Mech of the Week: ARB-001 Arbiter SecurityMechSlipped into XTRO: Corporations, the ARB-001
Arbiter isn't a BattleMech. It looks like one, certainly, but it's actually an IndustrialMech. The looks are, in fact, the entire point.
Arbiters are like a guard dog that growls and growls but can only gum you to death - intimidating to look at but entirely incapable of following that threat up in meaningful terms. And the looks - XTRO: Corporations appropriately uses the term “gothic” - seem more like something you'd expect out of Warhammer 40K specifically because the idea isn't to threaten military forces. It's to scare pirates and raiders. Meridian Manufacturing understood that pirates looking at a fairly bulky unknown design are going to back off whereas an equal number of, say, Vedettes might not be so imposing. A certain amount of that experience might have been won at the hands of the numerous raids that delayed the
Arbiter's production from full speed until 3074. Whatever marketing campaign they're using, it's working because they had a six month backlog for
Arbiters in mid-3077. Some mercs are buying them as cheap security assets but the primary customers are militias and other third-tier forces, with orders finding their way from New St. Andrews to Circinus, the Rim Collection, former League worlds, and even parts of the Lyran Commonwealth according to TRO: Prototypes. Despite what I'm about to say about the design's dubious tactical merits, I think the game is richer for the
Arbiter being out there stomping around. The fluff is great, especially in XTRO: Corporations. Things like this should exist. None of that makes it a good idea in combat.
On to those tacticl merits. Exactly what the customers are buying is... interesting. In the Chinese sense. The ARB-001 isn't an impressive machine. At 35 tons, it's paying 7 tons for internal structure as an IndustrialMech, while the 175-rated fuel cell means it's of middling to low speed by modern light standards. One single heat sink isn't going to get you very far - while IndustrialMechs don't pay for movement heat if they use ICEs or fuel cells, they do have to deal with weapon and external heat. Another half-ton goes into providing an ejection seat the pilot will probably need sooner or later. Five tons of heavy industrial armor provides the same proteciton as standard, vaguely approaching reasonable for a design this size. Forward armor is vaguely decent, with 10 points on the torsos and legs and eight on the arms, while the rear torso is abysmal with only two points, and eight points gives the cockpit nearly the protection most MechWarriors enjoy. The armament is not exactly going to impress anyone. A heavy rifle cannon packs a bit more punch than an AC/5 against modern heavy unit armor (and will kill light BA and at least a few of the larger suits dead), but with only six shots from the single ton of ammunition you have, you won't be shooting much. That's good. You'll need time to cool down between shots since each one generates four heat. I can't say I've seen a lot of designs where an AC/5 is a solid, reliable upgrade I fully endorse but I'm in full agreement with the people mentioned in the variants section of TRO: Prototypes who go down that path. You lose a bit of damage (a lot against BA) but you gain the ability to keep firing all the time while also using advanced ammunition if that strikes your fancy.
I'm going to be blunt: If you commit
Arbiters against significant enemy forces (i.e., more than Scorpions and
Stingers), you're not going to get all or even most of them back. I had two Tokugawas chew through no less than five
Arbiters fairly quickly from the wrong end of a BV mismatch before the force size modifier and with relatively light damage. Your only choice here is to fight in large numbers, the 'Mech equivalent of human wave tactics, to hopefully survive to get good numbers and bury someone in rifle shells. Although the heavy rifle is a weapon that BA aren't going to like getting hit with, the limited ammunition means that it's entirely possible for certain designs outlast you, and it doesn't take heavies to really wreck an
Aribter's day. Keep moving, too - between your light armor and your vulnerability to crits, you need to generate as many misses as possible. The AC/5 model can afford to take shots on bad numbers and might make a reasonable AA platform of last resort given flak ammo.
Stopping
Arbiters isn't difficult. A decently large weapon or two will start tearing unpleasant holes in one quickly and crit-seekers are a horrifying prospect since IndustrialMech structure adds two to the roll to determine any crits; on a 14, the blow inflicts four crits. The part that makes this even worse than it sounds, aside from the rifle ammo, is that 'Mech fuel cells have a chance to explode whenever they get hit, one that gets worse as you soak up more crits. Even one crit to the engine can potentially send the 'Mech up. Although the 'Mech is deathly vulnerable to getting significantly impaired by Infernos, a fate that's going to stick around for a while because of its limited heat dissipation, it seems rather unsporting and you can usually find better things to expend Inferno gel on, too.
References: The
Master Unit List has the
Arbiter's original model, the only one with a sheet at the moment, but no miniature has been produced to date.
