Author Topic: MOTW - Dire Wolf  (Read 42833 times)

ItsTehPope

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MOTW - Dire Wolf
« on: 10 March 2012, 12:09:53 »
The author would like to note ahead of time due to illness, there was no time for editing.  He apologizes in advance and will clear the article up as people note it:

Normally I try to write an article in a humorous, somewhat snarky tone.  This works best when covering unfortunate tragedies such as the Targe, the Garm and the like.  This attitude does not work well when covering one of the deadliest Omnimechs ever designed in this game.  Quite frankly, more of a factual analysis should be used here and sprinkled with hushed reverent tones.  It deserves no less.

    Starting with the fluff on this ride, we learn of its slightly convoluted history.  The name Dire Wolf would indicate that it initally was a Wolf design, but deployment in Operation REVIVAL would indicate that the Jaguars were the most prolific user.  3050U bears out the story behind this.  The initial design was the brain-child of the Wolf scientist caste, which trialed for and successfully won the design.  The TRO entry states that the Trial, not shockingly, may not have been the most honorably conducted out there.  Ulric, thinking somewhat quickly, performed a Trial of Posession for rights to at least produce what really still is the crown jewl of Clan Battlemech warfare.  (We shall not discuss the Hellstar..)  All Dire Wolf manufacturing has been done on either Strana Mechty by the Wolves, Huntress by the Jaguars, or by the Dragoons on Outreach.  With Outreach doing a reasonable impersonation of a glowstick, the Jaguars dead and their line presumably along with it, that leaves the manufacturing center on Strana Mechty, and well.....we know that the Wolves don’t have access to that anymore.  If it is still intact, no one at my pay grade really knows.  I can see the argument for it being purified for having Spheroid taint.  (Ben, Herb...wanna throw us a bone here?)  Any Dire Wolves in the Inner Sphere are what’s left, hard stop.  I’m honestly not sure we will ever see these made again, but I, as a fan of the aesethic of the design, and of OmniMechs in general, I hope to see it again.

Right then.

Off to the crunchy bits.

The structure is something of a rarity for Clans, which to be totally honest is for the best in this case.  Standard issue steel, dating back to the days of Ye Olden Mackie.  The armor is the same thing, bog standard, 16 points per ton variety, saving yet more critical slots.  While these may not be laid out .  The only weight saver comes via the Satrfire 300XL under the hood.  Fixed equipment gets a little on the head scratchy side.  The only equipment that should fixed are in theory the maximum number of heat sinks that can fit in the engine.  Usually jump jets are the biggest bits of fixed equipment that tends to cause consternation.  The bits that are fixed on this frame are five extra heat sinks, which results in 30 base points of sinkage.  Twelve of them fit into the engine itself, with three hanging out in the frame.  One is placed into each side torso and a third in the left leg, oddly enough.

Protecting all of this is xx tons with xxx points total.  This is spread out with 34 on the arms, 41 on the legs, side torsos in a 32/10 split and centerline a 47/14.  Guess the head armor.  Outside putting a 12 pointer to the head, killing it will require a fair amount of effort.  Okay.  A lot of effort, lets be honest here.  The back armor being so high dosen’t bother me, as fast movers will have good chances at getting back there and chewing on your hind quarters - it’ll buy you a moment before flipping arms and removing the irritant.

If there is anything I could change about the base frame, it would be to drop three fixed heat sinks, but its honestly a small quibble considering the crimes of other other 3050 Omnimechs.  As a rule, most of the fire power is concentrated in the arms on all of the configurations, with torso’s holding an ancillary crit seaking weapon if anything.

The prime configuration starts off with twin ER Large lasers, twin medium pulses and a UAC5, with its own ton of ammo..  Now mirror that on the other arm.  The ancillary torso weapon is an LRM 10 with one ton of ammo.  The base 30 heat sinks are supplemented by six more added into the side torsos for a total of 44 points of sinking.  This weapon loadout will handidly overwhelm the heat seating capability, but it has so many options I’m not too worried.  There’s a few obvious firing patterns regarding the UAC’s and the ERL’s, but the level of options you have, its not too much of an issue.  Choose your weapons as your heat load and target numbers dictate.  Play it like a 3025 era Rifleman or Stallker.  Ride the heat curve, and you will be rewarded.  If I were to improve it, I would drop the LRM 10 and ammo and use it to add more heat sinks.  It likely dosen’t need the crit seeking.  It can be a brute when used by unskilled players, but in the right hands, can be a devastating scalpel, always putting down the best possible firepower.

