Author Topic: Mech of the Week: MLR-B* Mjolnir  (Read 16996 times)

Moonsword

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Mech of the Week: MLR-B* Mjolnir
« on: 24 February 2019, 18:54:33 »
MLR-B* Mjolnir


The Mjolnir is one of those demonstrations that sometimes just because you can achieve something in a light `Mech, maybe you shouldn't.  Yes, the Mjolnir is a cheap 25 ton melee `Mech with a 12 point swing. That's about the only trick you've got.  Everything else is straight out of your grandfather's old copy of Zen and the Art of Not Dying In A Wasp.  Fair warning: This is not going to be one of those glowing, complimentary `Mech of the Week articles.  I'm not a fan.  I don't think the Mjolnir is useless - I'd actually love to see it added to HBS's game, where its quirks would fit in better, and it has some utility I'll cover once I'm done trashing its reputation - but it's not exactly what I'd call a good idea unless you like cheap `Mechs sold to people you don't like so you can make a profit on setting them up to die horribly to a pirate Wolverine or something.  For that, the Mjolnir has you covered and then some!  For all my trash talk, there are going to be things I like about this `Mech, and we'll start at the beginning.  That artwork up there?  Dynamic!  Active!  It makes the Mjolnir look good which helps distract you from the, uh, let's call them challenges in the stat block to the left.

"Light melee `Mech" is kind of a bad idea.  Melee damage is, much more directly than other types of damage, directly dependent on tonnage to get the job done, so "25 ton melee 'Mech" kind of starts off on the wrong foot there. To make up in fancy myomers what the tonnage rating can't supply, TSM is used. Not the worst idea!  It certainly works for the SCB-9T Scarabus. The problem is you're not the Scarabus, which has armor, ECM, and sheer speed a Mjolnir doesn't have thanks to the XLFE. The 9T takes a nasty light harasser/spotter and makes it faster and meaner. So you can see why when Arc-Royal MechWorks proposed this, a lot of people's idea of the correct response was "Go home, you're drunk". I will give whoever was behind this credit for marketing this as an export product... that was promptly sold to the Lyran Guards and Regulars. Whoops!  And hey, they sold them to the Republic, too. I thought Steiner liked those guys!  (The Federated Suns on the other hand can be justified as lingering resentment from the whole civil war thing a while back.)

So what exactly makes me - and plenty of other people - so hard on this guy?  Well, let's start with being 25 tons and going 6/9 on a design that - as we've noted - has a serious compulsion to get right in someone's face. Okay, there's TSM, which helps both the speed and “not big enough to hit hard” problems, and I'll give someone credit for having the sense to stick jump jets on here. It takes up a lot of payload you really need for guns but sometimes being able to jump is vital to controlling range (something a Mjolnir needs to do desperately) and it can let TSM `Mechs build heat aggressively without playing silly games with their heat sinks.  Fortunately, they got some single heat sinks off a LAW fire sale, so you don't have that problem... except that there's only two guns on here, an ERML and an ERSL.  Uh.  Huh.  Yeah, you're going to need those jump jets.  And that melee weapon!  Ah, the glorious hatc- oh, wait.  No, this isn't a hatchet.  It's a mace.  The difference is maces hit harder (a hatchet on a 25 tonner does 5 points instead of 6) but they're vastly less accurate (a +2 relative target modifier, ouch!) and when you miss (which you will) you get to roll a PSR.  Did I mention the part where this is an el cheapo light `Mech built on standard bones and fusion engines for sale to low-end units?  No?  Well it is.  That means that PSRs caused by melee rolls are going to be a serious issue because the pilots making those rolls don't tend to be the best of the lot.  The armor is not horrible - the splurge on ferro-fibrous gets an armor rating 25% tougher than the Commando the Mjolnir gets compared to and on the MLR-B2, the head is fully armored, a great relief to light `Mech jocks who get stuck in these things.  Hell, it's actually decently armored with 12 points over the centerline and 10 on the legs.  The side torsos and arms are more thinly armored - 9 and 7 respectively - and the rear plates are more notional than stopping power but it's a 25 tonner.  Well-armored only gets you so far at this tonnage bracket and this is one aspect of the `Mech I can wholeheartedly endorse.

