Author Topic: Am I the only one who misses the old unbound thunderbolts?  (Read 2327 times)

Liam's Ghost

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For those unaware, these were a one ton, single shot missile system that fired a ten point damage missile with a fifteen hex range, which appeared in the scenario pack "Unbound" in the early days of the Clan Invasion storyline.

I was always quite fond of them, however as the timeline went on, they managed to disappear, even with the appearance of the rest of the gadgets from unbound popping up in Tactical Operations and Interstellar Operations. It'd be nice if we could see them again one day.
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grimlock1

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Re: Am I the only one who misses the old unbound thunderbolts?
« Reply #1 on: 22 October 2017, 02:44:33 »
I never realized that...  I first saw T-bolts in Max Tech.  Then when I read Unbound, I went, "oh, Thunderbolts.  I know how that works."
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massey

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Re: Am I the only one who misses the old unbound thunderbolts?
« Reply #2 on: 22 October 2017, 09:23:40 »
Definitely miss them.  Those things were great.

In my head-canon, aerospace fighters can carry them like bombs.

Col Toda

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Re: Am I the only one who misses the old unbound thunderbolts?
« Reply #3 on: 22 October 2017, 11:09:04 »
The best the current rules has the improved One Shot Launcher.  The modern iteration of the thunderbolt has better range brackets so LB-10X and Inner Sphere PPC go hand in hand with them . I like it in Aerospace and a few other things like gun emplacements but for mechs it has endurance issues and for combat vehicles underutilized . The result of being less rare is an uptick in Anti Missile Systems .

Wolf72

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Re: Am I the only one who misses the old unbound thunderbolts?
« Reply #4 on: 22 October 2017, 16:42:08 »
Would like to see a type of heavy rocket launcher ... single shot style 'hellfire' missiles.  Maybe a 3 point hit or so ... and a torpedo version.  (any other info is prob for a different forum though) [edit: aha! almost they way aerospace combat rules work, obviously more weight though]
« Last Edit: 22 October 2017, 18:50:35 by Wolf72 »
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Luciora

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Re: Am I the only one who misses the old unbound thunderbolts?
« Reply #5 on: 24 October 2017, 14:35:03 »
 No reason your personal games and designs can't still use them.   I also loved the original tandem charge and magnetic pulse warheads as well as the Thunderbolts from Unbound as well.   :D

Ryumyo

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Re: Am I the only one who misses the old unbound thunderbolts?
« Reply #6 on: 05 December 2017, 03:12:01 »
Yeah I could see these being revamped as an outgrowth of the Rocket Launcher system by the Marian Hegemony ( they did invent the RL after all ). Competes well with the RL-15 for average damage potential and has the same outer long range too. Keep the Unbound stat lines but new fluff.

mbear

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Re: Am I the only one who misses the old unbound thunderbolts?
« Reply #7 on: 05 December 2017, 08:23:01 »
I'm sort of surprised that the FWL hasn't developed a semi-guided version of the Thunderbolt missile.
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Liam's Ghost

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Re: Am I the only one who misses the old unbound thunderbolts?
« Reply #8 on: 05 December 2017, 15:28:39 »
Honestly, I'd think they'd be perfectly fine as long as that painfully undefined concept of adding heat to the target was just completely excised.
Good news is the lab boys say the symptoms of asbestos poisoning show an immediate latency of 44.6 years. So if you're thirty or over you're laughing. Worst case scenario you miss out on a few rounds of canasta, plus you've forwarded the cause of science by three centuries. I punch those numbers into my calculator, it makes a happy face.

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glitterboy2098

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Re: Am I the only one who misses the old unbound thunderbolts?
« Reply #9 on: 05 December 2017, 19:10:28 »
i'd say just apply the one shot RL idea to a T-bolt-5 and 10.. would probably be heavier than RL's, to balance out the lack of the cluster hits table roll, but would still be a useful one shot weapon for mass strapped units.. and by avoiding the 15 and 20, can avoid the ultra-lightweight headcapper problem.