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Purifer Adaptive Battle Armor - Technical Readout 3058U page 31
The Purifier Adaptive Battle Armor; its name stands out more than the suit itself does on the battlefield. When we first encounter a design labeled as "Scout" or "Assault" we can immediately categorize them without any real need to read the actual description or stats, and even a "Standard" suit can be recognized as meaning a common or generic design, but "Adaptive"? It's as if the Word of Blake was attempting to inject into the Purifier the same air of mystery than pervades their whole organization. Only upon examining the design itself do we see exactly how the suit earns its designation, adapting its appearance to its surroundings thanks to the chameleon-like effect of its armor. The name Purifier also evoked images of righteous zeal, a design intended to cleanse the unworthy and the wicked; a foreshadowing perhaps of the events to come.
I have to wonder just how many players actually used the Purifier in their games prior to the Jihad, whether in an opponent's forces or fielding them themselves. The Word of Blake never really seemed to accumulate many fans back then, having fought only one significant campaign prior to 3067, and they were considered more like background flavor than a real faction in the eyes of some players. With that background, when the Purifier was published in Field Manual: ComStar, the design was admired for its capabilities, but was then all but forgotten by my local groups. Of course, once the Blakists had their little temper tantrum, the suit came back with a vengeance, and for a time Purifier ambushes were popular with those who played Jihad scenarios.
The R&D project for the Purifier began just a couple of months after the Word of Blake successfully invaded Terra, taking it from ComStar. Compared to other Battle Armor designs, this stage was rather prolonged, and it wasn't until August 3061 that the first prototypes were revealed, with testing proceeding at a blistering pace, so that the first production models were being manufactured as quickly as February 3062. Although not known until the introduction of the construction rules in Classic BattleTech Companion, the Purifier was another Medium-class design; however its abilities made it very different from the other factions' trooper suits that occupy that weight category.
The key feature of the Purifier is its Mimetic armor, an advanced form of stealthy protection that allows the Battle Armor to change its color to match its background. The developmental history of Mimetic armor began with Star League-era research, that was acquired by ComStar when then they took control of Terra at the beginning of the Succession Wars. First developed as the Camo System around 2800, this bulky add-on equipment was installed in the Tornado PA(L), ComStar's copy of the SLDF's special operations Nighthawk power armor. Further research was still ongoing in 3058 when the Word of Blake captured Terra from ComStar, with the result being the improved product that we know as Mimetic armor. This technology not only causes targeting difficulties for 'Mechs and other armored combatants, but also conventional infantry, a type of unit unaffected by the various models of Stealth armor. In another change, in contrast to Stealth armor which is more effective at greater ranges, Mimetic armor is unaffected by range and its performance instead depends upon the speed of the Battle Armor.
Both Mimetic and the older Camo System suffer a degree of lag, requiring a small but significant amount of time to change the color of the suit's skin to match the background. When a Purifier moves fast, the Mimetic armor cannot adapt fast enough, displaying blurred backgrounds that the suit has already passed, and this distortion can even make the Battle Armor more visible. When originally introduced back in Field Manual: ComStar, the game rules actually made Mimetic armor worse than it is today, due to the stealth effects replacing the standard Target Movement Modifiers. In contrast, under Total War, the targeting modifier the armor generates is separate from the standard Target Movement Modifiers. So in the case of a Purifier that moved 3 hexes, at the time of its introduction in Field Manual: ComStar, and up until the BattleTech Master Rules, the suit would have generated a +0 modifier, but under Total War it would still get a +1 modifier for the distance travelled.
One last difference between Mimetic armor and the various Stealth versions, is that instead of being heavier it weighs the same as Standard composites, which means it could be retrofitted to many Inner Sphere designs that possesses the required number of free equipment slots, without any impact on performance. Unfortunately, Mimetic armor is very bulky, requiring more space than any other single system or component, leaving little room for weapons or other equipment. In the case of the Purifier, the designers chose to install a single Modular Weapon Mount, with enough capacity to fit moderately sized weapons such as Support PPCs and Recoilless Rifles, although the latter is not an official option. Apparently impressed by the stealthy characteristics of the Mimetic technology, the engineers only added 6 points worth of armor, which is really too low for a Medium suit. Yes, the Purifier can be very hard to hit, but given that the Blakists presumably always intended to take the fight to the Clans, the prospect of one shot-kills by Clan Medium Pulse Lasers makes the level of protection an unwise choice.
The designers took the uncommon step of installing the Modular Weapon Mount on the left arm, giving the Purifier a distinctive look just from that small feature alone. Applying so little armor did provide the mount with an impressive 350kg payload, allowing the Purifier to mount the Inner Sphere version of the Extended Range Small Laser, which had been developed four years earlier by the Free World's League. Naturally, the League were willing to help out their overlords allies, and thus the Purifier fielded the laser as its main offensive weapon configuration when first introduced.
In truth, the laser isn't that impressive a weapon, inflicting no more damage than the standard Small Laser, and only gaining a mere two extra hexes of range. While that range increase can sometimes be important, overall I don't consider it worth the additional 150kg that the Extended Range version requires over the standard laser, not when it can be bettered by lighter weapons. By the time of the introduction of the Purifier, the CCAF had begun fielding the Light Recoilless Rifle on their Inner Sphere Standards and the Infiltrator Mk II with its Magshot Gauss Rifle had been in service for nearly a year, which meant that the ER Small Laser was just too little, too late.