Let's sum up: Thinly armored for the modern battlefield, 6/9/6, ERML, ERSL, inaccurate melee weapon that likes to trip the wielder, and TSM that when lit up telegraphs to everyone in range you just went from "annoyance" to "I have a headcapper and a deathwish, come at me bro!"  That's the MLR-B2.  Now imagine someone looked at this and went, "It's not Commando enough."  This is pretty much the entire development process of the MLR-BX in a nutshell.  Some Lyran commander thought they needed SRMs to exploit holes opened by the mace and stuck an XLFE and XL gyro in here, then got rid of the lasers.  Now you get to burn ammo to light up the TSM and the SRMs can crit-seek... on the target you haven't... hit... with the mace?  Yeah, I'm not sure why they didn't just buy an extra Commando or Wasp and toss it in the back of the DropShip.  It's more heavily armed, something most people like.  Along the way, someone shifted armor from the center torso and head to the sides, bringing them up to 10 points. That makes sense given there's a much more vulnerable engine back there.  Given the number of 10 point weapons out there these days, not having one open the side torso like a can opener is a good thing.  That said, I imagine a lot of pilots look at that thinner cockpit armor and wonder if this was really that good an idea.  All in all, the MLR-BX is not really any impressive than the B2 but it's a lot more expensive, has trouble generating heat reliably, and gets things that go BANG right next to the engine on a `Mech that is encouraged to turn off heat sinks.  Thanks, no thanks; if you want to crit-seek on a TSM `Mech, do it with lasers.  That said, another time I need to agree with the designer's thinking here: On a light, if you're taking gyro damage, you are already about to die, so the XLFE is kind of a wash and it's certainly a better choice on a `Mech with a mace than a small cockpit's PSR penalty, and any thought of this being a mass market model on the B2's scale went out with the XLFE anyway.

Operationally, the two variants are close enough to be discussed basically the same way.  Swapping ammo out for anything other than Narc in the BX is frequently a bad idea with only the one ton, although I guess you could use one for crowd control with some tear gas rounds.  So, you've got one of these in your lance.  What do you do with it while you're looking for a way to bribe and/or blackmail the quartermaster into swapping it for something better?  Okay, I know I trashtalked 6/9/6 a little, but it's still moderately fast - faster than a lot of big `Mechs ' so scouting is never a bad choice.  On the other hand, it's a light `Mech, you had to know that suggestion was coming, right?  The other role a Mjolnir does well in is as a raider or when facing things of its own ilk, the kind of low-end militia lights like Quasits or Patrons, or hammering on the escort vehicles of a light convey.  Stay out of pitched battles unless you have to and focus on the job - get in, hit/scan the target, and bug out.  You need to plan your moves ahead, too, and have a decent idea what the enemy is going to do (or the rest of your lance can make them do) - you have to disable heat sinks to quickly activate TSM, so even more so than other bad `Mechs, the Mjolnir requires a bit of chessmaster to make it work.  Let the guys in the Scarabus and the Osiris get all the glory clashing with the 123rd Falcon Swooping Doves led by whatever the Scientists decanted out of the Pryde line last decade. You just wreck their supply lines with the rest of your similarly disfavored and ill-equipped lance while those guys are keeping them busy.

I'm interested to hear your opinions.  This is a `Mech that's charitably described as "flawed" but it has some genuine uses and any flawed `Mech that triumphs has fun stories with it, even if it's just teaching some pirates to respect the might of your mace.  I imagine they also make good mook `Mechs against less experienced players.  No one in their right mind takes a 12 point smash across the torso plates twice, teaching them about melee, but it doesn't have the kind of speed, armor, and/or firepower to really be an overwhelming threat, so for a certain type of game, that makes the Mjolnir a perfect fit.  I'm also curious to hear what the Alpha Strike players think.  Alternative rules can sometimes expose different sides of a `Mech and the Mjolnir could use some good press.