Alpha configuration, made famous as being used by Victor Davion in most of the novels is more focused on a long range fight and also plays much cooler than the Prime.  The right arm has three large pulse lasers and the left carries a gauss rifle with three tons of ammo, which is plenty for most table top scenarios.  The left torso holds a pair of Streaking SRM6’s each being fed by its own ton of ammo.  The right torso holds an AMS with a massive amount of ammo (72 rounds of fire)  The amount of ammo for the system makes more sense when you consider the older rules (1D6 ammo usage).  As it stands, the bottom third of the right torso is a large bomb.  Carrying 44 points of heat sinkage, assuming no extra heat sources or damaged engines, can perfectly sink its warload and run every turn (assuming both Streaks lock and the AMS fires).  Nasty, but boring to drive.

Beta configuration is bizzare.  That's all there is to it.  Only mounting the base 30 heat sinks, the left arm mounts two PPCs, 2 pulse lasers of the medium variety, the Right arm mounting an LBX10.  The torso guns are a quad set of UAC2’s in paired sets on the side torsos.  Each pair shares a ton of ammo.  And a superfluous ER Small Laser in the CT.  Its safe to say that the cooling array is lacking, but not terribly so, but man....the heat sink juggling is not fun.  I’m not quite sure what I’d change on here, but that UAC mess needs to go.

Charlie configuration is one that gets floated out as “Among the best ever” when it is in fact, fairly lackluster.  Good, but not great.  Notably, the damned thing flies.  Three jump jets sit in the torsos, giving it a little bit of extra maneuverability.  The warload is built around paired ERPPCs and ATM6’s, but the missiles have only two tons of ammo total.  Choose your warload carefully on this one.  When in close, it adds 4 medium pulses to the mix, and a single shot SSRM4.  Adding to the mix is a 4 ton TarComp sitting in right torso, so those shots are just going to hurt that much more.   An added bonus is the ECM suite, giving you some defensive assistance.  46 total heat points spread all over, and a weapon generation of 50 means that for perfect heat dissipation means you leave an ATM or MPL out every turn to just keep movement heat.  This is a nasty little infighter though, and very good for munching through cities.

The Delta configuration is, to my knownledge the first weapons platform to mount a pair of the Clan’s largest weapon, the HAG 40, with 10 tons of ammo sitting in the side torsos.  The backup weapons are a pair of medium pulses sitting centerline, and a SSRM6 in the left torso.  And an ER Small in the head, but it seems to be there mostly to kill a half ton and soak a head crit.  This thing has only one purpose in life.  Close, and unload.  And it has enough ammo to do so.  It could probably be improved, but I like the “All or nothing” approach it takes.

The Hotel Configuration (Authors note: At this point I stopped and wondered how many there were left to do and was dismayed) moves to use paired heavy large lasers and gauss rifles, one per arm.  The rifles are fed by 4 tons of ammo.  Backup weapons consist of an ER Small and a medium pulse.  The heavy larges and gauss rifles are boosted by a massive 7 ton Tarcomp in the right torso.  It can fire the primary battery and run every turn and be heat neutral.  Not seeing any obvious candidates for improvement, maybe adding some more guass ammo via removing the pulse laser.

The Sierra is the “Urban Combat/close quarters” variant of this machine.  Of note, it jumps..yes its a lot of tonnage, but that maneuverability in tight spots is quite rude.  The left arm is a boatload of heat sinks and a Large Pulse.  Backing this largepulse up is 5 medium pulses to really make fast movers think twice about getting close.  A Streak 4 in the CT is fed by a ton of ammo in the left side of the chest.  Now for the “Urban combat” aspect.  Two machine guns and an LBX20, each supplied generously are very handy for killing any vees or pesky footsloggers hanging around your feet.  A pair of A-pods in the right leg, assisting with that “OH GOD GET THEM OFF ME” thing infantry do well.   Of note for dropping it, the right torso is a bit of a bomb so when that gets opened up start throwing any crit seeking you have on it.  Heat load is covered well enough, you can walk and alpha all day with 40 points of heat dissipation.  No matter what, this thing is Scary.

