CrusaderThe Crusader has been a rock solid fixture in the Inner Sphere since its introduction for SLDF Regiments way back in 2752 and’s one of the barbershop quartet of heavy Mech’s that saw front line service across the Inner Sphere, the others being the Warhammer, Marauder and Thunderbolt, together these four machines marked their place in military history and still serve across the Inner Sphere to this day.
Like its three famous kin the Crusader was designed to serve as a general purpose machine, to engage foes at all ranges rather than be a pure fire support platform like the Archer and Catapult. Instead the Crusader can engage at all battlefield ranges and deal with multiple types of threats.
Its popularity ensured that it was rapidly spread across the Star League and even after the Exodus it was one of the most common heavy Mech’s in the Inner Sphere. With the discovery of the Helm Memory Core the Crusader was upgraded and production numbers started slowly increasing across the Sphere and as technology spread and the panic of facing the Clan’s grew the numbers of Crusaders being made, refitted or designed just went up. Still in service in the modern period the Crusader is a Mech that has withstood the test of time
DesignThis is a bit hard to pin down, the Crusader has seen over a dozen variants, many of those are just weapon swaps but others are complete rebuilds with differing armour types and tonnage, internal structure materials, different engines, jump jets, you name it. Because of this I’ll describe the BASIC standard model that was introduced to us first. Any changes will be mentioned in the wall-o-variants but I won’t bore you all to tears with individual armour layouts.
The first Crusader’s were fairly basic machines and featured no advanced technology in their construction. This is actually quite a boon as it left the machine with a LOT of internal space for weapons and ammo.
The CRD-3R at 65 tonnes is in a good place for heavy Mech’s weight wise and it shares the bracket with the equally famous Thunderbolt. Like the Thud the Crusader is no speed king, a 260 rated engine propels it to the standard heavy Mech speed of 64kph and no jump jets are fitted. The hull is protected by 12 tonnes of standard protection whilst the skeleton is of normal composites instead of the more expensive endo-steel.
9/24/33/24 (6/8/6)
20/20/21/21
For a Mech of that time, that’s a lot of protection, some Assault Mech’s would be happy with that and it outdoes the Warhammer and Marauder.
The original Crusaders had issues with the exhausts from their arm mounted missile launchers causing damage to the Mech’s actuators and this was fixed with the addition of big barrel like forearm baffles to deflect the fumes and heat of arm mounted missile launchers, and this has remained an easy way of identifying Crusaders at a glance. If they have forearms like Popeye then it’s a Crusader.
The biggest failing of the Crusader though was its quite inadequate cooling system, with the 10 heatsinks that came with the engine the 3R is as stricken with heat woes as the Warhammer is and this is despite using a fairly cool running mix of weapons that mean you can’t go trigger happy, not with a considerable tonnage of ammo on board.
Variants – Let the typing cramp begin!CRD-3R – The grand pappy of the series and one that sets the tone for most of the variants produced with a mixed and variable war load that can engage at all ranges. For long range engagements a pair of LRM-15’s, one in each arm give the Crusader the throw weight of a Catapult but the launchers are only fed by a rather limited one tonne ammo bin meaning it can run out of firepower at inopportune moments. For mid to short range engagements a pair of torso SRM-6s and a pair of arm mounted medium lasers provide ample punch and sand blasting whilst finally a pair of arm mounted machine guns add point blank firepower and can help the Crusader turn infantry into smears.
The SRM’s and MG’s share a tonne of ammo between them, but most alarmingly this ammo is stored in the chest and is a lethal bomb should the chest armour be breached or a lucky spalling hit affect the internals and trigger the ammo.
The ten standard heatsinks really struggle to keep the Mech cool though and whilst the Crusader has a lot of firepower you have to be careful about how you use it otherwise your ammo could be detonating and that’s the last thing you want.
CRD-2R – The Royal Crusader the 2R was built for exclusive use by the SLDF’s Royal Regiments and was not issued to normal SLDF units. I would assume that it was this variant that was most often used by Comstar once the ComGuard was formed. A full on upgrade of the 3R the 2R features double heatsinks whilst an endo-steel skeleton saves weight. This weight is put into Artemis IV for the LRM’s whilst all the ammo is grouped into the left and right torso’s and now sits safe and sound in some CASE bins. Speaking of the ammo, one tonne for the MG’s, one tonne for the SRM’s and two tonnes of ammo between the two LRM launchers.
