I…I am…EMPEROOOOR…
Ahem sorry had to get that out of my system. The EMP series of Mech’s has been a solid fixture in the Battletech universe until the First and Second Succession Wars came skipping along, flung nukes around like a demented and shrieking lunatic and ran off gibbering and hooting. One of these buckets of instant sunshine also obliterated the factory that built the Emperor.
Rendered extinct due to its high tech design and production materials the Emperor became a footnote in history save perhaps a few surviving original examples lurking in a museum or a boneyard. It was not until the discovery of the Helm Memory Core that this machine could be rebuilt.
The original Emperor walked off the Factory Floor in 2502 and was one of the first generation of assault Mech’s and was the first Mech in its weight class to mount Jump Jets. For its time I would guess that the Emperor was adequately armed, and was roughly comparable to other Mech’s of its generation but due to the rapid march of technology it became obsolete quickly.
The design spluttered on until it got a SERIOUS refit and basically became the Emperor that we were introduced to in TRO 3058. This version was issued to the Royal Regiments of the SLDF exclusively and many either left with the SLDF or were destroyed meaning that the few survivors that remained in the Inner Sphere could probably easily fit in a single large dropship.
With its re-introduction the Emperor was produced in the St Ives Compact and exported to eager buyers in House Davion, Marik and Steiner but with the fall of the Compact the Capellans then went MINE!!! And the World of Blake also got their cybernetic mittens on Emperor’s producing variants of their own. The end result is a rather surprising number of variants, weapons fits and types, each with the flavour of their respective users written large on them.
What do I get?Well for 18.7 million C-bills (give or take) you get a slow but oddly agile 90 tonne death machine. The Emperor for the most part is not a nippy machine with a 54kph max speed but all come equipped with a trio of heavy duty jump jets letting it do 90 meter bunny hops. It was the first Mech this size to mount them, the more famous Highlander came out considerably later.
Going off the ‘standard’ 6A model introduced in 3058 the Emperor is a fusion of new and old technologies. At its time of introduction the Emperor was apparently the first Mech to combine an XL engine, LB-X 10 AC’s as well as double heatsinks and CASE but this could well be propaganda by its builders and designers.
A 270 rated XL engine is the Mech’s beating heart and powers it along at its aforementioned 54kph speed whilst also providing additional thrust for the Jump jets (3/5/3 in game terms). Space limitations prohibit the use of Ferro-Fibrous armour and instead a meaty 17.5 tonnes of standard plate shield the Mech’s frame and internals from damage.
Breaking out the weapons array for testing this means that the 6A can withstand a pair of AC-20 blasts to its chest followed by a large laser hit before going internal. The side torso’s can withstand a pair of gauss hits as can the arms. The legs require a pair of gauss slugs followed by a large laser hit to go internal. The back can take a PPC hit whilst the rear sides can withstand a large laser hit. So all in all…very impressive on the armour front. So good armour, adequate speed (perhaps slow for its size but the Jump jets offer some yummy tactical options) and lots of weight saved and you can guess where that goes. Firepower. The Emperor backs up its regal name with a lot of firepower as we’ll see below.
VariantsEMP-1A – The great grand pappy and the first Emperor type to be designed and see service, designed when the primitive Mackie was the bleeding edge of technology the 1A is utterly obsolete in the modern day and is equipped with a slew of primitive items, but then again it was also a prototype so we should not be too hard on grandpa. Still it could jump which is a novelty for the time. Armament is limited due to the weight of its components and engine to a pair of AC-5’s and a trio of Medium lasers although the cannons do draw from a nice and deep two tonne ammo bin each which is a nice thing giving the Mech a surprising amount of battlefield endurance.