Whiskey is a design that harks back to the Delta thought process of “Two big barrels, some secondary guns and plenty of ammo”  The arm mounted gauss rifle is fed with a generous dollop of 4 tons of ammo.  The torso mounted UAC20 gets two.  I really wish the numbers were reversed, but the gauss will get more use as a whole, so eh.  The right arm is nothing but a massive heat sink array and a Large Laser.  An LRM20 helps the gauss rifle at range fed by two tons of ammo.  Two medium pulses round out the arsenal in the center torso and an ER Small in the head.  With 40 heat points of disspation, you can run and gun most of the day, but with so little UAC20 ammo, you are actually seriously oversinked.

The X chassis was introduced to us in Total Warfare, and has one of every weapon system out there as far outside of the HAG as far as I can determine...with a weapons array so scatterbrained that the Albatross feels unfortunate in the same hangar...armed with an SSRM2, 2 ER Micros, am ATM6 with three tons of ammo, LRM15 with Artemis, SRM4 with Artemis (each having their own ton of ammo) LBX5 with two tons of ammo, a UAC10 with two tons of ammo, a large pulse laser, and a medium heavy laser.  Oh, and a targeting computer for good measure.  Needless to say, the cooling array is woefully overtaxed with things to do as it only has the default 30 points of sinkage.  That said, you can never complain about not having options on this monster...

Going into the Hohiro podset, we see what the Coordinator himself determined was the best way to utilize his tonnage.  The primary long ranged arsenal is a PPC and a gauss rifle, which is fed by two tons of ammo.  “Mid-range” power is supplied by a triplicate of Large Pulses and a streak 6 with its own ton round out the show.  With 46 points of heat sink, you can fire the main battery and suffer only movement heat.  Clearly, this thing is meant to fire often and with the range brackets it has, from cover.  Its a NASTY ride and one of the best ones out there.

The Prometheus, designed by Lord Midget, First Prince, Precentor Martial, Paladin Victor Davion replaces the gauss rifle with a UAC20, and the PPC with two ER Larges.  The large pulse laser stack stays in place (Guess they had them on sale during that period of time on Outreach) The Streak rack becomes a regular SRM6 for today.  The same 46 points of heat dissipation are here, so it will be overtaxed a bit, but I don’t mind as much here as its clearly designed to get in close and tear things up.

The Widowmaker.  Natasha Kerensky.  This machine is often spoke of in hushed tones and brings on Gregorian chants.  This machine is the queen of mean.  Each arm sports an ER PPC and a Large Pulse laser.  Sitting in the right torso you have an Ultra AC 20, fed by two tons of ammo coming off the corrresponding arm (Yeah, no clue there).  Two mediums in the center torso and a small laser for good measure in the head.  Cooled by a whopping 25DHS, it can fire the primary energy battery all day and not care.  If I could improve it without changing anything, it would be from moving a heat sink from the left torso into the right arm and shifting the ammo over.

In short, one of the nastiest, most lethal war machines to ever grace the universe and should be respected as much.  Seyla.
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Blackjack Jones

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Re: MOTW - Dire Wolf
« Reply #1 on: 10 March 2012, 12:42:58 »
Well done sir, hope you you are back up to speed soon.

The only "major" gaff I see is leaving the armor tonnage and totals with an x value.

Ghostbear_Gurdel

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Re: MOTW - Dire Wolf
« Reply #2 on: 10 March 2012, 14:04:55 »
1st Paragraph:
Quote
The initial design was the brain-child of the Wolf scientist caste, which trialed for and successfully won the design.  The TRO entry states that the Trial, not shockingly, may not have been the most honorably conducted out there.
I think it should be mentioned that the Smoke Jaguars trialed for the mech, not the wolf Scientist caste.

Whenever one of my friends wants to produce the most terrifying assault mech they can, they always seem to start with a Dire Wolf and that's saying something.
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Jellico

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Re: MOTW - Dire Wolf
« Reply #3 on: 10 March 2012, 14:46:05 »
Normally I try to write an article in a humorous, somewhat snarky tone.  This works best when covering unfortunate tragedies such as the Targe, the Garm and the like.  This attitude does not work well when covering one of the deadliest Omnimechs ever designed in this game.  Quite frankly, more of a factual analysis should be used here and sprinkled with hushed reverent tones.  It deserves no less.

