‘Mech of the Week: NightstarInner Sphere
TRO 3058
One nice thing about the old year Technical Readouts was seeing the evolution in ‘Mech design in response to the changes in the Inner Sphere. 3039 showed armies at their lowest tech degradation and the beginnings of their recovery. 3050 showed this tech recovery and the onslaught of the Clans, while 3055 saw the Inner Spheres desperate and often overspecialized attempts to counter the Clans massive technological advantages. Technical Readout 3058 saw the Inner Sphere begin to really design ‘Mechs to counter the Clans, with Omnimechs taking the field and, more controversially, no less than 4 assault ‘Mechs with multiple Gauss Rifles. In his article on the
Pillager, Moonsword compared Gauss Rifles to Brownings in their ability to equalize the unequal and these Gauss platforms did just this for the Inner Sphere fighting superior Clans. With a Gauss it doesn’t matter if they’re stronger or quicker, a
Timber Wolf or
Daishi dies to a Gauss rifle just the same. Ironically, despite the clear logic behind giving the Inner Sphere Gauss platforms, in canon, none of them were developed to fight the Clans, but were developed to fight for the Star League that would create the Clans. Three of the four Gauss platforms have ‘Mech of the Week articles, but to celebrate Mechwarrior V which features it, and to prepare people getting it from the Heavy Battle Lance in the Kickstarter, I am writing an article on the
Nightstar.
History: As mentioned above, the
Nightstar was designed during the Star League. In particular, it was developed in 2767, as Aleksandr Kerensky led the SLDF to break the Rim Worlds Republic and Stefan Amaris solidified his control over the Terran Hegemony. This does help explain why the Nightstar was created along with multiple other chasses that did basically the same thing. The SLDF was desperate and could not simply buy hundreds or thousands of the same ‘Mech like they would prefer to do. The
Nightstarwas built as SLDF officers noticed that
Marauders, often piloted by officers, were being disproportionately targeted by Amaris forces. The
Nightstar was built to give the SLDF officers a tougher and stronger ‘Mech to fight their way out of these headhunting attacks. The combination of visual similarity to the
Marauder and the assault class makes me think that the
Nightstar may be an attempt to replace the beloved
Marauder II after the Unseen debacle. This comparison is going to be even stronger in Mechwarrior V, where the
Marauder II was left out but the
Nightstar included. Let’s see how the
Nightstar does to make a space for itself in Mechwarrior history.
Chassis: The
Nightstar is built on a 95 ton standard chassis. Every variant mounts 18.5 tons of standard armour, which the TRO oddly describes as “respectable” not the maximum the ‘Mech can carry. Despite comments that the 9SS drops half a ton, it seems to still have max armour on MegaMekLab. The 9J, it’s two personal variants, and the 9SS all mount a 285XL to move 54km/h, while the 9FC goes 64km/h with a 380XL. Max armour and traditional speed for an assault is a good start to me, but I know that a lot of people hate IS XLs on assaults. So let’s look at the variants weapons and equipment to see what the
Nightstarcan do.
Nightstar 9J: The ‘Mech built by the Star League and reintroduced by the Federated Commonwealth in 3057, the 9J mounts the weapons load most commonly associated with the chassis. Two Gauss Rifles and an ERPPC make up the primary armament, with two medium pulse lasers and a small laser providing backup. Now, this is probably the least impressive of the Gauss boats. The
Devastatorhas two PPCs to back up the Gauss Rifles, the Pillager gets its Stealth variant that arguably gives the Capellans the best Gauss boat despite the FedCom getting three in 3058 alone. Then of course, theirs the
Thunder Hawk with three Gauss Rifles that looms large over every other Gauss boat. So why use the
Nightstar if it seems that every other Gauss platform performs better? The fact that it can keep fighting until the end of time.The ERPPC is the longest ranged energy weapon on any of the boats, allowing it to win long battles as ammo runs out. And the ammo won’t run out, it has
SEVENtons of it. This is frankly ludicrous, near
War Dog levels of excess. So how do you use the
Nightstar 9J? You stay at long range at all times. You can keep firing longer than any other ballistic-based ‘Mech, so keep those TMMs up. You can afford to take much lower probability shots than they can. I don’t think that the
Nightstar is the best pickup game ‘Mech, it spends too much tonnage on ammo it will never use in a lance on lance engagement, but in large battles or long campaigns, it can certainly outlast the more popular Gauss boats. It also has two mixed-tech custom variants.
