'Mech of the Week: Crimson Hawk

[GreekFire]

From TRO:3075

The Crimson Hawk is an unremarkable ‘Mech with a truly remarkable inception. Its origins found with Clan Blood Spirit, Diamond Shark Galaxy Commander Stephan Faulk would spy a prototype on York in 3069 and issue - and win - a trial for it and its scientific team. With their hold upon their Homeworld enclaves becoming more and more tenuous, the Sharks would shuttle these winnings all the way to their outpost on Itabaiana. The Crimson Hawk would then quickly enter production, and gain the distinction of becoming the first Diamond Shark ‘Mech produced within the Inner Sphere in 3071.

It is to be noted that at one point during the bloody trial for the Crimson Hawk’s specs, a deal was struck. The Sharks would not only bring the Crimson Hawk to fruition, but would improve upon it - and would eventually bring a shipment to the Spirits. A total of eight Overlord-Cs would be filled with over a cluster of the ‘Mech, to then be delivered to York. And it is here that the Sharks sacrificed a Potemkin and half of their dropships in order to fulfill their bargain, although the exact reasons why this deal was struck would be lost with the presumed death of Stephan Faulk.

~   ~   ~

The Crimson Hawk itself comes in at 25 tons, the same weight as other Clan staples such as the Mist Lynx or the Locust IIC. Even though an XL engine is used, the Crimson Hawk has a remarkably slow movement profile of 5/8/5. A full 5 tons of ferro-fibrous armor protects the Hawk as much as possible, although the 12(4)/9(3) (center/side torsos), 8/12 (arms/legs) armor layout means that a Gauss or ERPPC blast can rip off any of the side torsos or arms. Even so, this is to be expected of a 25-ton ‘Mech and is not a fault of the design itself.

The armament is simple and blunt: two ER Large Lasers. The two lasers are of different models, with subterfuge put forward as a key reason as to why. This gives the Crimson Hawk the ability to force PSRs at very long ranges, although having only 10 double heat sinks will force any pilot to use firing patterns or shoot-and-jump tactics in order to avoid shutting down.

The first variant came out in 3073, and is quite straightforward - although somewhat lunatic. The two ER Large Lasers are replaced with two Heavy Large Lasers. This is a straight swap, so no tonnage is freed - which means that if the Crimson Hawk 2 stands still and shoot both Heavy Larges, it’ll skyrocket up to +16 heat and a shutdown roll. Decided to run/jump then shoot? That shutdown roll just got worse. Piloting one of these is like piloting half of a Hunchback IIC; standard Clan economics tell me that beating anything with this should win roughly two times the glory.

The Crimson Hawk 3, churned out by 3075, goes in the opposite direction (you can thank Clan Wolf-in-Exile for that). One of the ER Large Lasers gets swapped for an ER Medium and three points of armor are sacrificed for an extremely dubious choice: six Improved Jump Jets. That’s right, while the Sharks thought it was reasonable to give the Crimson Hawk a loadout that runs hot enough to melt sand, Clan WiE thought it would be great to sacrifice a substantial chunk of damage and reach for an extra 30 meters of jumping ability. They must really love (or hate) Stingers and Wasps.

The final variant, appearing in RS:3145NTNU, tries to become a generalist. One ER Large Laser is once again lost along with the three points of armor, but an additional two jump jets are sacrificed. Two ER Medium Lasers are added to the improved Endo Steel frame, alongside a Heavy Flamer with 10 shots and a Targeting Computer. The Crimson Hawk 4 can take on light targets - no matter the type - with a certain amount of confidence, although heat as always remains an issue and the drop to 90 meters of jumping distance has to be taken into account. By the way, I know Heavy Flamers are an extremely rare weapon. If you are unfamiliar with them, look them up. You'll be hard pressed to find a better way to burn toast.

~   ~   ~

How do you use one? Depending on the model, treat it like an introtech Griffin or Phoenix Hawk packed into a condensed little package. Heat is always going to be an issue, so pay close attention to it. Otherwise, stick around cover and use it to your best advantage. Never forget that you are a 25-ton ‘Mech that, even fully armored, cannot take any amount of attention. Aping classic Panther tactics and sticking close to larger and more dangerous friends will also help you out.

How do you kill one? Send something after it. The classic Clan secondline 6/9/6 movers will all take the Crimson Hawk apart. It also can’t build up any movement mods worth noting, so Pulse Lasers will quickly wreck their day. Even certain Inner Sphere lights can threaten the Crimson Hawk if they move quickly enough. If you somehow can, aiming for the Right Torso is also a great idea. All of the weaponry on the first three models is concentrated on the right side of the ‘Mech. A single 15-point hit, and the Crimson Hawk is no longer worth its weight in BV.

