Definitely not the most attractive kid on the block...
From TRO:3060
If you’ve been following this ProtoMech of the Week series so far, you’ll have noticed how each and every ProtoMech we’ve looked at should be used in completely different ways. The Harpy/Erinyes are your space-Russian cannon fodder, the Siren/Cecerops are your quick strategic strike encirclers, and the Hydra is a wicked close-assault beast. To use the Gorgon is to use ProtoMechs in yet another way. Star Adder fans, play close attention. Even if the Gorgon was originally introduced in 3060 with most of those other miniaturized Jaguar toys, the Star Adders have firmly adopted it and all of its spawn.
The Jaguars certainly went straight to the point with this Proto. A massive LRM-10, mounted in the Main Gun, is fed by an extremely generous (for ProtoMechs) 12 rounds of ammunition. This is “backed up” by a single ER Micro Laser. The lot moves at a straightforward 4/6 speed, fully in line with most other support platforms. It's protected by a sturdy 34 points of armor, arranged 4(head), 12(torso), 4(arms), 7(legs), 3(MG). The only real downside here is how two 10-point hits core out the torso, but there’s no real way to rearrange the armor without losing too much elsewhere. Ignoring that, it's well armored and a tough nut to crack.
Obviously, the Gorgon is made for fire support. Why take it over other options? For starters, take a look at this thread made by Weirdo:
http://bg.battletech.com/forums/ground-combat/clanners-with-missiles/ There’s a grand-spanking total of five Clan ‘Mechs or vehicles with a BV/LRM ratio of 0.03 or higher. The Gorgon comes in at 0.0339, placing it firmly in the top three BV-efficient Clan LRM designs. What this doesn’t tell you is how how each individual Gorgon is much, much easier to field than the 2492 BV Nova Cat B or the 2941 BV Bane 3. This lets you tailor your force to a much greater degree and add the exact number of LRMs you need for the price you can afford to pay.
This advantage comes with the standard traits inherent to ProtoMechs. Remember that the Gorgon only stands one level above any underlying terrain, making direct LRM support ever so slightly more complicated than with ‘Mechs. Unlike vehicles, though, the Gorgon can still make use of nearly any sort of cover. This makes them pretty darn interesting platforms to use for indirect fire. This is compounded by the lack of a piloting skill to worry about; overall experience improvements will come in cheaper than they would for your standard 3/4 clanner. And you've got twelve shots for those LRM tubes, might as well use cover and distance to get the most out of them.
Even so, don’t be afraid of leaving them in harms way in order to take advantage of their attractive brackets. The Gorgon is a solid design, it can take some abuse. On top of that, by choosing to field Gorgons your eggs will no longer be placed in a single, backstabbable (and explosive) basket. Hell, the basket won’t even be in sight - your standard suicidal backstabbers like the Dasher H will become all but useless at shutting down the black rain of LRMs. Just make sure those Gorgons are where you want them to be once they start getting attacked; unlike most other fire-support ProtoMechs, the Gorgon has no jump jets to reposition itself if its legs give way. The proliferation of the design is the icing on the cake: the Star Adders, Snow Ravens, Nova Cats and Fire Mandrills all use it, with even the Society grabbing a few during their abortive revolt. And if you’re one of those bizarre Falcons who actually gave ProtoMechs more than a rude gesture, welp, you’re in luck! You can use them for about three in-universe years.
The Gorgon 2, popping up in 3062, would be the first variant to follow a trend of increasing armor. In its case, a single point of armor would bring the torso up to 13 and the legs to 8. The increase in leg armor is questionable. I can’t help but feel that bringing the torso up to 14 points instead would have been a much better move. The Gorgon 2 carrying a single Medium Pulse Laser, so this armor will face a lot of wear and tear. Expect to get the most out of it. Four jump jets were added as well, turning the Gorgon 2 into a sort of line heavy brawling ProtoMech. The range of the MPL gives it a large bubble of 8 hexes where it stands a high chance of landing hits. That boosted accuracy combined with a seven-point whallop make it a definite threat that should be taken seriously.
