’Mech of the Week: Thor II

[Diablo48]

IJJs are difficult with something this big, because it costs you 16 tons out of your 30.5 tons of podspace in order to mount.  That's a single 20, with some ammo.  And a small laser.

Agreed, but that does not mean you cannot have some fun with it and surprise the heck out of someone who is not expecting that out of a heavy 'Mech.  You can also cut back to seven iJJs like Colt Ward suggested to get a real laser or two in there while maintaining the ability to get a TMM more commonly associated with light 'Mechs.  I am personally leaning towards heavy lasers because it has tons of heat dissipation and very little free weight, but there are lots of options because the fundamental concept makes it a nice quirky unit that avoids stupid territory by virtue of unusual design choices.

[marauder648]

Speaking of that, we need Kit Fox II.
I like its concept, a light that can punch way above its weight.
What's the Falcons' current standard light mech?

Isn't it now the http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Eyrie as their standard light, a short range powerhouse.

[Scotty]

Speaking of that, we need Kit Fox II.
I like its concept, a light that can punch way above its weight.
What's the Falcons' current standard light mech?

The Cougar, which is pretty much the final statement in "Killing Power: Light 'Mech Edition".

[Empyrus]

I forgot the Cougar's still around. A good mech but... eh. Beats the Kit Fox in its game i guess.
And the Eyrie offers more speed than the Kit Fox for scouting purposes. A shame Eyrie has no arms, looks ugly, too ugly.

Ahem, shutting up about other mechs now.

[Arkansas Warrior]

Is the Cougar still around?  I thought I remembered reading somewhere that it has gone OOP.

[Empyrus]

Is the Cougar still around?  I thought I remembered reading somewhere that it has gone OOP.

I'm not shutting up about other mechs after all... Perhaps it was OOP for the Homeworld Clans after the Wars of Reaving and not for the Inner Sphere Clans?

[Scotty]

Or perhaps out of production doesn't mean gone? :P  It's still on the MUL for CJF (and oddly Wolf) in the Republic Era.

[Colt Ward]

Wolf is easy, salvage . . . why do you think both Wolves have huge stocks of Linebacker spare parts?  Because Falcon Hellbringers are walking resupply points.

The Falcons were also building the Pinion and Spirit in the IS for garrison purposes, the Spirit is one nice secondline IMO.

[Scotty]

Wolf is easy, salvage . . . why do you think both Wolves have huge stocks of Linebacker spare parts?  Because Falcon Hellbringers are walking resupply points.

The Falcons were also building the Pinion and Spirit in the IS for garrison purposes, the Spirit is one nice secondline IMO.

The odd part is that the Falcons are exclusive users in the Jihad era.  It didn't seem like there was quite that much conflict between the end of the Jihad and the start of the Republic Era (~3100) between the Falcons and Wolves to result in the latter (and In-Exile) having meaningful numbers of Cougars.

[Colt Ward]

Not sure how they would be exclusive users as it was Marthe's revamp project and she fought the Lyrans to Coventry with it, it probably defended against saKhan Hall's distracting romp during Op Bulldog, traded planets with the Crusader Wolves though usually coming out ahead, and finally Op Audacity where she plowed into the Lyrans again before getting countered by both Wolves and some Lyran forces.

[Ghostbear_Gurdel]

The D is a good idea, but it is significantly oversinked with no possible way to generate heat in normal operation so it could have been significantly improved by pulling seven DHS to make room for a major expansion of its short range arsenal (that or more DHS and long range guns).

This is one I will have to argue with. While I usually prefer bracket firing designs, I think this mech is just fine heat wise. It is a jumping alpha baby, with no minimum ranges. Sure at longer ranges, the heat sinks for the ERmeds are wasted, but the mech is fast enough that it should be able to bring them into range fairly quickly. Overall this is more of a high tempo, in your face design. I think the heat capacity is just fine.

[Colt Ward]

Yeah, its about medium range for the ERLLs being the same as long for the ERMLs.

[marauder648]

I belive the Cougar is still in production with the Falcons as they pushed the winged Cougar XR into production as well.  And in all honesty why would they want to remove the Cougar from service, its a lethal machine, save the Tiburon and Hellion probably one of the Clans best lights.

