Recognition Guide: IlClan Volume 22
Battle Cobra T: This is it, this is the volume that I've been waiting to get to since this whole series started, and I am pumped to finally get to review what is very close to the best 'Mech that has ever been designed. I am not at all talking about the Battle Cobra T, but this thing comes first in the record sheets so here we go. The Battle Cobra is a deceptively good base for an Omni, moving 6/9 at 40 tons with a Standard Engine plus Endo Steel and Ferro-Fibrous. The armor is not max but it's within 'good enough' territory, just a smidge over 90%. Layout is mostly good though I'd personally prefer to switch a point from basically anywhere to the front side torsos to get to 15 points. This all protects 14 tons of pod space which is a little on the light side but is still respectable. What the T does with that space is pretty solid, including two ER Large Lasers, two ER Small Lasers, and all of them linked to a Targeting Computer. Thirteen doubles mean that at a run the heat buildup is neutral at range, and up close it's +4. This is arguably a little bit oversinked considering how infrequently the ER Smalls are going to be included when using this as a long-distance accurate skirmisher, but it does what it needs to. The word of the day is "reliable", honorable mention to "consistent". The BV at 1666 is a little bit high, but you're paying that for a very accurate long range sniper that's capable of putting out PSRs to most targets with if not impunity then at least something approaching on-demand. It's a solid little workhorse and I would not be upset at all to find one in a unit I was playing. B+
Battle Cobra F: I love everything about this. Long time readers of the column know that I love Clan Ultra AC/5s for their combination of deceptively good damage, long range, and their ability to just demolish pod space to result in a unit with a lower BV than it would be if the tonnage were spent on something more flashy. The inclusion of three ER Mediums to force PSRs at midrange is gravy. Also making an appearance is six jump jets for the best mobility you're going to find on the Battle Cobra chassis to date. Heat is solid at -1 for a run and +5 for a max distance jump (or +4 if you line up a good jump that doesn't require max distance to get to cover and still get a +3 TMM). The only downside is the single ton of UAC/5 ammo but this will still take you a long way if you avoid the natural urge to hold down the trigger every time you fire. Good maneuverability, good damage, good heat, and the BV clocks in at a very agreeable 1507. I like it a lot, and this is probably the Battle Cobra I would pick if given the choice of any of them. A-
Battle Cobra G: I... don't love most things about this. Weapons have been switched to paired Plasma Cannons (with four total tons of ammo), two ER Mediums, and two Flamers. First, that's too much ammo. Second, you're already getting max heat dealt and good infantry annihilation with the Cannons, so the Flamers feel entirely superfluous. Two ER Mediums is good, but with all weapons firing you come tragically short of triggering a PSR at only 18 damage. ER Small Lasers would have been excellent substitutions for the Flamers, but on the whole I'm disappointed. Firing both Plasma Cannons alone at a run is -6 heat thanks to 11 doubles, and firing the Plasma Cannons and ER Mediums together is +4. I can't imagine a situation where you want to go up to +10 in order to add a pair of Flamers to the mix, and I have absolutely no idea why you'd ever want to fire the Flamers instead of anything. The BV here is insultingly higher than the F at 1593, and while that's probably the cheapest anything with paired Plasma Cannons manages to be it's still not good. C-
Battle Cobra I: I respect this config's dedication to exactly one thing and doing that thing as perfectly as possible within the constraints of the chassis. This config puts on two LRM 15s with Artemis V and two tons of ammo each. This makes for a superbly reliable missile boat that will put out an average of a PSR if it hits, split into six clusters. It is excellent for focusing on single targets or vehicles. It's absolute garbage into anything with Reactive armor and it struggles to force a PSR against anything with Ferro-Lamellor but it is hardly alone in that regard on either count. Heat is a complete non-issue at -8 on a run, but no additional tonnage has been spent on heat sinks so I'm not giving it poor marks for heat. BV at 1385 makes this my go-to vote for anything you need direct LRM fire support for. Leave your Trebuchets at home, this is just better. B+