The SRM-6’s were also removed and in their place a quartet of Streak SRM-2’s were fitted, two in each side torso.
A rock solid variant the 2R is fearsome even by today’s standards, I’d not turn my nose up at one for sure.
CRD-3D – House Davion’s attempt to fix the Crusader’s biggest woe, its heat issues removed the SRM-6’s and replaces them with lighter SRM-4s whilst also removing the machine guns and their ammo to save yet more weight, this went into 4 tonnes of extra heatsinks. Firepower does not suffer and you can actually use its firepower rather than having all the guns but none of the cooling. Ammo wise not much changes, one tonne each for the LRM’s and the SRM’s share a tonne between them, so the endurance for the LRM’s is limited.
CRD-3K – House Kurita’s copy of the above, it goes a slightly different way. The LRM-15’s are downgraded to 10’s and the MG’s are removed. This frees up six tonnes which are then put into heatsinks making the 3K a very cool running machine and able to use its weapons safely. And whilst the LRM-10’s fire less missiles they do have a longer battlefield endurance due to the larger ammo bin. This makes the 3K superior to the 3D in my books.
CRD-3L – House Liao’s cool running take on the 3R the 3L is a step in yet another direction..well a step and then a leap. The LRM’s are downgraded to 10 racks whilst the SRM’s are replaced with SRM-4’s. This considerable tonnage saved is then put into a pair of heatsinks to help the Crusader’s heat woes but most importantly a quartet of jump jets are added. This adds a new tactical dimension for the Crusader and gives them another weapon in the form of DFA attacks. Whilst not as cool running as the 3D or K the 3L’s jumping gives it some yummy tactical flexibility.
CDR-4BR – A slightly later Helm Memory Core era refit that was probably done either in the fields or during a refit and service, the 4BR upgrades the heatsinks to double strength ones whilst removing the SRM-6’s and replacing them with a pair of Streak SRM-2’s an extra tonne of ammo for each LRM launcher is added and the ammo is all nice and snug in CASE. The 4BR is near as damn it a Royal variant copy, sacrificing a bit of firepower for increased battlefield endurance with the LRM ammo. Again a nice variant to take and it does not stray outside the usual role of the Crusader of engage at long range and then slap hard if someone comes close.
CRD-4D One of the 3050 refits that started coming out into the field, this is more an upgrade pack rather than a complete re-working. It’s like buying some nice off the shelf chrome wheels for your car instead of the standard ones and is meant to be applied in the field with ease. Out go the SRM-6’s and medium lasers and in go a pair of Streak SRM-2’s and two medium pulse lasers for short range saturation fire. To counter the heat of the lasers three extra heatsinks are also fitted but these are not double strength.
CRD-4K The 3K’s flashy cousin and a pure weapons swap, out go the Medium lasers and in go Medium Pulse lasers in their place, the tonnage for the heavier guns comes from a pair of Heatsinks being removed. Probably not a great idea considering the Crusader tends to run hot but this still leaves it with 14 heatsinks which is more than enough really. Is it a good upgrade? Well the accuracy of the Pulsers is nice but their range is abysmal and at this time you’re facing Clanner’s who will dramatically outrange you with everything but their smallest weapons. A Clan Mech could dance out of range of the pulsers and there’s little you can do about it as Clan Mech’s save their assaults are faster than you. This is a flaw that is also shared by the 4D.
CRD-5K New toys and new looks! The first time that the Crusader steps away from its traditional layout and goes in a new direction. A massive rebuild of the chassis that also included a lot of visual alterations the 5K for starters has a 260 rated XL engine and is built on an endo-steel skeleton which all saves a lovely amount of weight. The cooling system is also uprated to give it 11 double strength heatsinks whilst the electronics are re-worked to fit a C3 slave in the head. Able to run and jump at 4/6/4 in game terms, the 5K is not too fast but the jump jets make it usefully agile.