At the same time, the Gorgon 2 comes out as one of the cheapest ways to bring a (non-BA) MPL to the table. If you’re a fan of the Roc, I would suggest trying out the Gorgon 2 at least once. Although the Gorgon 2 is unable to hit that attractive, neutral +3 movement modifier, it’s slightly tougher than the Roc, has a slightly easier time of connecting with the enemy, and most importantly: comes in 28 BV cheaper. If your opponent enjoys bringing light skirmishers to the table, a few Gorgon 2’s can seriously threaten them (and much more reliably than the non-jumping, more lightly-armored Roc 3). I'm gonna say something blasphemous here: I actually prefer the Gorgon 2 over the vanilla Roc. Its deployment is a bit erratic; the Steel Vipers, Star Adders, Fire Mandrills and the Coyotes all make use of it. Even the Ice Hellions, strangely enough, have found a place for it in their hyperactive little hearts.
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I’m quite a fan of the Gorgon 3, but that mostly comes down to my love of SRM-spam via Proto-spam. And boy, does the Gorgon 3 ever not disappoint. Hitting the field in ’66, the Gorgon 3 returned to a missile-heavy payload: dual SRM-4s mounted in the torso. Both of those beautiful racks are fed by a plentiful 10 shots. Armor is increased still: the main gun is ditched, leaving 38 points to seriously reinforce the torso (16 pts) and the legs (10 pts). This is great - the torso can now take a Gauss or two 7-point hits without going internal, and can even take one followed by the other without dying. The legs still crack under the pressure of a 15-point hit, but can now last through the equally important threshold of two 7-pointers. The icing on the cake is how the Gorgon 3 moves 5/8, allowing it to keep up with the plentiful Clan heavy cavalry units.
Its use against vehicles and as a critseeking machine should be obvious. Don’t forget that - unlike the Hydra we took a look at last week - the Gorgon 3 can load up on as many infernos as it wants. Landing up to 8 infernos per Proto is a very noticeable threat to absolutely everything conventional; if two or three Gorgon 3s work together, they can cut through Assault Protos and Battle Armor like butter. BV is cheaper, now at 302 BV, and it works well with designs available to the Blood Spirits, Snow Ravens and Star Adders that use them. Invest in some serious sluggers, then bring along the Gorgon 3s to mess up anything shorter than a 'Mech.
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A true Wars of Reaving design, 3071’s Gorgon 4 finished off the lot. It started by dropping speed back down to 4/6, but mixes things up by adding three jump jets to the equation. It remains nearly as SRM-heavy as the Gorgon 3, carrying a single SRM-6 in its main gun (with 10 shots of ammo) with an AP Gauss Rifle backing it up in the torso. Armor is boosted once again, but this time only to fully protect the main gun with 3 points of armor.
This one is interesting. The number of possible hits it can land is nearly the same as the Gorgon 3 (drops down from 8 to 7), with almost the same peak damage potential (falling from 16 to 15). Overall battlefield endurance is unchanged. Even its effectiveness against infantry units remains pretty stable; the AP Gauss Rifle deals 2d6 damage against infantry formations, while inferno SRMs kill 3 PBIs with each missile strike. One of the Gorgon 3’s SRM-4s, loaded with 10 rounds of inferno ammo, would give it nearly the same AI effectiveness. BV is ever so slightly increased to 317 points, so the real decision to make is whether or not you want a 5/8 movement profile or a 4/6/3 one (and whether you want a main gun or not). It’ll come down to each individual Star Adder player - they’re the ones that designed, and field, the Gorgon 4.
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So hey, why not take the Gorgon out for a spin this holiday season. Bring the cheer to your opponents by shooting them full of holes and mess up their game plan by fielding unusual units in a less-than-typical way. Sure, they might not be the cutest thing around (I mean, look at that neckbeard...yikes), but they've got a pretty good "personality". Worst comes to worst, you can take a few of the jump jet-equipped ones, lash them to a sleigh and have them haul around a chubby lil' UrbanMech IIC to forcibly show the naughty their ways.
CAMOSPECS:
http://camospecs.com/Miniature.asp?ID=4506MASTER UNIT LIST:
http://masterunitlist.info/Unit/Details/1239/gorgon-standardIRON WIND METALS:
http://ironwindmetals.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4806"But wait! Greek Fire!", you might cry,
"What does the Gorgon have to do with holiday spirit?"
Absolutely nothing. Deal with it.