Why Build Artillery 'Mechs?

[Liam's Ghost]

The impavido was a joint program between the Mariks and Liaos, with the Word of Blake providing technical assistance.

[Crimson Dawn]

I think it is possible to make a 55 ton mech (for some reason I am imagining a shadowhawk) with a thumper artillery piece taking up a large portion of both its left arm and torso.  The mech would use a 225 engine (why 225 because you will need all the heat sinks in the engine and the 220 requires one heat sink outside of the engine), endo steel construction, null signature system, angel ECM, 4 jump jets, 11 tons of armor, double heat sinks, case, and 2 tons of ammo.  For point blank defense you get 3 medium lasers (2 in chest and one in the head) and an ER flamer (right arm) to take out infantry that try to get close and potentially light things on fire for utility.

The succession wars variant would have only 10.5 tons of armor, no case, no ECM, normal medium lasers, no null signature system, single heat sinks, and a standard flamer.  It also would use the more typical 22 engine since critical space is no longer a problem.

I think in both cases they would be a very solid option in their era for artillery. 

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

That seems pretty overboard for an artillery mech.

[Crimson Dawn]

That seems pretty overboard for an artillery mech.

Perhaps though it does have its benefits.  It would be very difficult to kill for an artillery piece.  It can get almost anywhere since it is a mech with ok speed and jump jets.  A vehicle may not get into the middle of that forest or on top of that plateau but the mech can and it can also more easily maneuver around obstacles making it harder to pin down and destroy.  The advanced version would be really hard to track and target which I could see being a great feature on a mech that can already fire from really far away.  In order to find and destroy it you would need direct line of sight or perhaps triangulating its position which is made harder since unlike other vehicles it is more mobile.  The advanced version is probably a little bit light on back up weaponry but it really should be avoiding direct combat whenever possible.

I do not think the succession war one would be too much though.

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

A Null-Sig system and Angel ECM just seem excessive for something that's going to be spending most of it's time kilometers from enemy lines.

Like, you'd see that on the XTRO version, but by the time it got to the production model, the Angel would be a standard Guardian and the Null-Sig would be gone.

[Kidd]

A Null Sig, Angel ECM *anything* would be a hard to kill *anything*

But then there's Counterbattery Fire, how does that work in BT...

[Colt Ward]

Well, we call keeping the map in FDC 'Charts & Darts' . . . counterbattery fire in BT is like throwing darts at the chart (map) since you have no tracking radar to plot the flight path.  Then again, that should not be much surprise b/c of how BT ignores the simple math formulas they developed in WWI let alone more recent advancement in accurate firing.

[Charlie 6]

Well, we call keeping the map in FDC 'Charts & Darts' . . . counterbattery fire in BT is like throwing darts at the chart (map) since you have no tracking radar to plot the flight path.  Then again, that should not be much surprise b/c of how BT ignores the simple math formulas they developed in WWI let alone more recent advancement in accurate firing.

Hey, that's basic Euclidian geometry BT has blown off.  You know parallel lines and opposite interior angles...all that jazz.

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

It was probably a side effect of the KF Drive.

[Crimson Dawn]

I was operating under the idea that a mech without that sort of technology would be easy to find and therefor vulnerable to reprisal.  I figured the longer it cannot be found the more havoc it could cause.

Of course this is all moot anyway I believe I miscalculated the number of heat sinks a given engine gets so I would still need to have a heat sink out of the engine and this mech does not have the room for it.  So no null signature and therefor I think guardian ECM would be more than enough.  Guess make the medium lasers ER at this point since you would not need to save 10 heat for stealth.

You could possibly go with stealth armor instead but that would require removing the endo steel and I understand there is a composite structure or something that gives the same benefit for less but it makes you more vulnerable to damage to your structure.  An artillery unit does not want to engage directly but I am not sure you would want to rely on that.

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

A Thumper has enough range that the only times that your hypothetical mech would be in serious vulnerability to being found would be either if the enemy had uncontested air superiority or your forces were being overrun, at which point you probably would be hiding or hoofing it back to a rally point anyway.

[truetanker]

Which is why I built mine on a Hunchback frame.

Remember Solaris Games? I believe you'd call it Cosmetic Accessories or False Weapon Ports. Where the Thumper would just be disguised as a " compensated " AC/20, ie That -4G seems to be showing more tube, and what's with that oversized muzzle brake? Compensating for something? or Wow! Swingin' his Richard around much? Also which is why a Lance of Hunchies would delay IDing it!

Two Swayback-4N's, a Painback-4P and a Thumpback in this lance...

From the air, would look like a pair of mini-Archers, and twin Hunchbacks... Cause the Painback would have same profile as Thumpback, except T-Back would have a larger Muzzle Brake than norm.

TT

[Carbon Elasmobranch]

That seems pretty overboard for an artillery mech.

I'd go in for low engine ratings and Mechanical Jump Boosters.  Perhaps a heavily-modified Annihilator - strip out the autocannons and replace them with a 40-ton jump booster for 8 Jump MP.  You can take out the heat sinks and just put in 10 doubles, as well as the medium (pulse) lasers, and use that tonnage for the thumper, which will have four tons of ammo.  One of the CASE installations can potentially be removed as well, and you can add on a few normal medium lasers.

[Requiemking]

Which is why I built mine on a Hunchback frame.

Remember Solaris Games? I believe you'd call it Cosmetic Accessories or False Weapon Ports. Where the Thumper would just be disguised as a " compensated " AC/20, ie That -4G seems to be showing more tube, and what's with that oversized muzzle brake? Compensating for something? or Wow! Swingin' his Richard around much? Also which is why a Lance of Hunchies would delay IDing it!

Two Swayback-4N's, a Painback-4P and a Thumpback in this lance...

From the air, would look like a pair of mini-Archers, and twin Hunchbacks... Cause the Painback would have same profile as Thumpback, except T-Back would have a larger Muzzle Brake than norm.

TT

Funnily enough, by combining a few rulesets, you can back that mini death star laser on the 4P all strike the same component at a mere to-hit penalty of 2.....