Meh. Sure you can. Dire Wolves are death traps beloved by munchkins with no appreciation of the value of movement who play in two map sand boxes.
In brief, you can wade a Dire Wolf into trouble, but if you can't fight your way out it dies. There is no retreat with these things.

jymset

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Re: MOTW - Dire Wolf
« Reply #4 on: 10 March 2012, 14:56:03 »
Spoken like a true Executioner pilot!!

Nice article, Pope! One thing that I'd add would be the U configuration of 3085 ONN.

The Dire Wolf A was one of the banned 'Mechs in my first gaming group when I got into the game. The only other chasses were the Warhawk C and as soon as it was released, the Turkina B (the Timber Wolf A got a dis-honourable mention on the same list). Essentially it was a flawless design, at least by the standards of its time.

Does anyone remember the short-lived MechWarrior 3? The way that the game engine worked, clusters of ACs were quite scary. The Annihilator could take you off your feet with an Alpha Strike. But IMO the biggest monster of that game was actually the "Daishi" B. The big guns were enough to seriously threaten you, but it was the insane volume of fire of the ACs that never let you catch your breath. I hated going up against that 'Mech in the game more than any other foe. And I really enjoyed that because finally the unloved B got some attention! It's not a bad configuration, having a lower BV than the others, though generally I invest that little extra amount of points.

Finally, the Dire Wolf D is death. The Marauder IIC 4 actually preceded it, but those few additional guns actually make a nice difference. In my experiences, the Dire Wolf D joins the Turkina D as being the only 'Mechs I'm aware of that can literally kill - not crit, not head-cap, but downright destroy - a 100-tonner in 2-3 turns. Ouch.
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Auren

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Re: MOTW - Dire Wolf
« Reply #5 on: 10 March 2012, 15:28:07 »
Meh. Sure you can. Dire Wolves are death traps beloved by munchkins with no appreciation of the value of movement who play in two map sand boxes.
In brief, you can wade a Dire Wolf into trouble, but if you can't fight your way out it dies. There is no retreat with these things.

If you can't use a Dire Wolf to fight your way out of trouble that you deliberately went and found...  :-X

More over, if you let your Dire Wolf get distracted by light mechs who run away all the time, there isn't much hope for you to begin with. Especially with the massive energy weapon arrays most configs have.

Ruger

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Re: MOTW - Dire Wolf
« Reply #6 on: 10 March 2012, 15:44:46 »
Does anyone remember the short-lived MechWarrior 3? The way that the game engine worked, clusters of ACs were quite scary. The Annihilator could take you off your feet with an Alpha Strike.

I remember that first Annihilator you encounter in that game kicked my butt the first few times I tried it...first time, I was in range and then flat on my back before I even knew it was there...

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iamfanboy

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Re: MOTW - Dire Wolf
« Reply #7 on: 10 March 2012, 15:59:58 »
The problem some Clan players have with the Dire Wolf can be summed up in a simple phrase:

It feels like a Spheroid assault, not a Clan assault.

Rather than following the idea that assaults should be reasonably fast but still strong enough to break holes open in the enemy lines that the heavy cav designs can exploit, and that warfare should be limited in scope to conserve resources and remain civilized, the Dire Wolf flaunts everything. It is a slow juggernaut of a 'Mech designed to beat down the opposition, plodding forward slowly and laying waste to all in its path. Its style of destruction is glacial, not lightning: grinding forward inevitably, crushing everything in front of it.

This is not a bad thing.

But it does fly in the face of what the Clan style of warfare is supposed to be all about. Take the Hellstar; yes, it's hell on two legs, but it's basically a refinement of the Warhawk Prime.

The Daishi lives up to the name given it by terrified Combine MechWarriors: It is Grand Death incarnate.

Diablo48

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Re: MOTW - Dire Wolf
« Reply #8 on: 10 March 2012, 16:24:06 »
A few edits I noticed while reading through the article before I start:

"Protecting all of this is xx tons with xxx points total." should have the numbers 19.0 tons and 304 points.

"The left torso holds a pair of Streaking SRM6’s each being fed by its own ton of ammo." should be Streak, not Streaking.