MUL:
http://masterunitlist.info/Unit/Details/2194/mjolnir-mlr-b2
« Last Edit: 24 February 2019, 19:02:55 by Moonsword »

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Re: Mech of the Week: MLR-B* Mjolnir
« Reply #1 on: 24 February 2019, 22:45:43 »
I"m like 90% cure this was one of those 'mechs that came from the clicky game. that leaves it with a whole bunch of hardpoints it absolutely has to fill for it's weightclass somehow and one of them is that blasted hammer. with the handicaps of that and the tonnage in mind, i think they did alright.

i'd probably expect this thing to end up in solaris more than the battlefield though. then again, if you're willing to splash some inferno gel on them to help get them going they might have a bit more utility. what're the rules on some warm friendly fire again?....hey, don't look at me like that, if you compare it to the commando i'm going to consider pairing them up.
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Re: Mech of the Week: MLR-B* Mjolnir
« Reply #2 on: 24 February 2019, 23:41:48 »
Don't think there's saving this one.
It ain't completely useless, to be sure, it is low threat enough it might get next to an enemy and hit them, but.... well, 12 points can decapitate a 'Mech but that takes so much luck (and work to get the TSM activated) that it ain't really worth it. Would be better with a hatchet, that's save a ton and allow for extra lasers, and 10 points is just enough it can break head-armor and threaten a cockpit critical, or just do enough damage in general to be called a hole-puncher.

Apparently the Mjolnir fluff paints it as an export 'Mech post-Jihad. Sure as hell has to have been a sellers' market, otherwise i can't see this design being successful in any way.

For comparison, some other light to medium melee 'Mechs dating from the Jihad or later:
The Davions have the Cuirass, which is a 40 tonner but way too expensive and sports single heat sinks but no TSM.
The FWL has the Violator, which is 45 tons but sports a drill of all things. What.
The Kuritans have the Nyx's melee variant which is complete nonsense. They also have the Rokurokubi which is actually workable because of its massive armor (for its tonnage), the idea being very much that small hits add up.
The Cappies have the Dola, and tries things with high-tech approach, Good damage and mobility for its tonnage, though the melee weapon feels superfluous even (thinking about the production variant, the prototype is too fragile to be truly useful).

Some of these have their origins in the MWDA. Lighter melee units may have worked there, but most of them got the short end of the stick when converted to BattleTech.

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Re: Mech of the Week: MLR-B* Mjolnir
« Reply #3 on: 24 February 2019, 23:47:45 »
I"m like 90% cure this was one of those 'mechs that came from the clicky game.
yep
http://www.warrenborn.com/Search.php?ID=Mjolnir
that leaves it with a whole bunch of hardpoints it absolutely has to fill for it's weightclass somehow and one of them is that blasted hammer. with the handicaps of that and the tonnage in mind, i think they did alright.
it's original appearance in the Counter Assault release predated the "hardpoint" system of MW:AoD, though when it reappeared in the "Domination" expansion of MW:AoD the pilot and equipment card system was fitted to it.
however the figure included a hammer, so some sort of melee weapon was a given.
interestingly, while the original Counter Assualt version has a sculpt that had a hand on the other arm, the Domination expansion's sculp had an almost zeus style handless weapons pod on the other arm. combined with a general increase in bulk and some subtle changes in shape, it is clear that the figure had been resculpted between the MWDA and MWAoD appearances.

