Stealth snipers

[Sabelkatten]

RE a short discussion about using stealth or mimetic armor, and BA not being able to get all they could out of stealth since they don't have the range or speed to fight from a distance.

So how far can a BA go towards doing this?

Code: [Select]

Sniper I
IS medium quad BA, 175 kg, 7 slots
5 ground MP, 120 kg
5 Improved stealth armor, 300 kg, 5 slots
5-slot turret, 80 kg, 1 slot
APWM, 5 kg, 1 slot
LRM2 w/ 12 rounds, 320 kg, 5 slots (T)
This was my first idea. Got a bit of armor to take some stray shots, and the weight happened to work out perfectly. ;)

Code: [Select]

Sniper II
IS medium quad BA, 175 kg, 7 slots
5 ground MP, 120 kg
5 Improved stealth armor, 300 kg, 5 slots
7-slot turret, 100 kg, 1 slot
APWM, 5 kg, 1 slot
LRM1 w/ 16 rounds, 195 kg, 6 slots (T)
DLGR, 100 kg, 1 slot (T)
An alternative that theoretically can kill something with more than ~50 total armor, assuming it can survive moving in to use its GR after running out of LRMs. 16 rounds means it will be irritating for a good long while, thought!

Code: [Select]

Sniper III
IS medium quad BA, 175 kg, 7 slots
5 ground MP, 120 kg
2 Improved stealth armor, 120 kg, 5 slots
6-slot turret, 90 kg, 1 slot
APWM, 5 kg, 1 slot
LRM3 w/ 12 rounds, 480 kg, 5 slots
The whole point is not getting hit, so why bother with armor?  ^-^

Code: [Select]

Sniper IV
IS medium quad BA, 175 kg, 7 slots
5 ground MP, 120 kg
BA mechanical jump booster, 6 MP, 100 kg
2 Improved stealth armor, 120 kg, 5 slots
6-slot turret, 90 kg, 1 slot
APWM, 5 kg, 1 slot
LRM2 w/ 16 rounds, 390 kg, 5 slots
I almost forgot it's possible to get one more point of speed... This might actually be the best take on the concept. As long as the enemy doesn't have any fast units (and you don't have anything to block them) and/or the enemy doesn't pack a lot of mech mortars or LT cannons it can plink away for a good long while!

[lucho]

Cool idea, even though I'm not so crazy about the low armor levels (sooner or later, you will get hit). The idea of combining high speed with stealth armor isn't new, but on battlearmor...

Definitely worth it!  O0

[Lazarus Jaguar]

I have an LRM stealth flyer here.  The drawback was the limited ammo on the launchers.  But still, love that someone else is experimenting with the LRM+stealth concept.

[Sabelkatten]

I have an LRM stealth flyer here.  The drawback was the limited ammo on the launchers.  But still, love that someone else is experimenting with the LRM+stealth concept.

VTOL BA? Yeah, that should max out at 8 rounds unless I've missed something... :-\

Cool idea, even though I'm not so crazy about the low armor levels (sooner or later, you will get hit). The idea of combining high speed with stealth armor isn't new, but on battlearmor...

Definitely worth it!  O0

The ones with 2 armor might be a bit thin, but considering how much damage they're doing 5 points should go pretty far IME. I mean, how many people are going to send any major ordinance after a lousy LRM8?

[Lazarus Jaguar]

VTOL BA? Yeah, that should max out at 8 rounds unless I've missed something... :-\

Exactly.  On the plus side, it got an obscenely high THM.

[Sabelkatten]

Exactly.  On the plus side, it got an obscenely high THM.

1 more than these quads, so it's not that incredible... The big advantage is ignoring terrain when moving - a jump 5 mech will always catch run 5 BA in the end, but VTOLs can theoretically make themselves uncatchable by any ground unit.

[Phobos]

1 more than these quads, so it's not that incredible... The big advantage is ignoring terrain when moving - a jump 5 mech will always catch run 5 BA in the end, but VTOLs can theoretically make themselves uncatchable by any ground unit.

How about LBX rounds?

Or ADA Arrow IVs?  :D

[Sabelkatten]

How about LBX rounds?

Or ADA Arrow IVs?  :D

In the first case stealth still works and they usually don't cause that much damage, so while it's bad it's not terrible (unless you stray into range of LB-X carriers or something like that!).

As for ADAAs, well, if you're on the ground they could drop HE on you instead... #P

[Phobos]

In the first case stealth still works and they usually don't cause that much damage, so while it's bad it's not terrible (unless you stray into range of LB-X carriers or something like that!).

As for ADAAs, well, if you're on the ground they could drop HE on you instead... #P

Not sure, but unless the VTOL BA is on the ground (which kind of defeats the whole point), LB-X clusters should receive the usual flak bonus, right?

[sillybrit]

Stealthy VTOL battle armor would really want to avoid conventional infantry armed with LB-X field guns. They'd lose the stealth and BA target modifiers, leaving the BA with just the speed and flight modifiers, totalling +3, which would be neutralized by the -3 of a LB-X making a flak attack.

Artillery flak attacks are also nasty, as they ignore the stealth and all other target modifiers.