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BattleTech Player Boards => Fan Articles => Topic started by: Trace Coburn on 09 November 2011, 04:02:24

Title: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: Trace Coburn on 09 November 2011, 04:02:24
MR-1S Morgenstern - 70t, TRO:3085

  All proposed fan-variants should be posted in the corresponding “FotW Workshop” (http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,12520.0.html) thread.

(http://www.sarna.net/wiki/images/c/ca/Morgenstern.jpg)
“Better to rain Hell than serve Hazen.”

  The first line of the Morg’s fluff recognises something we’ve been saying on these boards for years.
Quote from: TRO:3085, p.116
Lockheed released a terrible airframe to the Lyran military over half a millennium ago.
  Oh, thank you!  If the Lucifer had shed some ammo for more speed, if it had had a comm. suite worth the name or an ejection system... but it didn’t, and the LCAF was stuck with it.  Indeed, given the nominal speed of government and allowing for that bureaucratic inertia being compounded by Lyran ‘Social General’ disease and the inevitable kickbacks, I’m actually a little surprised that it took the Elsies only five centuries to embrace a truth that’s been staring them in the face since 2523!  ::)
  In any case, they finally admitted that they’d been handed a lemon, and they had to do something about replacing it.  At the same time, the Jihad’s aftermath left people a little more conscious of supply issues, and with Tharkad’s production of the HCT-213 Hellcat and Lightning also clobbered, it occurred to some bright spark that it would make their logistics a heck of a lot simpler if they replaced all three designs with a single OmniFighter.  In acknowledgement to the Lucifer’s centuries of service, no matter how chequered they might have been, they named the new type Morgenstern (‘Morningstar’, one of the fallen angel’s other nicknames).

  Seventy tons of Lyran-built winged badassery (seriously: look at the artwork!), the MR-1S was originally intended to use a Light engine, but given the sheer number of birds it was intended to replace across the LCAF, the per-unit costs were... problematic, and so a simple 280SFE was installed to keep the budget balanced.  Matching the 6/9 thrust-curve of two of its three predecessors (and out-speeding its namesake), the Morgenstern makes the unusual but understandable choice of only installing a four-ton fuel-fraction, with the expectation that more pod-space gives commanders more options - including that of devoting pod-space to extra fuel-blivets to make up the endurance-differential.  (Not that the canon configs do that, but still....  :-\)  As a lesson of the Jihad, the armour-fraction is a reassuringly sound sixteen tons of ferro-aluminium, with a 93/71/51 layout that renders the nose immune to threshold-crits from IS PPC’s or Clan large lasers (either ER or pulse) and the wings laughing off IS (ER)LLs; even the aft section sneers at IS medium lasers, including the MPL, and a Blaker MVSPL has to close to its own Medium range to hope for a TAC-check on a Morg’s stern.  While it’s not in the same league as the earlier Eisensturm, the MR-1S was clearly built with survivability as a top concern.  Another choice to maximise the pod-space was the installation of only the base ten DHS; as a piece of in-universe logic, I might have preferred the full eleven DHS the engine could house, but being that this is an OmniFighter, it’s not a crippler.  All of that leaves you with thirty-one (31) tons of pod-space - that’s more than forty percent of the ship’s mass available to be filled with dakka.  }:)
  And as a reassuring bonus, one of the key points of the Morgenstern’s fluff, pointedly mentioned as being used to ‘sell’ the type to pilots converting from the old Lucy, is that yes, it features a working ejection system.  You can almost hear morale rising, can’t you?  :P

  Morgenstern-Prime is meant to make transition training easier for converting Lucifer pilots, as well as fill many of the LCF-R15’s tactical niches.  With reams of reports on how little the Lucy’s wing-mounted SLs were actually used in combat still haunting their institutional memories, the Lockheed/CBM engineers chose to house the offensive armament purely in the ship’s nose.  Dual ER laser-cannons provide a solid base-of-fire at long range, with twin Artemis-equipped MML-7s and two tons of ammunition allowing pilots to either add to the beams at those same ranges like the old Lucy always wanted to, or follow up the guns with crit-seeking SRMs (particularly in the air-to-mud role).  An ERML is installed in the tail-section to make sure the tailgaters get a warm reception, and seven DHS are installed to cover the heat-load.  An all-forward alpha-strike is two points under the loadout’s dissipation capacity, and even a fore-and-aft “they’ve got me surrounded, the poor bastards!” salvo only bumps things up to +3, so I’d say that the Lockheed people were very mindful of their mathematics on this one.  }:)