Battle Cobra J: Minor spoilers for what's coming ahead, this and the G (plus one other 'Mech coming up) are the closest things in this book to getting a genuinely bad grade. This one is saved primarily by its cost, which I'll get to later. The J includes a pair of ER Medium Pulse Lasers and a Clan RAC/2 with two tons of ammo. You've all heard my thoughts about the CRAC/2 before. This config at least manages to avoid the worst possible outcome, with the combined damage of the ER Medium Pulses and a 5-shot RAC/2 averaging three hits to take it to exactly 20 damage and a PSR. The bare minimum bar has been cleared. Heat is a non-issue, at -1 on a run but with 10 doubles I don't hold that against it here. BV is the cheapest of any Battle Cobra so far at 1272, and this combined with the ability to at least semi-reliably force a PSR saves it from a bad grade. I still don't want to pick it out of a lineup, personally, but it can be useful keeping the average BV of your force down while still contributing and staying in the Medium range. Not many Clan Mediums are this cheap. C-
Battle Cobra X: Someone knew exactly what they were doing when they made this. This column opened with a rather scathing rebuke of the characteristics of the Dominator from a construction standpoint. The Battle Cobra X is the exact opposite, a perfectly optimized killing machine that wastes nothing, cuts no corner, compromises nothing. The armament is five Improved Heavy Medium Lasers, a Targeting Computer, and 8 additional double heat sinks. Five iHMLs is the exact number that will keep a Targeting Computer at one ton and one crit, and eight additional doubles takes it to 18, making the heat generated at a run a +1. It's accurate, it can tape the triggers down to come for you, and it will not be slowed or stopped by itself on the way. At 1492 BV it's extremely cheap for something that will casually walk up and do 50 damage in 10 point hits to its target. The biggest downside is its relatively short range, but judicious use of any kind of terrain, or bringing basically any Clan Medium that is not a Battle Cobra will usually be enough to ensure that it survives to close the distance. Simple. Elegant. Dangerous. A
Doom Courser Prime: The vast majority of Quad 'Mechs ever made have suffered from one crippling flaw or another. It's only in the last decade or so that the ability to design a quad without being hamstrung by weapon arcs and facings has become possible. One of the first I remember thinking highly of is the Stalking Spider II in the original TRO 3145: Free Worlds League, which was Fast Enough for its size, relatively well armed for short range fighting, and capable of projecting that armament with its quad turret in ways that equaled or surpassed a comparable biped 'Mech. Another 'Mech in this same series, the Goliath C in volume 1, likewise had the ability to respond in any direction. The Doom Courser is the result of that concept, in full maturity. First, we have a 70 ton Clan Omnimech, obviously quad, that moves 4/6 with a Standard Engine. Armor is one point shy of maximum Ferro-Fibrous, and internals are Endo-Composite. One additional double heat sink is fixed in the engine for a total of 11. A quad turret is mounted in the Right Torso that can handle up to 15 tons of equipment out of a total podspace of 28 tons. Crits are allocated exactly where they need to be for a quad, and the final result is 11 free spaces in the right torso, 12 in the left, and zero everywhere else. This obviously makes for some relatively restricted placement, but I feel confident in saying that this is the best that can possibly be done with the Quad concept in terms of the full package of space, tonnage, and layout. Where the true test, then, must come is in the configs themselves. Let me save you a couple sentences of suspense, and say that they deliver. The Prime is a Gauss Rifle in the left torso, and an ER PPC and LRM 20 with Artemis IV in the left torso turret. Two tons of ammo for each ammo using weapon are included. Heat is a very well done net +2 on a run if all guns are fired, which is notably a net heat neutral if the quad does not move. This is more likely to happen for quads than any other type of 'Mech, due to being able to fire all weapons while prone at no penalty, and a +1 to be hit while prone and at range. It is effectively a stationary 'Mech that manages to get a +1 TMM for free under those circumstances, and with weapons this powerful that's a major statement. Doubly so because a 'Mech already prone cannot fail a PSR to stay standing, and automatically succeeds PSRs to stand up while it is a quad with all four legs. This makes the Doom Courser a phenomenally flexible line heavy, with good damage output, average speed when it needs to have it, and excellent defensive options that buck the normal trends of maximizing defensive efficiency. The last test that could make or break the design is the BV, but at an entirely reasonably 2283 this is an excellent take. Compare directly to the Zeus 11S, recipient of one of the coveted S grades early in the series. In direct comparison, the Zeus is more durable by dint of its increased size and armor, and offers comparable offense though in specific circumstances the Doom Courser Prime can be superior in either category (though very infrequently both). The fact that these situations must be sought out, aren't simply a consequence of playing the 'Mech, and occasionally come with downsides is the only thing stopping this from being a solid S. More of this, please. A+
