Vehicle of the Week: Savannah MasterSorry for the intermission. I needed the time off - it's been a long month. Hopefully, next time I need to knock off for a bit, I'll have someone else ready to take over.
The Savannah Master is one of the smallest and fastest combat vehicles in the game, Introduced to the game by TRO3026 and to the LCAF in 3026, the Savannah Master's core is the miniscule supply of Omni 25 fusion engines discovered by the JumpShip
Winnetka in 3024 and claimed by Warrant Officer Lewis. He used them to devise a design in response to Katrina Steiner's solicitation of vehicles for screening and reconnaissance duties and able to defeat a
Locust in three out of four solo engagements. After a demonstration against
Locust pilot Savannah Johnston, the design earned its name from the drubbing it gave her in testing and entered service with the LCAF whether certain commanders liked it or not. During the Fourth Succession War, the design proved its value against the DCMS, a success sometimes attributed to AFFS advisers. Somehow, the Big MAC had gotten their hands on a shipment, and McCarron's Armored Cavalry proceeded to hand the AFFS a few lessons of their own in Savannah Master operations during the Fourth Succession War.
Savannah Masters are tiny, only 5 tons, smaller than your typical escape pod and half the size of the standard APCs used by the Successor States. Fusion power might be an extravagance but it's one the Savannah Master puts to good use - a blistering 216 kph flank speed would be achievable with an ICE (the Ferret's Tyson 25 ICE is the same weight as the Savannah Master's Omni 25 SFE) but the weapons load wouldn't be. Just a single Defiance B3M medium laser that takes up a full 20% of the design's weight load all by itself but it provides a reasonable punch at a reasonable range for the Savannah Master. The armor is sufficient for a 5 ton design, 1.5 tons of Durallex Light arranged 10/6/2. Considering that you have 13 MPs to burn even if you stick to cruise speeds, you can probably manage not to point your rear at the enemy. Other than that, it's actually tougher than a hover APC, twice the coverage on the front. (Somehow, I don't think the guys in the back of the hover APCs find that a comforting comparison...)
S. L. Lewis had experimented early on with a testbed design using two small lasers instead of the medium but found the range was just too short. Other than that, the design of the Savannah Master was stable for several decades, even through the FedCom Civil War that saw S. L. Lewis refuse sales to the AFFS, although they honored their service contracts. (This would later lead to one of the most epic cases of scope creep for a design I can think of when the AFFS tried to replace it with the Fox.) I suspect the lack of the obvious ERML swap has to do with the 50% increase in price. TAG and a C3 slave are other simple one ton options; again, neither one has been followed up on. The variant that finally emerged was the Savannah Master (Interdictor), one of several variants in TRO3085's Old is the New New section to follow that general theme of stuffing in ECM. Okay, so you got one ton from the ML, and this isn't a mixed tech unit, so where's the half-ton coming from? There's only one place tonnage can from on this design: Armor. One ton of HFF is as good as it gets for maxing armor values out but at 8/5/1, we're down to 19 points. IS MPLs are now a lethal side threat and an IS LPL or any of the increasing number of weapons that can hand out a 10 point hit is a guaranteed one shot kill. Since a lot of those weapons are remarkably popular, that's not a good recipe for your health. And trust me, the less you think about that rear armor, the happier you'll be. How survivable is it? The answer, surprisingly, is “not as bad as you think”. They're not armed and unlike TAG or C3, ECM isn't necessarily a priority target, especially if the enemy isn't badly affected. And then there's ghost targets - combine that with a Savannah Master's speed and you're talking about to-hit numbers that can be nearly imposible. There's enough armor that Spheroids, at least, still have to commit a reasonably heavy weapon unless the Interdictor is in MPL range to guarantee a one-shot kill even on the sides.
If you have them, Savannah Masters are your fingertips. They're not the armored fist. That's what
Falconers,
Blitzkriegs, and Manteuffels are for. Savannah Masters are a tool for a commander to get an idea what's out in the vast expanses and lay a few hits on it. As scouts, spotters, and light skirmishers, the SM's staggering speed is invaluable and it has just enough armor to be able to survive tangling with infantry or light armored units as long as the pilot prudently withdraws after his armor picks up more than a few scrapes. You've got less firepower than some individual assault suits (or
heavy suits) and less armor than your typical BA squad manages to boast. Tough for a 5 ton vehicle? The Savannah Master is that. Being able to survive a PPC hit - once - on the vehicle's front armor is impressive. But that doesn't make it all that tough in the grand scheme of things (like the way an IS LL or Clan medium can blow the side straight off) so don't get cocky. Use slashing attacks in open terrain, don't get sucked into tight quarters, and if you've got a reason to suspect (or know) that a particular unit has pulse lasers, don't engage it in their arc. Also, from a good sportsmanship/not getting beaten in the parking lot perspective, don't just spam them. Most players don't find that a fun game even if they do have the tools to deal with it (see below). If you have both of the major varieties available, mix a few Interdictors in to provide ECM cover or to swamp the field in ghost targets for the kind of To-Hit numbers that inspire hate and loathing.
Okay, so you've got Savannah Masters on the board against you. How do you put them down? Well, accuracy is at a premium when Savannah Masters get some room to work in, even more than it is against most light, fast units. Fortunately, they're short-ranged, so they're obliged to get into arm's reach - you may get a little singed but pulse lasers can be brought to bear. LPLs will take anything but the front out and will severely weaken the forward armor. So will medium VSPLs at short or medum range. (Against Interdictors, LPLs will blow them straight to whatever hell is reserved for the hotshots who pilot vehicles like this against giant robots. So will a medium VSPL at short range.) If they get into the killing ground of medium range - say, 4-9 hexes - bring any decently heavy weapon that will bear and has decent numbers. You may not get a better opportunity. Clan opponents have a bit easier job thanks to their more powerful, longer-ranged tools but the basics apply to both tech bases. If you have them, area effect weapons are a useful trick - Thumper Cannons or an LRM 20 full of MCMs might get lucky and smack the back armor while an LTC will put a serious crimp in the Savannah Master's style. In fact, with an LTC or cluster bombs, if I had good odds of putting the shot where I wanted to, I'd think strongly about planting it
behind the Savannah Master for a better shot at the rear armor. Otherwise, look at the terrain - pull into places where the Savannah Masters are going to burn MPs heavily. Trees may just keep them away, period, but gentle, sloping hills that force them to either turn constantly (and keep their speed down or bury themselves in the hillside on a botch) or eat the 3 MP cost of an elevation change (remember, vehicles pay +2 MP, not +1 like 'Mechs) will help a lot in forcing the TMMs down to something you can handle. These are terrors (well, really annoying, at least...) on the open plains so don't fight there.
References: The
Master Unit List is an excellent first stop. You may also want to visit
CamoSpecs.
