Thankfully, they still remembered, mostly, where the box was, rather then outright tossing it out. :o
This is fluff driven, so as per my usual, this is NOT min-maxed, and deliberately so.
Also like my usual, the design comes from me trawling the net for interesting mech/mecha images and then getting inspired.
Ironically, this one came from a mecha musume piece. *shrugs* At least it looked sufficiently hostile/intimidating.
Overview:
Something of a break from normal BattleMech development within the notoriously traditionalist Clan Ghost Bear, comes the Hekatonkheires. Pragmatic enough to cast aside zellbringen in the open field, while also canny enough to realize that even during formal Trials, a single lighter, faster, unit can get behind a larger 'Mech and tear it apart with little to no return fire, the Khan and Prince of the Rasalhague Dominion put forward a design request for a new BattleMech. One able to take the fight to as many opponents as possible, from as many directions as possible, while being able to defend itself in the same fashion. Needless to say, the result would live up to the definition of its ancient Greek name, 'The Hundred-Handed Ones'.
Capabilities:
The most obvious divergence from standard BattleMech design, is that the Hekatonkheires appears to have four arms attached to its torso. While the main arms, scaled appropriately to the 'Mech and set at the normal shoulder height carry a electromagnetic coilgun and a particle cannon between the two, it is these smaller 'sub-arms' that draws the eyes to them. In fact, the initial view of four 'arms' is actually incorrect entirely. What the Hekatonkheires does, is have a dual turret arrangement in both shoulders, but split so that one portion is over the shoulder while the other part is set lower on the chest, appearing to mimic the Dark Crow to some degree. While again, appearing to be multiple turrets, this is deceiving, as each side's 'split' turret is linked together - where the top part rotates towards, the bottom part rotates to face as well, and vice versa. Unlike what some initial frantic reports suggested, the split nature of the side turrets cannot rotate independently of each other
Something of a downside to this is that occasionally the main arms must lift up in order for the gauss rifles to be utilized it aiming at certain angles to the side or rear, which can cause brief imbalancing issues. The upper portions set above the shoulders mount a heavy streak launcher, while the 'armpit' placed sub-arms carry ultra-light flechette firing gauss rifles. During testing and in mock trials, it was found to be near impossible for Elementals or other Battle Armor equipped infantry to get in close to an alert pilot. In fact, many MechWarriors, both freeborn and trueborn, during urban combat testing, immediately started swiveling both sets of turrets aft, and locking them there until the range has closed, at which point they are reset to provide additional firepower. This tactic would see wide usage against the Hell's Horses during the Hekatonkheires's debut outside of the Dominion.
Wisely, engineers provided the 'Mech with a combined active probe and electronic warfare suite to further lower the possibility of a flanking attack. The ECM bubble also allowing the Streaks to still be effective for most of their range was seen as an added bonus. A ninety meter jumping capability was incorporated as well, which, when mixed with the unfamiliar firing arcs, offers several unique tactical opportunities.
The downside to the dual turrets and sub-arm arrangement is that the Hekatonkheires is a beast of a 'Mech to learn how to pilot properly. Yes, it can defend itself from virtually any angle even while on the offensive, but the previously mentioned requirement to lift the main arms on occasion so that the sub-arms can swing around properly makes for some fairly nasty gyro stabilization issues. Issues that the pilot need to account for fairly quickly or risk unbalancing their 'Mech. This is lessened by a fair amount by the 'Mech's broad feet, and further, when a Hekatonkheires decides to hold its ground. At which point it becomes the center of a firestorm of outgoing ordinance that is near impossible to hide from if one cannot find cover immediately.
Deployment:
Still a fairly new model, with barely more than a Cluster having been produced, the majority of the Hekatonkheires still are within Theta Galaxy, and the bulk of that, utilized by the 6th Bear Regulars. This comes as no surprise given that they were the initial 'beta testers' so to speak of the 'Mech, along with being a unit that has a fairly even amount of trueborn and freeborn pilots placed there. This was deliberately done by the Khan at the suggestion of Prince Miraborg, to best bring out the 'Mech's full potential, by testing it under both rigid traditional Clan conditions, and the far more freewheeling Inner Sphere tactical style. It was reported that Khan Bekker sent a message telling the 6th's pilots to, "Run them into the ground, then tell me how many more they put into the ground, first, before they did", alongside the delivery of the first Star's worth of the new design. And run them into the ground they did, but not before making heads turn both within the Dominion and against Hell's Horses, the first opponent to face the Hekatonkheires. The Dominion likely felt quite smug in the aftermath of several raids that resulted in scores of the Horses' Battle Armors littering the battlefields, along with claiming a combined three Stars of 'Mechs and vehicles in total as well.