Doom Courser A: The Prime write-up took care of most of the base chassis discussion, and everything said there remains true here. The A elects to bring a Large Pulse Laser in the left torso and a pair of ATM 12s in the right torso, both turreted. Six tons of ammo is enough to include all ammo types. Long time readers of the column know that I absolutely love ATM 12s and ATMs in general, and seeing them packed 24 tubes into a turret is a special kind of happiness. There is exactly one downside here, and it's that the ammo is packed five tons in the left torso and one in the right, and there's no CASE II to be had. I would have liked to see the ton of ammo dropped for CASE II in the left torso, and the single open spot in the right torso used for... I don't know, an ER Small Laser, maybe? It's extremely close to being perfect, though. Two additional doubles take the design to 13, which allows all three weapons to be fired with just running heat, or the same as the Prime with net neutral from a prone position with no movement. This design feels tailor made for surprising an opponent who is used to taking advantage of a quad's poor weapon arcs. Two ATM 12s will significantly threaten any 'Mech in existence, let alone one that thinks it is fast enough to exploit weapon arcs. BV at 2139 is somehow lower than the Prime. This is my personal favorite config, and I genuinely think that it has a strong claim to being the best quad 'Mech that has ever been published. S-
Doom Courser B: This is the first config of this 'Mech to have a genuine, identifiable weakness. Its weapon load is an LB-20X with three tons of ammo in the left torso, and four Medium Pulse Lasers in the turret. Ammo is split between the left torso and the right torso, and there is no CASE II included. Rounding out the rest of the payload is four jump jets. This makes this Doom Courser the most maneuverable so far, but it also has inarguably the most limited reach, with a maximum of 12 hexes range. One extra double takes the total to 12, and ensures that on a run the heat is neutral and while jumping full distance it only reaches +2. This is arguably oversinked, and I'd have liked to see what could happen with the extra ton devoted to protection for the ammo. The price tag is lower, as expected from something with this little range, at 2091. This is still good, don't get me wrong, but compared to the superlative heights of the Prime and A I think it's a distant third among configs displayed so far, and will ultimately be a comfortable last place among the full group. B
Doom Courser C: Paint this 'Mech blue and call it a Duros, with five LRM 15s (four in the turret) this 'Mech has a reasonable claim to the nickname "Quad Bane". Five LRM 15s and a total of eight tons of ammo give it surprising longevity for something with its throw weight, up to 14 turns of constant fire. This is the first 'Mech capable of overheating itself without moving, though, a total of 12 double heat sinks resulting in a +1 if firing all five. I think more likely what happens is this 'Mech parks itself somewhere, and uses the four in the turret to fire in any direction at any time for up to 18 turns. This time the ammo is actually protected by CASE II, and there was much rejoicing. This is not a difficult 'Mech to use, but it may well be difficult for your opponent to deal with. At 2147 BV you can include it instead of one of the monstrously expensive Clan Assault weight LRM boats and come out well ahead either with gunnery skill or a supporting cast worth mentioning. Good stuff. Not my favorite flavor of good stuff, but good all the same. A-
Doom Courser D: This config goes all in on two weapons, an ER PPC and a HAG/40. The ER PPC is mounted in the turret, while the HAG is in the opposite torso. Five tons of ammo for the HAG might actually be enough with 15 total shots. One additional heat sink is added for a total of 12, which allows this config to fire both weapons at a run at +1. This is pretty typical fare for Doom Courser configs at this point. The only genuine weakness this 'Mech has is that all of the ammo for the HAG is in the opposite torso, so if the right torso is destroyed first that's effectively a mission kill, as there will be no remaining useable weapons on the 'Mech. This is something that could have been avoided by switching which side the extra heat sink is on, which makes it a rare miss, but the design on the whole still works well. It's also arguably a little bit hamstrung by the HAG/40 being on the side with the restricted firing arc, when it wants to be up close, and that makes this a more difficult config to play than the others. The BV of 2453 is higher than I like, and I feel like in most situations I would rather take the A if you're looking for a truly disgusting number of 5 point hits and a single direct energy weapon. Overall it's still good, though. B+
