Tau Battle Suit Conversion

[Cryhavok101]

One of the few groups I liked in warhammer 40 was because of their battlesuits, and I decided to recreate them for use in battletech.

Crisis Assault Armor

The premier battlesuit of the elite warriors of the  Tau Third Sphere Expansion forces, the Crisis Assault Armor is a deadly combatant. With three modular weapon mounts and 386kg of space, it can be configured for a variety of roles. Despite being a heavy 2 ton frame, it is surprisingly agile, outpacing nearly anything it's size thanks to it's jump booster letting it jump a whooping 90 meters, the gold standard of battle armor mobility with clan and inner sphere armors.

The base chassis comes standard with 8 points of armor, enough to survive a large laser blast the same as inner sphere standard, along with improved sensors and a squad support light tag, letting it operate in a search and destroy role quite effectively.

There is no real primary configuration, with a plethora of variations seen regularly in use. Instead it has a standard list of weapons that The Tau Empire makes available to it's warriors for these suits. With 386kg and 3 modular mounts, there is a lot of room for variation, especially if enterprising inner sphere mercenaries got their hands on these.

The weapons that are commonly found in configurations on this suit are:

• Plasma Rifles at 300 kg each (Plasma Rifle)
• Advanced SRM 1s at 60 kg and an additional 10kg per missile (Missile Pod)
• Firedrake Support Needlers at 50 kg each (Burst Cannon)
• Flamer (BA) at 150 kg each (Flamer)
• Support PPCs at 240 kg each (Fusion Blaster)

Any weight not assigned to a weapon is generally set to increase the available ammunition on the weapons chosen.


My Math:
Mixed tech Clan assault chassis: 700 kg
2 Jump MP + Jump Booster 625 kg
8 points standard clan armor 200 kg
Light Tag squad support weapon 14 kg
Improved Sensors 45kg
3 Modular Weapon Mounts 30kg
pod space 386 kg

[Cryhavok101]

Tau Stealth Armor

The Lone wolfs of the Third Sphere Expansion forces, stealth suits were designed to disrupt enemy supply lines and operate behind enemy lines. It is less modular than the Iconic Crisis suit, but that is appropriate for a specialist system like this.

With the same level of protection as a Crisis suit, 8 points, the basic stealth armor of this medium battle armor, combined with the camo system make this suit very difficult to target at the best of times, and even harder to kill. Those are what allows it to operate behind enemy lines so well.

With it's 90 meter jump range, it can move quickly and unhindered by most terrain. It's improved sensors help ensure it is never surprised and can get away from any traps the enemy might lay unscathed (and jumping 3 gives basically the same to-hit penalty to the enemy as standing still with this setup).

Unfortunately, it's only armament is a fixed standard machine gun on the right arm, which, while very effective against infantry, is not spectacular against anything else. Still, for it's mission of disrupting the enemy's rear lines, it is particularly effective, and many an enemy has been forced to retreat only to find nothing left to retreat to.

They have a secondary role as scouts, and are effective in that role as well, however despite their stealth abilities and relatively decent armor, they are not very good in a stand up fight, and endeavor to avoid such situations.


My Math:

Medium armor
Structure 250 kg
3 jump mp 150kg
8 basic stealth 240 kg
Camo System 200 kg
Improved Sensors 45 kg
Battleclaw 15 kg
Machinegun 100 kg

[Cryhavok101]

Tau Broadside Battlesuit

The Tau Third Sphere Expansion force's premier fire support battle armor is a dangerous foe to anyone. It's primary weakness being it's slow speed, often only getting up to 10 kph on the ground due to the weight and bulk of the weapons it carries (and the detachable weapon packs), however it can jetison it's weapons to reach 20 kph in an emergency.

It has heavier armor than it's sister armor the crisis suit, at 10 points even er large lasers and PPCs won't take it out immediately. Like all tau battlesuits, this one comes equipped with improved sensors, and builds on that by adding a mounted searchlight as well.

