Headhunter Arrow IV mech

[Lagrange]

The Headhunter is designed to kill battlemech pilots making it a feared sight on the battlefield.   

The core of the Headhunter is twin Arrow IV launchers backed by 6 tons of ammunition providing a means to deliver damage kilometers away.   This baseline capability makes it useful on all battlefields even if it's relatively slow 3/5 movement leaves it unable to keep up with faster running battles.   Depending on ammo loadout it can destroy airborne elements (with air defense arrows), fixed emplacements (with Fuel-air ammo or standard rounds), or mobile units can be targeted in conjunction with a TAG spotter and homing rounds. 

The real surprise comes when it enters the battlefield and deploys twin cluster rounds in direct fire.  No matter how fast, how heavily armored, or how stealthy a mech is, cluster rounds rain damage on a mech's head, likely killing the pilot after 4-5 hits.  Even mechs with hardened armor and reinforced structure typically suffer pilot knockouts after 6 hits.   For fast heavy mechs using TSM, twin Inferno-IV rounds can spike their heat into lethal territory while becoming greatly slowed.

Mechs that manage to close on the headhunter face another lethal surprise when it switches over to quad medium X-pulse lasers with a targeting computer.  Using called shot[high] these again have a good chance of hitting the head.   The odd choice of keeping the hands on an artillery mech becomes clear when the headhunter closes in and deals punch, again with a good chance of hitting the head.  Note also that the combination of Arrow IV, lasers, and punches, defeats essentially all special armors and exploits the vulnerabilities of laser reflec.

Defensively, the Headhunter features 21.5 tons of armor with extra tonnage in it's 3rd leg.  The tripod layout makes all of it's weapons effectively function on a turret, so it cannot be surprised and changes in direction are easier and faster than might be expected on such a lumbering mech.  The ammunition for the Arrow-IVs is buried in the heavy armor of the legs, and hence unlikely to be triggered before the mech itself ceases to function.  The light engine makes it capable of surviving loss of a side torso location while continuing fire from surviving weapons.

Code: [Select]

Headhunter Mech

Mass: 100 tons
Chassis: Standard Tripod
Power Plant: 300 Light
Cruising Speed: 32.4 kph
Maximum Speed: 54 kph
Jump Jets: None
     Jump Capacity: 0 meters
Armor: Standard
Armament:
     4 Medium X-Pulse Laser
     2 Arrow IV
Manufacturer: Unknown
     Primary Factory: Unknown
Communication System: Unknown
Targeting & Tracking System: Unknown
Introduction Year: 3145
Tech Rating/Availability: F/X-X-X-F
Cost: 19,222,000 C-bills

Type: Headhunter
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Experimental)
Tonnage: 100
Battle Value: 2,199

Equipment                                          Mass
Internal Structure                                   11
Engine                        300 Light            14.5
Walking MP: 3
Running MP: 5
Jumping MP: 0
Double Heat Sink              10 [20]                 0
Gyro                                                  3
Tripod Cockpit                                        4
Armor Factor                  344                  21.5

                          Internal   Armor   
                          Structure  Value   
     Head                    3         9     
     Center Torso            31        47   
     Center Torso (rear)               15   
     R/L Torso               21        32   
     R/L Torso (rear)                  10   
     R/L Arm                 17        34   
     R/C/L Leg               21     40/41/40


Right Arm Actuators: Shoulder, Upper Arm, Lower Arm, Hand
Left Arm Actuators: Shoulder, Upper Arm, Lower Arm, Hand

Weapons
and Ammo                     Location  Critical   Heat    Tonnage
Arrow IV Cluster Ammo (5)       LL        1        -       1.0   
Arrow IV Fuel-Air Ammo (5)      LL        1        -       1.0   
Targeting Computer              CT        2        -       2.0   
Arrow IV                        RT        15       10      15.0 
2 Medium X-Pulse Laser          RT        2        6       4.0   
Arrow IV                        LT        15       10      15.0 
Medium X-Pulse Laser            LT        1        6       2.0   
Arrow IV Homing Ammo (10)       CL        2        -       2.0   
Arrow IV Inferno Ammo (5)       RL        1        -       1.0   
Arrow IV Cluster Ammo (5)       RL        1        -       1.0   
Medium X-Pulse Laser            HD        1        6       2.0   

This is an example of an IS-tech mech which seems fairly deadly to even advanced clan designs.   

Variants
The primary means of variation is via ammo loadout.  It's also possible to sacrifice an X-Pulse laser for a couple more tons of ammo or an Angel ECM.

[Isokrates]

Nice.
I guess you love the Patriot too...

[Lagrange]

Nice.

Thanks---I was trying to expand on the comment for your design.

[Natasha Kerensky]

Maybe I’m going blind, but I can’t find any reference to direct-fire (or indirect-fire) artillery in the TacOps rules preferentially hitting a mech’s upper body, presumably on the Punch Hit Location Table. No doubt, there’s a reason that they call artillery the king of the battlefield, but I’m not sure this (or any other) artillery mech has the advantages anticipated in the fluff.

Even if I’m wrong about that, I’m of the belief that artillery really belongs on vehicles (or with infantry field artillery formations).  Mechs are the most survivable unit in the game, so their talents are wasted in rear echelons or off-board.  I try to give artillery and indirect fire duty to more fragile combat vehicles (or infantry) that benefit the most from staying away from heavy combat.

I also prefer artillery on fast units for shoot-and-scoot.  It’s easy to send some striker to get at a 3/5 or 4/6 artillery tank or mech in the rear.  It’s much harder to pin down a couple Hadurs, Yellow Jacket Arrow IVs, or the other canon and non-canon stuff in this thread:

https://bg.battletech.com/forums/combat-vehicles/high-mobility-artillery-rocket-system/

All that said, I admit there is something cool and original about the unholy union of a Naga and a tripod.

[Lagrange]

Oops missed this.

Maybe I’m going blind, but I can’t find any reference to direct-fire (or indirect-fire) artillery in the TacOps rules preferentially hitting a mech’s upper body, presumably on the Punch Hit Location Table. No doubt, there’s a reason that they call artillery the king of the battlefield, but I’m not sure this (or any other) artillery mech has the advantages anticipated in the fluff.

Direct fire allows use on the battlefield at +4 to hit but targeting a hex so stealth & target movement are irrelevant.

Cluster munitions resolve damage on the punch hit location table.

Thus, direct fire of 2 cluster munitions resolves as 8 5-point shots on the punch hit location table yielding good odds of a head hit.

Offboard artillery which is fast enough to avoid overrrun is of course great.  Omni-ASF can also work well for this purpose as no land unit can overtake them.

All that said, I admit there is something cool and original about the unholy union of a Naga and a tripod.

Thanks  :)