Night Gyr T: And on to the next thing. Everyone knows the Night Gyr, which I am pretty sure is one of exactly two OmniMechs of any tech base to shove 40 tons of podspace into a Heavy 'Mech (the other is the Loki Mk II). This is put to good use here, in the form of two ER PPCs, an LB-20X with three tons of ammo, and three Medium Pulse Lasers. Holy shit that's a lot for a 4/6/4 heavy. But how does the heat look? There are 17 doubles on this 'Mech, which allows it to jump and fire both ER PPCs at range and remain neutral, and up close it can run and fire one ER PPC plus all of its short range guns at a run for +1. That's, uh, that's pretty good. Arguably it's oversinked by at least one double, but there's not much else you could put in here that would be a good use of that tonnage. CASE II, maybe, or an SPL for emergency anti-infantry duty. Overall this makes it one of the best all-around heavy trooper designs that we've had the pleasure of seeing in the Rec Guides. The BV is 2767, which is high, but it's high because this 'Mech has a clarity of purpose and execution at a high level. Solid. A
Night Gyr F: I... ooof. This is better than that first sentence makes it sound, but the miss here is one that hurts me on a deep level. This 'Mech is armed with two ER Medium Lasers, an ECM Suite, a Targeting Computer, and then two different sizes of HAG, one 20 and one 30. The 20 has three tons of ammo while the 30 has four, for 18 and 16 shots respectively. Ow. Everything else about this is fine, including heat (neutral while jumping with the base 12 doubles), ranges, ability to score PSRs, and armor. But mismatched sizes just feels bad. I don't think there was anything else to do here, with the way the crits and tonnage worked out, but it's just not a good feeling. The BV is very high at 2958, and that combined with the instinctive pain deep in my soul from the mismatched HAGs I don't want to use this. C
Night Gyr G: This one has BV issues. The primary weapons here are a pair of ER PPCs with Capacitors, a pair of LB-5Xs, and three ER Flamers. Also appearing is a Supercharger in the center torso to bump the speed to 4/6[8]/4. A total of 16 doubles try and fail miserably to handle the heat on both PPCs if the Capacitors are in use. Let's take a look at the possible firing patterns here and their effect on heat while running: Both ER PPCs with Capacitors (+10); one ER PPC with Capacitor and both LB-5Xs (-8); the same but with one Capacitor charging (-3); Up close one ER PPC with Capacitor and three ER Flamers (+2); the same with LB-5Xs (+4); One ER PPC with Capacitor and two LB-5Xs and one Capacitor charging plus one ER Flamer (+1). There are lots of combinations here, and most of them are horrifically wasting heat, require odd combinations of weapons, are at mismatched ranges, or are fine running but hit a bad break jumping. I can't tell whether this config wants to be running or jumping, or both/alternating, and in what circumstances it wants those. It feels like a deeply confused machine past the PPCs and Capacitors. I'd have wanted to ditch the ER Flamers for heat sinks, at which point you have a passable but still kind of hot while jumping long range duelist. As is, this feels like a tool with a use that I don't see or that doesn't belong in my toolshed. The BV is over three thousand (3069), further driving up the price into territory I'm not fond of for what it does. I'm sure someone will be able to use it to full potential. That someone isn't me. C-
Night Gyr X: This config makes some odd choices about its weapons. On the one hand, it's basically an Alpha Wolf Prime scaled down a little bit in the missiles department, with a pair of RAC/5s, a pair of Streak LRM 10s, and a Micro Pulse Laser. On the other hand, there are six tons of RAC/5 ammo and one ton of Streak LRM ammo. Twelve turns at maximum ROF for the autocannons and then six turns for the Streaks is odd, both because you're frequently not going to be firing at max ROF on the autocannons and because it'd have been very easy to go 5:2 instead. Three tons of autocannon ammo are in each side torso, with no protection besides integral CASE, while the Streak ammo is protected by CASE II in the center torso. Another quietly puzzling decision, but the crit layout in the Night Gyr appears to have forced it, so I can't actually complain much about it in this case. There wouldn't be a crit issue if there weren't Clan RAC/5s taking up eight crits each in the arms, but if the weapons were already committed I get why they were used where they are. Heat is a total non-issue, with a full jumping alpha (including the Micro Pulse Laser) at max ROF generating +1 heat. BV is high at 2781, and while I'm not happy about some of the decisions made here it could very much be worse, a lot worse. What you end up with is serviceable if limited. C+
