'Mech of the Week: Black Hawk (Standard)

[Empyrus]

Removed until further notice.

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

Sadly, it lacks the utterly insane Alpha Strike ability of the Black Hawk Prime, so it misses out on the best part of the original.

[Empyrus]

EDIT Nevermind, miscalculated.

Max damage for the Black Hawk is 52, this leaves heat at +8. Not bad but certainly not quite what the Nova Prime can do.

[jklantern]

My opinion on the aesthetics of this Mech:

WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO MY FAVORITE CLAN MECH!?!?!?!   :-[

[Empyrus]

I happen to like it.
Also, it is not the Nova so it isn't like it changed the Nova's looks.

[jklantern]

I happen to like it.
Also, it is not the Nova so it isn't like it changed the Nova's looks.

That is true.  There are a bunch of Dark Age aesthetic choices I find questionable, but it's not like it's hurting any old faves of mine or anything.  It just makes it harder for me to like some of the more recent designs.  But hey, just a matter of taste when you get down to it.

[Maingunnery]

That is true.  There are a bunch of Dark Age aesthetic choices I find questionable, but it's not like it's hurting any old faves of mine or anything.  It just makes it harder for me to like some of the more recent designs.  But hey, just a matter of taste when you get down to it.

I agree, for example the Black Hawk (Standard) looks like an industrial mech to me, a yellow industrial camo would look fitting on it.

[Alexander Knight]

My opinion on the aesthetics of this Mech:

WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO MY FAVORITE CLAN MECH!?!?!?!   :-[

Because your cookie bribe was woefully insufficient.

[Diamondshark]

Because your cookie bribe was woefully insufficient.

That response earns you +1 internets, that's amazing.  O0 ;D

Objectively, the Black Hawk is a good little mech, but I just can't like anything that pretends to be related to the Nova without being an unholy flashbulb of explode-y doom. But any time a (relatively) affordable Clan mech presents itself with that kind of range, I'm still at least interested.

[Empyrus]

I agree, for example the Black Hawk (Standard) looks like an industrial mech to me, a yellow industrial camo would look fitting on it.

So it does... The Dark Age 'Mechs and vehicles have this "diesel-punk" styling (or sort of "tesla-punk", thanks to those capacitor-things they got), undoubtedly partially inspired by the idea of having industrial 'Mechs play a large part in the setting.

And now i need to get one DA Black Hawk mini and paint it with industrial look...

[Wrangler]

Despite it's ugly-ness (to me) looks like a Jenner with hockey mask (from side view) and mutated with arms and legs.

The Standard is pretty tough machine and hard hitting machine.  Srm Streak in combo with the ERs tends to make other guy wish you hadn't shown up. 

Allegedly Duke Sandoval (one of the original Dark Age Splinter group leaders) had a modified Black Hawk (Standard) which had some kind of experimental Improved Jump Jets which he used to bail from crashing Union DropShip that got sabotaged. No stands have ever been given to it.  He was given the nickname "Flying Duke" for some reason, possibly related to this Black Hawk.



 

[Scotty]

I'm going to try to cover this one under Alpha Strike Sunday, for comparison.

[marauder648]

Nice article, the Black Hawk's not bad, sure its a bit crunchy but its got a good mix of armament, mobility and adequate protection (if not stellar).  I like the somewhat tesla-punk look of it and its weird football helmet like faceguard.  Against a Nova prime i'd say this is the superior machine because it can fight at range.  And won't do its namesake and represent a nova if you slap the big red go away button. 

[Wrangler]

Initially when MWDA came out i was pretty mad at Wizkids. I honestly thought due to limitations of their game, that they outright replaced the Nova with this semi-ugly Diesel-Punk version they called the Black Hawk.

 

[Empyrus]

Initially when MWDA came out i was pretty mad at Wizkids. I honestly thought due to limitations of their game, that they outright replaced the Nova with this semi-ugly Diesel-Punk version they called the Black Hawk.

I really wish there was documentation or stories about the development and design of that game.
I mean, it is possible the Black Hawk was conceived as a completely new 'Mech because the game mechanics do not support Omni-units. Yet there's no indication it wasn't meant to be the Nova, only getting new looks.
The game seemed to avoid Omnis at first certainly, the Koshi and Black Hawk aside. The Mad Cats the game has are II, III and IV, though the II looks like the original for some reason. Later they added the Thor (now Grand Summoner/Thor II) but apparently gave it Endo-Steel, which clearly indicates it wasn't meant to be the Thor with new looks but a new 'Mech (or a big misunderstanding). Correct me if i'm wrong about the timing or something.
Then there are 'Mechs like the Dasher... I mean, that surely ain't the original one, right?
I'd love to know what the game's designers and writers were thinking.

(I don't dislike the game certainly, it gave us a lot of good stuff. But there are some odd stuff, and i'd love to hear "why", even if it simple "we took artistic liberties for sake of gameplay" [which i would assume to be the real reason].)

[SteelRaven]

I agree the athletics are off but it's not the first mech that needed a face lift/bash.

While I also agree that WK went crazy with unneeded sequel mechs, the Black Hawk standard is a decent medium to field.

[Colt Ward]

Since I think the cERLL is the best gun in the game . . .

 . . . yeah, this is a mech I can get behind.  I also like the 2 as it offers more range with ER and if in close the damage of HE- I just wish the ammo had been in the torso behind a bit more armor.

Aaron Sandoval fell in his Black Hawk outside the gates of one of Tikonov's major cities.  He and a Jade Falcon abathka (Ghost Bear/Tseng?) in the desant under Helmer are the only named pilots of the design that I can recall.