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Re: Mech of the Week: MLR-B* Mjolnir
« Reply #4 on: 25 February 2019, 08:53:29 »
I've only gotten good results with the Mjolnir once, and that was in the dumbest way possible. Playing through Total Chaos, I picked up a Mjolnir as salvage. I wasn't crazy enough to use it in the normal Tracks, but it filled out a lance for Recon missions while I waited on repairs. But one time I'd taken a beating in previous tracks and was short on good 'mechs, but the other players were in a hurry to move the campaign along, so we ended up taking the B team with us. We ended up on a water heavy map full of islands and bridges facing off against a tank heavy enemy. The Mjolnir happened to jump far enough to move through the water and use the islands for cover. So for 6 turns we were trading shots with the tanks while I ran the little around to the bridge behind the tanks, then blew out their escape route. Our 'mechs blew the other end of the bridge and backed into the water, and we proceeded to have a PPC turkey shoot. As an added bonus, the one enemy 'mech that did try to chase us in the water lost its leg to a kick from the Mjolnir!
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Re: Mech of the Week: MLR-B* Mjolnir
« Reply #5 on: 25 February 2019, 09:42:22 »
I'm looking for positives here. I mean, it could take the 3050 Mercury in a brawl, so there's that...

This is, of course, one of the MWDA designs that came over to our game, and the writers had only so many things they could do with a design- in a case like this, it clearly was small, had only a couple of small weapons, the mace, etc. (The stats on the unit's dial could vary wildly depending on which faction was the owner, so those could be stretched a little- the Huitzilopochtli tank, for example, mounted a surprising all-energy battery in its Jade Falcon iteration!) This meant that the unit's sculpt and weight class made it a relatively simple transfer to Battletech- just not a GOOD one. And that's fine- to appreciate a great Mech, we need designs that aren't uber-tricked-out as well, and honestly it's good to have crap out there as well to measure even that against.

What we wend up here is a pretty awful Mech that can perform a few jobs decently enough. Mjolnirs don't have ammunition (well, the standard model anyway), so they make for decent raiding units, able to operate deep behind enemy lines without fear of running out of ammunition, and while one hand is holding the mace it does have two hand actuators, allowing it to carry objects such as stolen goods, spare parts, or your mother-in-law (ZING!). In light combat roles it really isn't terrible- it's able to clear obstacles quickly with its jets, and against rear-area units like supply trucks and such it's plenty powerful enough to get the job done.

There's really not a lot positive past that, is there? I've been staring at the open reply box for ten minutes trying to be polite but... yeah, the transfer over to Battletech did this machine zero favors, and if this were the Clans your pilot you put in a Mjolnir would have a pretty solid case to declare a Trial of Grievance against you for doing this to him. There's not much to be done in terms of upgrading either- I mean the hammer is kind of the Mech's reason to be, so removing it (the best move for an upgrade) means you really should have picked up a different Mech to begin with, and with only 1.5 tons of other weaponry your options are sadly limited.

Now, a SWARM of these things bum-rushing an enemy, that's kind of a scary thought. Full-on Ravannion tactics mean a group of hammer-wielding lunatics scaling the walls of a facility with their jets and pummeling anything that looks like a nail before running off as quickly as they appeared, and that's pretty fun to ponder (particularly if you're not very nail-looking!), but even then, as fun as that is, is it appreciably better than other low-cost options in that role? Is it better than some of the decent Stinger options out there? Is it a better option than a cheaper, easy-to-find 3025 Spider for mobile raiding?

I need coffee, to hell with this Mech. Melt a lance of them down and you can probably buy an Enforcer or something for the scrap value.
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Re: Mech of the Week: MLR-B* Mjolnir
« Reply #6 on: 25 February 2019, 09:53:00 »
Is it better than some of the decent Stinger options out there? Is it a better option than a cheaper, easy-to-find 3025 Spider for mobile raiding?
I'd say this is the most damning thing about the Mjolnir. Taking a Stinger, adding 5 tons to add a mace isn't really worth it. If this had 7/11/7 mobility, or did something other the Stinger cannot do in addition to the mace, it would be worth more.

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Re: Mech of the Week: MLR-B* Mjolnir
« Reply #7 on: 25 February 2019, 12:07:08 »
I want to like the thing, but with such limited weapons, it's hard to do so...almost wish it was a bit faster and more mobile with the armament of a Wasp-1W with the mace (or better yet, a hatchet), but alas, that was not to be...