For more info, check out the MUL over here: http://masterunitlist.info/Unit/Details/721/crimson-hawk-standard
And hey! Check out camospecs* while you're at it: http://www.camospecs.com/MiniList.asp?Action=Detail&ID=976
*Pretty sure the model represents the Crimson Hawk 4.

[Ghostbear_Gurdel]

Reading this I have to say. A cluster of these mechs is not worth a losing Potemkin. Not too bad of a little mech, seems like a Clan Panther, with all that that entails on a post 3050 universe.

[GreekFire]

\ A cluster of these mechs is not worth a losing Potemkin.

Oh, not to mention that they never got their dropships back and their Fredasa Swift Strike got completely mauled in the same battle, escaped to an unknown system where half of its crew died while spending three years fixing the ship up decently enough to make it back to friendly territory. I honestly don't know what the Sharks got out of the deal that would make it worth such losses.

[misterpants]

I honestly don't know what the Sharks got out of the deal that would make it worth such losses.

Probably something to do with being honor-bound to fulfill terms of a sale. Clan honor, even when applied to mercantile interests seems to be a funny thing.

[Grey]

Mercantile thinking may also explain the design, well, economics on both sides of the coin.

Even with an XL engine it strikes me as a cheap way to bring heavy long range firepower onto the battlefield. In that sense it appeals to the resource poor Spirits, while the Sharks see it as something easily sold to the Inner Sphere, because let's face it, who doesn't want to bring a pair of Clan ER Larges into play however they can? I don't know, has anyone tried using it as a team player on a mixed tech force?

[FedSunsBorn]

This thing reminds me of the Clan version of the Hollander. Big gun, little mech, slowish speed, crappy armor.

Definitely love how honorable the Shark Foxes were in keeping their part of the deal but the sacrifices....ugh.

[cold1]

A slow light mech with big guns?  Smart Shark would've seen the Adder blockade and said wait a minute, snakes love a slow light with big guns.  Then sold them to the Adders for 150% what they were charging the Spirits, and kept their ships.

I actually ran two of these in MM the other week and I have to say, they are totally unremarkable, not easy to play, and they die easily.  There are far better mechs for the weight.  Sad, I really like most all of the Spirit favored designs (Kingfisher, Stooping Hawk, Blood Kite).

[GreekFire]

Even with an XL engine it strikes me as a cheap way to bring heavy long range firepower onto the battlefield. In that sense it appeals to the resource poor Spirits, while the Sharks see it as something easily sold to the Inner Sphere, because let's face it, who doesn't want to bring a pair of Clan ER Larges into play however they can? I don't know, has anyone tried using it as a team player on a mixed tech force?

I've used it a lot as a Shark player who also loves ER Larges. It does work quite well as a team player, and if Zell gets thrown out the window, using it to add a few 10-point hits on a target that *needs* to go down really helps. And yeah, by 3145 every IS faction has access to at least one of the models; the FedSun, FWL and RotS get the Standard, the Capellans, Dracs and Mercs get the 2, and the Lyrans have the 3.

A slow light mech with big guns?  Smart Shark would've seen the Adder blockade and said wait a minute, snakes love a slow light with big guns.  Then sold them to the Adders for 150% what they were charging the Spirits, and kept their ships.

I actually ran two of these in MM the other week and I have to say, they are totally unremarkable, not easy to play, and they die easily.  There are far better mechs for the weight.  Sad, I really like most all of the Spirit favored designs (Kingfisher, Stooping Hawk, Blood Kite).

It's hard for the Crimson Hawk to compete with the excellent light 'Mech line-up that the Sharks (and now Foxes) have, with the Solitaire, Piranha, and Tiburon easily leading the pack.

Something that I forgot to note is that by 3085, the Stone Lions and Star Adders both have examples of it within their Touman. And in the Star Adders' case, it's the Crimson Hawk 3. That's right, the model that was developed in 3075 by Clan Wolf-in-Exile.

[The Eagle]

I've used it before, and the thing to remember is that its not a good dueling 'Mech.  Keep them out of the initial challenges under zellbrigen, and then bring them into range to provide supporting fire if things go sideways honor-wise.  Trying to go toe to toe with a Fire Moth or even a Vixen ended me in hot water.