Nightstar Brubaker: The custom ‘Mech of Wolf Dragoons Delta Regiment commander Shelly Brubaker, the
Nightstar Brubaker uses Clantech Gauss Rifles and three Clan Large Pulse Lasers. A head mounted ER Small finishes the armament. The ‘Mech can fire two Gauss Rifles and two Pulse Lasers without heating up, and while it is clearly not a ‘Mech I would want to headhunt, I don’t think it does enough to justify being a Clan Tech refit. While it is certainly more deadly, and the ability to cut down light ‘Mechs probably makes it better for a commander like Brubaker, so she can eliminate anyone trying to headhunt her, I don’t see the
Nightstar as just a command ‘Mech. I think it works best as a sniper, and the Brubaker is worse than the 9J for sniping. The Large Pulse loses range compared to the ERPPC, which its accuracy does compensate for in normal combat, but not for sniping at the end of the long-range band. The Gauss Rifles also lose a ton of ammo, which means you cannot take quite as many low-probability shots. It’s probably better than I am giving it credit for, but I don’t think the Brubaker is a strong use of Clan Tech for the
Nightstar.
Nightstar Holt: The personal ‘Mech of Holt’s Hilltoppers CO George Holt, he also upgrades his Gauss Rifles to Clan spec, but then adds a Large Pulse Laser and a Clan ERPPC. It also has an Angel ECM suite and adds TSM. I like this variant a lot more. ECM is always great, and obviously a Clantech ERPPC makes my preferred method of fighting from the longest range possible even better. Unfortunately, it drops Gauss ammo to a normal two tons per Rifle. Personally, I think this is a mistake. I don’t have the record sheet for the Holt, but from attempting to match what Sarna.net says the ‘Mech is equipped with leaves it underweight and oversinked to easily utilize its TSM. Jump jets would fit, but if someone could tell me what it has to fill up the weight, that would help considerably. Either way, I think the Holt could be better served with fewer heat sinks and more Gauss ammo. Either way, two Gauss rifles and a Clantech ERPPC is a great loadout for sniping, and I would definitely recommend using the Holt if you have a chance.
Nightstar 9FC: While the
Nightstar an effective ‘Mech, the Federated Suns more mobile doctrine meant that AFFC/AFFS commanders decided a new variant was required. As mentioned before, the 9FC moves 64km/h, allowing it to fit into heavy lances instead of just slow assault ones, but it has to make a lot of compromises to get this speed. It keeps the ERPPC for long range fire, but the Gauss Rifles become LB10-X’s with two tons of ammo each. The lasers are consolidated into three regular mediums. This is no longer a sniper ‘Mech, it is a brawler. Three ten point hits is still nothing to sneeze at in 4/6 units, and two LB-10X’s gives the
Nightstar a lot of crit-seeking and anti-vehicle ability. Now the
Bandersnatch can do much the same thing, but I am assuming the AFFS does not have the ability to get large amounts of them for their lances. I don’t think this is a bad ‘Mech, but it is very different than the 9J, and I think that the
Nightstar’s reputation as a Gauss platform is going to get this ‘Mech focused on even when you are running this variant. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, a max armour 95 tonner can take a lot of hits giving your other units a better chance to move into positions with less opposition.
Nightstar 9SS: The last variant, the 9SS seems to be built by the Steiner’s for urban combat. The speed goes back to 54km/h, but jump jets are added to give it 3/5/3 movement. The 9SS mounts three medium pulse lasers and a small for its energy component, but that is not why you are using the ‘Mech. You are using it for the autocannons, one LB-20X and one UAC-20 gives the 9SS a massive knockout punch with the ability to critseek. The ammo is quite low, with only 15 shots for both autocannons nowhere near enough for taking high-risk shots. This is even more of a problem because the autocannons are your only weapons that reach past 6 hexes, and they only reach 12 for the LBX and 10 for the Ultra. The
Nightstar 9SS can be devastating in urban combat, but it is not going to serve you in open combat. So take this only if you know you are fighting in close quarters the entire time, and take care with your shots.
The
Nightstars production variants are all very different from each other; the 9J is a sniper, the 9FC a brawler, and the 9SS a close combat mauler. Which ones have you used? Do you have any tips to make the 9SS work outside of extreme urban environments? Do you think the 9J has too little ammo? Discuss in the comments below and enjoy Mechwarrior V.
MUL:
http://www.masterunitlist.info/Unit/Details/2286/nightstar-nsr-9jCamospecs:
http://camospecs.com/IWM/Details/315/nightstar-nsr-9j
