Look at them, in all of their glory. They're beautiful.
From Era Digest: Dark Age
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Ladies. Gents. We have it - the ultimate in BattleMech technology. Unsurpassed by anything we’ve ever seen before, its insurmountable dominance will last for decades to come. Clanners quiver in fear at the very name of this ultimate machine of unyielding devastation. Elite Kuritan MechWarriors commit seppuku at the very thought of facing one in combat. Even terrifying Manei Domini cyborg soldiers crumble beneath the greatest BattleMech to ever be made: the Raider.
Ed- I picked up these delusional ramblings from a drugged-up door-to-door salesman a few weeks back. Since we still don’t know much about Bannson or his overarching goals in the Republic, I’ve decided to include this briefing to commanders operating within his theater. I’d take most of what’s written here with a grain of salt - I’ve never seen such a brainfried person in all of my years working for you.The 3130s brought Jacob Bannson (capitalist extraordinaire) onto a destined path laid out to him by the stars of fate. Channeling the finances gifted to him, his legions of followers would follow the vision of their great president and toil together to create a ‘Mech that would be free of the limited thinking of those unable to see his light.
Ed- this near-Capellan manner of propping Bannson onto a pedestal is a bit unnerving, to say the least. In Linguo Sane-o, Bannson ordered the construction of a BattleMech that was independent of any existing supply lines outside of his direct control. Although we don’t yet fully understand why he needed such a machine, our current analysts believe that he wanted to create his own small kingdom in Prefecture IV. This scenario would obviously require him to be able to last through any Republic-enforced sanctions on him or his companies - and thus the Raider was born.The JL-1 Raider would eventually come in at 50 tons - the perfect middle ground between zero and one hundred. Not satisfied with this already-impressive feat of technological engineering, a 200-rated ICE engine would propel it at the same speed as many mighty and renown ‘Mechs that had come before it: such as the Warhammer, the Marauder, and the Orion, just to name a few.
Ed- You didn’t misread that - the Raider is a slow ‘Mech, and one powered with an ICE engine on top of that. Talk about a drawback…but I believe our snakes-oil salesman talks about the engine again later on. Standard components would reduce costs to absurdly low amounts, while the inclusion of Triple-Strength Myomer would make the Raider a fearsome foe in close combat situations. 7 tons of armor cover the Raider, giving it highly respectable and nearly peerless durability.
Ed- for a light ‘Mech, maybe, but certainly not a 50-tonner - and as they say, a best defense is a good offense. The Raider takes this to heart.
Ed- Uh huh...The true strength of the Raider is apparent in its weapon selection. A Dual Saw is capable constant and brutal attacks regardless of any potential actuator hits. This devastating weapon can deal nearly the same amount of damage as the fabled Clan ER Medium Laser, itself nearly half the strength of a Heavy PPC, enough to decapitate your typical ‘Mech!! Imagine: all of that headcapping power condensed in such a small saw-shaped package.
Ed- Cutting through the crazy talk and fantastic leaps of logic, the Dual Saw is a terrible choice on a combat design. The TSM doesn’t even increase its melee effectiveness even at its optimal level, and our studies show that it deals roughly as much damage as a Hatchet would on a 35-ton ‘Mech. Heck, this “weapon” has even been shown to be less accurate in ‘Mech-on-‘Mech engagements than the said Hatchet.Supporting this mighty brawling weapon are two Medium Range Missile-10 packs. These weapons can positively saturate an area with high-charge missiles, blowing away the opposition before they can ever react. A generous 12 rounds feed each launcher. That’s more ammo than the fabled Atlas had for its missiles, or Hunchback had for its autocannon. Talk about lasting firepower.
Ed- I’d nearly forgotten just how terrible these weapons are…the inherent inaccuracy of MRMs make the missiles stupidly hard to land on a target, and you can just forget about using them at longer ranges. Combine those with the pilots that Bannson was finding? Yeah, they weren’t hitting much. And that whole schpiel about its “lasting” firepower? Yeah, bullcrap. That might be a good thing, though, there’s no CASE on this walking abomination. Oh, and those weapons? They’re all the Raider has. A Targe is more intimidating.Of course, even the ultimate ‘Mech has its flaws. Some might wildly claim that the Raider has its share of heat woes. But what ‘Mech doesn’t? Anyone who’s ever seen a Tri-Vid on those old Succession Wars ‘MechWarriors knows that you have to push the heat scale hard in order to win the biggest battles. Don’t worry, though - that supposed "weakness" is actually a great strength: remember, the Raider has Triple-Strength Myomers!! Push the heat up, and your foes will regret ever picking a fight with you.
Ed- “Heat woes” might be the understatement of the century. I’ve never seen a ‘Mech run as hot as the Raider - ever. Running with one pushes the heatsinks to the limit. Shooting both MRM-10s increases the heat load to unmanageable levels, and forget about fine-tuning that TSM. It’ll never happen. End result? If the Raider stands still and shoots an MRM rack, it’ll take twenty seconds before the heat is fully dissipated. Disgusting. Combine the worst heat management possible with loads of explodable ammo AND an ICE engine filled with volatile fuel and you’ve got something dangerously awful. Those MRMs? Lets see how much they hit once the heat truly starts kicking in. A single SRM-2 loaded with infernos is enough to completely ruin the Raider beyond recognition. It’s that bad, and there are no hidden features that can save it. I wholeheartedly recommend scrapping each and every part of the Raider we might salvage in combat.The only variant that we have on record goes by the JL-2 “Raider Mk II”. It’s somehow better by being worse - let me explain. It only uses a 150-rated engine this time around, moving it at speeds reminiscent of ancient Atlases. This does let the Raider Mk II mount more armor, with an additional 3 tons giving it the semblance of average protection and the ability to take a Gauss slug (and more) anywhere on its body without having it going internal. The MRMs are dumped (thank God) for a single RAC/2 with two tons of ammunition. This cool-running RAC (helped out through its surprisingly efficient Improved Cooling Jacket) lets the Raider Mk II better micromanage its overheating, while its range and battlefield durability are both increased as well. It’s still terrible, though. A jammable RAC/2 and a farmers implement on a 50-ton BattleMech? What is this, the Dark Ages? Even King Arthur would be ashamed.~ ~ ~
Master Unit List
http://masterunitlist.info/Unit/Details/6955/raider-jl-1http://masterunitlist.info/Unit/Details/6956/raider-mk-ii-jl-2