  Meant for the ‘swing-fighter’ role, dealing with aerospace-superiority or ground-attack duties with equal facility, the Morgenstern-A configuration is the sort of thing that gives its pilots and commander evil-gasms while inducing cold sweats (and then very hot ones) in its victims.  Retaining the tail-mounted ERML to keep the other guys honest, and packing in eight more DHS for the heat-load, the Alpha loadout again concentrates its offensive firepower in the nose: an ERPPC and twin plasma-rifles(!) with three tons of ammunition.
  You all know my feelings on the PR as an aerospace-combat weapon already, so you can well imagine that this loadout makes me want to call its designer things that would get past the censortron only as a string of symbols from the top row of my keyboard.
  The heat-balance on this loadout is again consciously designed for full-forward-fire - the ER Peeper and the two PRs are still one under capacity - so the only reason you wouldn’t hit the other guy with everything you’ve got would be ammo concerns, and three tons of plasma-plastic means you can afford to keep handing out the bad news for a fair while.  With the possible exception of the meanest and nastiest heavy fighters, three ten-point hits will get anyone’s attention, and +2d6 heat will severely inconvenience most ’Mechs or ASFs; the additional damage they inflict on other units is just a bonus.  Getting hit by a Morg-A is an exercise in managing not only pain but also frustration.  #P

  Recalling the ‘one big main gun’ motif of the Lightning (I’ll skip the Lyran/Freudian joke this time), the Morgenstern-Bravo devotes most of its pod-space to a monster Improved Heavy Gauss Rifle and twelve rounds (three tons) of ammunition in the nose, backed by ERMLs in the tail and each wing as additional crit-seeking/‘getting-home guns’; the nose-mounted MML-5 and its two-ton magazine strike me as meant primarily for delivering SRMs as ‘even more crit-seeking’, though getting pinged with another (albeit small) cluster out to Long range certainly won’t make the other guy any happier about seeing this thing in his airspace.  The third config capable of firing everything it’s got without going into heat-debt, the Morg-B’s sole purpose in life is to hurl quarter-ton ferro-nickel slugs down-range at every opportunity, delivering a 22-point hit out to Long range that will generate a threshold-check against any ASF I can think of and leave even the heaviest assault ’Mech at least a little dizzy.

  Based on studies of the Hellcat it’s intended to replace, the Morgenstern-C is a pure flashbulb.  With seven DHS podded-in to manage the heat it generates, although that does take some juggling, the Morg Charlie’s nose boasts twin ERLLs for the long-range joust, backed by a large pulse-laser for those low-odds shots and a pair of ERMLs you can trade in for the pulser when you want to exploit breached (or naturally thin) armour.  With back-up ERMLs in each wing and the tail, with an additional MPL to ‘reward’ the guys who get really aggressive about their ‘ass-grabbing’, this loadout requires careful management of which weapons are appropriate to what situation and won’t overwhelm your sinks, but most pilots of the old HCT-213 will be used to that in any case.

