'Mech of the Week: Bane (Kraken)(Author's Note: The Line Developer has recently confirmed that the original artwork of the Bane
is back on the Unseen list.)Originally a rarely seen, enigmatic 'Mech, the
Bane has become more well understood in the decades since it was first seen on a few Jade Falcon worlds. Given their association with the design, it's possible the Falcons are actually the original designers of the
Bane, known as the
Kraken in the Inner Sphere, an appropriately ominous name for a 'Mech I've come to respect deeply as a combatant despite a charmingly quirky design. The
Bane is an old 'Mech from the 29th century derived from a Star League design program that didn't make it to the point of building a prototype. The older models have spread among the Clans to become a common sight in second-line defensive formations. Today, the
Bane is built by Olivetti Weapons on Sudeten; while the Jade Falcons had it in production on Tokasha, whether the line survived the recent Wars of Reaving is a complete unknown; presumably, if it did, the output is going to Clan Stone Lion. The Jade Falcons also used the design as a technological testbed for a variety of experimental systems. Believed at the moment to be nothing more than testbeds, it's unknown what the future looks like for the
Kraken-XR. (Presumably, these are called
Banes in Clan service, but they're not actually referred to that way at any point in the book.) In general, though, the
Bane looks to be an increasingly important part of the Falcon touman alongside 'Mechs like the
Jupiter as we go into the Dark Age. Considering the firepower and utility of the normal variants, that's not a bad thing at all for a touman that's still rebuilding and supported by a scientist caste that has a bit of a staffing problem for reasons I won't go into here.
The initial
Bane sets a lot of the basic pattern of the design but is a bit quirky in the game. It's also associated with one of the great tales of BattleTech lore, which will hopefully be related by JadeHellbringer. Likely introduced in the time between the introduction of full Clan technology and the development and proliferation of the OmniMech, the
Bane is a 100 ton standard BattleMech powered by a 300-rated extralight fusion engine for the same 52 kph top speed used by most top-end assault 'Mechs. The 19 tons of Forging C745 standard armor is laid out almost identically to the
Atlas's, trading a point off the front and rear center torso to bring the legs to their maximal 42 points. (Ironically, this means that the
Atlas's 14 point rear CT is better prepared in a Clan environment.) The arms are the same 34 points, the side torsos split 32 and 10, and the head has the usual 9. Only ten double heat sinks were provided but they generally do a very satisfactory job. Where things get really weird is the armament. Each arm has an incredible five class 2 Ultra autocannons for a total of 10, fed by four tons of ammunition that actually runs a bit short in heavy combat despite being a total of 180 rounds, the sort of thing you normally see for machine guns. Speaking of which, another unusual feature is the four machine guns in the right torso, fed by a half-ton of ammunition. The armament lends itself to a very different image of the Clans than we normally think of, a time period when
zellbrigen was still in its infancy and the Elemental wouldn't be introduced for decades. Overall, I cannot recommend the
Bane for dueling. It's doable, sort of, but you're relying on blind luck for TACs and head hits more than anything else. On the other hand, you've certainly got the range and armament to go looking for them. As a fire support unit for 'Mechs that have more hole-punching than ability to exploit it, the original
Bane is a dangerous part of the mix, and the range gives it a considerable ability to provide anti-air cover across a wide front. Ultra-mode fire should be reserved for low numbers and either weak or priority targets but with that same range, you're going to get there faster than other people, so plan your ammo expenditures carefully. Against Spheroids after the Falcons quit playing nice, the original
Bane is going to do pretty well for itself as a member of a Star with a big bruiser or two to cut someone's armor open.
The autocannon love fest continues with the
Bane 2. Intended to address complaints about the original's lack of firepower, the autocannons were removed but instead of something more conventional or balanced, the engineers stuck to their guns. Each arm now had a pair of class 10 Ultra autocannons. To feed these hungry weapons, the amount of ammunition was increased from four tons to fourteen, a total of 140 rounds. Ammo here tends to last considerably longer because of the larger number of rounds per gun (35 vs. 18) and the fact that
Bane 2s neither open fire from as long a range nor have as long a range of favorable conditions for Ultra mode fire. When they do go to Ultra mode on all four guns, a
Bane 2 is capable of throwing a lot of lead around, up to 8 10 point clusters. Keep in mind that you only have 10 double heat sinks, though. The machine guns are still there.