[Deadborder]

The TRO3145 NTNU section said that the Cougar had been restored to production.

The biggest perk of the Thor II over its predecessor is the podded jump jets. This allows it a bit more flexibility to either go for no-jet configs or IJJ ones. It's a lot more flexibility then the original offered, especially in this age of expanded options.

Interestingly enough, the original Thor may still be in production. It was built by Olivetti on Sudeten, while the Thor II is built by Eagle Craft Grup on Erewhon. True, the Thor may have been discontinued and its lines repurposed for other designs, but the two are not exclusive

[JadeHellbringer]

Sounds like a great discussion for another article.

[Diablo48]

This is one I will have to argue with. While I usually prefer bracket firing designs, I think this mech is just fine heat wise. It is a jumping alpha baby, with no minimum ranges. Sure at longer ranges, the heat sinks for the ERmeds are wasted, but the mech is fast enough that it should be able to bring them into range fairly quickly. Overall this is more of a high tempo, in your face design. I think the heat capacity is just fine.

Yeah, its about medium range for the ERLLs being the same as long for the ERMLs.

The thing is, you can get that same firepower with other weapons easily enough and still have room for more.  Three ERMLs would match the damage output (although the accuracy and cluster size is not as good) and leave you another four tons to play with after pulling the DHS, or you could go with two ERMLs and two SSRM 4's with a ton of ammo for significantly more firepower and greatly improved critseeking.  The heat can start to get problematic if the streaks lock a lot while jumping, but you can fix that easily enough by dropping a laser while still putting out more damage than the canon configuration.

[Colt Ward]

Not saying it is not a problem, it just has some interesting range options . . . its also a pretty straight conversion of the old Summoner D, minus MGs.

[Col.Hengist]

Cougars always exist... Just go to any clanner bar.

[Orin J.]

the Thor II just looks like a more symmetrical Thor, which leads me to think some of the common parts in the older 'mech aren't shared by the 'mechs the falcons are producing in the IS right now. or Aiden really DID break every Thor in their possession and they couldn't find a single surviving right shoulder in the mess!

i don't like the II as much, but that's mainly because i dislike pod-mount jumpjets, which is really it's own thread and something i've harped on before.

[Demon55]

I have really grown to like the Summoner over time.  The Thor II looks like a good machine.

[Wrangler]

Has anyone used the Grand Summoner/Thor II in combat before?  It looks good on paper.

[cold1]

Has anyone used the Grand Summoner/Thor II in combat before?  It looks good on paper.

Yeah works like an improved Summoner.  I shall hear by refer to it as the iSummoner.

[Deadborder]

I've had a lot of luck with the Thor II in 3145 era Megamek games, the D config especially. I have one Falcon pilot who has nicknamed his ER LLs the "Wo
fslayer sniper rifles" due to terrifying accuracy and headshots

[SCC]

Does anyone else get a Timber Wolf with less armor vibe from this re-design?

[JadeHellbringer]

Yeah works like an improved Summoner.  I shall hear by refer to it as the iSummoner.

Thor II: Thor Harder

[Colt Ward]

Yeah works like an improved Summoner.  I shall hear by refer to it as the iSummoner.

Since it runs the Mac3100 operating system how is it compatible with Windows OS pods?  Sort of defeats the Omni purpose.

[WarGod]

its supposed to be 3145, why not ATM version of the missile boat?  you have enough payload space to have so MUCH fun with it.

[O5P_Ghost]

Cougars always exist... Just go to any clanner bar.

The problem with Clan Cougars is they're 25-29 and don't fit the bracket right....

[GreekFire]

Can someone who owns Record Sheets:3145 tell me if it has the Thor II E in it or not?

I know that we got the config in TRO:3150 and not in TRO3145:The Clans, but I just realized that I don't have the record sheet and I'm not actually sure if it exists or not.

[Scotty]

Can someone who owns Record Sheets:3145 tell me if it has the Thor II E in it or not?

I know that we got the config in TRO:3150 and not in TRO3145:The Clans, but I just realized that I don't have the record sheet and I'm not actually sure if it exists or not.

It does not.  The Thor II E comes directly from Iron Wind Metals when they released a sculpt for it.  It's available from their downloads section.