  There’s a long-standing tradition among Omnis that most of them have a configuration devoting much of its pod-space to missile-systems for fire-support duties, and the Morgenstern-Delta continues it... though with awareness that there’s an even longer-standing tradition that missile-boats tend to be weak on self-defence weapons and thus get bum-rushed to put them out of the fight early.  That consciousness is reflected by a respectable back-up array of energy weapons - an ERLL and ERML in the nose, with the tail warded by another ERML and a small laser - and bolstered by a targeting computer just in case someone tries the classic ‘rush the sniper!’ routine.  }:)  (Personally, I would’ve rather seen it loaded with ‘just-in-CASE’ than the SL, but I guess that even on a generally-superlative project like this, Lockheed/CBM can have an ‘off’ day.  :-\)  The type’s missile-support capability comes from three Artemis-equipped MML-7s, one each in the nose and each wing, feeding from a shared four-ton magazine; finally, a single additional DHS is podded-in to handle heat concerns.
  This is another config that requires just a little juggling in your ordnance selections - if you’re using the ERLL and the MMLs togther, you’ll need to stagger your missile-fire three-two-three-two to keep the gauge more or less flat - but all those damage-clusters it generates mean that interceptors, and other birds (or ’Mechs) with thin or breached armour, will heartily dread the sight of a Morg-D.  All those launchers, and all those ammo-bins, mean that this set-up provides an almost despicably flexible aerial-bombardment platform capable of addressing almost air-to-ground any scenario.  Frag rounds for suppressing infantry?  Thunders for shaping the battlefield?  Infernos for hobbling ’Mechs or torching flammable terrain-features?  Open TW or TacOps, pick a missile-munition to suit your situation and tactical needs, and watch the other guy’s face drop as you deliver it in copious amounts.  }:)

  There are two other notes that need to be made about the Morgenstern’s offensive capabilities.  The first is that it’s big and hefty and can carry an amount of external ordnance that’s almost as frightening to contemplate for its operators as it is to the recipients: fourteen points of bombs or other ordnance at 3/5 - enough for seven(!) Light AAMs or a pair of Arrow-IV AAMs and two drop-tanks, if you’re looking to keep control of the skies.  Personally, I’m filled with visions of a Morg walking a full load of cluster-bombs across a ’Mech battalion and watching the carnage....  }:)
  The second note is that as of the publication of TRO:85, the Morgenstern was still in final acceptance trials, and the final decision about who would get them first and in what quantities had yet to be made.  The Lyrans are naturally keeping the “lion’s share” of the first production-run to themselves, but the Exiled Wolves do have an option to acquire some as well, to supplement their (ageing and possibly depleted?) fleet of Clan OmniFighters.  And if they do exercise that option-to-buy, you do realise what that would mean, don’t you?
  Morgensterns loaded out with Clan-grade ordnance.  }:)


  A lot of what you’ll want to do with the Morgenstern depends on what loadout you’re using and what the other guy’s throwing at you - and given the post-Jihad threat-environment, that’s a really long list that would take far too many electrons to address in one column/sitting.  ::)  Essentially, it’s a matter of keeping the fundamentals (http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,2107.0.html) in mind and adapting to what happens in play.  [shrug]  Of course, part of that includes operating as a team, so if you operate an MR-1S as part of a high/low mix with some Eisensturms, and maybe bring along some Samurai for fast-dogfighter support and -Z4 Seydlitz for harrassment duties... well, the other guy’s going to have an interesting day, isn’t he?  }:)

  Hunting Morgensterns?  Well, that’s at once a simple and a complex issue.  Unless your interceptors are armed with weapons that match/out-perform Clan medium lasers, or they’re carrying Arrow AAMs to punch a hole in the Morg, basically they shouldn’t bother; the thing was designed with malice aforethought to laugh off the weapons most light-fighters carry.  (Of course, ClanTech is a different matter, but then isn’t it always? ::))  Naturally, more mobile fighters will have an easier time achieving good firing positions, but you’ll need IS LPLs or better to breach the wing-armour... basically, you need to come to the party with something just as big and mean, and unless you’re a Clanner (I’m looking at you, Malvina the Mongol Moron), that’s probably going to be a big ask.  I know that’s not very useful commentary, but against a bird this well put-together, I’m not sure there is an ‘ideal solution’.  :-\




  THE WORKSHOP (http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,12520.0.html)



