CTF-XX Cataphract
BackgroundWhat started off as a FrankenMech would become one of the more common Mech’s of its time. Built and designed and seen as a great advance because it was one of the first new Mech’s designed and built in the Inner Sphere since the start of the First Succession War the Cataphract initially entered service with its designers hated rivals.
Always on the short end of the economic and industrial stick the Capellan Confederation set on building a new Mech prior to what would be known as the Fourth Succession War. With their limited industrial base, the designers who were tasked with building a new heavy Mech worked with what they had.
And it was a real Frankenstein’s Monster. Built using parts from the Marauder (right arm and leg assembly) Shadow Hawk (computer systems) and Phoenix Hawk (left arm) all meshed together on a 70 tonne chassis. Somehow the hodgepodge of parts all actually talked with one another and the design was a success.
But fate, a cunning troll of a Fox and a Mad Max (flung/stolen cutlery and all) had other plans in mind for the Cataphract. Just as it was starting to walk off the production lines a Wild 4th Succession War Appeared and unfortunately for House Liao, it was SUPER effective. The world of Tikonov where the Cataphract was being produced fell into the hands of Federated Suns forces and in an insult to already grievous injury the Fed-Suns forces saw the Cataphract went “Me likey!” and made it their own.
It took the Capellan’s until 3032 to get their own factory up after building the production line from the ground up to make the Cataphract for their own armed forces.
When the Clan’s came a calling as well as the advancements of the Helm Memory Core the Cataphract saw a few changes here and there whilst whatever available Mech’s were thrown into the Clan meat grinder, trying to clog the tracks of the invaders war machine with the corpses of destroyed Mech’s.
As technology advanced the Cataphract saw more than a few variants, but its use does seem to have waned over the years, perhaps not fitting with the Xing Sheng movement although House Davion continued to produce it, although with the Capellan advances in the 3100’s and the sheer number of worlds lost, it may no longer be produced by the Davion’s.
DesignI’ll design the BASIC Cataphract here, the 1X, the Catty goes through a fair few changes internally and with its armour layout and I’d be here for a week of Monday’s describing them all.
Built pre-Helm Memory Core, the Cataphract uses nothing advanced in its construction…well…apart from one variant who will be discussed below. Standard engine, standard structure and armour and normal flavoured heat sinks. Primitive by today’s standards but the Mech being ‘new’ (even if it was made from parts of other Mech’s) was ground breaking just because it was a new design after a period of HUGE stagnation.
Built round a 280 rated engine the Cataphract can reach the standard speed of heavy Mech’s of the time, 64 kph, without difficulty, it lacked jump jets but then again so did many machines in its weight class at that period.
11 tonnes of plate give adequate protection,
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Whilst not overly fast, or a huge ‘tank’ with very thick protection the Cataphract was built to engage enemies at all ranges and it had heavy firepower, favouring a punch over speed and protection.
VariantsCTF-1X – The pappy of the family and as described above, a simple machine by modern standards, but still formidable enough that you’d not want to discount it, even today in a universe of Clan ER PPC’s. In its ‘borrowed’ Marauder right arm the 1X mounts the classic PPC and Medium laser combo (in an identical mounting none the less) whilst in the right torso a hard hitting AC-10 is mounted, fed by two tonnes of ammo. A medium laser lives in the left arm, whilst the rear arcs are covered by a pair of medium lasers, one in each side torso. Very much a generalist the 1X is best off at medium to short ranges whilst using the PPC on the way in to soften up a target. It’s generally very reliable, it’s got the punch of a Warhammer or Marauder but is 5 tonnes lighter. Nor does it suffer quite so badly from the heat woes that plagued those machines and with 16 heatsinks you can afford to be rather liberal with its firepower without melting the Mech’s primary structural bones.
CFX-0X – A bit of an enigma, I’m not sure if this came before the 1X or not, the designation indicates it may well have. The Capellans ‘thing’ seems to be EW and of course (all be it later) Stealth. And it got a good start with the introduction of their Raven light Mech and the CFX-0X. Both Mech’s used home-made ‘communications equipment’ to help friendly forces and act as a force multiplier. Totting a hefty 7.5 of EW equipment did mean that something had to go and out went the AC-10 and the rear mounted lasers. But an AC-5 was added, as was, rather usefully a remote sensor dispenser on the back of the Mech, giving it an ‘eyes on the ground’ feature that other Stellar Nations lacked at the time.
The 0X was a nasty surprise for some units but the difficulty and expense of making the EW equipment meant that the 0X never went into full scale production and would remain a prototype.
CTF-2X – More a-mid to short range brawler the 2X removes the (rather hard to maintain) PPC and replaces it with a large laser. Both medium lasers are also removed, the combined weight saved turned into a SRM-4 in the left arm. Thankfully the rear firing lasers are moved to fire forwards and the AC-10 is retained, now with an extra tonne of ammo. Structural changes also include another two tonnes of needed armour, but at the cost of a pair of heatsinks (taking it to 14). Whilst arguably better at short ranges and with some crit seeking abilities the 1X lacks; the 2X is a good partner to field alongside the 1X and other Mech’s.
CTF-3D – Whilst both the 1 and 2X went into Davion service their own take on the Mech came with the slow spread of the Helm Memory core’s data. House Davion has a serious thing for auto-cannons (possibly up to and including selling pictures of a bare barrel and breech draped alluringly over the flattened hood of a car) and addiction came out to play with the 3D.
Out goes the PPC and in goes a newly developed Ultra AC-5 fed buy a simply inadequate 1 tonne of ammo. The old AC-10 is replaced by the new LB-10X with an adequate 2 tonnes of ammo, whilst the four medium lasers are retained in their arm and rear torso mountings.
