Nightsky.
Looks at a Hatchetman
Look at a Nightsky.
Flicks the Hatchetman over with a finger, proceeds to hug the Nightsky
Declares Nightsky is what the 3050 hatchetman (Guy doesn’t even get capitalized anymore) should have been.
Wonders why it isn’t more popular
Looks at Wraith from same TRO.
Oh yeah. Overshadowed.
The Nightsky is a medium melee mech from TRO:3055. It’s a Lyran (Initially FedCom) design produced on Hesperus. It’s an interesting looking design, angular, with a flat front and a toothy head projecting forward; depending on the paint job it can look lizard-like.
It is respectably fast for fifty tons, at 6/9/6. At The basic model is the
-4S, costing 1159 BV(2.) Armor isn’t maxed, but is close, with only the arms unable to pass the gauss threshold on the front. The back is notably thinner over an XL engine, which is a handicap for a close combat mech. As such it really wants to be one of the last mechs to move.
Weapons are very short ranged; the big gun is a large pulse laser, backed up by two medium pulse lasers and a small. This lets you jump and shoot with a reasonable chance of hitting. There are enough heat sinks that you only have to worry about movement heat on an alpha. Given how often I tend to jump when using one, this is on the low side of enough, although even that is out of immediate to-hit penalties.
The Hatchet on the arm? It deals ten points. That alone endears it to me over the hatchetman, as it can do internal damage and crits if it bops somebody on the cockpit.
Don’t like the large pulse laser and think it’s the most useless thing in the game? Then wait three years until 3056 and grab a
-4T. It replaces the big gun with an ER large laser, letting you reach out and touch somebody. The remaining two tons are spent... debatably. A small laser isn’t a bad thing for a berserker mech, but the anti-missile system introduces ammo vulnerabilities for minimal defensive gains. Running hotter, carrying explodium over an XL and costing roughly 115 BV more makes this a lesser option compared to the base model, IMHO. But if you gotta have a gun with range, go for it.
Remember how I said that the -4S was a bit undersinked? You can’t say that about the
-5S. It is the model you want to take if you know you’ll be fighting in a desert or against inferno missiles, and never else. Three extra heat sinks means it runs iced over, especially since it gets the weight for them from the jump jets. -5S are cheaper than base Nightsky, but the loss in mobility just isn’t worth it.
-5T, first produced in ‘57, is another LPL hate mech. It replaces it with an ER-PPC. This gives you a good, heat free and mobile long range bracket, but once you get in close you’re either painfully oversinked or undersinked depending on if you drop the big gun. At two hundred BV more expensive, I will once again take the specialist over this generalist. Even more so than with the -4T, you may chose otherwise.
The
-6S replaces the XL engine with a light, a significant improvement. Unfortunately, the armament passes impractical on the way to absurd. Seven ER-medium lasers completely overwhelm the cooling loop even before you jump. Replacing some with medium pulses or vanilla mediums is what I’d do if I got one in a campaign, but stock you better have trigger discipline until it’s time to go all-in. Given that the cost is 320 points over a ‘-4s Nightsky, I’ll pick the one with weapons I can use over the survival boost.
Last is the
-6T, which is the one I WOULD use over the base model. Why? Triple Strength Myomer. TSM. 20 point hatchet hits. It might cost only a hair less than a -6S, but now it is a true melee ‘mech. It sacrifices a MPL for an ER medium and a pair of ER small, letting you fine-tune the heat. Side-grading one of the smalls to a base model for still finer heat tuning would be useful, but that’s the only real quibble I have with it. Get close, heat up, and smash out somebody’s back.
And always remember – Insert Hatchet
A Into Head
B.
UPDATE
New Nightsky in RG27, a very good issuing for 3055 mechs. Once again it’s mixed tech... but said tech was used intelligently.
Armor tonnage was shaved but is marginally better through heavy ferro. The point the side torsos desperately needed for the dual gauss threshold was put on the legs instead. On the other hand, the XL engine became a clan XL, meaning it can survive the loss of a side torso. This will probably buy it extra turns of life, possibly even combat-effective ones.
Weaponry was revamped across the board. The small pulse laser became a small x-pulse laser, for blending infantry at standoff distances. A large x-pulse in the left arm has some actual range and a pulse bonus, yet doesn’t do horrible things to the budget. The clan medium lasers do lose the pulse bonus, but given the much improved range (equal to the big x-pulse) they usually come out ahead.
Some of the weight saved goes into more heat sinks; the three range 15 guns are heat-neutral at a run. AES is added to the hatchet, which... it’s a hatchet without TSM, more accurate or not.
Overall the
-7S Nightsky is much better. This is another one I’d seriously consider paying 320 BV for over the base model, for more options in how to fight and increased suitability.
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