Scorpion, What It Could Have Been

[Luxan]

I've been on a Quad kick recently. 

This is a little re-imagining of what the original Scorpion 'mech could have been. As such, this is all Intro/SW tech. With the exception of the Quad Turret, which honestly shouldn't be anything higher than Standard tech for Quads in all eras.

Anyway, this little guy drops the speed a bit. 86 kph is just fine for AoW medium 'mechs, pushing it further just yields diminishing returns. Drop in a couple more heat sinks so that it can fire its main gun and scoot too. The "backup" weapons are greatly improved. Instead of a lowly SRM-6, we now have two SRM-4s and two Medium Lasers, all turret mounted. So, they might be able to underrun the PPC but they'll regret it. The PPC is not turret mounted because its easy to keep the enemy in front of you when they are half a kilometer away but not so easy at 90 meters. Finally, armor protection is increased to a plausible level.

Maybe, if Dr. Harrison's original design had been more like this, the Scorpion wouldn't have such a bad reputation?

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Scorpion SCP-1NT

Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Experimental)
Tonnage: 55
Battle Value: 1,284

Equipment                                          Mass
Internal Structure                                  5.5
Engine                        275 Fusion           15.5
Walking MP: 5
Running MP: 8
Jumping MP: 0
Heat Sink                     12                      2
Gyro                                                  3
Cockpit                                               3
Armor Factor                  176                    11

                          Internal   Armor   
                          Structure  Value   
     Head                    3         9     
     Center Torso            18        26   
     Center Torso (rear)               9     
     R/L Torso               13        20   
     R/L Torso (rear)                  6     
     FR/L Leg                13        20   
     RR/L Leg                13        20   

Weapons and Ammo      Location  Critical   Heat    Tonnage
PPC                      LT        3        10      7.0   
Heat Sink                LT        1        -       ---   
2 Medium Laser (T)       RT        2        6       2.0   
2 SRM 4 (T)              RT        2        6       4.0   
SRM 4 Ammo (25)          RT        1        -       1.0   
Quad Turret              RT        1        -       1.0   


[Red Pins]

Fully agree on the turret.  Nice little build, I could see it brawl with the other 55-tonners.  That +1 for the quad build is a nice little bonus.

[RifleMech]

Looks good

[Elmoth]

I.like it and would field it

[Charistoph]

Add the Quad Turret to the things that don't make sense for how long it took to develop.  When a 'Mech is often referred to as a "walking tank", but the Quads lack even the half-turret of normal 'Mechs.

I blame Amaris, because its easy.

[garhkal]

Add the Quad Turret to the things that don't make sense for how long it took to develop.  When a 'Mech is often referred to as a "walking tank", but the Quads lack even the half-turret of normal 'Mechs.

I blame Amaris, because its easy.

Especially when the original Goliath figurine, CAME WITH what looked like a Turret...

[Der Kommissar]

The 'quads can't torso twist' thing always seemed like severe over-tuning to me.  Yes, quads are more stable and have a higher armor limit for their tonnage relative to bipedal 'mechs.  But they give up their hands to do it, as well as a double-fistful of crits.

[Daryk]

I'm just thinking sticking with the SRM-6 instead of two 4s would have worked better.  That could have been max armor and maybe an AI weapon... 

[Der Kommissar]

A flamer to roast the squishies is always nice if there's room.

[Daryk]

Exactly! 

[Luxan]

I'm just thinking sticking with the SRM-6 instead of two 4s would have worked better.  That could have been max armor and maybe an AI weapon... 

Max armor on a quad is of dubious value, IMHO. The legs are about as likely to be hit as the side torsos. So the sweet spot, again in my opinion, is once you get the torso armor maxed out and get the legs just as well protected as the front side torsos. Armoring the legs more after that just means the side torsos are more than likely what pops first.

But your point on the AI weapon is taken. So, you could drop to an SRM-6 and put a Flamer in the turret. Or, if you don't put the AI weapon in the turret, it actually makes the turret 0.5 tons lighter. So, you could add a pair of Machine Guns and a half-ton of ammo (just not to the turret). That would allow you to use the AI weapons as well as all of the other short range weapons together, almost making up for the loss of the two SRM tubes.

[Daryk]

Yeah, turret rounding is brutal if you don't use Fractional Accounting.

[garhkal]

The 'quads can't torso twist' thing always seemed like severe over-tuning to me.  Yes, quads are more stable and have a higher armor limit for their tonnage relative to bipedal 'mechs.  But they give up their hands to do it, as well as a double-fistful of crits.

And as we some times see in SW, at-at's can 'twist' to shoot stuff near their side...

[RifleMech]

Especially when the original Goliath figurine, CAME WITH what looked like a Turret...

TRO:3025 calls it a turret like head. We always treated it like a turret.