HCT-213 Hellcat - 60t, AT2
Originally posted 16 Feb. 2005. All proposed fan-variants should be posted in the corresponding "FotW Workshop" thread. The original
Hellcat has no fluff that I know of, being that comes from the AT2 'generic' set
and it has the same legally contested provenance as the Samurai and several others. Since I have no actual fluff on the
Hellcat, I can't make much in the way of flavour-recommendations - I don't know who it's likely to face, so I can't recommend specific tactics/counters. :-[ I will say, however, that the pic makes the first
Hellcat look like one of the doofiest-looking ASFs ever deployed anywhere. :D
By the standards of medium fighters, the original
Hellcat carries formidable firepower: a large laser and twin mediums in the nose, a large and a medium in each wing, and an ML aft to scrape off tail-gaters. As mobile as most of its fellows at 6/9 and running off the nominal five-ton fuel reserves, the
Hellcat also has twenty SHS, which is enough to make life very, very lively for the recipient. (One imagines that when it came time to draw up faction-specific fighters, it was the
Hellcat which evolved into the
Stingray, much as the
Lightning became the
Transit.) Delivering a twelve-ton bombload at 3/5, the
Hellcat makes a formidable attack platform, especially when one considers all the strafey goodness it offers. An alpha-strike with all forward weapons presents a +16 overheat, which means it is a 'dire circumstances only' sort of option, but failing that, any medium or short-range tactical problem can be addressed with a hell of a wallop: at Medium range, a repeating 3-2 with the large lasers averages 0 heat over two turns and puts a lot of throw-weight onto a target; up close, I'd stick with the nose large and the four mediums, which is exactly heat-neutral. The amount of punishment a squadron of
Hellcats can hand to a capital target is concerning, even with the attendant heat problems, and threatens to crit the hell out of most smaller vessels: the squadron's total bays come to one of 6 Capital (the nose MLs), three of 5 Capital (for the larges), and two of 3 Capital (for the wing MLs), and while not all of these would be employed at once, they can still give the target(s) a lot of grief. }:) About the only true weak point of the
Hellcat (and the phrase is deliberate) is the armour. The similar
Stingray uses just enough armour to nerf threshold criticals to its wings from MLs; the 55/40/20 arrangement of the
Hellcat's 11.5 tons of standard plate, on the other hand, leaves the wings exposed to such TACs, which is not exactly a good thing in a fighter this big - from the rear, enemy interceptors will dish out as many crits as they take, which is not exactly an
ideal strategy but would still be considered a winning proposition by most commanders/players. ::)
In using
Hellcats, one must remember that these are specialist attack platforms, not dogfighters. They can defend themselves ably if pressed, but they should not have to; protect them with interceptor squadrons and avoid unnecessary entanglements en route to and from their target(s). Strafe with them; bomb with them; kick the hell out of WarShips and DropShips with them; but don't pitch them into a dogfight if you have any other choice. If you find yourself lacking such options, however, 'boom and zoom' is the best approach - trying to go toe-to-toe with other aircraft is begging for a beating. And as always, DON'T FORGET THE MANTRAS. ;)
For all their firepower,
Hellcats are fairly fragile, so if you want to beat them, hold their attention with mediums or heavies (preferably fighters with long-reaching heavy firepower like PPCs or LRMs, for the early crits), then swarm 'em with interceptors to tail 'em and pick them to pieces.
[VARIANT PROPOSALS REDACTED] All proposed fan-variants, including my own, belong in the corresponding "FotW Workshop" thread: http://www.classicbattletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=1680.0.htmlHCT-213B Hellcat II - 50t, TRO2750
Interestingly enough, the
Hellcat II appears to be only one of two canon ASFs which is both a variant of another spaceframe
and differs in mass from its predecessor - the other being the
Deathstalker. Most other 'variant' spacecraft are simple weapons-and-armour mods of the same spaceframe.
Massing only fifty tons, the
Hellcat II has a very nippy 7/11 thrust profile (better than almost any other fighter of its own size or larger - only the
Oni and
Hammerhead can match its mobility) and the usual five-ton gas tank; it also packs on twelve tons of ferro-aluminium armour, coming out to a 68/51/45 layout that makes it more or less ML-proof and moves it firmly into the 'dogfighter' column, but it also sheds five SHS and most of the original's guns. Its warload consists only of large lasers in each wing and an aft-mounted ML, as well as a Beagle Active Probe which seems to be there only for fluff purposes, as it has no game use in pure AT2/R AFAIK, but it's fluffed as a scouting tool/training aid/tactical advisor, so I'll let it slide for now. :D
To the best of my knowledge, the
Hellcat II is now found only in Clan second-line units, which means it's going to face very steep competition if it is ever challenged in a modern campaign. (Aside to Peter laCasse: the Faction List says the Snakes have these too? Did they capture them from the Jags or something? ???) That being so, you'd best hope your pilots are switched-on when it all hits the fan, 'cause they're gonna need their A-game to handle Clan OmniFighters.
Clumsy and underarmed compared to XL-engined OmniFighters, the
Hellcat II would be best served by operating as the aerial scout it is fluffed as, or as an attack platform - for instance, the Black Thorns learned respect for HCT-213Bs the hard way, and so will many other opponents, especially since those strafing passes can be backed by ten tons of bombs arriving at a 5/8 thrust profile (:o), and a Star's worth can lay two 8 Capital bays onto a target, which is enough to bring a tear to anyone's eye. If used in aerial combat, the
Hellcat II will slowly but surely overheat through sustained firing of both its large lasers (+1 per turn adds up over five or six turns), so one would do well to use short, hit-hard-get-out tactics to do what has to be done. Clan ordnance will eat you for breakfast - a C/ERML matches your LLs' range performance and can crit your wings or aft - so steer clear of their main batteries and come at them from (relatively) undefended angles. DON'T FORGET THE MANTRAS.
If you're up against the Clan second-line formations which field
Hellcat IIs, you're probably either Clan yourself or some poor mercenary sod who was dumb enough to sign a contract to raid an OZ. Your options depend on which situation pertains, but I can tell you now, if you're a merc you'd better be one of the better-equipped outfits or yousa in deep do-do. :P What you want are fighters that can either out-manoeuvre the
Hellcat IIs and/or out-hit them and/or out-range them. Oddly enough, the Combine's S-4
Sai seems to be the best single aircraft to counter the
Hellcat II, testbed or not: while its armour is distressingly thin, it can out-turn the HCT-213B, its ERPPC out-reaches those IS large lasers and can cause threshold crits from any angle, while the SRM mounts are also an all-aspect crit threat and a solid finsihing weapon. Failing that single-type solution, CSR-V14
Corsairs, TR-13A
Transgressors, and SL-17
Shilones are good IS counters on the high end of a high-low mix, and if you've got
Eisensturms, your life will be a great deal easier; the low end is, of course, your interceptor of choice to finish what their companions' firepower started, though my personal preference would be for SYZ-Z4
Seydlitz, to stay clear of the tail-gun. On the Clan side of the equation, a mix of
Visigoth-As and
Chaeroneas or
Batu Primes would be just ideal. In any case, out-manoeuvre them if you can, out-hit them if you can't, and DON'T FORGET THE CARDINAL RULES.
[VARIANT PROPOSALS REDACTED] All proposed fan-variants, including my own, belong in the corresponding "FotW Workshop" thread: http://www.classicbattletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=1680.0.html Be advised: the attached .txt transcripts of previous runs of this thread contain numerous reader-proposals for variants. I'll try to change those out for 'sanitised' versions of those threads when I can, but I can't promise it'll be soon - that's a lot of ground to cover. ;)
