What if...the Battlemaster 1G was supposed to carry a Blazer?

[Luciora]

I never thought about it till now,  but you have the tonnage from either the rear lasers,  or MGs and ammo, or both and 2 extra sinks to do it. 

Thoughts?   

(Yes its a divisive weapon but it fits the dual port look of the first release)

[JadeHellbringer]

I never thought about it till now,  but you have the tonnage from either the rear lasers,  or MGs and ammo, or both and 2 extra sinks to do it. 

Thoughts?   

(Yes its a divisive weapon but it fits the dual port look of the first release)

It obviously would be some serious retconning, but it does make some sense. I'd keep the MGs, because you never know when getting rid of infantry is going to be helpful, but... yeah, I'd call it an interesting 'prototype' version at the very least. Good idea!

[SteelRaven]

That sounds more like a custom Battlemaster.

I personal never seen why people liked the Blazer.
 

[Sartris]

I could see it as a 29th-century custom ride of a merc or mid-level officer with a penchant for removing heads

[JadedFalcon]

I could see it as a 29th-century custom ride of a merc or mid-level officer with a penchant for removing heads

Or perhaps a custom mod for a dedicated headhunter lance. But I do like concept of the ace pilot with their custom mech.

As a production model, not so sure. As mentioned above, the 1G is a good generalist with anti-infantry capabilities and the rear lasers help when wading in. But that's just how I use the mech.

[Daryk]

I'm pretty sure a variant has been done before somewhere around here (possibly even by me).  The trick is the Blazer Cannon wasn't developed until 2801, so it's hard to make an "originally designed" argument.

As far as why people love it, I can only speak for myself, and have posted my five main points here.  The most concise summary I can give is that it's the longest range headcapper during the Succession Wars, and is appropriately balanced by its heat load.

[guardiandashi]

well I know I had a custom version I called the 2G that lost the srm6, plus ammo, and the machine guns, (I think) for a second ppc so I definitely could see a variant that did something like that (or downsizing the 6 rack) and reducing the ammo loadout to squeeze in a blazer cannon.

[ANS Kamas P81]

Pull the rear lasers, swap PPC for BLC, done.  It'll even match the art.

[marauder648]

As long as you don't put a bloody Bombast on it!

[The_Livewire]

I always thought swap the SRM 6 for an LRM 5 and drop a ton of amm, frees up enough weight for the blazer, and still gives a long range "don't forget about me!"

[JadeHellbringer]

I always thought swap the SRM 6 for an LRM 5 and drop a ton of amm, frees up enough weight for the blazer, and still gives a long range "don't forget about me!"

Ehhhh... I mean, I see where you're going with it, but to me if your assault Mech is relying on an LRM-5 as its long-range announcement you might as well get rid of it for something else in the first place (another couple of medium lasers, an SRM-4, etc.). An LRM-5 is a harassment weapon, and a Battlemaster is NOT a harassment platform. (In fact, it's more of a 'I will beat you with your own arm until it stops being funny to me' platform.)

[Sartris]

Depending on your hatred of infantry, I'd drop the MGs before the rear lasers for the reduction of explody bits l. Unfortunately, a ton of mg ammo is only one of the BTU's most powerful weapons when it explodes inside your mech

[Stinger]

I tried it with dropping the rear lasers, 1 MG and .5 tons of MG ammo:

http://mordel.net/tro.php?a=vt&id=5173&rvsn=1

[JadeHellbringer]

Depending on your hatred of infantry, I'd drop the MGs before the rear lasers for the reduction of explody bits l. Unfortunately, a ton of mg ammo is only one of the BTU's most powerful weapons when it explodes inside your mech

I designed the Shoden (LBX) and the Men Shen E. I have an ungodly fear of what satchel charge-armed infantry can do to a Mech. The MGs stay if I get my say.  >:D

[ANS Kamas P81]

I designed the Shoden (LBX) and the Men Shen E. I have an ungodly fear of what satchel charge-armed infantry can do to a Mech. The MGs stay if I get my say.  >:D

I rather liked all the antinfantry capability of the 3025 mechs.  When the rules allowed regular weapons to do their full damage to infantry platoons pre-TW, nobody bothered putting AI stuff on mechs anymore, then Total Warfare came out and now the paradigm's back.  I'd really like to see a lot more peopleperforators on those "middle era" machines.

[Ruger]

I designed the Shoden (LBX) and the Men Shen E. I have an ungodly fear of what satchel charge-armed infantry can do to a Mech. The MGs stay if I get my say.  >:D

I wouldn't know anything about that...just ignore that Hellion E configuration sitting in the corner...

 >:D

Ruger

[mbear]

Ehhhh... I mean, I see where you're going with it, but to me if your assault Mech is relying on an LRM-5 as its long-range announcement you might as well get rid of it for something else in the first place (another couple of medium lasers, an SRM-4, etc.). An LRM-5 is a harassment weapon, and a Battlemaster is NOT a harassment platform.

I don't know. I could see using the LRM5 for Smoke or Thunder rounds. Particularly if the BM is a command unit. Though I do think an MML5 refit has some utility as well.

(In fact, it's more of a 'I will beat you with your own arm until it stops being funny to me' platform.)

So you'll never stop beating them with their own arm, right? Because that never gets old.

And you could split the difference. Remove 1 MG, 0.5 MG ammo, replace rear medium lasers with small lasers or a single ML.

[The_Livewire]

I don't know. I could see using the LRM5 for Smoke or Thunder rounds. Particularly if the BM is a command unit. Though I do think an MML5 refit has some utility as well.

Well if you're going upgrade vs succession war type tech,  Yeah.  Heck if you're going upgrade, slap two light PPCs with PPC Caps.  Alternate 10 point punch every turn or wait a turn and fire both :-)

I like having *something* long range to make people not forget about me. 

[Frabby]

From an in-universe standpoint... the Lyrans made a Zeus variant (the ZEU-6Y) with Blazer, even if it was only a small prototype production run. It is completely feasible to assume they tried it with the BattleMaster as well given, that the BattleMaster is another commonplace assault 'Mech design that they produced throughout the Succession Wars.

[Luciora]

Or one could dump a ton of the SRM ammo then figure out where to scrounge up 1 more spare ton.   There's a lot of options here.  I used to do a modification on my personal custom BLR where I'd free up enough tonnage to use 2 ER Larges, for a 3050s version.  I like the idea of the blazer being a 3020s custom ride.

[SCC]

For dealing with infantry you could always drop the MGs and carry Infernos for the SRM, or is that too cheese-y?

[guardiandashi]

Or one could dump a ton of the SRM ammo then figure out where to scrounge up 1 more spare ton.   There's a lot of options here.  I used to do a modification on my personal custom BLR where I'd free up enough tonnage to use 2 ER Larges, for a 3050s version.  I like the idea of the blazer being a 3020s custom ride.

one way would be to get rid of a ton of SRM ammo then loose 1/2 ton of MG ammo, then find .5 ton more such as 1/2 ton of armor or something