EMP-5A - Grandpa had a midlife crisis! After the prototype of the 1A the 5A became the standard model during the Age of War and with its lighter components was able to be up gunned and its cooling systems improved. The 5A’s retains the AC-5s but halves their ammo bins with each cannon fed by a 1 tonne bin now. The trio of medium lasers are retained whilst a pair of large lasers are also mounted, one on each arm. Six additional standard heatsinks are added allowing the Mech to remain heat neutral if you fire both large lasers and don’t move. For its age though this machine isn’t bad, it would fit in nicely with the Succession War’s era armies.
EMP-6A - I’m baaaaaaaaaack! The 6A was introduced to us in TRO 3058 and is typical of that books Mech designs, well thought out and balanced. The lineage of the 5A to 6A is obvious, the AC/Large laser mix is retained but the XL engine of the 6A means the autocannons get bigger and are the then new LB-10X type, each one given a nice two tonne bin for use of the flexible ammo types the new cannon offered. The medium lasers were also updated with two being replaced with Medium Pulse Lasers whilst the large lasers were retained in their arm mountings above the autocannons. The number of Heatsinks was also decreased but new double heatsinks were fitted letting it vent 24 heat. By any standard this is a good mech.
EMP-6D – BRRRRRRRRRRRRRT! The Federated Sun’s variant produced during the Civil War and you know what that means. NEW TOYS! Out go the LB-10’s and in go the Davion’s beloved RAC-5’s whilst all the lasers are upgraded to ER versions and another two tonnes of double heatsinks are added letting it vent 28 heat in total. Six tonnes of ammo feed the very hungry guns but the ER lasers mean it can still fight after the cannons run dry or jam (which is far more likely). Whilst the RAC’s can spew out a greater amount of damage they are far more unreliable than a solid hit from the older style AC’s. Still it’s a good generalist Mech and I’d not want to see one walk round a corner with both RACs ready at short range for sure. Because of a lack of crit spaces this Mech stores a tonne of ammo in each leg, in addition to the two tonnes per arm. Pray you don’t get a leg crit..
EMP-6L –
'By being subtle the expert is silent, he is inaudible'. This is the Capellans first throw at one and of course this means stealth armour which was applied to many many Mech’s with the passion of an obsessive compulsive when Stealth armour became a thing. In a big change the 6L’s engine is replaced by a standard one and the weapons fit is extensively altered as is the Mech’s musculature which was replaced with Triple Strength Myomer which is useful when it heats up.
Unfortunately something had to go and in this case it’s the extra heatsinks, and the 6L only has the 10 doubles the engine comes with.
In place of the weapons a Gauss Rifle and ER PPC are the Mech’s main weapons now, allowing it to reach out and touch someone at extreme range whilst being protected by its Stealth armour. The three tonne ammo bin for the Gauss ensures that the gun won’t run dry too quickly. As the range drops the 6L brings a quartet of Medium Pulse lasers out to play whilst a Guardian ECM lurks in the left arm , a needful thing for the Stealth armour to work.
EMP-6M M for Marik (and the Master…) the 6M is the FWL/WoB effort and again is an extensive rebuild and is basically an entirely new machine much like the 6L. Powered by the newly developed Light Fusion engine for improved battlefield endurance the 6M features an Endo-Steel skeleton. The weapons fit is brand new and built around a fire support ideal. Paired Light Gauss Rifles and ER Large Lasers give this machine a very long range punch. This is made even more potent by the C3I system mounted on the 6M allowing this long range sniper to provide pinpoint fire with a good spotter. Each Gauss draws from a single tonne of ammo each but that’s still 16 shots .
For close in defence a trio of medium pulse lasers and a single ER Medium are adequate weapons. This heat hog though has only the ten double heatsinks the engine comes with for cooling. Handy it’s got TSM then… Even so to save more weight something had to go and the FWL/Wobbies shaved half a tonne off the Mech’s armour spread out evenly across its frontal facings and limbs.