Variants:
The very first prototypes of the Hekatonkheires mounted extended range medium lasers in the sub-arms alongside the gauss rifles, while also armoring the turret actuators. Further armor was set over the gauss rifles in something of a zealous bit of over-protectiveness against their capacitors exploding if hit at the wrong time. Considering the minor damage caused at best, plus a hefty amount of lag-time in rotating the lower part of the turret due to the extra mass, this was changed in the production model. Instead, the main Hekatonkheires line has moved the lasers into locked forwards positions, while changing them out for pulse types. Due to still noticable lag and strain on the turrets, the armoring for them was removed and instead the torso was slightly re-worked to make the swivel points harder to hit with precision.
If the turret system had not worked out, plans were to re-design the 'Mech to the more classic layout. Keeping the loadout as is, but with the addition of a head mounted extended range laser. Due to the re-design, it is almost a certainty that pilots would be able to utilize the 'Mech to its fullest potential far faster than the current production model. As of of this publication, none of the 'A' models have been produced, although if any potentially crippling problems are discovered down the line, it is expected that the Hekatonkheires will switch to the 'A' model, while phasing out the original. This backup plan is seen as a practical, and pragmatic, alternative within the Ghost Bears as a whole, who even now are fundamentally opposed to being the first to try out new technologies or deviations from well understood design philosophy, rather than being forced to toss out years of design work an have to start over from scratch.
Design Quirks:
Hard to Pilot (Original production variant only)
Multi-Trac (All variants)
Protected Actuators (Prototype variant only)
Hekatonkheires HKT-4GB
Mass: 75 tons
Tech Base: Clan
Chassis Config: Biped
Rules Level: Era Specific
Era: All Eras (non-canon)
Tech Rating/Era Availability: F/X-X-F-A
Production Year: 0
Cost: 17,172,750 C-Bills
Battle Value: 2,908
Chassis: Unknown Endo-Steel
Power Plant: Unknown 300 Fusion XL Engine
Walking Speed: 43.2 km/h
Maximum Speed: 64.8 km/h
Jump Jets: Unknown
Jump Capacity: 90 meters
Armor: Unknown Ferro-Fibrous
Armament:
1 ER PPC
1 Gauss Rifle
2 Streak SRM-6s
2 Medium Pulse Lasers
2 AP Gauss Rifles
1 ECM Suite
1 Active Probe
Manufacturer: Unknown
Primary Factory: Unknown
Communications System: Unknown
Targeting and Tracking System: Unknown
================================================================================
Equipment Type Rating Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure: Endo-Steel 114 points 4.00
Internal Locations: 1 HD, 1 CT, 1 LA, 1 RA, 1 LL, 2 RL
Engine: XL Fusion Engine 300 9.50
Walking MP: 4
Running MP: 6
Jumping MP: 3 Standard
Jump Jet Locations: 1 CT, 1 LT, 1 RT 3.00
Heat Sinks: Double Heat Sink 13(26) 3.00
Heat Sink Locations: 1 LA
Gyro: Standard 3.00
Cockpit: Standard 3.00
Actuators: L: SH+UA+LA R: SH+UA+LA
Armor: Ferro-Fibrous AV - 230 12.00
Armor Locations: 2 LT, 4 LA, 1 LL
CASE Locations: LT, RT, RA 0.00
CASE II Locations: 1 RT 0.50
Internal Armor
Structure Factor
Head 3 9
Center Torso 23 36
Center Torso (rear) 9
L/R Torso 16 24
L/R Torso (rear) 8
L/R Arm 12 24
L/R Leg 16 32
================================================================================
Equipment Location Heat Critical Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gauss Rifle RA 1 6 12.00
ER PPC LA 15 2 6.00
(T) Streak SRM-6 RT 4 2 3.00
(T) AP Gauss Rifle RT 1 1 0.50
Medium Pulse Laser RT 4 1 2.00
(T) Streak SRM-6 LT 4 2 3.00
(T) AP Gauss Rifle LT 1 1 0.50
ECM Suite LT 0 1 1.00
Active Probe LT 0 1 1.00
Medium Pulse Laser LT 4 1 2.00
@Gauss Rifle (16) RA - 2 2.00
@Streak SRM-6 (30) RT - 2 2.00
@AP Gauss Rifle (40) RT - 1 1.00
Mech Shoulder Turret LT - 1 0.50
Mech Shoulder Turret RT - 1 0.50
Free Critical Slots: 0
BattleForce Statistics
MV S (+0) M (+2) L (+4) E (+6) Wt. Ov Armor: 8 Points: 29
4/2j 7 7 3 0 3 1 Structure: 4
Special Abilities: ECM, PRB, RCN, CASEII, CASE, SRCH, ES, SEAL, SOA
To be fair & honest, I actually haven't play tested this one yet. Not even in Megamek.
However it was just too much fun writing up the fluff, and just imagining the chaos one or more of these could cause during an urban fight, or anything with built-up terrain, while up against speedsters & BAs.
Of course it might just crash and burn, turning out to be a lemon of a design, but let me have my dream of a GB pilot cackling madly as he fires everything in all directions.
Well, at least for a few hours before you critique this into the ground with your replies.
