ZRO-114 Zero - 35t, TRO2750
Originally posted 1 Jun. 2005. All proposed fan-variants should be posted in the corresponding "FotW Workshop" thread. The ZRO-114
Zero is one of those oddities of the Star League era that makes it clear that the Terran Hegemony’s research and design bureaux were willing to experiment with concepts that flew in the face of received wisdom - sometimes successfully, sometimes not. A
light fire-support spaceframe, if you can credit the idea, the
Zero has a good deal of firepower going for it... but not too much else, which means that it requires thoughtful handling. Admittedly, a ‘light fire-support Aerospace Fighter’ is as dubious a concept to the naval/aviation mind as a ‘light fire-support BattleMech’ like the
Valkyrie is to many ground-force commanders, but there are some interesting tricks that can be played....
I’m pretty sure that TRO2750 was the first CBT sourcebook I actually bought. When I got it home, my eyes were drawn almost exclusively to the ’Mechs and WarShips which had fired my imagination to lay down my hard-earned cash, and so I never really looked at the fighters in terms of ‘game mechanics’. Looking at the ZRO-114 in the light of everything I’ve learned while hanging out here, though, my first impression was "Exsqueeze me?" :o ???
The rules of fighter design are well-established, both in the rules and from an in-character perspective. Conventional thinking has it that while medium fighters can strike a decent balance between speed, armour and firepower, and heavies are usually lumbering juggernauts with fearful amounts of weaponry, light fighters sacrifice both armour and throw-weight for speed and agility, seeking to be "the fustust there with the mostust" so as to engage the enemy as soon as possible and maximise separation between the hostiles and whatever the lightfighters are trying to protect. In the eyes of the followers of this dogma, the
Zero is an act of heresy. At a mere 6/9, the
Zero is not ‘fast’; hell, there are some fighters twice its mass which can match its turning or acceleration performance, a fact which does not lend itself to a favourable opinion. The fact that using a mere 140SFE (plus the customary five tons of reaction-mass) in a 35-ton fighter leaves an impressive fraction of tonnage free doesn’t really register on the conventional thinker in the light of that first impression. Much of that tonnage goes to the structure - some
ten tons (28.5% of the overall mass! :o) is invested in a 61/28/43 armour layout, making the
Zero almost unbelievably tough by lightfighter standards (only the novel folding wings are vulnerable to ML TACs, but as they’re devoid of weapons systems anyway, it’s not as big a deal as it might otherwise be). The rest of the mass, however, goes to the armoury... which is the ZRO-114’s real selling point. While supported by only the ten integral SHS, which means sustained barrages are rather unwise, a light starfighter whose nose houses a large laser, a medium laser, and an LRM-10 with a ton of ammo can deal out a very healthy dose of "don’t ****** with me!" in a very short time - at all ranges, to boot.
(Note well, though: not one piece of the stock
Zero is Level-2 technology. This means that
if you can explain their presence (whether by ‘finding a cache’ or ‘appropriating’ them from ComStar or the Clans), they are
perfectly legal for IS1-only games... heeheeheehee. }:) And the cost is hard to argue with: BV of 738, or a paltry 1.6 million C-bills per copy....)
All of this in mind, the
Zero cannot be used like normal light starfighters: it simply can’t hope to keep up with most of its competitors, either in a race or a turning fight, and all the firepower in the world isn’t worth much if you can’t bring it to bear. It is not intended for the front lines of the fight, and it should not be put on those lines if at all avoidable. It is a support player, pure and simple.
On the other hand, the
Zero’s arsenal includes two weapons capable of thresholding many light or medium starfighters from almost any angle, so a couple of ZRO-114 lances hanging back on the fringes of a main furball can pour grief into opposing units just fine, meaning that other, heavier designs capable of providing such support can be assigned to more decisive roles, like kicking seven colours of shite out of capital assets. ;)
On the gripping hand, using ‘bait and switch’ tactics in the offensive role can make for nasty, nasty things happening to an opposing force. Experienced ’Mech bashers know this technique well: it’s much like parking a
JagerMech on a hilltop, then jamming a
Banshee -3E in the other guy’s face or racing a
Jenner across his field-of-fire. While he’s busy trying to knock down your bait (be it big and tough or small and evasive), your support fire is steadily chewing pieces off of him - little pieces, perhaps, but the cumulative effects can be telling. Threaten a DropShip with a squadron of
Thunderbirds and one of
Zeroes, and which is he more likely to regard as the biggest threat (and thus engage first)? (Those of you who said "
T-birds" get a gold star. ;)) But after two or three turns, depending on just how tough the Dropper is, those
Zeroes may well be the ones to deliver the killing blow! (Remember, a squadron of
Zeroes packs an LRM-bay worth some 4 Capital damage, and the large lasers are good for a 5-point bay.
Not something Level-1 players can ignore without soon regretting it.) Heck, ‘escorting’ a
Stuka lance with two
Zero pairs could be just as effective! :o
Note well, though: in light of the
mantras, ZRO-114s
must have the protection of friendly interceptors and/or dogfighters, or the enemy’s will slaughter them in short order.
Players wishing to counter
Zeroes have already taken the most vital step simply by making that decision: they have acknowledged the ZRO-114 as a factor. Those who ignore the support it can provide to an opposing force in favour of juicier meat will get mauled for their imprudence; those who seek to engage
Zeroes directly have already sealed their doom, for they are too slow to escape interceptors and too light to absorb direct punishment from mediums or heavies, especially those like the
Corsair and
Stingray that can match their performance
and firepower. You still need to be mindful of their forward firepower, but hitting a
Zero unit from the flanks or behind with a few interceptors should spoil their fun in short order; even if they’re rescued before being destroyed, you’ll have deprived your opponent of their fire-support for some time, quite possibly decisively.
[VARIANT PROPOSAL(S) REDACTED] All proposed fan-variants - including my own - belong in the corresponding "FotW Workshop" thread: http://www.classicbattletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,2348.0.html Be advised: the attached .txt transcripts of previous runs of this thread contain numerous reader-proposals for variants. I’ll try to change those out for ‘sanitised’ versions of those threads when I can, but I can’t promise it’ll be soon - that’s a lot of ground to cover. ;)