EMP-6S FIRE ZE CANNONS! Steiner not wanting to be left out of the ‘lets make an Emperor’ game went ahead and designed the 6S who’s sole purpose is to live in tight terrain and scare the bejasus out of anyone that comes close. This thing is a Demolisher II on legs, there’s really no other way of putting it and of course it’s a Steiner design so this means BIG autocannons. A pair of LB-20X autocannons takes up the vast bulk of the 6S’s tonnage and they are supported by trio of Medium pulse lasers and a standard medium laser. In point blank engagements or against tanks this machine is without a doubt devastating and the LB autocannons can also do unpleasant things to aircraft as well and with six tonnes of ammo you can afford to take the shots. Of course the brutally short range of its firepower also means this machine NEEDS support in terrain that is not a city or a dense forest.
EMP-7L – Sneak sneak BOOM. Another Capellan effort the 7L goes back to its stealth armoured roots as well as retaining the TSM of the 6L but the weapons fit is quite different and it’s more a brawling stealth Mech rather than the usual sniper faire offered. To save weight the jump jets were removed and the weapons fit altered to a pair of standard AC-10’s which are there to use (and abuse) the new types of ammo for the old type cannons of which six tonnes of ammo are carried. Everything else is replaced by an ER Large and a pair of medium pulse lasers. I view this as a bodyguard for the more traditional Capellan Stealth armour Mech’s which tend to be snipers with limited short range weapons. Like its 6L the 7L is powered by a standard engine but it’s fitted with a pair of extra double heatsinks. One HUGE flaw in this design is its ammo storage. All six tonnes of AC ammo are stored on one place in the right torso. Mr Murphy and Sod of Law are waiting to say hello to you with this machine and crits.
EMP-8L A blackout era refit that proves the Emperor is alive and well even in 3145. The Jump jets are back and the TSM and stealth armour are still here making this Mech still VERY Capellan. Also making an appearance again are the two LB-10’s of the 6A but the supporting weapons are all brand new. Two s̶t̶o̶l̶e̶n̶
borrowed Medium Re-engineered lasers counter advanced armour shenanigans whilst making it even more Cappie a Plasma Rifle with a two tonne ammo bin finishes off the armament. The big bore cannons have four tonnes of ammo between them allowing for a nice mix of cluster and solid rounds and again for a Stealth Mech its more a multi-role unit rather than the de-rigure sniper Mech’s so beloved by the Capellans. Then again I suppose they have so many of those that this works well for close encounters.
ThoughtsThe Emperor family is a line of generally solid troopers with only one being the exception with the 6M being the sniper of the family but this fits in with the Word of Blake’s modus operandi and C3I integration. As a Mech you have one for almost every flavour and situation, if you want a city fighter there’s one, need a sniper? No problem! Many flavours of Capellan stealth also await you if you want to be sneaky and shooty and the 6A is a general all round solid trooper.
Like many of the TRO-3058 Mech’s the Emperor is a solid, reliable and pretty balanced machine, its got good protection and firepower but is balanced by its XL engine (Unless you’re a Cappie stealthbot and then you have huge heat issues). Although not the cheapest Mech around due to their BV the Emperor is a generally solid Assault Mech regardless of the flavour you choose. Fighting one is really a matter of bringing big guns and hammering away.
The ‘standard’ 6A’s a mid-range fighter so long range weapons work well against it whilst the 6S is built for short range combat and does not have the long range weapons of larger if similarly armed machines like the King Crab to fall back on whilst closing. Against the Stealther’s it’s a case of closing the range and if possible setting them on fire to try and limit their return fire or force them to shut off their stealth armour. The Empy is also quite lumbering so faster Mech’s with long range guns are definitely the way to go. Either way these machines are going to take a pounding to bring down, yes they have an IS XL engine (in some cases) and this is a weak spot but to pack the firepower and protection on its a needful thing.
The Classic original 1A Emperor
The False Emperor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvIJvPj_pjE - Brrrrrrrrt for reference. This to me is the sound that RAC's make.
As always comments are most welcome :)