Now for the 'Mech.  The Dire Wolf is one of my favorite designs because of how unbelievably brutal it is.  Forget the Hellstar, the Dire Wolf can crush it without a crippling anti-assault mech specialization.  You can easily get four ERPPCs/Gauss Rifles into a Dire Wolf with enough sinks to fire them on the move, plenty of ammo, a Targeting Computer, and room left over for other goodies like a Flamer so you can toast infantry, SRMs to critseek, a small LRM rack, or some electronics.  When you combine this incredible payload with the flexibility of being an OmniMech, I think it is easy to say the Dire Wolf is one of the best 'Mechs in the game.

Another important weapon the Dire Wolf has going for it is its reputation.  Everyone in and out of universe knows full well that the Dire Wolf is without a doubt the single most deadly 'Mech ever built, so its presence will dominate a battlefield even among other Clan assault 'Mechs that are objectively on par with it.  When a Dire Wolf steps out onto the battlefield, it brings a legacy of terror and destruction with it that can crush the enemy before the first shots are fired.  In battle, fear kills, and the Dire Wolf is terror incarnate.

It is also a lot of fun to design configurations for because you can throw in everything you could ever want at long range, then add a nasty short range bracket, then sit back and wonder what to do with the rest of the pod space because the Dire Wolf had an unbelievable amount of pod space.  That is why I seem to be continuously generating new configurations for it and am up to 21 at this point according to SSW.  Most of these configurations are posted in my superthread where they took up two posts because there are too many variants to fit in one.

That said, I am somewhat disappointed we have not gotten any canon iJJ variants because as backwards as it seems, the 100 ton weight class is actually the optimal point for a 3/5/5 XLE 'Mech and the thought of a Dire Wolf running down a heavy in urban combat makes me smile.

If you can't use a Dire Wolf to fight your way out of trouble that you deliberately went and found...  :-X

More over, if you let your Dire Wolf get distracted by light mechs who run away all the time, there isn't much hope for you to begin with. Especially with the massive energy weapon arrays most configs have.

Exactly.  The Dire Wolf is the ultimate assault 'Mech, so you should use it as such.  You find something that cannot get away from you and smash your way in that direction until it is dead and do not go after targets that are not significantly weaker than your hammer.  You just ignore anything faster than you unless it wanders into range of your energy weapons and crush anything that tries to stand up to you, and there is really not a whole lot your enemy can do about it so long as you can keep your own supply train safe.


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Ghost_msl

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Re: MOTW - Dire Wolf
« Reply #9 on: 10 March 2012, 16:59:34 »
I cannot agree with the critisism of the Dire Wolf C - the lack of ATM 6 ammunition is actually a bit of a feature, since you only need to load a ton of ER and a ton of HE given the somewhat lackluster preformance of the standard rounds. The rest of the arsenal is energy based and slaved to a targeting computer for accuracy (the OS-SSRM 4 is there because of crittical space shortage), add in the jump jets and the ECM suite and I have a hard time finding fault with it.

God and Davion

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Re: MOTW - Dire Wolf
« Reply #10 on: 10 March 2012, 17:33:04 »
I love it. The Dire Wolf Prime is the father of the Marauder. Don't look at me that way. Were are the Marauders coming from? From split Dire Wolves. If a Dire Wolf Prime loses its arm... bingo.. it has the weapons of a Marauder (well, the ER Large are almost the same than a PPC). Given enough time the arm will grow and become a Marauder.  O0And the LRM10 is a Valkyrie waiting to walk alone.

  Jokes aside... it has the weapons of three mechs. It can use a lot of them... it is expensive but has the firepower of two expensive inner sphere mechs.... so it is, in fact, a bargain.  The Prime is a sniper and, well, the A, Hohiro, Prometeus, D, H, Widowmaker.. are the stuff of legends. It deserves its reputation. It is the gun truck of the omnimechs. The Mad Cat looks cool (well.. the Dire Wolf also looks cool) but the Dire Wolf is in the next level of firepower. A 3/5 omnimech with almost no flaws and a truckload of weapons.. who can't love it?

