Gray Death Strike - Technical Readout Prototypes page 13
The Gray Death Strike is a rare beast for a Lyran Battle Armor design, being a bipedal suit in a stable of quads. Of course, it could be argued that it's not a pure Lyran design, having been developed by Gray Death Technologies, a company created by mercenaries that just happened to be located in Lyran space, but for all intents and purposes, it's Steiner to the bone.
As covered in the Gray Death Standard Battle Armor of the Week article, the first version of the Strike, the Gray Death "Strike Suit", appeared in prototype form in Experimental Technical Readout Steiner. Incorporating Clantech and built before GDT suffered a crippling assault by the Word of Blake, this version wasn't really viable for full-scale production. After the remnants of GDT were swept up by Defiance Industries and moved to Furillo in 3074, the company eventually set about converting the design into a more viable format, resulting in the Grey Death Strike in 3080, some seven years after the first prototype was built.
As conversions go, the change from Strike Suit to Strike and from mixed technology to purely Inner Sphere didn't result in much loss of capability. The sole Clantech equipment on the prototype was a triple-tube SRM launcher, supplied with a trio of salvos, with the loss of just one of those salvos in the change to a Spheroid launcher of the same size. Even then, the lower tech launcher and its ammunition came out a little heavier, but the designers were able to recoup the mass by switching from twin Battle Claws to twin Basic Manipulators, leaving the remainder of the suit unchanged.
The Gray Death Strike Suit/Strike is a good example of the continuing superiority of Clan Battle Armor technology, despite the advances made by the Inner Sphere since its adoption. Not only are Clan missile launchers much lighter, at nearly half the mass, but the Spheroid chassis design remains inferior. Clan Battle Armor chassis are heavier, but this is due to the addition of the Harjel system that the Clans consider to be mandatory for their combat designs. Often not an important benefit as far as players are concerned, what may be of more importance is that Inner Sphere suits cannot jump or conduct Anti-'Mech attacks while a torso-mounted missile launcher is still attached. That the Strike Suit prototype and the production Gray Death Strike, which both use an Inner Sphere chassis, suffer from this failing despite the former's use of a Clan launcher shows that it is indeed the chassis that is to blame, although neither need to worry about not being able to jump, of course.
Like the Gray Death Standard suit that it is based upon, the Gray Death Strike is a Medium design, with an enhanced ground movement capability to make up for its lack of jump jets. Able to move three Movement Points per Turn, the suit is capable of achieving the all-important +1 Target Movement Modifier for distance travelled, although obviously it's vulnerable to rough terrain slowing it down to below the required threshold. As noted before, this high ground speed makes the Strike a good urban combat suit, or for use in other battles where jump movement is not possible, such as underground. The twin Basic Manipulators also allow the mobility boost provided by Mechanized Battle Armor operations when friendly Omnis are available, and given its armament, the Strike works well with heavier units.
Alongside the two-shot missile launcher, the Gray Death Strike does retain the same weaponry as its prototype. In common with the original GD Standard, the suit is fitted with an Anti-Personnel Weapon Mount on the left arm, which provides the sole remaining built-in firepower once the missiles are expended. That does appear to be a light armament at first glance, but the Strike has another trick up its sleeve, or should I say mounted on its right forearm. Although obviously only usable with suitably equipped support units, the Light TAG has the potential to be the most dangerous component of the design. When friendly artillery, units loaded with Semi-Guided LRMS or other such TAG-capable munitions are available, the GD Strike acts as the point of the spear, highlighting targets for destruction.
Again retaining the nine points of armor originally possessed by the Gray Death Standard, and the Inner Sphere Standard from which it in turn was developed, the Strike remains just as vulnerable to one-shot kills by PPCs and AC10s. Admittedly, most suits are just as frequently, if not more so, killed by an accumulation of lesser hits, with one of the key killers being twin Medium Laser hits. As a common secondary weapon for many 'Mech designs, it's the sort of damage that the Strike should expect to encounter, and with two hits required to get a kill compared to the three for an Elemental, for example, it's yet another reminder that the Clans are still the top dog in the Battle Armor arena.
Using the GD Strike commonly follows two patterns, based around when to fire the SRMs. On the one manipulator, by firing off the two salvos at the first available targets, the suit then frees itself to be able to perform Leg Attacks - Swarm Attacks will be of little use considering the lack of an arm-mounted 'Mech-scale weapon that can inflict damage - so that the Strike can still present a threat by itself, without needing appropriately armed friendlies around. On the other manipulator, if there are plentiful guided attacks to mark, then the Light TAG might be emphasized as the main weapon, and so it may be preferable to retain the SRMs to hold off a possible attacker. Of course, some attackers aren't going to be that deterred; with an average of eight hits per salvo, the SRMs won't force a 'Mech into a Piloting check, and many designs can afford to soak up the damage the two shots can inflict.
The SRMs also provide another decision that needs to be made, namely which munitions type to load. When using the official rules, only Infernos are an available effective option, and they can make for a very effective choice indeed. It's been mentioned numerous times in the Battle Armor of the Week articles, that Infernos are excellent Battle Armor killers, as well as being lethal against conventional infantry and able to inflict crippling hits against other unit types. When houseruling the use of other specialist munitions, Tandem Charge warheads are another good choice, while oddities such as Tear Gas missiles can be very useful in the right scenario.
Apart from some examples that are retained for Defiance Industries own security forces, suits that are rumored to be the same specification as the mixed tech prototypes, all Gray Death Strikes are sold to the LCAF. Personally, I can't say that I'm that upset at that prospect. The Strike is a nice enough design, and in the right circumstances can be a very nasty foe for an opponent to tackle, but it's not alone in being able to bring a Light TAG to the fight. Admittedly, it's one of the few canon designs with that capability, but it's not unique, and with custom configurations allowed, then any suit with a Modular Weapon Mount can equip the device.
Effectively little more than a variant of the Gray Death Standard, and a logical progression of the Strike Suit prototype, the GD Strike fills a niche for the Lyrans, but there's not much more to be said for it. By no means a ground breaker, it's not a bad design, and if used with its limitations in mind, it can at least be an interesting suit to play.
Next up:
- Warg
- Constable
- Gladiator
- Ailette