All the other configurations use much lighter armament, meaning that the Purifier wastes far more mass compared to other designs that could potentially mount the same alternatives. The latest addition is the simplest to cover, with the Support PPC configuration introduced in 3069 to provide the Purifier with a so-called sniper option. While the PPC inflicts less damage than the ER Small Laser, it's longer ranged - which is an important factor for Battle Armor due to their relatively low mobility compared to most other unit types - and gives the Purifier a weapon that can (just) outrange the two lighter Recoilless Rifle types.
The other two configurations have the potential to be far more effective even though they don't directly inflict damage themselves. The Light TAG and two-shot Compact Narc launcher are ideal force multipliers for a combined arms military like that possessed by the Word of Blake. In the case of the Light TAG, it can not only mark targets for laser guided bombs and homing artillery such as Arrow IV, it also dovetails neatly with semi-guided LRMs, another Free World's League development acquired by the Blakists. Less commonly used in my experience, the Compact Narc has one characteristic that is unique for Battle Armor: normally, every member of a squad fires at a target, but with the Narc only one trooper needs to launch a homing pod during an attempt to mark a foe, which helps stretch out the limited number of shots per suit.
The Battle Claw on the right arm allows the Purifier to perform Anti-'Mech attacks, but it lacks an anti-personnel mount or any other form of secondary armament. Despite the capabilities of its Mimetic armor it's not particularly efficient when used against infantry, unless deploying unofficial configurations such as Medium Recoilless Rifles or Flamers. The Purifier is capable of engaging in Mechanized Battle Armor tactics, although the Word of Blake military possessed few Omnis to exploit this capability until the Celestial series appeared on the scene during the Jihad. The Mimetic armor does give the Purifier an advantage if taken under fire while deploying from an Omni or conventional APC, due to a side-effect of the rules. During the Turn that Battle Armor deploys from a transport, they're treated as if they have moved zero hexes, which for normal suits is potentially disastrous, but for the Purifier it means that their Mimetic armor is operating at its peak performance. With thicker armor, I'd suggest using this to allow troops to be offloaded directly into or in front of an enemy position, but in the case of the Purifier, I'd treat it as an extra safety net when caught off guard.
Rounding out the Purifier's characteristics, it has the defacto standard mobility for a Medium suit, able to jump up to 90 meters per Turn or run at 10.8 kph. This level of maneuverability can perhaps be viewed as being as wasteful as the oversized payload of the Modular Weapon Mount, given that the Mimetic armor almost demands that the suit moves slowly to maximize survivability. That need made the Purifier unique among the canon Battle Armor designs until the eventual introduction of other Mimetic-equipped suits, with the first of those being the CCAF's Ying Long - another suit notable for its overweight primary weapon configuration.
Most Battle Armor squads want to keep mobile, trying to generate as high a Target Movement Modifier as they possibly can, which can sometimes force them from an ideal position. However, the Purifier is free from such concerns, being able to squat in a hex and obtain a +3 modifier in addition to any effects of cover, regardless of the range to the attacker. This means that the Purifier is an ideal spotter, whether using a TAG or Narc configuration, or simply called in unguided indirect fire or artillery. The sweet combination of Purifier spotters, Light TAG and indirect fire Semi-Guided LRMs is well worth emphasizing here.
The Purifier is perfectly capable of operating like the Inner Sphere Standard or similar trooper Battle Armor by fighting a more mobile battle, but this does effectively waste the properties of the Mimetic armor. More importantly, an individual Purifier simply cannot absorb as much punishment, which can result in higher casualties, although that does lead us to one important point about Word of Blake Battle Armor formations, that has a major impact upon in-game performance. When originally introduced in Field Manual: ComStar, both Blakist and ComGuards forces deployed their Battle Armor in the standard four-suit squads used across the Inner Sphere, although they both called their squads Level Is. Those Level Is are now six suits in size, which actually make Purifier units harder to completely eliminate when using direct-fire attacks than four-man units of many heavier armored designs. On a simple level, a four-man squad of Inner Sphere Standards requires 40 points to destroy, including both armor and troopers, but a six-man Level I of Purifiers requires 42 points to destroy.
With weapons that can one-shot kill either design, such as a PPC or AC10, obviously 50% more hits are need to destroy the Level I. An IS Standard squad struck by five Medium Lasers is guaranteed to lose at least one suit, but it's possible for a Level I of Purifiers to lose none. With even lighter weapons, the trend favors the Blakist Battle Armor even more. Of course, it's not all good news for the Word and their Purifiers. Other military organizations could also chose to field six-man Battle Armor squads, but even without that simple step to rebalance the playing field, there are more weapons that can one-shot the Purifier than IS Standards. For example, the latter design can survive a single hit from a Large Laser, Large Pulse Laser or the Clans' Medium Pulse and ER Lasers, but any of those will kill a Purifier. Likewise, an entire Purifier Level I will be wiped out by a solitary Airburst shell from a 'Mech Mortar/8, which an IS Standard squad would survive, with other Area Effect weapons having similar results.
The change to the size of the Level I Battle Armor organization can be viewed as having saved the Purifier as far as the game is concerned. Having had an inauspicious start due to the rather marginal nature of its faction, the design could have easily ended up as little more than a flavor piece, despite the promise of the Mimetic technology. Thankfully, when it got its time on stage with the coming of the Jihad, the six-suit Level I kicked the Purifier up a gear as a playing unit, increasing both durability and firepower to the point that the design could demand respect and not just admiration. To an extent, it does get overshadowed by the Word's Demon series, but they are the light that burnt twice as bright and aren't likely to survive in significant numbers beyond the Jihad, while the Purifier will keep soldiering on.
Next up:
- Fa Shih
- Void
- Kobold
- Clan Medium