(NO hellions included  :)) :)))
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Re: MOTW - Dire Wolf
« Reply #11 on: 10 March 2012, 18:24:52 »
Great article  O0

I'm not a lover of the Dire Wolf in general.  I like it.  I don't love it.  I'd rather have a Savage Yote, Blood Asp, or a Turkey.  But the Dire Wolf is still a scary customer.  I love the configs that reach out and touch you, and Clan ranges are scarier than I.S.  My biggest problem with the Dire Wolf is that it's simply too good on paper and everyone goes for it.  It's a good mech, don't get me wrong.  But there are so many other good assault Omnis out there. 

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Re: MOTW - Dire Wolf
« Reply #12 on: 10 March 2012, 18:37:45 »
Excellent article, always loved the Dire Wolf and especially always enjoyed actually having to deal with heat with a Clan mech. Something alot of newer Clan designs seem to minimize as much as they can. The original Clan bruiser to threaten pretty much everybody on the board. It has its defects, and one or two are huge but its a design that can either make you think or make you just say, well lets go out and shoot things up and give the other guy a bad day. The Prime version would be better with more Heat Sinks, enough to fire all four of its ER Large Lasers without overheating would be nice but it makes you think on strategies to use all its wonderful toys without unduly overheating yourself. The A version is just a killer, and the rest make good use of their equipment for the mayhem there supposed to do.
Plus the new sculpt mini is just plain awesome, thats enough to give the Dire Wolf an A++ in my book, it just looks lethal and everybody usually goes out of their way to kill it when they see it.
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Taurevanime

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Re: MOTW - Dire Wolf
« Reply #13 on: 10 March 2012, 20:38:13 »
Very nice article Pope.

Only mistake I noticed was "Lord Midget, First Prince, Precentor Martial, Paladin Victor Davion " should be:
"Lord Midget, First Archon-Prince, Precentor Martial, Paladin Victor Ian Steiner-Davion. Because he clearly isn't compensating for his lack of height.

glitterboy2098

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Re: MOTW - Dire Wolf
« Reply #14 on: 10 March 2012, 23:05:43 »
the direwolf is one of my favorite clan assualts. personally i prefer the Alpha and the Charlie configs. the Alpha config is cool running with excellent bracket fire capability. the guass gives you a good long range punch, though you have to be wary of your ammo supply. the triple LPL's make getting close to it nasty, and it can fire those without generating too much heat. and the dual streak6's give you great up close crit seeking without adding too much heat or ammo problems. and the AMS is a great garnish on top of the 19.5 tons  (near maxed) armor.

the Charlie config i like for the ATM's, even if they are secondary weapons. as a coyote player, i like to use ATM configs, but with the Charlie config the main weapons certainly are the twin ERPPC's. i like to load one ton each of standard and HE ammo for the ATM's (maybe 2 tons of HE if i'm expecting lots of close up fighting), since the ER ammo doesn't offer enough punch at range compared to the ERPPC's to make ER-ATM ammo worth it. the OSSSRM4 is odd, but i guess you have to fill space somehow. weapons brackets are definately PPC's at range, ATM's+MPL's up close.


one thing i noticed about Victor Davion's preferred configs (the A and the Prometheus) is that they are basically a Victor battlemech writ large. the Prometheus config especially. both have an AC20, SRM's, and lasers. since Victor Davion piloted a Victor battlemech prior to outreach, him basing his Daishi config on what he was used to makes sense.
« Last Edit: 12 March 2012, 01:02:32 by glitterboy2098 »

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Re: MOTW - Dire Wolf
« Reply #15 on: 11 March 2012, 01:08:59 »
Praying you feel better Pope, thanks for a kickass article though  O0

As for the Beta config, I have to love anything that can throw an SRM-8 downrange at 27 hexes, and conjoin that with an LB-10X... wow. It's even more dastardly when you realize that ACs actually fire faster than the game turns permit. The idea of using one of these under Solaris-style combat turns, and combining it with some hole-punching lancemates.... the thing seems built for cooperative tactics.

BTW, I love the term "streaking SRMs"
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Re: MOTW - Dire Wolf
« Reply #16 on: 11 March 2012, 02:13:59 »
[...]Alpha configuration, made famous as being used by Victor Davion in most of the novels is more focused on a long range fight and also plays much cooler than the Prime.[...]
IIRC he never piloted the 'A' in a novel after Outreach.
He used mostly his Prometheus and one time even the 'B' (at the beginning of the civil war).

