Yeah, that would help ensure that mobile Clanners can’t just back up and keep your Basilisks at 4-5 hexes where they get chewed up before delivering any EDP mods.
But I also worry that because the EDP attack has to be delivered point-blank, that it’s often a death sentence that turns the Basilisk into a one-shot weapon. The nice thing about the Boggarts is that they can stand off at six or 12 hexes with their plasma cannons, maintain some movement modifiers, and hopefully make multiple attacks before they go down.
Well the idea was something like, never deploy in open terrain, and first deploy lots of saturation Arrow IV and mines scatter the enemy battle formation. Then attack a straggler with Arrow IV/LRM/SRM smoke rounds, Fluid Gun paint, ECM ghost targets, Plasma/Inferno induced heat, EMP iATMs.... and THEN close in to attack with EDP Basilisk attacks. I intend to use Boggarts more as mid-field interdictors to keep from getting flanked.
A problem I have is that there aren't many iATM units that I like. And I'm adverse to customs. I kind of wish that there was a Procyon with iATMs, that would have been nice. I've mostly gravitated around the Batu Z and Osteon prime as my iATM delivery systems of choice
Hobgoblin - too slow to get in range, not enough endurance
Sprite 3 - ditto, I'd rather take the vanilla Sprite
Mist Lynx Z - with that armor it will last maybe a turn, I'll pass
Viper Z - very mobile, but only one ton of ammo
Septicemia A - meh, it could have been way better
Stormcrow Z - quite acceptable actually
Summoner Z - blow off the left arm and the pilot is cooked
Timberwolf Z - runs too hot to get the most out of the iATMs
Osteon prime - my preferred iATM boat, yes its slow but you enemies will come to you and you have Nova CEWS
Savage Coyote Z - decent, but kind of wish it had more HAG30 ammo, probably an expensive paperweight
Turkina Z - holy death, but too many eggs in one basket perhaps
Batu Z - love this
Sabutai Z - delicious if you can pull it off, but no tail guns makes me nervous
I’d just add that their Clan-grade ER support lasers are longer-ranged than many BA weapons — out to 12 hexes (at a +4) and 8 hexes (at a +2). And they can jump 2 hexes with those lasers (3 if they dump them and rely on their Mausers), and it will take 40 points of damage to destroy the point (20 members with an armor divisor of 2). They are vulnerable to AI weapons like any unarmored infantry.
With the Society’s weirdo organization, you could probably play with “squad” and “platoon” size to enable larger numbers of more dangerous support weapons. The Clan-grade ER _heavy_ support laser shoots out to 21 hexes (+4) and 14 hexes (+2) and does about a quarter more damage the the plain version. But it requires a crew of 3 instead of 2, so to pack in the same number of support lasers, the Society “platoon” has to grow to at least 24 (I think), instead of the 20 in the Clan Assault Infantry Point/“Platoon”.
What would be really interesting is virotherapies and combat drugs that alter BT infantry stats for Society units. I’d like to think that the dermal armor virotherapy would add another armor divisor to standard Clan infantry armor, and that a combat drug could effectively add another by letting the infantry fight through pain and wounds that would sideline regular Elementals. That would be a total armor divisor of 4, requiring 96 points of damage to take out that 24-member Society “platoon”. Exactly the kind of horrifying zombie-ish capability you’d expect out of Society infantry experiments. But alas, no such rules exist in the canon.
It's hard to decide between Clan Heavy Jump Infantry, Assault Infantry and Clan Hover Infantry here. I guess it depends on the terrain
One, use the Bandit Caste to man the support vehicles you were interested in upthread. Think real-world “technicals” and modify things like the Flatbed Truck from TRO 3060 to deliver mines, remote sensors, mortar rounds, smoke, etc. that aren’t affected by the bandits’ poor skills.
Two, desperate bandits — or the brainwashed bandit subjects of Society experiments — could pilot faster support vehicles in kamikaze attacks. These could be ramming attacks at mech legs or jury-rigged with booby traps (or mix of both). Even something as simple and cheap as a J-37 can be relatively dangerous if its pilot is suicidal. Charge of 50 tons moving up to 8 hexes or an 80-rated engine if booby trapped. Neither requires gunnery skill rolls and only the former requires a piloting skill roll (I think). (The Society version would be the drones discussed upthread.)
I really like this idea :thumbsup:
