VotW: JES III Strategic Missile Carrier

[Empyrus]

Strangely, nearly all the variants of this RAF missile boat play nicely with the Republic's Quirinus Battle Armor and that handy built-in TAG.

The Thunderbolt variant has one thing going in its favor that no other missile carrier has, the 10 point grouping on an indirect shot. That might not be a winner by itself, but the ability to open holes in armor without being hit in return can be a big advantage. Especially if you have BA/infantry spotters who are in a position to crit seek as a follow up.

I wonder.... *goes read the BAotW for Quirinus*

There ain't that many units that utilize the T-Bolts as primary weapon, are there? Even as secondaries, they're not terribly common. Definitively a more unique variant, that T-Bolt Jessie.

[SteelRaven]

Team it up with a Marksman tank and go to town O0

[Empyrus]

Team it up with a Marksman tank and go to town O0

Does the Republic have any home grown Omnimechs for carrying the Quirinus around? Can't remember...
Homegrown for the sake of flavor. No doubt they have other Omnis, but since the Marksman, Quirinus and JES III are Republic units...

[Scotty]

Does the Republic have any home grown Omnimechs for carrying the Quirinus around? Can't remember...
Homegrown for the sake of flavor. No doubt they have other Omnis, but since the Marksman, Quirinus and JES III are Republic units...

You mean besides the Doloire, arguably one of the best Assault OmniMechs ever designed?

[SteelRaven]

Believe the Republic are also buying Savage Wolves and Mad Dog IVs from Clan Sea Fox.

[Pa Weasley]

Or Centurion OmniMechs. Or Scapha, R10, or Bolla OmniVehicles. That isn't even scratching the surface of the fantastic dedicated transports.


But that is quite the digression from discussion of the JES III the Quirinus are supporting ...

[worktroll]

Just struck by something. The jerrycans on the back sides. Fusion XL engine.

So they're not carrying diesel ...  I suppose they could be carrying water for crossing the desert, but I prefer to believe it's ethyl alcohol. "For cleaning the ammunition feeds."

Yes. Definitely.

[JadeHellbringer]

Keep thinking of a Arrow IV variant, just because.

That's an intriguing thought, for sure. Particularly in the combined-arms-heavy Dark Age, anything that allows for area-effect damage is a good thing, as is anything that allows you to light up someone with BA-carried TAG. We have better Arrow-haulers available on the market in this era, but not always available to every faction- with this serving in every military out there in respectable numbers, it wouldn't be surprising if someone made such a refit.

I say it every time we do an LRM-heavy unit, but a mortar-hauling version would be intriguing as well.

Just struck by something. The jerrycans on the back sides. Fusion XL engine.

So they're not carrying diesel ...  I suppose they could be carrying water for crossing the desert, but I prefer to believe it's ethyl alcohol. "For cleaning the ammunition feeds."

Yes. Definitely.

Why should Alacorn crews have all the maintenance-related hijinks, after all?

[JPArbiter]

I am genuinely surprised there's not a version with quad mml 9 racks inthe turret. For a support vehicle the stupid levels of ambush capability combined with still respectable fire support is a boon

Unlike the author i am ambivalent on the turret, tactical benefits aside i would have seen about a larger engine inexchange for the net turret mass

[JadeHellbringer]

I am genuinely surprised there's not a version with quad mml 9 racks inthe turret. For a support vehicle the stupid levels of ambush capability combined with still respectable fire support is a boon

Unlike the author i am ambivalent on the turret, tactical benefits aside i would have seen about a larger engine inexchange for the net turret mass

Er... about that MML carrier... actually, there IS such a version. I covered it in the article.  ^-^

[Khymerion]

As for the comment on there being better A4 launchers out there, there are not many A4 launchers geared towards supporting and keeping up with mechanized and motorized infantry in terms of speed.   Most launchers as faster than the units they would be supporting, good I guess but when you are playing with a infantry heavy force, speed tends to fall by the wayside quickly so having a JES III A4 variant, nice slow and plodding like the units they are supporting does not sound that bad.

Then again, I have gotten used to the idea of speed 3/5 as not being that detrimental when played intelligently.

[wantec]

Er... about that MML carrier... actually, there IS such a version. I covered it in the article.  ^-^

I'm surprised we didn't see one with extended LRMs. The slow speed doesn't matter as much then, it'll practically be a mini artillery variant.

[JadeHellbringer]

I'm surprised we didn't see one with extended LRMs. The slow speed doesn't matter as much then, it'll practically be a mini artillery variant.

That hadn't occurred, but... I don't have the books handy, but I think one can make twin ELRM-20s work without any trouble. Interesting, but needs SERIOUS protection- anyone got a spare old Demolisher around?

[wantec]

Twin 20s will be a bit much, 18 tons per rack, but 15s are only 12 tons a rack. So switching to those frees up 4 tons, and keeping the ammo the same gives you 18 rounds per rack. Still, range brackets of 12/22/38 are nothing to sneeze at.

[Wrangler]

This is a fairly new unit, perhaps there will be spot for one more variant in a update record sheet book.  Having ERLRMs or even N-LRMs would be nice for something like this.

[UnLimiTeD]

OK, what am I missing on the MML-Variant?
The Launchers are a ton lighter each, so there should be some space to go around.
Sarna mentions twin medium lasers, but it also mentions 2 less tons of ammo, so that doesn't lead anywhere. Standard engine?  ???

[Hussar2]

OK, what am I missing on the MML-Variant?
The Launchers are a ton lighter each, so there should be some space to go around.
Sarna mentions twin medium lasers, but it also mentions 2 less tons of ammo, so that doesn't lead anywhere. Standard engine?  ???

The 4 tons are used for 2 ER medium lasers in the turret and another 2 tons of ammo.
What I can't figure out though is the speed variant.  This variant removes 2 machine guns and 0.5 ton of ammo (1.5 tons combined)
to increase the engine from160XL to 220XL but this should increase the engine weight by 3 tons (4.5 to 7.5).
What am I missing here?

[Pa Weasley]

The speed variant mounts an XXL engine. I don't have my books in front of me but I believe CASE makes up the remaining weight difference.

[Hussar2]

The speed variant mounts an XXL engine. I don't have my books in front of me but I believe CASE makes up the remaining weight difference.

Thanks this adds up.
Since the CASE and the XXL engine don't appear in the RS I will post it in the errata forum.

[jymset]

No! The speed variant uses HFF armor... which is never noted on current vee RS.

[Weirdo]

Discussion in the Lamprey thread has led  me to wonder: Given a ton or two of frag missiles, how effective would a JESsie be as a weedeater? :)

[JadeHellbringer]

Feeling a little better about the article now- I couldn't fathom why I missed some of the details on those variants, but the record sheets indeed don't show it- so I didn't mention it. Whew! This one's not my fault! I'll update the main article shortly.

(I still should have done the math, but it honestly didn't occur to me!)

[Khymerion]

This is why I don't trust record sheet only variants.   You don't get all the details that went into them when trying to reverse engineer or understand how they worked.

[Pa Weasley]

Feeling a little better about the article now- I couldn't fathom why I missed some of the details on those variants, but the record sheets indeed don't show it- so I didn't mention it. Whew! This one's not my fault! I'll update the main article shortly.

(I still should have done the math, but it honestly didn't occur to me!)

Nope, entirely the fault of my early senility. Well, maybe not that early.

[Hussar2]

Sorry JadeHellbringer but it seems you need to edit the speed variant again.
According to jymset the 1.5 missing tons come from HFF armor and not XL engine so the RS is surprisingly correct.
Again sorry for the inconvenience.

[Colt Ward]

Well, having established that it's redundant then, let's move on to other discussions. Stories of use, ideas for upgrades, etc.. The deceased equine has been flogged a-plenty.

I think going with Stealth Armor on a Liao variant could be interesting, set it in support of the Pixiu.

[JadeHellbringer]

I think going with Stealth Armor on a Liao variant could be interesting, set it in support of the Pixiu.

Simple, too. Not to bring up my favorite change here again, but get rid of those silly MGs and their ammo, there's a ton and a half for Guardian, replace armor with stealth plating, keep the rest as-is, begin making Davion miserable.

I like it. Looks like that comes out pretty cheap, too, compared to a lot of stealth fire-support platforms.

[Colt Ward]

Hmm, what about ER or Enhanced LRMs?  Do we have too many carriers that use them?

[UnLimiTeD]

Switch MMLs 2 for 1 for ELRM15s, and you got enough ammo to kite them all the way to the bank. Well, maybe combine it with more speed.
All in all, a very solid vehicle with a lot of field refit options.  O:-)

[God and Davion]

We tested a JES III Thunderbolt. It is very cheap and a big glasshammer. It ripped of one Catapult with 4 Thunderbolts in the Center Torso. It died in 2 turns of not so much concentrated fire. It is not a line MBT. We believe that it it better to keep it in the back and only bring it into a good position after the main short range engagement has began. Not the best tank of the world but a cheap ugly way to kill things.