The Direwolf is a great mech. Don't fit my style when playing clans, but it deserve the nimbus as one of the mightiest mechs.
It's also great as salcvage for the IS. Standard armor and strcuture...
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Re: MOTW - Dire Wolf
« Reply #17 on: 11 March 2012, 03:22:51 »
DW is one of the mechs that I honestly feel is under BV'd.

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Re: MOTW - Dire Wolf
« Reply #18 on: 11 March 2012, 09:57:34 »
I love the Dire Wolf for being the Platonic ideal of an assault omnimech (or at least as close as we're likely to get in canon).

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blitzy

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Re: MOTW - Dire Wolf
« Reply #19 on: 11 March 2012, 11:00:08 »
The only weight saver comes via the Satrfire 300XL under the hood. 

If we're picking on ItsTehPope today for spelling errors, its a Starfire 300XL.

Nothing really to say about the Mech, I mean it is Dire Wolf, what did you expect.  Brutal Firepower somewhat boring to play.  I do agree, an IJJ config for fun would be neat.
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Re: MOTW - Dire Wolf
« Reply #20 on: 11 March 2012, 11:20:29 »
Okay, enough picking on the spelling errors, please.

Personally, I've never been that impressed by the Dire Wolf in the sense that it's never made much of an impression on me.  It's big, it's ugly, it's slow, and it's powerful.  There's not much else to say about the base chassis aside from the generous critical availability.  Some of the configurations are interesting.  The Prime is one of exactly three 'Mechs I've seen that actually make me respect the Ultra/5 (the others being the Jupiter and the Wolverine II).  Other than that, the sheer fun of hosing someone down with a pair of HAG 40s on the D, and the Kitchen Sink X, none of them really stand out that much in my mind to leave firm impressions.  I've never really used the design that much, though.

blitzy

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Re: MOTW - Dire Wolf
« Reply #21 on: 11 March 2012, 11:55:16 »
Woot  The wolverine II.  Love that mech, shame its not produced anymore  :'(
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Re: MOTW - Dire Wolf
« Reply #22 on: 11 March 2012, 12:02:41 »
That said, I am somewhat disappointed we have not gotten any canon iJJ variants because as backwards as it seems, the 100 ton weight class is actually the optimal point for a 3/5/5 XLE 'Mech and the thought of a Dire Wolf running down a heavy in urban combat makes me smile.

Could you explain that, please? By my understanding, an 85-ton 3/5/5 unit is far superior to a 100-tonner doing the same, so I'm just wondering if I'm missing something.
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Re: MOTW - Dire Wolf
« Reply #23 on: 11 March 2012, 12:25:58 »
Woot  The wolverine II.  Love that mech, shame its not produced anymore  :'(
You aint the only one.  If it was, I'd run a full company of those beasts.

Still, picking from 3050 omnis, the Dire Wolf would've been my last choice. The Warhawk or the Executioner would've been preferable.  Still, it's a decent mech. 

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Re: MOTW - Dire Wolf
« Reply #24 on: 11 March 2012, 12:39:36 »
IIRC he never piloted the 'A' in a novel after Outreach.
He used mostly his Prometheus and one time even the 'B' (at the beginning of the civil war).

The Direwolf is a great mech. Don't fit my style when playing clans, but it deserve the nimbus as one of the mightiest mechs.
It's also great as salcvage for the IS. Standard armor and strcuture...

The descriptions of his Dire Wolf in Grave Covenant and Prince of Havoc match the A config.
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Re: MOTW - Dire Wolf
« Reply #25 on: 11 March 2012, 12:49:50 »
The Dire Wolf, specifically the A config, was my first encounter with Clantech.  I had previously had a nasty shock facing a Highlander 732(gauss rifle?  what's that?) and so my medium-heavy Cappy company was ordered to take the hill the Dire Wolf was standing on.  The trio of LPLs was awful.  That was the start of my respect for it.  I don't use them very often, as they're a little slower than I like in a Clan Mech, and I prefer the Highlander IIC for aesthetics anyway, but as a Jag player, I've gotten excellent mileage out of them for Trials and straight assaults on IS units. 

