Author Topic: WorkMech Wednesday (2017-08-16): Hyena SalvageMech  (Read 4339 times)

Giovanni Blasini

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WorkMech Wednesday (2017-08-16): Hyena SalvageMech
« on: 16 August 2017, 18:07:45 »
Holy crap, it’s Wednesday, the forums are up, and I can post!  Time for WorkMech Wednesday!

Take one Kintaro.  Rip out nearly all the guns and specialty electronics.  Leave the ferro-fibrous armor, and fit an 8-ton cargo bay, a lift hoist in each side torso, and a salvage arm in place of the right hand.  Your only offensive weapon is a center torso medium laser.  What do you have?



The answer is the HYN-KTO, the prototype Hyena SalvageMech.  The infamous Vining Engineering and Salvage Team , or VEST, refit two Kintaros into these bad boys, taking advantage of their fusion engine, BattleMech grade structure and armor, which came with environmental sealing, to make for swift, durable SalvageMech capable of hauling over a hundred tons relatively swiftly.

Rather than continue to convert existing BattleMechs, VEST decided to go a different route for their production Hyena SalvageMech, the HYN-4A Hyena, which debuted in 3066.  Keeping the 275-rating fusion engine, but switching to an IndustrialMech base, the Hyena can still keep pace with ‘Mechs like the Griffin, or its progenitor the Kintaro, but loses some of the durability the prototypes retained from their parent design.  Armor is reduced to 5 tons, with only the center torso able to take a single PPC without going internal, while a large laser will penetrate the arms, strip the side torsos, or leave only a single point of armor protecting a leg.

Why such a loss of armor?  Because you had to get environmental sealing from somewhere, and a SalvageMech can certainly use environmental sealing to protect it from the caustic chemicals it risks coming into contact with on battlefields.  There is a bit of good news here, though, in that Industrial Triple-Strength Myomer has been fitted to the HYN-4A, doubling its carry capacity.  Armament has been downgraded to a single small laser, but you don’t want to get into a fight with a HYN-4A anyway: not only is the armor weaker, but the IndustrialMech internal structure makes you critically vulnerable to physical attacks.  Sadly, the production run for the HYN-4A only lasted two years, before being interrupted by the Word of Blake sacking Solaris VII in 3068.



Continuing our downward spiral, we have the HYN-4B.  Introduced in 3072, during the middle of the Word of Blake’s invasion of Solaris VII, we basically have a Hyena that’s been cobbled together from whatever the VEST facilities had left behind after the Word of Blake blew them up good.  Serving with the Solaris Home Defense League, these Hyenas sported a downgraded 220 ICE engine instead of a fusion plant, dropping their top speed to 64 KPH.  Industrial TSM?  Yeah, that’s gone.  Small laser?  Replaced with a machine gun.  All the way around, the HYN-4B Hyena is the least capable of the bunch, but that’s not surprising given the pressures that VEST was under at the time.
It was those pressures that spelled the end of the Hyena.  After the Jihad, VEST was down to 15% of their previous industrial capacity, after losing 95% of their staff and production lines.  The Jabberwocky, the Hyena’s competitor, hadn’t suffered the degradations the Hyena did, and so was a much more attractive option for potential buyers, anyway.  While they did an IPO to raise 600 million Kroner in 3079, in the end, VEST had to settle for producing two ‘Mechs:  the Valiant and the Helepolis, ending any chance of a Hyena comeback.

If you’re one of the few people to have a Hyena, how should you use it?  Odds are, you don’t have one of the two lost prototypes, so the answer is as a SalvageMech, rather than as a super-durable SalvageMech.  Haul crap with it, whether it’s stuff you’re securing on your current raid, that assault ‘Mech that was mission-killed when its XL engine took three crits, or whatever else you need to haul.

Are you the Word of Blake, wanting to blow up a pesky Hyena?  Well, you’ve got two options.  The prototypes, as you learned in 3072, are actually kind of durable zombies, since they have BattleMech grade ferro-fibrous armor, 86 kph ground speed unladen, and a medium laser, combined with a 55-ton BattleMech’s melee attacks to deal with.  I recommend standing off and whittling their armor down until you can finish them off.

For the production HYN-4A or hodgepodge HYN-4B models, whittling it down with guns remains a good option, but now you’ve got the added bonus of using things like those retractable blades you love so much, or even just your ‘Mech’s own fists and feet, to brutalize them.  Melee combat does bad things to IndustrialMechs, and when combined with their thin armor, their Hyenas cannot resist firepower of that magnitude.