  I’m actually going to suspend the writing of new FotW columns for a while; recent developments at work mean things are about to get ‘interesting’ - in the Chinese sense - for at least the next month or so, and that’s even before you account for the looming Season of Insanity.  #P  That said, since the forum’s recent migration has left us without the archives, I’m going to try to get the remainder of the old columns reposted Real Soon Now™ - though that may mean leaving the necessary rewrites until later.  :-\
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: Swords of Fire on 09 November 2011, 05:20:25
Have to admit, I almost wished the Fed Com lasted a bit longer. Because the only thing worse than a combination of Morgansterns and Eisensturms would be that combination backed by Daggers.
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: Neufeld on 09 November 2011, 10:34:28
Great writeup. The Morgenstern is one of my favorites, it is really hard to believe that it just have a SFE considering how good it is.
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: LastChanceCav on 09 November 2011, 10:42:57
This seems like a mercenary units dream fighter, low initial cost thanks to the SFE, great durability, reasonable speed, and flexible payload. The TRO says current allocations haven't been decided - which sounds to me like Lockheed/CBM would be willing to listen to C-bills as well as Kroners and Kerenskys  ;)

Cheers,
LCC
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: Jellico on 09 November 2011, 17:38:01
Great writeup. The Morgenstern is one of my favorites, it is really hard to believe that it just have a SFE considering how good it is.

Which is one of the things I find facinating about this bird. It gets a lot of kudos and I am not sure why. After all, with a SFE we are virtually looking at a Succession War platform. The thrust isn't remarkable, the armour is unusually heavy but that means weapon loads are light.

Probably the "best" feature is the Morgenstern is a bit gamey, with single points of armour clearing the thresholds and a strong bias towards nose mounted weapons. Perhaps that is the secret of its success?
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: Nikas_Zekeval on 09 November 2011, 19:42:20
As Trace mentions the Morg is the low end of a Lyran 'High-Low' mix.  The F/A-18 or F-16 to the Eisenstrurm's F-14 or F-15.  This bird is the one you bring an extra wing of because you saved on it and while the Eisentrums are keeping the enemy aircover busy the Morgs bore in and blow up the carrier, trash the airbase, or give the enemy ground forces a brief glimpse of Hell.  Get in, destroy the target, and get gone.  Like the song Jeremiah Weed goes (talking about the F-16) "Cause this ain't a time to loiter and we ain't got the gas".  That would also explain the tail gun in all configurations, the Morg is expected to keep boring in on it's target in some cases instead of turning to deal with a chasing fighter, and has at least an ERML to keep him jumping a bit.

I do like the idea of the Morg hitting the merc market, by my rough numbers the bare airframe is about 5 Million C-Bills, slightly above a fully updated Transgressor.  True you are talking nearly doubling that to get enough pods to make all the configurations, but if you just want the Prime, Charlie and Delta you'll come in at 2 Million and change, or say just under half the airframe cost (Buy the loadout for a Charlie, then the missiles, ERSL, and TarComp for the Delta, you can shuffle pods and make a Prime configuration).  That is another strength of the configurations, limited logistics foot print, baring specialist configs of the Alpha and Beta loadouts.  And if I was a Merc I'd probably go 'Beta Light' with a standard Gauss Rifle backed by either a pair of ERLL (for maximum '****** you), filling out the rest with the standard tail gun and DHS, or an ERSL and ERML in each back, twin ERMLs in the wing, and a nose Gauss Rifle and Artemis IV MML-7.  In either case I'd only have to add a podded Gauss Rifle and ammo bins to the inventory I mentioned above.

I do wonder what the design would have had with the planned LFE.  I'm guessing the fifth ton of fuel was one casuality of the sudden weight increase, so that and 34 tons of podspace?
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: Siden Pryde on 09 November 2011, 20:08:40
For myself, it was love at first sight with this bird.  Amazing artwork, average speed, SFE, good armour and good loadouts.  My only complaint is the shorter than preffered legs, but that is easily taken care of with custom loadouts.
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: Wrangler on 10 November 2011, 18:55:17
That was a hell of a write up Trace, please keep the good working going!
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: GBscientist on 11 November 2011, 14:19:34
I've been waiting for the Morgenstern to the FotW treatment for a while, and I am pleased with the results.  Trace's writing is as good as ever, and the analysis is quite helpful and entertaining.
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: Nikas_Zekeval on 11 November 2011, 22:29:08
Which is one of the things I find facinating about this bird. It gets a lot of kudos and I am not sure why. After all, with a SFE we are virtually looking at a Succession War platform. The thrust isn't remarkable, the armour is unusually heavy but that means weapon loads are light.