[Fat Guy]

The clix game had 3 unique 'Hawks:

Yulri Wolf - Steel Wolves
Lori Kyle - Eridani Light Horse
Jodi Mazzanoble - Knight of the Sphere

[Colt Ward]

Problem is Yulri's mech got wrecked by the 2nd novel and I am not sure he left with the Blackhawk to go to Solaris VII . . . heck it would still be good to hear what happened to him & the Canid Cooperative on Solaris after the Crusader Wolves took the world.

Lori Kyle?  Well hers is likely scrap spread across the Mytoo Mountains . . . maybe repainted green or brown.

The Knight I do not remember hearing anything more about, but by 3145 . . . good chance of being dead.

[JadeHellbringer]

It's definitely a bracket design- lasers or SRMs, both is a little hairy. Fun machine though- in particular it's murder against armor units, where it hits hard at ranges that are tough to reply at, then switches to the tank-killing SRM spam. Nasty customer. I can see why it became as popular in the Dark Age as it did.

[Deadborder]

Allegedly Duke Sandoval (one of the original Dark Age Splinter group leaders) had a modified Black Hawk (Standard) which had some kind of experimental Improved Jump Jets which he used to bail from crashing Union DropShip that got sabotaged. No stands have ever been given to it.  He was given the nickname "Flying Duke" for some reason, possibly related to this Black Hawk.

The novel states that it has "experimental" jump jets that gave it a 60% greater jump distance. Given that a 5 jump MP plus 60% is 8 jump MP, that's a pretty good case for them being Improved Jump Jets. At the time of the novel's writing, IJJs were still experimental Max Tech stuff.

Now to figure where he made up rhe 5.5 tons...

[Arkansas Warrior]

Unfortunately this means the armor is only 80% of maximum. The arms survive AC/20 test but the armor is breached even with just two Clan-spec ER medium lasers, side torsos can take the ER mediums but a Gauss slug will breach them, center torso and legs are breached with AC/20 but fortunately survive two Gauss shots (and unfortunately the center torso won't survive three Gauss shots). The rear armor is strong enough to withstand falling but anything bigger than an IS medium (pulse) laser will go internal. A shame about the Horses skimping on armor, using 8.5 tons of Ferro-Fibrous would have allowed for some 95% armor capacity.

Ok, this part has me all sorts of confused.  How can the arms survive the AC20 test if they're breached by 2 ERMLs?  The legs are breached by an AC20, but not two gauss rounds?

[Colt Ward]

Survive is different than breach . . . breach means that the armor is done, survive means that with IS the location is still there . . .

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

Given that internal structure is consistent based on tonnage, I think that it would probably be easier if a mech's survivability were graded by its armor without factoring the IS unless it's got something special about the IS that makes a difference.

[Empyrus]

The novel states that it has "experimental" jump jets that gave it a 60% greater jump distance. Given that a 5 jump MP plus 60% is 8 jump MP, that's a pretty good case for them being Improved Jump Jets. At the time of the novel's writing, IJJs were still experimental Max Tech stuff.

Now to figure where he made up rhe 5.5 tons...

Perhaps swap Streaks for standard SRMs, would release 4 tons, using Ferro-Fibrous might release the rest.

[cavingjan]

This article made me break out the mini and start to assemble it last night. It will probably be painted as yulri's ride.

[Arkansas Warrior]

Survive is different than breach . . . breach means that the armor is done, survive means that with IS the location is still there . . .

I've always understood the AC20 test to be "Will an AC20 breach the armor?"  So "survive the AC20 test" and "breached by 2 ERMLs" in conjunction makes no sense.  I've since checked the TRO and see that it has 13 points of armor on the arm, so I guess the author must mean it like you do, I've just never seen "AC20 test" mean "is the location still there" before.  My bad.

[Kit deSummersville]

It gets dull saying "location X has Y armor" all the time....

[Empyrus]

Regarding armor distribution/description:

As i said in the schedule thread, i did a rush job, so if there's unclear text, sorry. Will endeavor to be more careful in the future.

My intention in describing armor is, in general:
"can take a [weapon(s combined) damage value]": little armor left over
"[X] strips armor": no armor left
"[X] breaches": internal structure damage
"survives", should actually be "location survives": internal structure+max allocated armor value is higher than [X].


I'm not a fan of repeating info from TROs verbatim though i know i do some of that. I've considered a Greek Fire-style table but i kinda regard that too similar to TRO info. I might do a more complete info-bar at some point that includes things like speed and armor level and allocation, and concentrate on other aspects, but i'm not sure yet.


As a general rule, i assume people have access to TROs/record sheets and can check details there, while i give an overview of things along with some analysis/opinion. I see fan articles as "an excuse to talk about a 'Mech" (so to speak) more so than complete reviews, overviews or analysis of individual designs. Then people can talk, do more complete analysis, post opinions, and we can discuss stuff. Also, you see something you disagree with, feel free to challenge it, though admittedly this one at least is a bit light on opinions from my end that people could contest.
(I also assume people are familiar about general stuff rather than writing for newbies. Also something i might change, i have some ideas of pointing out specific situations and stuff but this requires some work plus possibly putting together some images.)

[Deadborder]

Perhaps swap Streaks for standard SRMs, would release 4 tons, using Ferro-Fibrous might release the rest.

I had considered that he might have replaced the cERLLs with cERMLs, which would make up most of the weight difference. The range is offset by the IJJs to a degree, and there's not that much of a firepower loss.

Dropping the Streaks down to regular SRMs might also work if he reduces their oversized ammo bays.