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Re: Mech of the Week: MLR-B* Mjolnir
« Reply #8 on: 25 February 2019, 13:30:57 »
There was a "Tell me about the Mjolnir" thread in here a couple months ago, and the consensus was it's basically a waste of production capability. Granted it brought in a bunch of money because it used components already in use, but on most battlefields it's just a target.

However, I could see the LCAF using it in the Periphery to face off against Arbiters and retrotech units. Or maybe a good solution for that Raider POS from Bannson.

And if you're willing to replace the chassis, engine, gyro, and mace, you can get some room to include a hatchet and more/better lasers, or a supercharger. Of course at that point you're redesigning the whole 'Mech.
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Re: Mech of the Week: MLR-B* Mjolnir
« Reply #9 on: 25 February 2019, 15:31:00 »
Is this a mech that should have a XLE and XL-Gyro?  If it could get the engine up to where it was near Scarabus speeds would that be better?  Or get the weight free to put a AES in the mace arm (I know that is illegal, lol)?

Unfortunately I am not in a position to test this with my HMP at home.
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Re: Mech of the Week: MLR-B* Mjolnir
« Reply #10 on: 25 February 2019, 15:56:47 »
Is this a mech that should have a XLE and XL-Gyro?  If it could get the engine up to where it was near Scarabus speeds would that be better?  Or get the weight free to put a AES in the mace arm (I know that is illegal, lol)?

Unfortunately I am not in a position to test this with my HMP at home.
Can't use AES with TSM. Even if you could, you'd be better off with the hatchet probably (incidentally that alone would free mass for AES), the mace's drawbacks aren't worth it for 2 damage here.

Using XL tech would allow 9/14/8 speed, if jump jets are kept and boosted proportionally. Endo-steel would naturally allow greater capabilities. Interesting movement curve actually, don't recall any light having that exactly. But i figure it would be dubious to use such expensive components for the Mjolnir. Fluff-wise, the 'Mech is intended to be cheap filler export, and functionally, it is just... bad, because one bad mace swing and the 'Mech's suddenly on ground being useless.

Honestly think it is the mace that's letting down the 'Mech here. Slap a hatchet there, some weapons to keep the TSM up and running, and greater speed, and we might get a decent light melee 'Mech. But would it be Mjolnir at that point anymore?

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Re: Mech of the Week: MLR-B* Mjolnir
« Reply #11 on: 25 February 2019, 16:41:20 »
I know TSM/AES combo is illegal, but we do occasionally get designs that are prototypes/one-offs that violate the rules and are basically 'why' the rules work that way.

Well, the second model has the XLE and XL Gyro . . . just SRMs are not a good TSM combo weapon.  I have to say you keep the mace, its after all where it gets the 10+ point physical hit and using a hatchet is a cop out.  Give the BX as much of a laser battery it can take with a higher speed and now you can put that hit somewhere it will matter.
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Re: Mech of the Week: MLR-B* Mjolnir
« Reply #12 on: 25 February 2019, 19:03:25 »
honestly this sounds like good fodder for a design thread.

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Re: Mech of the Week: MLR-B* Mjolnir
« Reply #13 on: 25 February 2019, 19:46:16 »
honestly this sounds like good fodder for a design thread.

One has already been started.

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Re: Mech of the Week: MLR-B* Mjolnir
« Reply #14 on: 25 February 2019, 20:00:34 »
See, this is the sort of 'Mech I love. I'd rather have a bad 'Mech with personality then a boring good 'Mech any day.

Is it any good? Hells no. Is it fun? Yes. Did I once use a Mjolnir to cripple a Tomahawk II? Yes. Did the Mjolnir then die stupidly? Of course!
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Re: Mech of the Week: MLR-B* Mjolnir
« Reply #15 on: 25 February 2019, 21:12:54 »
I'd almost think this would be a penal unit design if it wasn't just cheaper to give a convict mechwarrior a rifle and throw him in an APC with the rest of them.
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Re: Mech of the Week: MLR-B* Mjolnir
« Reply #16 on: 25 February 2019, 21:50:57 »
Is it better than some of the decent Stinger options out there? Is it a better option than a cheaper, easy-to-find 3025 Spider for mobile raiding?

