Hunter Killer Urban Fighting BA

[Coldstone]

The mention of different BA roles in the Cromwell Thread made me do this BA. It is designed for close combat in urban areas and "house Cleaning". Dual Firedrakes make it deadly against normal infantry. The Flamer too is a weapon fightening to all normal infantry. A Micro Grenade Launcher was added so it can also fire at targets behind cover. An idea would be to exchange the AP WEapon mount for mission equipment to give it the option to carry small explosive charges or a cutting torch. But that is optional.

Code: [Select]

        Classic BattleTech Battle Armor Technical Readout
                            VALIDATED

Type/Model:    Hunter Killer Urban Fighting Battlearmor 
Tech/Era:      Inner Sphere / 3067 / CBT Rules
Chassis Type:  Humanoid
Weight Class:  Medium Battle Armor (751 - 1.000 kg)
Rules:         Level 2, Standard design

Ground Speed:  32,4 km/h
Armor Type:    Advanced

------------------------------------------------------------------
Type/Model:    Hunter Killer Urban Fighting Battlearmor
Equipment:                                          Slots    Mass
Chassis Type:  Medium Class Humanoid                  0       175
Motive System: Ground Movement (3 MP)                 0        80
Armor Type:    10 Points Advanced                     5       400

Manipulators:
  Left Arm:    Battle Claw                            0        15
  Right Arm:   Basic Manipulator                      0         0

Weapons and Equipment                Loc     Shots  Slots    Mass
------------------------------------------------------------------
Firedrake Support Needler            LA        30     1        50
Firedrake Support Needler            RA        30     1        50
Flamer                               Body      10     1       150
Micro Grenade Launcher               Body      20     1        75
  (with High-Explosive Ammo)
Anti-Personnel Weapon Mount          LA               1         5
 (Anti-Personnel Weapon Space)       LA               0         0
------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS:                                              10     1.000
Slots & Mass Left:                                    0         0

Calculated Factors:
Total Cost:     452.900 C-Bills, Including Trooper
                Training Costs of 150.000 C-bills
Battle Value:   41 (164 for 4)  Weapon Value: 20 (Ratio=,49)
Cost per BV:    7.387,8 (w/o Trooper Training costs)
Damage Factors: SRDmg = 1   MRDmg = 0   LRDmg = 0
Mechanized:     Travels on OmniMechs
Attacks:        Can perform Swarm and Leg attacks
BattleForce2:   Class: IB   MP: 3   Armor/Structure: 2 / 0
                Damage PB/M/L: 1/-/-   Overheat: 0
                Point Value: 2    Specials: mec, car4

CBT:RPG Data:   Armor Value (M/B/E/X): 9/8/8/7    Coverage: Full
                IR: 0,  ECM: 0,  Camo: 0
                Melee AP: 2,  Target Size Modifier: -1
                Movement Modifiers:
                  Walking: +3,  Running: +6,  Sprinting: +9
                Attribute Modifiers:  STR: +3,  DEX: -2,  RFL: -1
                Equipment Rating:  E/E/E

                Created by HeavyMetal Battle Armor


[Lagrange]

My understanding is that this has 10.25 marine points (=1(trooper)+2(medium)+5(armor)+2(burst fire)+.25(AP weapon)).  That's good on a per-ton basis.  I think it's possible to do slightly better, but not by much. 

Against battle armor/protomechs/mechs in a building, it does ~7 damage (= 2(flamer)+1(firedrake)+1(firedrake)+1(microgrenad launcher)+~1(ap weapon)).  That's pretty good. 

Against conventional infantry, it does 3d6(Needler)+3d6(Needler)+3d6(Flamer)+1d6/2(grenade launcher)+~1(AP weapon) = ~34 damage.  That's very high, nearly the best possible.  It's halved inside a building hex, so not quite a full platoon elimination system, but still remarkably scary.

The biggest drawback I see for close combat is the lack of space capability which makes boarding ops in space require docking.

A secondary drawback is the tradeoff between transport tonnage and effectiveness.  Because quarters for infantry are a minimum of 5 tons each, the number of infantry that you can support on a long duration mission is almost independent of the BA class. 

These two concerns led me to look at assault battle armor, where you can about double the marine points and damage vs. battlemechs/protomechs/mechs.

[Coldstone]

Heavy BAs ok. But I was never a fan of Assault BAs due to their limited mobility.

Only Assault BA I actually used in greater numbers is the Hauberk, due to its LRM 5. A good defensive BA if you have to guard a target.

My best Battle Armor so far is called Blood Omen. A heavy design with 10 Armor, A Jump Booster for added mobility and a payload of an AP Gauss, an SRM 4 OS and an LRM 3 with some reloads. I designed that one for a Clan campaign which me and some pals played over Megamek.

[Lagrange]

But I was never a fan of Assault BAs due to their limited mobility.

Good point---I'm forgetting that I'm being unconventional here in relying on ASF as a BA delivery service.

The use of a Needler is a good idea---I tweaked the assault armor I've been thinking about to use it.

I prefer to avoid using battle armor in open field combat myself.  Their lack of mobility when deployed and artillery susceptibility when mechanized seem like a strong counterindication compared to other units.

[maxcarrion]

So - I see these as extremely specialised - quite literally door kickers.   I think they are well designed to do that, I would not like to be a PBI in a building that has these coming in the doors and windows.  However, I think they are so specialised I would rarely want to have many/any in my unit.  Of course this all depends on how you draw your lines so YMMV but these really only shine at clearing PBI out of buildings and other close quarters but stable atmosphere locations. 

You could sacrifice a little and substantially enhance flexibility.  Some space adaptations would make an ok marine suit, getting some modular weapon mounts in there somehow would mean you could use it for more regular duties and convery a general purpose BA to this infantry murder machine as required, some jump MP might help you traverse buildings.

My BA of choice for my Urban units is my "Ranger mk2" a light BA that has
3 ground MP for moving through buildings
3 jump MP for crossing rooftops and open terrain
A squad support mounted TAG for calling in indirect fire support accurately
5 points of armour - to survive an ML or multiple infantry hits.
It's light - a 750KG suit would be extremely difficult to manuver around a residential building - stairwells, doorways, wooden floorboards.  A 1000KG or more suit would be that much harder
Armoured Gloves - most things in buildings are human scale, human scale hands would be a big advantage.
APWM isn't required as Armoured Gloves can hold an infantry weapon
an MWM in each arm allows equipment to be tailored per mission with 260KG available between mounts and mission equipment. 
Allowing for example
 - Firedrake + Flamer - for door kicking against PBI
 - 2x David Light Gauss - for open field work
 - Flamer and Grenade Launcher - for close encounters with heavy cover/armour
 - LMG and Micro Grenade Launcher + 110KG mission equipment
 - A Medium Recoiless Rifle

Now sure - 1 Ranger MK2 does not have the anti infantry firepower of 1 Hunter Killer but it's smaller, cheaper, more versatile and will have less difficulties getting the firepower on target.

[Sabelkatten]

Small note: Light BA with arm MWM can't mount a RR - only one open slot. :(

Also, you've only got 225kg left, not 260kg...

Arguably, you'd be better off with one torso, one arm MWM and an arm SSWM. Two open torso slots.

Regarding the OP, do you get the AI bonus when firing inside a building? I honestly haven't looked at those rules in years, I thought you still fired at the building!