[cold1]

I've used it before, and the thing to remember is that its not a good dueling 'Mech.  Keep them out of the initial challenges under zellbrigen, and then bring them into range to provide supporting fire if things go sideways honor-wise.  Trying to go toe to toe with a Fire Moth or even a Vixen ended me in hot water.

Right, they're terrible in zell, they die fast even against other lights.  I mean yeah in an IS force in the Dark Age it's probably a good little mech.  I guess the Spirits intended to use them in swarms to defend York.

[Diablo48]

I am really not a fan of this guy.  It draws far too much attention to itself with those big guns and has absolutely no way to protect itself against other Clan designs.  I can definitely see it making more sense in IS forces where the range and firepower really do make it stand out, but you know there is a problem when the only way your Clan tech 'Mech makes sense is if you use it in an IS force.

[Ghostbear_Gurdel]

The more I think of this the more it comes off as a desperate "Throw ERLLs on EVERYTHING!" Blood Spirit idea, that the Diamond Foxes began selling to the IS as a joke. And somehow it sold anyway, almost as if the IS will buy anything Clan Tech, so matter how terrible.

[Diablo48]

The more I think of this the more it comes off as a desperate "Throw ERLLs on EVERYTHING!" Blood Spirit idea, that the Diamond Foxes began selling to the IS as a joke. And somehow it sold anyway, almost as if the IS will buy anything Clan Tech, so matter how terrible.

That honestly sounds about right to me, and I can even understand the Blood Spirit logic because the reach of the ERLL means that no matter how terrible a platform you randomly throw it onto, it can at least kind of fight in support of real units.

[Scotty]

It's a Panther that's better in every single way.  Faster, jumps farther, has two PPCs that shoot 40% further, still doesn't die to side torso destruction.  It's a great replacement for that old sort of bruiser light, and is honestly really cheap in this age of heavy XL Omnis both in terms of BV and in terms of c-bills cost.

[Prince of Darkness]

That honestly sounds about right to me, and I can even understand the Blood Spirit logic because the reach of the ERLL means that no matter how terrible a platform you randomly throw it onto, it can at least kind of fight in support of real units.

And that two of the Spirit's most used units- the Morrigu and Blood Kite- used them.

[Ghostbear_Gurdel]

Well yeah, the Blood Spirits basically had 3 weapons, ERLL, LRM15, and SRM4s, so they put those on everything. In this case, just the ERLL though, on a light chassis.

[Colt Ward]

I think it was hit on earlier but the Crimson Hawk would not seem to be a dueling machine, though against others in its weight it might be a serious fighter- cERLL is the best TW gun after all.

This thing was designed to be a fire support unit in cavalry units, a way to get an extra ERLL on any target that needs to be knocked down now.  It hangs at the edge of the battlefield lighting up targets being focused on by units closer to the skirmish line.  As such tactics are more the domain of the Inner Sphere, it makes quite a bit of sense IMO.

Speaking of the Panther, it would have been interesting to see one with SRMs, LRMs, ATMs or even MMLs for a hybrid.

[glitterboy2098]

i find it interesting that the mech carries 2 ERLL's.. but only has a single gun mount in the art, which does not look like it carried two weapons.

and while i used one of these a few times in MWDA.. i never knew it was clan, much less only 25 tons.. i knew it was a light, but i'd figured something more like 35 tons, and that it was an IS unit related to the Shadow Hawk somehow. (which it resembles quite a bit, with elements similar to both the unseen and reseen Shad's..)

[God and Davion]

i find it interesting that the mech carries 2 ERLL's.. but only has a single gun mount in the art, which does not look like it carried two weapons.

Look at the right arm and you will see the second one.


  It is not a great mech. It is very clear that something has been amiss in the Clans when you have the Fire Falcon in TRO3058 and the Crimson Hawk in TRO3075 (hint, both weight the same but the first is a state of the art omnimech, much faster, with a variant with the same weapons and a TC).

  The idea of a fire support mech that is placed behind other mechs to add extra ER Large Laser lovin' to down an enemy mech faster is almost unclanlike. The fact that it gets killed fast in case somebody looks at it sternly is also a major drawback.  This mech clearly shows the issues the Blood Spirit had to face. And they were big issues.

[cold1]

They were more than likely expecting to use them on York.  The Spirits had long ago refused to honor zell to any invader.  I think they probably could have cared less about honor rules.  They needed a whole bunch of units to throw at the Adder onslaught.