Surprisingly, depending on what exactly you're trying to accomplish and speaking as someone who thinks the Mjolnir's best use is as a parts bin for Commandos, my answer is "yes, it's superior".  The Mjolnir is not significantly less heavily armed than a whole swathe of Stinger variants at range, it's on par with the median movement speed of the set, and it has more armor than Stingers can even carry without hardened armor, which is heavier than a 20 tonner can really manage without handing the Mjolnir a major win on cost.

On the other hand, it's not hugely superior superior, some Stingers do outshoot it other than the rare point-blank TSM hit (or can out-range it like the STG-3P) even on SFE, and Stingers don't encourage MechWarriors to go for headshots when they should be pulling a Brave Sir Robin.

Frankly, I'd rather have an old SDR-5V Spider than either one of them.  Yes, the armor's thinner, but you're a light 'Mech scout/raider.  If you need tough armor on a 'Mech like that, the correct response is usually to run away.  Spiders are definitely better at doing that thanks to being a third faster and not significantly worse in any category other than armor.  The Spider has enough armor than even a PPC isn't going to rip a leg or a torso off, meaning you're not hugely worse off than the Mjolnir or Stinger would be.

See, this is the sort of 'Mech I love. I'd rather have a bad 'Mech with personality then a boring good 'Mech any day.

Is it any good? Hells no. Is it fun? Yes. Did I once use a Mjolnir to cripple a Tomahawk II? Yes. Did the Mjolnir then die stupidly? Of course!

I get where you're coming from, I do - I like the Charger for similar reasons - but I don't see the Mjolnir that way.  I see it as a great opportunity to get frustrated because it blows physical attacks more often than other 'Mechs, doing so gets me a PSR, and the TSM/heat management is bad, making it harder to use.  None of that's fun to deal with on the table for me.  I get enough near-miss collisions on my drive to work.
« Last Edit: 25 February 2019, 22:06:51 by Moonsword »

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Re: Mech of the Week: MLR-B* Mjolnir
« Reply #17 on: 25 February 2019, 23:46:51 »
if not for the fact most scouts in the age it was created move a lot faster than 6/9/*, i'd say it is a scout-hunter. as pointed out it fairs pretty well stats wise against Stingers, Wasps, and other classic scout mechs in its rough weight range. and that mace would do a number on most of them

the problem of course being that in an age of XL's and MASC, most scouts now are more comparable to the classic Locust in speed, or even more mobile. without sacrificing much in the way of firepower or armor to get that speed.


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Re: Mech of the Week: MLR-B* Mjolnir
« Reply #18 on: 26 February 2019, 08:20:39 »
Yep.  I kind of touched on that in passing.  Another problem is that a fair number of the scouts are actually as fast or faster, larger, and more heavily armed than the Mjolnir, although a decent chunk of the ones who fall into that category aren't jump-capable (such as the Scarabus).  That's the case even back in the day, when Javelins, Firestarters, Phoenix Hawks, and Vulcans all pulled scout duty at least part of the time and have exactly the same movement curve.

These days, a [j]Mjolnir[/i] that blunders into genuine military opposition should count itself lucky it runs into one of them and not a Cicada 3F or something else that can easily control range and shoot pieces off of it with a particle cannon, or one of the 50-55 ton mediums with a 6/9/6 or 7/11/7 movement curve.

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Re: Mech of the Week: MLR-B* Mjolnir
« Reply #19 on: 26 February 2019, 08:56:04 »
Folks I hate to break it to you, but you've fallen victim to a successful advertising campaign by Arc-Royal MechWorks. The Mjolnir isn't a scout or light 'Mech hunter, it can't reliably catch or damage enemy scouts. It's not a scout itself, there many other faster units with more beneficial electronics packages out there. The one who came closest to hitting the nail on the head, to borrow a pun, was Hellbie calling it useful as a raider.