Probably the "best" feature is the Morgenstern is a bit gamey, with single points of armour clearing the thresholds and a strong bias towards nose mounted weapons. Perhaps that is the secret of its success?

I have to disagree here Jellico.  The Morg still has two of the three weight saving options, FF armor and DHS to separate it from a Succession Wars bird.  The former saves two tons for the level of protection granted, the later while not directly saving weight allow you to mount and effectively use more light weight energy weapons.  As Clan Aerospace jocks found in the skies during Operation: Revival even flying against Succession Wars birds can overwhelm your 'all that and the kitchen sink' bird if the enemy is well handled, and attack in numbers.  The Morg has the SFE to bring numbers to the party.

Not to mention Omni-tech for a flexible fighter, and the fluff has the Lyrans doing it intelligently, streamlining logistics by making it the standard 'medium Aerospace Fighter' replacing not just the three main aircraft in that category (Lucifer, Lightning, and Hellcat), but less numberous birds in the Lyran inventory, such as the Stingray or the odd captured Shilone.  While the omni-pods would increase the logistics footprint the Eisenstrum largely broke that barrier, and I suspect not having to stock spares for no less than four other birds, plus the odds and sods of capture machines over the last few centuries would make up for it.
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: Alex Keller on 12 November 2011, 00:40:36
  I’m actually going to suspend the writing of new FotW columns for a while; recent developments at work mean things are about to get ‘interesting’ - in the Chinese sense - for at least the next month or so, and that’s even before you account for the looming Season of Insanity.  #P  That said, since the forum’s recent migration has left us without the archives, I’m going to try to get the remainder of the old columns reposted Real Soon Now™ - though that may mean leaving the necessary rewrites until later.  :-\

Thanks for all your hard work, Trace.  I really appreciate it as I am trying to get a handle on Aerotech.  I hope those recent developments at work are good for you.
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: chanman on 12 November 2011, 22:00:36
Visually, the Morgenstern looks to have been inspired by a pair of 1950's British fighters.

De Havilland Sea Vixen (So Lyran, it has advertisements!)
(http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/0/6/3/0951360.jpg)

Gloster Javelin
(http://www.aerospaceweb.org/aircraft/fighter/javelin/javelin_14.jpg)
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: chanman on 15 November 2011, 00:59:49
With 30 tons of pod space and DHS, the Morgenstern can also replace older SFE model Rapiers. The Morgenstern theoretically has a few tons less payload, but this is cancelled out by the newer heatsinks.
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: Kit deSummersville on 18 November 2011, 09:50:27
Props to Joel and Herb for letting me turn this into an Omni and the artist for making it beautiful. I actually got to choose between a few silhouettes and liked this one, the final product was better than I had thought. It was nice to replace so many similar airframes with one fighter to fill all those roles.
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: sillybrit on 18 November 2011, 10:01:04
Props to you for the design then.  :)

I like the idea of lower tech Omnis in general, so that it's easier to justify higher tech Omnis for the premier units, so to finally see a canon SFE OmniFighter was great. The in-universe rationale for the design, the fluff & the stats were an extra bonus.
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: Headshot on 19 November 2011, 01:42:44
Its a great bird, but it flies straight into the face of the FASAnomics we all know and love/hate.
A cheap Omni to replace several standard chassis?
Thats like, economically and logistically efficient?
In BATTLETECH??

