In the 3070s, Clan Wolf realized they had a serious problem. Unlike their neighbors, the Bears and the Falcons, the Wolves had
made the decision to keep all military production in their Homeworld holdings and not bother with any of the factories they captured in their invasion corridor very limited mech production in the Inner Sphere and relied mostly on their Homeworld facilities, especially after losing Satalice to the Ghost Bears in the early 60s.
Then this little thing called the Wars of Reaving happened and they suddenly found themselves unceremoniously ejected from the Homeworlds. This would have been bad enough by itself, but there was also this little thing going on in the Inner Sphere called the Word of Blake Jihad that was busy savaging their forces,
including the nuking of their factories on Tamar. So the Wolves were desperately needing new mechs and didn’t have any in production.
With a last-ditch effort, they activated a factory on Tamar, presumably under the assumption that as the Blakists had already nuked the planet they wouldn’t do so again. Finally, in 3074, the first new mech rolled out of the assembly: the Sun Cobra.
Tipping the scales at 55 tons, the Sun Cobra is at the top end of the Medium weight class. It was a rushed, emergency job to get out any Battlemech, and this shows. Unsurprisingly, it's a second line mech rather than an omnimech- they needed something fast and an omni would have taken more time. A 220 XL engine powers it, providing a top speed of a mere 65 kph, very slow for a medium mech. Endo Steel provides further weight savings. With that low of a ground speed, you’d expect it to be well armored, right? Think again, as this mech has a mere eight tons of standard armor plating for protection.
How does that work out? Not great. Nowhere on the mech will withstand an AC20 shot without going internal, and only the center torso and arms can withstand a gauss slug, though the arms will be completely stripped of armor after taking one. This is not a mech that responds well to incoming fire.
All right, we’ve established that it’s got a small engine and little armor, so what did it do with all that mass? In each armor, it packs a Gauss Rifle with a two-ton ammo bin. Folks will probably find this extremely familiar, since it’s identical to the loadout of the classic Vulture C omnimech. But if you’ve been doing the math, you’ll note that it’s still got five tons left to play with. And those five tons are devoted to a Targeting Computer in its left torso.
That was apparently sufficient to tied the Wolves over until they could get other mechs, like the Tundra Wolf and Blood Reaper. But, unsurprisingly, eventually someone decided that it needed an upgrade and in 3093 the Sun Cobra 2 debuted.
What changed? Glad you asked. The immediately noticeable change is that the Gauss Rifles are gone, along with their ammo. In their place are a pair of Clan ER PPCs. Same punch, same range, but half the mass and no ammo dependency. This configuration should also seem familiar, being used on such mechs as the Puma Prime. This change in weaponry freed up a considerable amount of tonnage. First of all, the engine got boosted up to a 330 XL, increasing the mech’s speed by a full 50%. Then, the mech got some much-needed armor, ending up one point shy of the maximum for its chassis. It can now take a single shot from a Gauss Rifle in any location and still have some armor remaining (aside from the head, of course). The legs and center torso have even more protection, even a close-range Heavy Gauss Rifle shot won’t penetrate. On top of this, the mech mounts six additional double heatsinks, giving it enough dissipation to run and fire both PPCs without gaining heat. The Targeting Computer remains, but as the Sun Cobra 2 mounts no other weapons besides the PPCs it’s shrunk to three tons.
In terms of combat, this mech is extremely straightforward in both variants. It’s a sniper either way. The original, duet to being slow and having thin layers of sheet metal for armor, needs to find somewhere way in the back of the battlefield, preferably in the woods or behind partial cover, or ideally both. Then it snipes while its teammates act to prevent hostile units from getting close. The Sun Cobra 2, thanks to its increased speed and armor, can afford to take more risks and move out into the open for good shots, but it’s still pretty obvious what you’re going to do with it most of the time.
Fighting a Sun Cobra is likewise straight forward. Get in its face. As thin as the armor is, the Sun Cobra 1 can’t really afford to be hit by anything, even light mechs constitute a serious threat. The Sun Cobra 2 is more durable, but due to having the high-heat weapons you can try the reliable standby of Inferno missiles and plasma weapons to generate extra heat and try to force ii to choose between maintaining fire or staying cool. Reflective Armor or a Blue Shield can also be used to degrade its firepower, provided one has access to such technology.
While the design started out as a Wolf mech, by the Dark Age the Sun Cobra had spread to other factions, notably the Republic of the Sphere and the Federated Suns. In fact, the Master Unit list doesn’t even list the Sun Cobra 2 as a Wolf mech. Presumably it’s being produced by the Sea Foxes. In any event, both variants are fairly widespread now, so it should not be a surprise to see it appear on any front.
Thoughts?