Now the rest of the weight is put into firepower, a pair of MRM-30’s with a total of 4 tonnes of ammo somewhat worryingly stored in one place form its main punch. This immediately make the 5K a close to mid-range mugger as the MRM’s are an inaccurate weapon system at the best of times. Backing up the big rocket bays are a pair of Medium lasers, one in each side torso and two medium pulse lasers buried in the chest.
This is a different flavour for the Crusader, gone is the long range support with a sort to mid-range punch, in its place is a mid to short range sandblaster.
CRD-5M House Marik’s attempt at a Crusader refit came in during the arms rush of 3049/3050 but it was an extensive and somewhat expensive refit. The engine was increased to a 260 rated XL and the cooling system upgraded to fit 13 double heatsinks which kept the Mech running nice and cool. The weapons didn’t change too much, the LRM-15, Medium Laser and machine gun remained whilst the almost standard replacing of SRMs with Streak 2 racks went ahead. The major changes were in mobility with the addition of a quartet of jump jets giving the 5M the mobility of the 3L whilst a machine gun was replaced with a flamer and an AMS was also added.
The ammo, safely stored in the side torsos in CASE remained unchanged, 1 tonne for each missile launcher with the Streak’s sharing a tonne between them.
Personally I’d say this is superior to the Medium pulse laser variants and would be the best of the 5X refits as it’s the most flexible.
CRD-5S – Oh great..another variant of the 3R…this time its House Steiner’s effort and yep it changes the weapons and adds cooling zz.z..zz..I’M AWAKE! Um…okay so out go the MG’s and their ammo, in go case and double heatsinks are fitted. Oh and a flamer is fitted to deal with squishies. Otherwise, LRMs, lasers and SRM’s like the 3R are the order of the day.
CRD-6M – Finally something different! And new toys a plenty. Out go the classic laser and LRM combo and the SRM-6’s are removed as well. In their place a pair of light PPC and MML-7’s form the main punch at long and short ranges and complement each other quite nicely. For shorter ranged work a pair of Streak SRM-4’s are mounted on the legs (hips) like almost every other Crusader. A big change was to the engine though, to fit this compliment of heavy weapons and their ammo the engine was scaled back so the 6M plods along at a rather ambling 56kph. But to give it some mobility back the engineers fitted a full rack of improved Jump jets and the result is a slow if oddly agile machine as it throws itself into 150 meter long leaps (3/5/5 in game terms). I’m not too sure about this one, sure the Light PPC’s have a good range on them but even if you hit with both MML’s with all their missiles and both L-PPC’s you’re doing less damage than two perfect LRM-15 hits.
CRD-7L – House Liao’s turn with new toys and you know what that means? It’s Stealth Armour time (*sounds of children cheering and Davion’s swearing*). Seriously did the Cappies have some kind of weird OCD about putting Stealth on EVEYTHING during this time? I’m surprised they were not churning out Stealth material tea-pots and chairs. At its heart this is ‘just’ a take on the classic 3R. Dual LRM-15’s, dual ER Mediums, dual Streak 4’s and a guardian ECM to make the Stealth armour work. Something had to go though as there’s nothing weight saving used (save double heatsinks) so the engine gets de-rated to a 195 slowing the Mech to a plodding 56kph, but it is fitted with jump Jets for 90 meter bunny hops. Unlike many Stealth boats this one can engage its stealth armour and hammer away with its LRMs without a care in the world for heat. Also the ammo for the LRM’s is FINALLY increased, two tonnes per launcher, which is nice and finally lets it shoot for more than 30 seconds before hearing the deadman’s click.
CRD-7W – The Words take and again if features new toys, but really goes for the maximum amount of missile spam it can. A pair of MML-9’s and MML-5’s all aided by Artemis IV and with a decent ammo tonnage give this Mech a fearsome barrage capability whilst the now standard ER Mediums are still there. Thing is, all this is heavy, you’ve got the bulky MML’s and 8 tonnes of ammo plus the Artemis, and everything else. So in come the weight saving toys. An XL engine, XL gyro and 12 tonnes of CASED Light Ferro-Fibrous armour make this machine oddly crunchy, because if you go internal, you’ve got a lot of ammo to hit (10 tonnes of it!) and that fragile XL Gyro is just asking to be tickled by spalling fragmentation or a bolt of laser light.