Heresy i say!  [tickedoff]
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: Diplominator on 19 November 2011, 03:58:23
So, how's it stack up against the new 70-tonner across the border? I *like* the Persepolis, but it has barely over half the armor of the Morgenstern. Does the MR-1S close the firepower gap enough to take advantage of its durabilty?
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: Neufeld on 19 November 2011, 04:50:51
So, how's it stack up against the new 70-tonner across the border? I *like* the Persepolis, but it has barely over half the armor of the Morgenstern. Does the MR-1S close the firepower gap enough to take advantage of its durabilty?

To me it looks like whoever wins will be badly shoot up. The Persepolis has range advantage due to Clan ERLL, and the streak LRM20s pump out a lot of damage. On the other hand, the Morgenstern can take the LRM clusters all around, and the ERLL on the nose, while the Persepolis will be checking for crits every time the Morgenstern hits with ERLLs or better.
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: Moonsword on 19 November 2011, 17:09:09
To me it looks like whoever wins will be badly shoot up. The Persepolis has range advantage due to Clan ERLL, and the streak LRM20s pump out a lot of damage. On the other hand, the Morgenstern can take the LRM clusters all around, and the ERLL on the nose, while the Persepolis will be checking for crits every time the Morgenstern hits with ERLLs or better.

Or MPLs if it's carrying them.  Keep in mind the Morgenstern can also take the IHMLs on the nose, too.  All of the configurations are capable of blowing straight through any of the armor, with bonus points to the A's plasma rifles and the B's IHGR for incendiary fun and being able to tear nearly half or more of the armor off a single location per hit, respectively.  A Persepolis really should stay at long to extreme range, where it generally has enough of a firepower edge to hammer the Spheroid bird, but it doesn't have the speed to really control the engagement.  Overall, I'd call it tilted in the Morgenstern's favor but not decisively so.
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: Colt Ward on 10 December 2011, 11:37:44
After doing some ASF reading . . . is this a design the Lyrans should take a page from their Eisenstrum book and make a standard non-Omni version from one of the configs?  A sort of production model for militia and sale to house mercs?

Or possibly a upgrade/feild refit kit to the Omni so you can put a LFE into the frame?
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: Headshot on 10 December 2011, 15:18:26
So you want to turn an Omni purpose-build to cheaply replace several standard chassis' into a standard chassis...??
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: Baldur Mekorig on 10 December 2011, 18:35:03
So you want to turn an Omni purpose-build to cheaply replace several standard chassis' into a standard chassis...??

 For planetary militias and merc units that can not afford the expenses of managing omni-units, yes.
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: Nikas_Zekeval on 10 December 2011, 19:01:36
For planetary militias and merc units that can not afford the expenses of managing omni-units, yes.

The thing is the omni tech is only a million to a million and a half over a comparable non-omnifighter, not that huge of a price difference to justify a non-omni version.

Also consider that these are Lyrans we are talking about.  The market is about to suffer a glut of non-omni fighters hitting the market, with freshly scrapped off Stiener Fists.  Do you think it took even a minute for them to realize that you could make some quick Kroner off selling the now surplus Lucifers, Lightnings, Hellcats, and occasional Stingray being phased out of the inventory?  Some of the sales might be official even.  >:D
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: Jellico on 10 December 2011, 22:12:23
After doing some ASF reading . . . is this a design the Lyrans should take a page from their Eisenstrum book and make a standard non-Omni version from one of the configs?  A sort of production model for militia and sale to house mercs?

Or possibly a upgrade/feild refit kit to the Omni so you can put a LFE into the frame?

The R3 is the prototype of the Omnifighter.
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: va_wanderer on 12 December 2011, 08:56:31
The nice thing to me about the Morgenstern is it just loves to have external ordinance.

Give it a drop pod for fuel to get in, burn it off on approach, then run on your own tank for the mission and egress. If you're not in a hurry, put some ordinance on the rest and give your target a warm welcome before you need to start using up (say) HGR rounds.
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: StCptMara on 14 December 2011, 21:11:44
You know...something strikes me about the Morganstern and Eisensturm: Do the Lyrans like their fighters
to have large bomb-loads for their tonnages? (Do not forget that, as these are Omnifighters, they can
ALSO dedicate tonnage to bomb-bays, and drop even MORE Bombs!)
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: sillybrit on 14 December 2011, 22:03:26
Technically, internal bomb bays for ASFs are only possible using optional quirks from SO.
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: Top Sergeant on 14 December 2011, 22:12:40
You know...something strikes me about the Morganstern and Eisensturm: Do the Lyrans like their fighters
to have large bomb-loads for their tonnages?