Goliath GOL-3M: And then bam just like that we're back in the Inner Sphere. The Goliath 3M is a 4/6 quad with an XL Engine, which is used in order to fit a Gauss Rifle with a single ton of ammo, a pair of LRM 10s with two tons of ammo, and two Machine guns with two full tons of ammo what the ****** is going on here on a 'Mech with 17 single heat sinks that is capable of generating 11 heat at a run. Ohhhh, my head. In a bizarre and not at all flattering twist, since there are explosive components that will absolutely kill the 'Mech present in a whopping eleven crit locations between both torsos, I genuinely think that only having one ton of Gauss ammo here is probably as much as you're ever going to be able to use. The armor is average in the torsos and above average but not incredible in the front legs, but then gets better in the back legs, and the rear torsos are positively beefy for reasons that makes sense for an older slow quad with no ability to respond in alternate directions. There are problems with this 'Mech and I'm not afraid to say that it's right proper awful. But it's also an Assault 'Mech with a headcapper and backup weapons that can tape down all triggers and if push comes to shove I can just say that the machine gun ammo bins are empty. With that in mind, at 1537 BV it's reasonable if not exciting. The wasted potential on this design is staggering but despite that it's still usable. C-
Goliath GOL-3M2: This is an unambiguous and braindead upgrade to the 3M that is achieved by replacing the Machine Guns and one ton of ammo with Small Pulse Lasers, and the other ton of Machine Gun ammo with Gauss Rifle ammo. The heat sinks are still singles, 17 of them, but now they're more capable of being used (15 heat at a run instead of 11), the ammo situation is incomparably better, and everything else is exactly the same. The BV jumps by almost a hundred points to 1631, but this is over a hundred points better than the 3M, so have at it. C
Goliath GOL-7C: The Goliath 7C has what I'm going to describe as an "ambitious" relationship with the ammo carried aboard, which is to say that the armament is an Ultra AC/10, a pair of Streak SRM 6s, and a pair of ER Medium Lasers where there are four tons of UAC/10 ammo and two tons of Streak SRM 6 ammo. Unlike the MGs on the 3M, these are at least possible to come close to using. All six tons of ammo are located in the left torso, which this time is helpfully protected by CASE II making it less instantly and tragically lethal. Also contributing are the Light Fusion Engine that make even a catastrophic loss of the left torso from being a true kill. With everything in the right torso (UAC/10, Streak SRM 6) dependent on ammo, and every other gun save one ER Medium Laser in the left torso, it's still a mission kill but it's one where the Goliath will walk off the field on its own power, potentially. The armor is also improved from the 3M and 3M2, this time to something approaching maximum or very close to it, though still biased toward the rear torsos. Twelve doubles manage heat well, with +4 at a run if both Streaks lock, neutral if only one locks, and -4 if both fail to lock. This is the most effective pattern possible with Streaks, and I appreciate seeing it used here. BV is higher at 1790, and while it's possible to brick the UAC/10 on a bad roll, I love the weapon and I think that this is a pretty appropriate place for the cost to be. It's a lot of armor, a meaningful set of weapons, with heat managed well and not vulnerable to particularly instant death short of head shots. Not flashy, not bad. B-
Goliath GOL-7K: The 7K makes me giggle every time I look at the weapons and equipment. Armor is worse than the 7C, marginally, but the weapons are arguably better. We have a Heavy PPC with Capacitor, a pair of MRM 10s with Apollo FCS and two tons of ammo to negate the accuracy penalty, a pair of Machine Guns that I'm happy to forget exist, and four five M-Pods. There's also a Supercharger in the left torso (the Light Fusion Engine makes a return from the 7C) to turn the movement speed into 4/6[8]. Four M-Pods is hilarious, and the first time you manage to knock an enemy 'Mech over within one turn's movement, literally letting it rip with a bunch of claymores strapped to your legs is hysterical. All of the ammo (three total slots) is in the left torso, protected by CASE II. Heat is relatively intuitive, firing the HPPC with Capacitor on its own is -2 heat at a run, which means that one MRM can be included to get to +2, and on turns the capacitor is charging you can include both MRMs while cooling off (-9). If firing without the Capacitor, a run is +1. This is one design where I feel like firing without the capacitor is the 'default', and the capacitor is something you charge if you end up out of LOS for a turn of your chosen target. In any case, you have enough MRM ammo to tape the triggers down and never run out, so make liberal use of that on your off-turns. BV is higher than I'd like at 1894 for what this is, but it's not unreasonable. C+
Goliath GOL-7R: This is basically the final stop on the evolutionary line that starts with the 3M. A Gauss Rifle (protected by CASE II this time) with two tons of ammo, two LRM 10s with two tons of ammo protected by CASE II, and a pair of ER Medium Lasers. Armor is the near-max version on the 7C. Ten doubles is enough that if you're firing all weapons at a run you're looking at +1 heat. I'd say it was mildly oversinked but that's the base heatsinks, and that seems fine. Space for all these guns and all this armor is provided by a Light Fusion Engine. The BV is 1888, which is reasonable for a head capper and multiple secondary weapons relevant at multiple ranges. An enemy getting into the rear is definitely still problematic, but as a forward facing combatant this is thoroughly Okay. B-