CRD-8L – A Capcon Heavy that’s not got Stealth..*eyes narrow* introduced in the dying days of the Jihad and deployed against the Republic the 8L is more a brawler and direct combat machine rather than the traditional sit back and spam missiles approach. With a pair of Plasma Rifles for direct damage as well as heat raising shenanigans and infantry melting firepower. There’s a pair of MML-7’s each with a useful 2 tonnes of ammo and a pair of ER Mediums. Also the Plasma’s also have 3 tonnes of ammo shared between them, which is enough for most battles without having to be too frugal. A new powerful engine boosts ground speed to an impressive 86kph which cements its cavalry role. Built on endo-steel bones with a somewhat reduced 11.5 tonnes of CASED armour the 8L is still a fearsome combatant, the PPC esque damage of the Plasma’s and the hole filling MML’s mean this thing can pack a wallop and it is deserving of respect, it’s also got the mobility to use that firepower. But the Crusader’s old foe rises its ugly head. Heat, 10 double heatsinks are fitted and this thing runs toasty if you start hammering away.
CRD-8S – Aka the
Inferiority Complex, this thing could not be more Steiner if it tried. It’s probably got this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMZDEuiq8nQ permanently playing on its external speakers. With an XL engine and endo-steel skeleton the 8S starts off looking high-tech, then you spot the arm weapons. How very very pedestrian, standard LRM-10’s and standard Medium lasers..
yawn..wait…what!?…
OH GOD ITS GOT A HEAVY GAUSS RIFLE!Yep! The Steiner’s went FIRE ZE KANNON! And somehow managed to shoehorn a Heavy Gauss rifle into the left torso. This thing is a mugger, pure and simple. With the Heavy gauss being so lethal at short range the LRM and Medium’s are just window dressing as it all depends on getting in range for ze kannon. Of course all it takes is one lucky crit and boom, one dead crusader as the XL engine will most surely be smashed to oblivion by the exploding capacitor of the main cannon. Ammo is also a factor, you’ve got 8 shots for the big gun, and one tonne of ammo between the two LRM’s meaning that this thing has verrrrrrry limited battlefield endurance. Treat this thing like a big, walking Hetzer and you won’t go too far wrong.
ThoughtsTo me the Crusader is the British band Dire Straits, they got one type of song and stuck with it, and the Crusader takes one type of game play and sticks with it, rarely stepping outside its comfort zone. But when it does step out, it does with style with the 8L, 8S and 7W being examples of this. The 8L’s a general purpose heavy, the 8S is a mugger and the 7W can unload 28 SRM’s at you if you get close, and then we have 60 MRM’s courtesy of the Kurita’s Macross Missile spam variant the 5k.
Otherwise it’s pretty much the same old song, just done by various covering bands, LRMs and then lasers and SRM’s when the range drops. This makes most Crusaders a jack of all trades and it does have some drawbacks, mainly being limited ammo for the LRM’s and of course the heat issues which variants try to cover with differing degrees of success. But at its core the Crusader is built to support a friendly Mech. If it can target a foe that’s had its armour stripped by heavy hitting weapons the it’s clouds of LRM’s can do nasty things with a bit of luck. And its mid-range firepower again is useful but more as a support element, let the Thunderbolt, Warhammer or Orion get stuck in, you hang back and support them with LRMs. When the range drops you can then move on in and engage a weakened foe with your SRM’s and lasers and hopefully secure the kill.
With its generalist approach for most variants you can rely on a Crusader in most battles and there’s a Crusader of every flavor if you need one.
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/images/2/2a/CDR-Crusader.png - UNSEE...err..wait that rule's gone now. SEEN!
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/images/7/7e/Crd.8s_crusader.png - The 8S, the very embodyment of SAY HELLO TO MY LIL FRIEND!
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/images/a/a5/Crd-5k_crusader.jpg - The 5K - Such MRM, many missile, wow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AA64eCt2zs - Dire Straits if any of you young-un's were curious.
Could be altered due to later editing and as always thanks for reading and any comments and thoughts are most welcome!