That is certainly not a problem!  8)
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: StCptMara on 14 December 2011, 22:13:18
Technically, internal bomb bays for ASFs are only possible using optional quirks from SO.

Except that you can mount Bomb Bays(if it was not an available option, why would we have LAMs with it?)
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: sillybrit on 14 December 2011, 22:20:37
LAMS =/= ASFs
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: StCptMara on 14 December 2011, 22:45:37
*double checks rules in TM and TacOps* OK..strange..only support Aircraft can pay tonnage to add hard points? Would have thought
that would be an option for any ASF...Guess you can just handle it as Cargo or Elementals, though...
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: Weirdo on 14 December 2011, 22:55:03
Bomb bays exist so LAMs or support aircraft can spend tonnage to do what ASFs can already do much better for free. Trust me, ASFs don't need to carry more bombs, they're plenty evil as it is.
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: StCptMara on 14 December 2011, 22:56:42
Bomb bays exist so LAMs or support aircraft can spend tonnage to do what ASFs can already do much better for free. Trust me, ASFs don't need to carry more bombs, they're plenty evil as it is.

No..no....give me an Eisensturm that devotes some tons to carrying MORE bombs, or bombs that will not slow it down!
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: Weirdo on 14 December 2011, 22:58:20
HGR shells. 8)
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: Goose on 14 December 2011, 23:01:40
Trust me, ASFs don't need to carry more bombs, they're plenty evil as it is.
Weirdo: We've got some despot with asima on the horn, want's to know how "plenty" equals "enough" …
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: StCptMara on 15 December 2011, 00:29:45
Weirdo: We've got some despot with asima on the horn, want's to know how "plenty" equals "enough" …

Aff! I would love to see an ASF that was described as a dedicated "Heavy Bomber"...But that requires that
you can mount bomb bays on an ASF...
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: Valles on 15 December 2011, 02:09:47
Not being able to might or might not be dictated by the rules, but logically it's kind of nonsensical, given how simple a bomb-bay is.

Of course, this is Battletech, so trying to apply logic might be grounds for a Hunter S Thompson quote.
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: Weirdo on 15 December 2011, 08:45:07
You don't need additional bomb space for a heavy bomber. You sacrifice guns to fit the largest possible engine so the plane can carry all the bombs the frame allows while still keeping a useful airspeed. Pile the rest of the tonnage into fuel, armor, defensive equipment and whatnot, and I bet you won't have room for more than a few defensive guns but will have a bird that can lay waste to entire mapsheets at a time.
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: Moonsword on 15 December 2011, 17:42:37
You don't need additional bomb space for a heavy bomber. You sacrifice guns to fit the largest possible engine so the plane can carry all the bombs the frame allows while still keeping a useful airspeed. Pile the rest of the tonnage into fuel, armor, defensive equipment and whatnot, and I bet you won't have room for more than a few defensive guns but will have a bird that can lay waste to entire mapsheets at a time.

The Hammerhead was about as practical an exercise in heavy bombers as I've ever seen.  Fast enough to maintain more than usual agility with 15 tons of bombs (about the most you can carry practically anyway) and it had reasonable armor and firepower, too.
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: Jellico on 15 December 2011, 18:06:43
One of the reasons that the 3085 Clan ASF didn't "slow" down as one might have expected.
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: ANS Kamas P81 on 16 December 2011, 06:41:46
You don't need additional bomb space for a heavy bomber. You sacrifice guns to fit the largest possible engine so the plane can carry all the bombs the frame allows while still keeping a useful airspeed. Pile the rest of the tonnage into fuel, armor, defensive equipment and whatnot, and I bet you won't have room for more than a few defensive guns but will have a bird that can lay waste to entire mapsheets at a time.
Hm, a 90 ton fighter with an XXL engine can go 7/11 for 44.5 tons, and load 18 points of bombs at 3/5.  That's not bad but...it'd be nice to do it at 7/11 too...
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: cray on 16 December 2011, 08:33:22
Not being able to might or might not be dictated by the rules, but logically it's kind of nonsensical, given how simple a bomb-bay is.