Remember the fluff, this was designed & built in the rebuilding period after the Jihad. The Lyrans needed replacement chassis. ARMW had a production line that could get going quickly, but needed an influx of cash & wanted an export design. A Light 'Mech, designed with standard components would meet these needs and be easier to train a new factory crew on.

Yeah sure, but they didn't have to make it so bad you say. It's not a battlefield terror, but it doesn't need to be. Many units needed a 'Mech period. Think of the Mjolnir the same way Clans treat second-line or Inner Sphere 'Mechs, "it's better than nothing, but it's getting replaced as soon as possible". The speed & jump jets let it function in a scout role if needed. The Mace lets it work in a combat engineering (demolition) role without expending munitions. For unit commanders it gives them something to shut up the dispossessed 'Mechwarriors and it gives them something to threaten trouble makers with, "behave or you'll be piloting the Mjolnir".

Back to the raider suggestion, what types of units are most encountered in raiding? Infantry, Battle Armor, light vehicles, maybe even a SecurityMech or two. A Mjolnir would be a nightmare for most of those with its TSM active. It could play whack-a-mole withe the BA, pop small vehicles in a single swing, and handle most any SecurityMech in a duel.

In conclusion don't feel bad you feel for the slick marketing. Sure it can crush the cockpit of an Assault 'Mech, but there's much better uses of a Mjolnir.
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Sabelkatten

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Re: Mech of the Week: MLR-B* Mjolnir
« Reply #20 on: 26 February 2019, 09:21:57 »
That's kind of a funny reason for the Mace - lots of BA with 10 armor; a Hatchet won't take one out but the Mace will! :D

Kidd

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Re: Mech of the Week: MLR-B* Mjolnir
« Reply #21 on: 26 February 2019, 10:42:47 »
If it's job is to bully not-Mechs, it would've been nice if it was equipped with things that do so well. SRMs are one, but how many SRMs? Article isn't that clear on this score.

I feel whoever designed the port-over version of this Mech could also have added electronics like ECM or TAG which would give it a little more use.

Empyrus

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Re: Mech of the Week: MLR-B* Mjolnir
« Reply #22 on: 26 February 2019, 14:04:59 »
That's kind of a funny reason for the Mace - lots of BA with 10 armor; a Hatchet won't take one out but the Mace will! :D
TSMd 10 point hatchet deals well enough with most IS BA. Clan armor's more difficult to be sure, but you don't fight the Clans with second-line crap like the Mjolnir.
Besides, it would be really embarrassing to miss a mace swing against a BA, and fall down next to them.

Moonsword

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Re: Mech of the Week: MLR-B* Mjolnir
« Reply #23 on: 26 February 2019, 14:07:02 »
If it's job is to bully not-Mechs, it would've been nice if it was equipped with things that do so well. SRMs are one, but how many SRMs? Article isn't that clear on this score.

I feel whoever designed the port-over version of this Mech could also have added electronics like ECM or TAG which would give it a little more use.

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JadeHellbringer

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Re: Mech of the Week: MLR-B* Mjolnir
« Reply #24 on: 26 February 2019, 14:43:53 »
I want to like the thing, but with such limited weapons, it's hard to do so...almost wish it was a bit faster and more mobile with the armament of a Wasp-1W with the mace (or better yet, a hatchet), but alas, that was not to be...

Ruger

I like the idea of a melee weapon backed by a bevy of small lasers (stripping the weapons out of a Scarabus can net six ER small lasers, which can be pretty entertaining in a Solaris-style fight!), but yeah, here you only gain 1.5 tons by stripping its weaponry and leaving the mace. You can get more by losing the jump jets, but there's no room in my life for that level of silly behavior. It's just hamstrung by the need for the mace and the lack of any real room for it.

