and the standard engine means that disabling an Onager is more a test of endurance than anything.
Whilst only capable of a maximum speed of 54kph the designers chose to incorporate a full bank of Improved Jump Jets that allow this big machine to make 150 meter leaps which make it surprisingly agile for a machine its size although this comes at a staggering cost in weight as the Improved Jump Jets eat up a fearsome 20 tonnes of weight.
Due to its low speed the Onager is best at home in tight confines or built up terrain and its armament is built to reflect this. The Onager’s main punch comes from a HAG-30 that lives in the machines left arm that is fed by a (thankfully) generous 4 tonnes of ammo giving the Onager enough firepower to sandblast hostile tanks and Mech’s to shreds. The rest of the machine’s weaponry is a veritable smorgasbord of short to mid ranged weapons. Two medium pulse lasers and a pair of SRM-6’s fill out the main mid to short range punch whilst the Onager is more than capable of shredding infantry thanks to its Small Pulse laser and a pair of Micro-Pulse lasers.
It’s curious to think that whilst the Falcons abandoned Proto-Mech’s early on, they kept a firm grip on their weapons and we see micro pulse and ER Micro lasers appearing quite a few times on Jade Falcon machines. It could just be that these are stockpiles left over from the Proto-Mech programme but the Falcons could also be producing them, seeing merit in the weapons, if not the machines they were meant to be carried on.
One other feature on the Onager that stands out, although it’s not a weapon per-say but perhaps a sign of things to come is the Onager’s right hand. Most Mech’s hand actuators are basically quite humanoid and can be dextrous enough to safely pick people up and do moderately delicate work (as in move vehicles without crushing them etc). Not so the Onager. Instead of a usual hand there is a monstrous three pronged claw like assembly with its ‘fingers’ looking more like huge shears or scissor blades.
Possibly a psychological weapon, which would fit with the Mech’s Garrison setting which also works with the Falcon’s ‘stern’ stance on any civil revolt or troubles and the Onager’s infantry or angry crowd mulching firepower. The big claw is definitely designed to intimidate, and could be the start of the Falcon’s acceptance of melee weapons on their 3145 era Mech’s.
VariantsThe Onager has not been produced in many variants and I will talk about why I think this is so afterwards but the Onager II is seemingly built to support the standard machine and is more built to destroy hostile Mech’s rather than be a short ranged brawler.
Armed with the same HAG-30 and its four tonnes of ammo the Onager II sacrifices its improved jump jets with them downgraded to standard versions for 90 meter hops. The medium and small pulse lasers are also removed but the micro pulse lasers are retained as are the paired SRM-6’s. The weight saved is then put into a pair of large pulse lasers, one in the left and right torso. These are fearsome weapons, they hit hard, are long ranged and are fearsomely accurate they can punch holes that the HAG can then fill.
Most interestingly though is the addition of a Harjel II system in the Onager II’s chest and side torso locations to help seal breached armour. As this system at the time was very very new it could be that the Onager II was also serving as a test bed for the Falcons with an eye towards future deployment of the system.
FutureWhilst the Onager was a product of the 3085 era of rebuilding I am not sure the Onager has a future. It seems to have been used as the base chassis for the popular and successful Shrike (itself a standard Battlemech) that takes the bird like styling’s of the Onager even further. Whilst the Onager is still suited to Garrison duty I do not know if it is still being produced in the current period, indeed TRO 3145 talks about ‘surviving’ Onagers being upgraded to the Onager II, to me this indicates that the Onager simply isn’t produced any more.
ThoughtsI’m not sure if I’m a fan of the Onager or not, whilst its punch is good you have to be close to fully use it which takes away the usual Clan advantages of weapons range and really the HAG should be used to fill holes punched by something as its sand blasting nature means it lacks the knock down punch of a PPC or AC.
Still it is damn mobile for an assault, you don’t even need to run as it can jump as far as it can run and this is another problem for me. IJJ’s have their place, on light, medium and some heavy Mech’s, but on assaults I feel they are far far far too heavy for what you get, in this case 20 tonnes is lost and it’s not really 20 tonnes the Onager can afford to lose due to its rather heavy standard engine.
The Onager’s weapons work at odd ranges the HAG’s a good long range weapon whilst everything else is medium ranged weapons at best to point blank saturation where the main gun also works the best but its lack of a really solid punch also hurt it. Its ‘hole punchers’ come in the form of 7 point Medium Pulse laser hits and you’re going to have to hose a target with the HAG and hope for crits over smashing through the armour.
Tactically the Onager might be used to support other machines, with the Inner Sphere Clan’s loosening to near abandonment of Zell the Onager would make a good partner for a machine that has heavy hitting weapons to breach armour, the Onager can then fill those breaches with HAG cluster blasts.
Of the two machines I prefer the Onager II as it has a far heavier punch and has weapons that complement its sandblasting features whilst still retaining an anti-infantry punch. The combination of HAG and dual large pulse lasers make this machine far more formidable and means it has a punch at a respectable range that does not slowly flay armour off a foe.
[Video Log 195/E 3099 May 28th]
[Subject is Bandit/Pirate Thomas Arrec, aged 29, wearing standard captive fatigues, one eye bruised shut, jaw swollen due to him resisting capture by Elemental Huan from the cockpit of his mech.]“So we’d done a few raids, big whoop, I mean we was all struggling to make a living and to simply survive, so we raided the Turkey’s, we’d managed to make off with a dropship loaded with spares and a few tanks which was nice, no prisoners which was a shame but still a decent haul for a quick hit and run. It was our happy time but hell…all good things apparently must come to an end.”
“Seemed you had placed some new tracking devices on the stuff we’d pinched and followed us a few weeks later. We’d thought we was pretty darn safe until the Queen Anne’s Revenge was hit by some Aero’s, their bombs wrecking her engines, bastards just came outta nowhere and hit us hard and fast an’ an outpost reported seeing a dropships landing plume.”
“We stood too, two lances of Mech’s along with some tanks and dug in weapons and waited, we’d chosen our ground well, atop a plateau with only one way up that was suitable for anything bigger than infantry on foot.”
“Of course it was you Turkey’s I guess you was a bit more pissed off than we’d thought about us borrowing your stuff…”
“We didn’t expect so quick a reaction and we didn’t expect to see some big ass new Mech come jumping UP the side of the mesa. I’d not seen a machine that big jump that far before. And it wasn’t alone either. We’d put our Mech’s a few clicks away expecting an assault up the ramp so when these big buggers came for us we had everything out of position except our supply teams.”
By the time we’d managed to get something back to face these Mech’s it was all over, our fast movers were no match for the Turkey’s machines and still we charged in. I saw my boss, Kara’s Mech get torn apart by a pair of these big machines, those rotary cannons on their arms turning her Ostroc into a cripple before one rammed its fist through her machine’s chest..we tried to surrender damn it! Broadcasting on open channels even powering down but you wasn’t listening!
You butchered people I’d know, drunk with and joked with for years like…like animals going to the slaughter..my Panther was caught at close range as I tried to run but some SRM’s opened my back and killed by gyro. So now I’m your guest…whats it gonna be? More interrogation?
[Muffled off camera voice]“Oh…well..make it quick you Clan bastards otherwise I’m gonna get out of these bindings and…”
[Recording ends. The bandit was executed by firing squad 10 minutes after the recording was ended.]
As always thoughts and comments are most welcome!