The current hard point rules do represent internal bays. Aerospace fighters would otherwise be incapable of carrying hard point loads through atmospheric entry.
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: Diplominator on 16 December 2011, 13:38:59
The current hard point rules do represent internal bays. Aerospace fighters would otherwise be incapable of carrying hard point loads through atmospheric entry.

Oh, hm. I'd never considered that, but it makes a lot of sense. It also explains why fighters with no obvious places to put bombs can carry bombs.
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: Jellico on 23 November 2013, 23:47:17
RS3145 gives us the Morgenstern MR-1SE

Once again we have a Re-engineered Laser variant. This time two targeting computer enhanced large models in the wings and an Artemis assisted LRM 15 in the nose.

It is hard to say whether this variant is worth it or not. Especially with the existence of the 1SB. The 1SE hast to be careful firing all of its forward weapons at once, meaning a passing wing shot is more likely. The 21 points delivered is remarkably close to what the 1SB's iHGR delivers alone. Otherwise the 1SE is a solid, if slightly under gunned option when facing advanced armoured opponents.
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: Weirdo on 24 November 2013, 00:36:48
Say what you will, all these ReLaser fighters will tear the crap out of a reflec-armored BA squad or three in a strafing run...
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: chanman on 24 November 2013, 00:38:22
Say what you will, all these ReLaser fighters will tear the crap out of a reflec-armored BA squad or three in a strafing run...

So would a single well-placed bomb  ;)
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: Weirdo on 24 November 2013, 00:47:09
True, though the strafing run has a potentially greater number of targets.
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: chanman on 24 November 2013, 01:48:57
True, though the strafing run has a potentially greater number of targets.

Use more bombs?  I imagine your old high altitude cluster bombing manuever would be pretty nasty for reflective anythings
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: mikecj on 24 November 2013, 10:15:28
Props to Joel and Herb for letting me turn this into an Omni and the artist for making it beautiful. I actually got to choose between a few silhouettes and liked this one, the final product was better than I had thought. It was nice to replace so many similar airframes with one fighter to fill all those roles.

Where you having a Princess Bride moment when it was named? "S Morgenstern"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Princess_Bride
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: Scotty on 24 November 2013, 18:20:20
Hmmm, a question just occurred to me.

Hardened Armor takes damage in half point lots.  Twenty points of damage will remove ten points of armor.  Twenty points of damage will also force a PSR, even though only ten points of armor have been removed.

Does a Re-Engineered Large Laser count as doing 18 "effective" damage toward a PSR?
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: Jellico on 24 November 2013, 21:19:53
Hardened armor don't fly that well anyway.
Might be a better question in one of the other threads?
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: Kit deSummersville on 25 November 2013, 08:27:57
Where you having a Princess Bride moment when it was named? "S Morgenstern"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Princess_Bride

No, it was a replacement for the Lucifer, which was named after a biblical character also known as the Morning Star.
Title: Re: Fighter of the Week, Issue #096 - MR-1S Morgenstern
Post by: mbear on 25 November 2013, 09:27:16
Hmmm, a question just occurred to me.

Hardened Armor takes damage in half point lots.  Twenty points of damage will remove ten points of armor.  Twenty points of damage will also force a PSR, even though only ten points of armor have been removed.

Does a Re-Engineered Large Laser count as doing 18 "effective" damage toward a PSR?
IIRC, this has been asked and answered in the Ground Combat or General Discussion threads. The weapon's total damage always counts towards a PSR, so the answer is yes. Likewise, if you hit a target with Hardened Armor with two standard PPCs, you have forced a PSR.

(I would link to the discussion, but I can't find it at the moment.)