Bear with me, but it reminds me in a way of the Hunchback- the main weapon (in this case the mace) is just too big to really be useful on a chassis this size, and the rest of the machine suffers for it. The Hunchback at least gets by with a couple of backup weapons, a halfway-reasonable ammo load, etc., but it's too thin-skinned for the kind of brawling it'll have to do against larger machines, and too slow to bring the big gun to bear. Same here- even five more tons would have done it a lot of good, but as it is there's just too much being asked of the chassis. 'Speed, armor, firepower, pick two', and it picked speed and firepower- then made a very bad choice on how the latter would work.

I mentioned the Scarabus before? There's no comparison, a Scarabus will eat a Mjolnir alive almost every time.
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Ruger

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Re: Mech of the Week: MLR-B* Mjolnir
« Reply #25 on: 26 February 2019, 15:19:00 »
I like the idea of a melee weapon backed by a bevy of small lasers (stripping the weapons out of a Scarabus can net six ER small lasers, which can be pretty entertaining in a Solaris-style fight!), but yeah, here you only gain 1.5 tons by stripping its weaponry and leaving the mace. You can get more by losing the jump jets, but there's no room in my life for that level of silly behavior. It's just hamstrung by the need for the mace and the lack of any real room for it.

Bear with me, but it reminds me in a way of the Hunchback- the main weapon (in this case the mace) is just too big to really be useful on a chassis this size, and the rest of the machine suffers for it. The Hunchback at least gets by with a couple of backup weapons, a halfway-reasonable ammo load, etc., but it's too thin-skinned for the kind of brawling it'll have to do against larger machines, and too slow to bring the big gun to bear. Same here- even five more tons would have done it a lot of good, but as it is there's just too much being asked of the chassis. 'Speed, armor, firepower, pick two', and it picked speed and firepower- then made a very bad choice on how the latter would work.

I mentioned the Scarabus before? There's no comparison, a Scarabus will eat a Mjolnir alive almost every time.

I think I made it work on the fan design thread for this...although the hatchet version is still better unless you have a top-notch pilot...

Ruger
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Re: Mech of the Week: MLR-B* Mjolnir
« Reply #26 on: 27 February 2019, 10:30:34 »
If it's job is to bully not-Mechs, it would've been nice if it was equipped with things that do so well. SRMs are one, but how many SRMs? Article isn't that clear on this score.
I'm not saying that's it's job, just the role it seems to best fit. It's job is to fill holes in the LAAF 'Mech forces  until something better comes along and be something that can be sold to non LAAF units.
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Re: Mech of the Week: MLR-B* Mjolnir
« Reply #27 on: 27 February 2019, 14:49:38 »
TSMd 10 point hatchet deals well enough with most IS BA. Clan armor's more difficult to be sure, but you don't fight the Clans with second-line crap like the Mjolnir.
Besides, it would be really embarrassing to miss a mace swing against a BA, and fall down next to them.
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Empyrus

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Re: Mech of the Week: MLR-B* Mjolnir
« Reply #28 on: 27 February 2019, 18:48:09 »
The consolation being that the battleROM of your death will play forever in mechwarrior academies throughout the Inner Sphere and countless students will learn from it.
The consolation for whom? I'm sure the BA's owners will play the ROM for propaganda and hilarity purposes.

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Re: Mech of the Week: MLR-B* Mjolnir
« Reply #29 on: 27 February 2019, 19:41:31 »
I'm not saying that's it's job, just the role it seems to best fit. It's job is to fill holes in the LAAF 'Mech forces  until something better comes along and be something that can be sold to non LAAF units.

I'm assuming "non LAAF units" is code for "Fellow that is totally not a front for a pirate king looking to purchase some useful raiding 'mechs that will strike fear into the pitiful militas in exchange for plenty of hard cash upfront, who is hoping to get a company of 'mechs onboard his dropship with very outdated credentials to take to his newly founded and entirely unbonded mercenary company who is still in the early stages of processing their company papers. For lots of hard cash upfront." here.
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