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Re: MOTW - Dire Wolf
« Reply #26 on: 11 March 2012, 13:07:49 »
The thing that stands out to me about the A isn't the ranged firepower.  It's the endurance, something a 'Mech like a Jupiter or a Bane 3 just doesn't have.  That thing's not going to stop firing for a long, long time unless you beat it to death.

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« Last Edit: 11 March 2012, 13:17:32 by Moonsword »

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Re: MOTW - Dire Wolf
« Reply #27 on: 11 March 2012, 13:31:18 »
Could you explain that, please? By my understanding, an 85-ton 3/5/5 unit is far superior to a 100-tonner doing the same, so I'm just wondering if I'm missing something.

It's not much, but a 100-tonner gets 54.5 tons of weapons, heat sinks, and armor, while the 85-tonner only gets 54. Coupled with more internal heat sinks, more internal structure, a higher armor cap, and better physical attacks, it's definitely superior. Apparently gaining fifteen tons overall is enough to offset going from ten to twenty tons of jump jets.

I could definitely see the IS Clans making variants like that, too. For one thing, you can't do it on a Turkina. For another, when you're never getting any more Dire Wolves, you'd best make the ones you've got tougher to hit.

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Re: MOTW - Dire Wolf
« Reply #28 on: 11 March 2012, 13:59:00 »
Ah, ok. See, I'm not sure that .5 tons and extra internal structure is worth investint 15 tons. Actually, I'm sure it's not.

Beyond that, going with what canon designs offer - and the Dire Wolf is one of those - the Savage Coyote has it beat. Once the iJJ are mounted, the Coyote has 5 tons more pod space. Yes, lower armour, 1 less heat sink, but going by with what we are given, it can mount more guns, making it scarier IMO.
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Re: MOTW - Dire Wolf
« Reply #29 on: 11 March 2012, 14:21:17 »
In as much as I do value speed and manuver, and I do love my Stormcrows and Crimson Languars and the like, I still love the Dire Wolf and I still rank it amoung the mechs I consider to be the 'best.'  Yes, its unimaginitive.  If it ain't broke, don't fix it, and there was little need to mess with the pattern established back in TRO25 with the Awesome, Stalker and Atlas, from which the Dire Wolf draws in verring mesures its inspiration.

When it comes to wading in, I find it tends not to be too big a problem.  In part, this is because of the Dire Wolf's tendancy to long range, which means it need only wade up to the edge of an engagment can it can deliver power on the levels a medium mech can at close range.  If you've got a veriant with accuracy enhancment (A,C,H,etc) you don't even lose out for your long ranged TNs, and there's really fairly little reason to get in anyone's face if you don't want to (though ironicly of the list I offered I do prefer the C and H in closer ranges and I feel they work well there).  In part perhaps, its because I tend to match my Dire Wolves with Stormcrows and Mad Dogs and whatever so that I can actualy execute tactics around the Dire Wolf and ward off flanking attacks and such; I don't frown on assualts, but I do tend to frown on thouse who make use of nothing else.

As far as the veriants go, I don't think I actualy dislike any of them, though I'll admit the X is bourder line (the whole point of ATMs is so that you can do the role of both LRMs and SRMs, so why use all three types, and streaks as well to make four?!)  Yes, the B is problematic, and to a lesser extent the Prime, but I still like them.

I am in the camp that places the Dire Wolf C at or near the top of best mech lists.  Its rather hard to defend, since I do admit that on paper it seems to be less impressive than many others one can look at, but in many, many experiances with it it has not ever let me down in a meaningful way and on quite a few occasions outperformed even the high expectations that its monumental BV and hype have given it.  At range, two TCed PPCs and ATMs give it an elegant, ballanced attack with accuracy, hole punching and crit seeking.  No, its not as much as some other assualts (its only better than a Hellbringer or Adder by the ATMs) but its got sinks to spare, it jumps, and it's got armor to out last a rane dual.  But, when its up against an opponet that can match its power at range, it has the option to close in and bring its MPLs to bare, while still keeping its PPCs in the game and switching its ATMs to HE rounds, and become a very powerful brawler nearly on par with the S.  This split personality means that it can tussle with any mech in some way or another and have some method of being competitive.  Yes, its more of a dualist than a specalist, but its an omni so it can be a specalist the next day if you need it to be.

There's more, but I'll come back to it.

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