’Mech of the Week: LNG-** Longshot
One of the original twelve from the Solaris VII Box Set, the 35-ton
Longshot is among the most popular designs on the game world. This is in spite of the lack of interest first shown by MechWarriors (and I wonder if the name was a joke made by the original designers). The later popularity largely allowed Innovative Design Concepts to recoup their investment several times over.
While I have fought a
Longshot before in one of the games I’ve been in, based on my memory it carried a Hyper-Velocity AC/2, and I don’t see something like that in my “official†records.
The original variant arrived in the mid-3050’s. Utilizing a 245-rated extralight engine, the LNG-1B has the same ground speed as the ubiquitous
Jenner, though lacking the jump jets of that design. An endo-steel skeleton is used, and the armor is standard plate. The armor is at 80% of maximum and is allocated in such a way that all locations can pass the medium laser test, and the legs and front torsos can take a PPC blast. The main concern I have is that the arms cannot take a large laser hit, which with the right arm could prove catastrophic.
Weapons are primarily a 6-pack SRM, medium laser, and small laser in each side torso. Each SRM rack is fed by a single ton of ammunition, which is not CASEd. The final weapon is a Narc Missile Beacon fed by a single ton of pods in the right arm. Since the pods are themselves explosive, there is the possibility that the above large laser hit could set off the pods, which could cascade into the right torso and light off the SRM ammo. Though rare, certain people’s luck may increase those chances. Ten double heat sinks allow the design to run cool, no matter how many times one alphas.
One could lay most of the blame for the popularity of the design at the feet of one Harmad “The Hudge†Priety and his
Longshot the “Lil’ John.†Often paired against larger opponents, only Priety’s skill and his machine’s innate resilience allowed him to survive such odds. Even when he was losing, his matches were quite popular. When the “Lil’ John†finally was retired after seventy-six matches, twenty-four complete rebuilds, and much alteration of its shape, IDC gratefully awarded Priety with a new model.
Based on the timing hinted at in the article, this new model was likely the LNG-2. The first change was the replacement of the extralight engine with a more expensive ultralight version. The Narc Beacon was removed, and Artemis IV tied into both SRM racks, while the left torso ammunition bin was removed. The standard lasers were upgraded to x-pulses. Finally, the standard plate was replaced with experimental reactive armor, allocated as the original variant. While reactive armor halves the damage from missiles, mortars, and artillery weapons, and negates the armor-piercing properties of AP autocannon ammunition and Tandem-charge SRMs, reactive armor is susceptible to a rare phenomenon. When a penetrating (hit location 2) or floating critical pierces the armor and hits one of the reactive crits, along with rerolling the critical, on a second 2d6 roll of 2, the armor explodes, removing all armor from that location (front and back for torsos) and inflicts a point of internal with all the usual problems.
Another variant, the LNG-3 is similar to the LNG-1B, save it uses an ultralight engine, upgrades the small lasers to extended models, and the mediums to x-pulses. An offshoot, termed the LNG-3C upgrades the Narc to an Improved version, still with only a ton of ammunition, and downgrades the 6-packs to 4-shot SRMs. However, according to TRO: 3055 Upgrade that variant never got off the drawing board. (Though since ComStar likely had the design specs, and the Word of Blake controlled Solaris for some time, it would not surprise me if some models didn’t get built.) The final variant is the LNG-4. Seemingly based on the LNG-2, it uses standard armor, and replaces the 6-pack SRMs with Streak versions, with a ton of ammo for each.
Use of the
Longshot differs only slightly. They all have the same speed profile, and require you to get up close to use your weapons effectively. Since it was designed to compete with the
Wolfhound and
Jenner, use the
Longshot in a similar manner, hitting-and-running. With the Narc models, using them in pairs (or more) is a good idea. The iNarc model is the only one where I might be tempted to use ammunition other than homing (because Nemesis pods are just so fun). While mentioning having more than one machine, bringing designs that can attract fire away from you is never a bad idea. Especially if it’s big, mean, and carries a big axe.
(
Black Knight. Berserker. Ti Ts’ang. Berserker. Banshee. Berserker.)
When you have to fight a
Longshot, the first thing to remember is that all variants have a very fragile engine, and that all of them have at least one ammunition bin in the right torso. If you have a good pilot and a TC, aiming at that location is acceptable. (Though with small, fast buggers I do sometimes follow my whims and blow a leg off first.) Precision ammunition for your autocannons is also useful. If you find yourself facing a LNG-2 model, and you have lots of missile weapons, find another target. On the other hand, if you have artillery, and a friendly TAG unit, slamming him with Homing is acceptable (10-pointers will ruin his day). For that matter, PPC fire is also good. And as always, Gauss rifles will solve most problems. Finally, when facing one of the three variants with Narc or iNarc, if they get close enough to plink you, make sure they don’t survive the experience.