“Gio,” you say, “I’ve got this busted-ass 55-tonner lying around here doing me no good.  Should I try my hand at my own Hyena-style conversion?”  If you think you’ll get more use out of it hauling cargo and salvaging parts on the battlefield than you will shooting people, sure, why not?  For added hilarity, skip the salvage arm, which doesn’t get you much under most rules sets, and carry a handheld light AC/2 or light AC/5 – the former nets you a ton of ammo and half-ton of armor, the latter loses the armor but does nearly three times the damage.  Bonus points if you make it look like the Wolverine’s traditional handheld gun.

So, what are your thoughts on the Hyena?  Post below!
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vidar

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Re: WorkMech Wednesday (2017-08-16): Hyena SalvageMech
« Reply #1 on: 16 August 2017, 19:40:02 »
I like them, the prototypes are best on the battle field.  But any thing that can salvage from a fire fight has a place in my forces.

Caedis Animus

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Re: WorkMech Wednesday (2017-08-16): Hyena SalvageMech
« Reply #2 on: 16 August 2017, 19:46:59 »
I would say that the Industrial version of the Hyena has one benefit, in a way; You don't have to train an actual Mechwarrior to use it. I mean, you'd have to train them to use the industrialmech, but... It's a little less expensive and doesn't require a neurohelmet.

Giovanni Blasini

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Re: WorkMech Wednesday (2017-08-16): Hyena SalvageMech
« Reply #3 on: 17 August 2017, 02:15:09 »
I would say that the Industrial version of the Hyena has one benefit, in a way; You don't have to train an actual Mechwarrior to use it. I mean, you'd have to train them to use the industrialmech, but... It's a little less expensive and doesn't require a neurohelmet.

In the industrial role, I think the HYN-4A is definitely the best of the bunch.  If you need to run a SalvageMech in a potential hostile environment, vidar is right, I think, that the prototype HYN-KTO is a better bet.  Yes, you lose some of the cargo capacity, but you have so much better armor protection, and if you get into a physical brawl, you're not going to see your limbs snapped off by a bug 'Mech tapping you with its punch and a bad crit roll.
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Wrangler

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Re: WorkMech Wednesday (2017-08-16): Hyena SalvageMech
« Reply #4 on: 17 August 2017, 07:19:34 »
I liked the idea of Hyena. Having a salvagemech around to haul crap away while not tying up actual BattleMech if be near a hot zone.
Only wish VEST had held it together and resumed production of the Hyena, even in the early Republic era, this thing still useful.
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Re: WorkMech Wednesday (2017-08-16): Hyena SalvageMech
« Reply #5 on: 17 August 2017, 07:31:36 »
Nothing to the Hyena, but great idea to start a WorkMech series. Thank you :)
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wantec

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Re: WorkMech Wednesday (2017-08-16): Hyena SalvageMech
« Reply #6 on: 17 August 2017, 09:33:35 »
Nothing to the Hyena, but great idea to start a WorkMech series. Thank you :)
Actually it's the second one http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=57826.0
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Giovanni Blasini

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Re: WorkMech Wednesday (2017-08-16): Hyena SalvageMech
« Reply #7 on: 17 August 2017, 09:42:19 »
Actually it's the second one http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=57826.0

Holy crap, we lost an article.  :o

Hyena was my third. Diomede was the first "WorkMech Wednesday" (I'd done IndustrialMechs before that on the regular MotW schedule), but I'd also done the Dig Lord/Dig King at Worktroll's request. I can't find it anymore.
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Tymers Realm

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Re: WorkMech Wednesday (2017-08-16): Hyena SalvageMech
« Reply #8 on: 17 August 2017, 10:02:51 »
It most likely was lost in the unrecovered backup data from the hack/rebuild back in July.