This may all seem underwhelming on an assault armor, until you review it's weapons. It has four modular weapon mounts, with configurations linking them in pairs, the shoulder pair and the arm pair. Each pair has two options a warrior can choose from. The shoulders can mount either a pair of plasma rifles in detachable weapon packs, or it can mount 2 advanced SRM 3s with 6 shots each, also in detachable weapon packs. Meanwhile the arm pair can be equipped with either a pair of devastating AP Gauss weapons, or 2 LRM 3s with 3 salvos each, typically armed with semi guided ammunition.


My Math:

Structure 750 kg
2 Movement 160 kg
10 Armor 250 kg
Improved Sensors 45 kg
Shoulder Pair 470 kg
Arm Pair 320 kg or 290 kg
Basic Manipulators 15 kg
Spotlight 5 kg

[spacewolflord]

I have to say I like what I see.  They do seem quite fluffy designs.

[Cryhavok101]

Thanks, I quite enjoyed figuring out how best to put them together, and get them to represent their origins.

[marauder648]

I like it, damn nice designs :)  The Broadside would make a Lyran go weak at the knees with joy.

[Cryhavok101]

If you liked those, you might like this as well: http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=54709.0

Though I didn't call it that, it is basically my version of the Tau Gun Drone, and was intended to accompany these battle armor.

I was almost surprised at how well the Broadside turned out. I wasn't expecting to be able to fit everything I wanted in there.

[marauder648]

The only thing i'd change is the Stealth suit, give it cameoline as thats how their stealth apparently works, its not just radar defeating.

[Cryhavok101]

The only thing i'd change is the Stealth suit, give it cameoline as thats how their stealth apparently works, its not just radar defeating.

It has the camo system that does that. I wanted it to cover as many stealth vectors as it could, so it got both the camo system and basic stealth armor. I only wish I could have fit an ECM system on it as well.

[Brother Jim]

Why is the Stealth Suits Burst Cannon listed as an MG when your OP says that Burst Cannons are Firedrake Support Needlers??

[Cryhavok101]

Why is the Stealth Suits Burst Cannon listed as an MG when your OP says that Burst Cannons are Firedrake Support Needlers??

The OP is talking specifically about what represents the burst cannon on the crisis suit. I didn't use the same weapon to represent the burst canon on both suits mostly because I needed to use up different amounts of weight on the different designs, and the crisis suit needed to be able to combine that bust canon with several other weapons, some of which are quite heavy. With the two weapons able to fill a similar role as anti-infantry weapons, I felt the lighter weight of the Firedrake more appropriate for the Crisis battlesuit.

[marauder648]

These would probably work very well in BTech, and be a seriously nasty thing to face, the Crisis and Broadside are a bit squishy, but they make up for it with their firepower

[Cryhavok101]

These would probably work very well in BTech, and be a seriously nasty thing to face, the Crisis and Broadside are a bit squishy, but they make up for it with their firepower

Yeah, I wanted them to perform similarly to how they do in 40k. The +3 armor units in that, despite the lore considering them very heavy infantry armor, tend to lose individuals pretty quickly, which is why I didn't give them heavier armor. Even the +2 units die off pretty quick when good AP weapons, like plasma rifles, get used.

I felt having +3 matching the Inner Sphere Standard, and the +2 armors like the broadside (I haven't posted it yet) would match the Clan Elemental. Since 3 MP (of whatever type) seemed to be the gold standard of movement for battle armor, I wanted the stealth and crisis suits to match that. However since between lore, and older versions, the broadside suits were considered slow, I only put enough speed to be able to use detachable weapon packs.

Meanwhile the payloads on the crisis and broadside out do several light mechs, which is also what they did in 40k. There was no way I could get the range their weapons had, but overall, I like how they turned out.

[Cryhavok101]

For anyone interested, I am consolidating my Warhammer 40k conversions in one thread, here: http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=55164.msg1269584#msg1269584