The
Bane 3 was the first to remove the autocannons, opting for something different and, in its own way, even more of a departure from the conventional. LRM boats are nothing new. The original
Archer was introduced within two decades of the
Mackie, after all, and the Quik Products LRM carrier we all know and love is of a similar vintage. What is different is the sheer scale of things. 8 LRM 15s - a total of 120 tubes - were mounted four to an arm, enough to match two LRM carriers in a single frame. It's also enough to blow 4 of them away in a single turn if all eight launchers hit their intended targets and you'll empty a ton of ammunition doing it, an absolutely staggering rate of ammunition consumption. Fortunately, the designers anticipated the problem and crammed in no less than 16 tons of LRM ammo for a total of 128 LRM 15 shots or 1,920 LRMs. Ammunition explosions are a concern but wind up mitigated simply because you're burning through the ammo supply so fast. Heat dissipation from 19 double heat sinks is just shy of the 40 necessary to handle a full spread of LRMs, so occasionally holding a shot back is necessary to cool off. Finally, they mounted a one-shot Streak SRM 4 in the head. I'm sure there's going to be some complaints about this anemic backup weapon, but with only one crit open and an apparent intention to use the same armor layout on all the
Banes, there's literally nothing else that fits. This is one of the highlights of the
Bane series and is the one most suitable to general combat situations. You don't have the sheer hole-punching many heavy and assault 'Mechs do but a
Bane 3 can absolutely bury someone in LRMs. Chanman commented that the
Bane seems to be intended as a defensive unit to fend off lighter 'Mechs, and what's merely very, very painful to an assault 'Mech (ask the Steiner assaults we tested the 3 against) is a dire if not immediately lethal threat to lighter designs.
The
Bane 4 stands out in this family of oddballs for being the most conventional. Most of the
Banes are focused on a single weapon system to a degree few other 'Mechs approach and the XR is an experimental testbed. That's not to say it's
conservative. Oh no. You don't get called conservative with two Ultra/20s on an assault 'Mech. While their range is longer, it's not really normal for a Clan assault, being too short to be readily useful unless someone is crazy enough to close on you. (Hint: Don't.) Eight tons of ammunition provide enough ammo by Clan standards but it'll run short in extended engagements unless someone guns for the 4, so don't waste it wantonly. To help provide fire support for the arm-mounted cannons until it manages to bring someone to close action (which will
not end well for them), the right torso has an ERLL and two 6-tube ATM racks, with another rack in the left torso, all fed by three tons of ATM ammunition. 17 double heat sinks provides satisfactory cooling under a lot of circumstances but in close, with guns blazing, you need to pay attention carefully to avoid ammo explosions. Unless it's worth the risk, of course. Trust me, one of these things going in at full power on good numbers is worth the careful husbanding and need to close. You can tear mediums apart that way.
One thing that struck me immediately on looking at the
Kraken-XR was that it reminded me of a
Jupiter with a mix of autocannons, energy weapons, and missiles. It doesn't come off as well overall, though, and a test duel between them against Chanman saw a very different result from the Steiner assault party vs.
Bane Star we ran. It's not ineffective so much as... strange. The endo-composite structure saves crits it can't really spare for anything else, with a coat of reflective armor that's very effective against energy weapons (like, say,
Hellstar armaments) but is going to cost you dearly with physical attacks, falls, and area-effect weapons. (The most common AE weapons are probably artillery, artillery cannons, and bombs.) 16 laser heat sinks provide 32 dissipation with a slight gain against ammo explosions and a light show that gives your enemy a free "Kick me" sign in poor lighting. Further increasing the durability is the use of CASE II, making the
Kraken-XR a fantastically tough opponent. The armament is a showcase of new toys aside from the RT-mounted ERLL. Each arm has a pair of RAC/2s, fed by a shared two tons total. More practical in my experience is the Streak LRM 10 in each side torso, each with its own ton of ammunition. Overall, this one is an interesting experiment but not really that practical as a combatant; a
Jupiter or one of the older
Banes can generally accomplish whatever it is you're doing and for pure plinking, the original's deeper ammo bins and additional chances to hit are more effective.
Using
Banes is simple. Pick someone, fire at them until they drop, and then repeat the process. The only tricky bit is managing heat on the
Bane 4 once you get close and juggling the risks of rapid fire mode(s) against the targeting numbers to avoid jams you really can't afford. On the original, I heartily recommend holding the range open as best you can to exploit the sheer range of the autocannons, plinking someone to death; getting onto high ground to get a clear line of sight to the target will help quite a bit. Over time, the accumulation of minor hits will wear on someone. The others usually want to close to medium or close range, tearing someone down with sheer weight of fire.
Conceptually, opposing a
Bane is equally simple but as has been remarked upon, in battle, frequently the simplest things are the most difficult.
Banes have a lot of armor but underneath it, all of them but the XR can go up like a light if you can start generating enough criticals to find ammo bins that haven't already been emptied. (Keep in mind that the
Bane 3 can potentially empty a bin in a single turn, so that's not as simple as it sounds sometimes.) Against the original, charge in or find cover to keep your opponent from playing their superior range as effectively; against the 4, you need to to do the exact opposite. ER ATMs are annoying. Ultra/20s are very, very dangerous. The others are mid-range brawlers overall as Clan 'Mechs go, so treat them according to your own strengths.
References: The
Master Unit List has information on the older four variants. CamoSpecs has a
newer miniature along with an
out of production version. The heavily modified
Bane 3 miniature from the Ghost Bears' Alpha Galaxy is particularly striking.