Wrangler

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Re: WorkMech Wednesday (2017-08-16): Hyena SalvageMech
« Reply #9 on: 17 August 2017, 10:14:56 »
Someone should do the Vampyr SalvageMech, which is related to the Scavenger Quad Mech that was used to salvage mechs for the Gray Death Legion.
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Re: WorkMech Wednesday (2017-08-16): Hyena SalvageMech
« Reply #10 on: 17 August 2017, 10:18:02 »
Would make sense.
But good to know, there are others :)
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Giovanni Blasini

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Re: WorkMech Wednesday (2017-08-16): Hyena SalvageMech
« Reply #11 on: 17 August 2017, 20:35:03 »
I'll add in the Vampyr for after the Jabberwocky.  I don't know if Ibhave a backup copy of the Dig Lord/Dig King. :(
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Iron Mongoose

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Re: WorkMech Wednesday (2017-08-16): Hyena SalvageMech
« Reply #12 on: 18 August 2017, 11:59:43 »
To bad about the loss.  Though the mechs seldom do much for me, the writing about them is good, and the discussion good.

This one is I think little difrent.  In part, I just don't dig as deep into things in my play.   It's mostly just fight, and then you win or you die (to quote from some TV show or another).

I can see some variant of this mech being part of a raid, perhaps.  You've got a company or so that needs to go in, smash things, and take one of those things home with them, weather it's a prototype mech or a Clan mech, a memory core, a part for something, a reanimated dead corpse, or just a conventional chest full of a lot of gold or germanium or something.  Of course, if it's really important you'd want a prototype or something like it, but for just "upgrading" one of your mechs by stealing a better one, even a basic model could be servicable.
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Re: WorkMech Wednesday (2017-08-16): Hyena SalvageMech
« Reply #13 on: 18 August 2017, 12:32:53 »
Awwww, this was the first 'Mech i ever had published.
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Giovanni Blasini

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Re: WorkMech Wednesday (2017-08-16): Hyena SalvageMech
« Reply #14 on: 18 August 2017, 13:38:36 »
To bad about the loss.  Though the mechs seldom do much for me, the writing about them is good, and the discussion good.

This one is I think little difrent.  In part, I just don't dig as deep into things in my play.   It's mostly just fight, and then you win or you die (to quote from some TV show or another).

True enough.  That's one of the reasons I like highlighting IndustrialMechs, because they don't get a lot of attention paid to them.

Quote
I can see some variant of this mech being part of a raid, perhaps.  You've got a company or so that needs to go in, smash things, and take one of those things home with them, weather it's a prototype mech or a Clan mech, a memory core, a part for something, a reanimated dead corpse, or just a conventional chest full of a lot of gold or germanium or something.  Of course, if it's really important you'd want a prototype or something like it, but for just "upgrading" one of your mechs by stealing a better one, even a basic model could be servicable.

That's one of the things I like best about the Hyena, especially in its prototype configuration.  At 5/8, it's fast, and can keep up with most of your battle line.  Even hauling cargo, the Hyena can generally keep pace with your assault 'Mechs at least, and in the HYN-KTO config, it's durable enough to handle some enemy attention getting paid to it.

Another thing I like is that, since it was converted from a BattleMech, it gives you an idea of the kind of mods you can do to existing BattleMechs that may not be as useful on your battlefield anymore.  Imagine, for example, a Shadow Hawk that loses its LRM rack for a lift hoist, but keeps its other guns, for example, or even better, one that drops the AC/5 for two lift hoists and a light PPC.

Also, reposting the Dig King/Dig Lord, thanks to Google cache.
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misterpants

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Re: WorkMech Wednesday (2017-08-16): Hyena SalvageMech
« Reply #15 on: 18 August 2017, 16:42:51 »
*squints, wipes glasses*

I'm having a hard time tracing the Kintaro lineage in the art. Either I need a new glasses prescription/brain or some notes got lost along the way to the artist.
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Re: WorkMech Wednesday (2017-08-16): Hyena SalvageMech
« Reply #16 on: 19 August 2017, 01:59:12 »
Question, how does industrial TSM work and thank you for this article on this machine :)  didn't know much about it but now I do!
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Re: WorkMech Wednesday (2017-08-16): Hyena SalvageMech
« Reply #17 on: 19 August 2017, 03:02:29 »
Industrial TSM doubles the lift capacity and damage from your melee attacks, but gives you a +1 to piloting skill rolls and +2 to your target numbers for physical attack due to being slower to respond than normal myomers.  It's always on, not requiring your heat to be at +9, but doesn't give you any bonus movement points.
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marauder648

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Re: WorkMech Wednesday (2017-08-16): Hyena SalvageMech
« Reply #18 on: 19 August 2017, 03:17:34 »
Interesting and cheers!
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