The Davion engineer’s also added jump jets capable of throwing the 3D into 120-meter-long leaps whilst cooling remained the same with 16 standard heatsinks whilst CASE was also fitted. Of course this all weighs a LOT, so something had to be changed and that is the engine. A then new XL engine is fitted. Whilst with 3 tonnes of ammo on-board there’s obvious risks of an explosion killing the Mech’s engine but this is what is needed to fit all the improvements made.
The 3D is a good solid machine, personally I’m not sold on the UAC over the PPC but that’s just me. Otherwise it’s a fairly good 3055 era machine, not stricken with the usual issues that affected many of the urgent refits of the period (over/undersinking, the Panther…etc). Its biggest flaw though is that some of the armour is also shaved off, and the protection is removed from the already weak legs until a ER PPC and small laser hit would strip them bare.
CTF-3L – What’s yours is mine and is mine once more!! Based on plans of the 3D that were ‘borrowed’ by operatives of House Liao the 3L is the Capellan’s take on a more modern Cataphract. Really it’s a 1X just updated. It show’s its 3D heritage with its 280 rated XL engine, but adds MASC for short bursts up to 86kph. The weapons are altered but again, it’s a spruced up 1X. The PPC is now an ER PPC whilst the LB-10 is retained for a mean 1-2 combo. Out go the standard medium lasers, in go a quartet of medium pulse lasers for short ranged saturation fire. What to say really, it’s a 1X but with a new lick of paint. Oh! And double heatsinks, sixteen of them. So as an upgrade of the 1X it is solid and dependable, but those pulse lasers have a woefully short range, meaning you’ll probably want to use MASC to get in their effective range. Both the 3L and LL have the same armour layout as the 3D;
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CTF-3LL – Seemingly a field refit that became popular, the LL pulls the ER PPC out and replaces it with the Capellans new toy, the Plasma Rifle. This gun is fed by a generous 3 tonnes of ammo but to support the weight, the forwards medium pulse lasers were replaced with ER Mediums. This is a mean variant, again it’s basically a 1X/3L but the added range of the ER mediums and the heat adding shenanigans of the plasma rifle make this a more dangerous brawler.
CTF-4L – If the Capellans could grind up stealth armour and turn it into a sweet powdered confectionary they would. It’s a Liao Mech and of course, this means there’s a stealth version. Going back to a standard 280 rated engine the 4L is liberally slathered in 13.5 tonnes of Stealth Armour. To make it all work a Guardian ECM is added and the weapons mix is seriously re-done. To take advantage of the Stealth armour’s capabilities the 4L is meant to strike at long range. And with an ER PPC and Gauss Rifle it can certainly can! Ammo is a bit limited and to save weight the rear firing weapons are gone and the front firing ER medium lasers are retained. Like all stealth boats the 4L’s job is to keep back and hammer away, whilst it will run hot, you can do a 2-1-2 firing pattern with the PPC and gauss.
CTF-4X – Oddly enough an older design that came into existence when Tikonov was captured by House Davion forces, the 4X never became popular. That was until special munitions like AP or precision ammo was developed and then it started being produced, many years after it was developed. The big change is the engine, dropping down to 56kph the 4X is slow for a heavy. Whilst it retains the 2X’s large laser, everything else is gone. In their place go a pair of AC-5’s with generous ammo bins and a LRM-5, the only LRM and indirect fire weapon mounted on any Cataphract variant. Now I’m not sure about this. In essence it’s a fire support unit but the AC-5’s doesn’t hit hard, special ammo or no. And at 56kph you can’t run and you’re easy to hit with a fair few assaults able to move faster than you. Armour does go up and the 4 tonnes of ammo for the AC’s is lovely, but this is still verrrrry slow.
CTF-5D – Speaking of auto-cannons. House Davion’s latest obsession in the post-Civil War era focused on two things. RAC’s for BRRRRRRT!!!!! Fun and LAC’s for…err…um….reasons? Powered by a 280 Light engine as well as a full rack of improved jump jets for 180 meter leaps the 5D is pretty agile for a 70 tonner. With standard armour and bones the 5D also has a small cockpit to save weight. But where it fails is the guns (in my opinion). The Plasma rifle it tots is nice, who don’t like a PPC that causes heat to the baddies? But a LAC-5 with a measly 1 tonne of ammo as the other ‘main’ weapon simply does not cut the mustard. A pair of ER Mediums cover the final ranges and combined hit harder than the AC :s. I’m not a fan of this one as you may tell, whilst it has agility, the firepower is very very lacking for a 70 tonner. Whilst the Plasma rifle has 2 tonnes of ammo the LAC only has 1 and this means you really can’t take advantage of the flexibility offered by the advanced ammo types you could fit.
ThoughtsThe Cataphract is a pretty decent general purpose trooper no matter the era with a few bits of spicy chorizo thrown in there. The 0X is a nice force multiplier for its era and makes a fine command Mech too (and indeed it was its intended role). The 4L is your typical Cappie stealth boat and must be used as such but its ability to reach out and ‘touch’ someone at long range give it one hell of a slap. The others except the 5D are solid troopers whilst the 4X is the weird and eccentric one who wears a bow tie and carries a cane. The only dog’s egg in my opinion is the 5D which does not know what its doing and makes some bad life choices with its weapons mix. Killing one is simply a matter of pounding it apart. The Cataphract family as a whole is generally a bit light on protection and the 3D has a vulnerable XL engine, but otherwise, they are simple machines with few modern parts and no easy to hit XL engines and the like. This means you have to pound them to bits rather than just smash a torso in.
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/images/e/ea/3050_Cataphract.jpg - bloody huge image so I'll not show that one to save mobile users.
The rare CTF-OX
A CTF-2X
As always thoughts and comments are most welcome!