If they really wanted a light support sniper they should've just gone single ERPPC and been done with it.  Pricier yeah, but it would have been much more effective.  Fill out the extra tonnage with backup weapons, or a TC.  Though this mech already exists in the Howler 3.

[cavingjan]

  The idea of a fire support mech that is placed behind other mechs to add extra ER Large Laser lovin' to down an enemy mech faster is almost unclanlike.

But not unBlood Spirit like. Particularly when dealing with their ancient enemy.

[marauder648]

Its a good second-line/garrison machine and goes back to the 3050 days of the Clans 'thing' heat issues.  I like the look of it although i'd prefer if one of the lasers was on the other side. or opposite arm.

And as folks said, this is really a design of despiration, the Spirits had a desperate need for anything that could fight and if they had thrown Zell out the window for anyone coming to their world then yeah, packs of these things blazing away at long range would be useful.  Its basically a Blood Spirit equivalent of the Volksjager.

Also thank you for clearing up what the Titanic was, it mentioned the ship in the mech's fluff but never said WHAT it was. 

[GreekFire]

Also thank you for clearing up what the Titanic was, it mentioned the ship in the mech's fluff but never said WHAT it was.

No problem, I tried piecing together the complete story from both TRO:3075 and The Wars of Reaving. Unfortunately there were still some holes in the tale that I wasn't able to figure out.

There's a good chance, by the way, that a large chunk of the Crimson Hawks shipped to the Blood Spirits were the Heavy Large Laser version. TRO:3075 states "...the Blood Spirits have a fascination with the heavy laser design and that the weapon is an easy match in tonnage and power allotment for the Series 7 lasers, it is reasonable to assume that these Crimson Hawks mounted them instead of the standard extended-range versions."

Both the TRO and the WoR also say that the Crimson Hawk was improved and modified from its original specs from the Sharks, which leaves me wondering what the Spirits could have left out. The XL engine, perhaps?

[marauder648]

It makes sense that they'd love the HL range. Its probably a simpler weapon to construct (at a guess bigger focusing lenses more power fed into it, less of the safety stuff and shielding) and whilst bulky is lighter so probably less resource intensive which is great for them.  Its also got massive damage for the resources spent. 

[Rage]

I think I'd like this 'Mech better if it were 5 tons heavier and used a standard engine. As is, it's a nasty light sniper, even if it can't really keep up that level of fire for very long. I just hate that weird-ass mount on the right jet wing thing. Makes you wonder how exactly those jets work when most, if not all, of the space its meant to go through is taken up by the laser.

[GreekFire]

I think I'd like this 'Mech better if it were 5 tons heavier and used a standard engine. As is, it's a nasty light sniper, even if it can't really keep up that level of fire for very long. I just hate that weird-ass mount on the right jet wing thing. Makes you wonder how exactly those jets work when most, if not all, of the space its meant to go through is taken up by the laser.

It gets even weirder when you look at the mini from behind, the extra jump jets are angled upwards and don't look like they'd be very useful for getting off the ground at all.
Am I the only one who thinks the Crimson Hawk mini has stubby legs?

[Col.Hengist]

Being a CBS player I'll wade in here. There is nothing remarkable about this mech... By itself. Add it to a star of all crimson hawks. Now think about all those erll's going down range on one target. This is York, we do everything we can to preserve our world. There is no zel here.
 Think about a star of hidden 2's opening up on 1 or 2 targets....  I overheat, OK... I just wasted 2 of your units. I'm in heavy woods , behind other woods. Your other units can't get a bead on me. I'll override and jump away to do it again.

 Freedom for York!

[cold1]

Being a CBS player I'll wade in here. There is nothing remarkable about this mech... By itself. Add it to a star of all crimson hawks. Now think about all those erll's going down range on one target. This is York, we do everything we can to preserve our world. There is no zel here.
 Think about a star of hidden 2's opening up on 1 or 2 targets....  I overheat, OK... I just wasted 2 of your units. I'm in heavy woods , behind other woods. Your other units can't get a bead on me. I'll override and jump away to do it again.

 Freedom for York!

Yeah that pretty much sums it up right there.

[The Eagle]

Funnily enough, this thread made me realize that my Crimson Hawk mini has no place in the Blood Spirit cluster I want to one day build. . . but it'll look nice in the purple of the Marik Protectors.

[Col.Hengist]

Funnily enough, this thread made me realize that my Crimson Hawk mini has no place in the Blood Spirit cluster I want to one day build. . . but it'll look nice in the purple of the Marik Protectors.

 Build a one off star around it  O0