Originally written and posted by wantec on 11/12/2009
Today's 'Mech of the Week article was requested by DragonKhan55. Reaching back into the past, it is a scary monster in the dreams of many sibko brats. Today's 'Mech of the Week is the Pulverizer.
First appearing in the BattleCorps story Betrayal of Ideal, the Pulverizer was one of the first new BattleMechs developed by the Clans and was developed by Clan Wolverine, the Not-Named Clan. For a while all we had to go on were the description of the stats given in the story, which didn't quite cover everything. We knew it had an improved ERPPC, some LRMs, and a pair of Large Lasers. At first we were told it was a match in tonnage for a Thug which lead folks to believe it was an 80 tonner. Later we learned it out massed a Bombadier by 25 tons, which clearly makes it 90 tons not 80. My best guess is that when the Pulverizer was described as a match in tonnage for the Thug, it was meant as a match in terms of weight-class and not strictly tonnage. We also had the little tid-bit from TechManual that the Pulverizer was the first 'Mech made by Clan Snow Raven, built in 2824 (the MUL says it was first produced in 2823). There was little else to work with until GenCon 2008, when we got Jihad Secrets: The Blake Documents containing all the stats, background, and a piciture, and in the GenCon CamoSpecs Diorama there was a Pulverizer mini in Word of Blake Colors.
(http://img.masterunitlist.info/BattleMechs/Pulverizer%20PUL-2V.png)
(http://camospecs.com/images/schemes/28_47SD_3.JPG)
Since the Pulverizer was designed in the early years of the Clans, it still uses an Inner Sphere tech-base, with its bulkier components and weapons. The shining piece of technology is the Enhanced ER PPC, the mid-point between the Clan-tech and Inner Sphere-tech ER PPCs. It weighs the same and takes up the same amount of crits as an Inner Sphere ER PPC, but it hits almost as hard as a Clan ER PPC, hitting for 12 points of damage. A 360 standard engine is used, even though it eats up 33 tons. Each arm carries a standard Large Laser. An LRM 10 rack with a ton of ammo sits in the left torso, protected by CASE, while the Enhanced ER PPC sits in the right torso. A Guardian ECM Suite is mounted in the center torso to provide some electronic cover.
An Endo Steel Structure, Ferro-Fibrous armor, and double heat sinks are used to save tonnage. A total of 15 double heat sinks mean you can walk and fire all but one Large Laser for +/-0 heat. Leave out the LRMs and you can fire the PPC and Lasers for only a slight overheat. With so many medium to long range weapons, having some options to swap firing patterns or go for a small overheat is a nice benefit. Now when it comes to the armor there's a slight problem, it's 1 point over what it should be. That means 1 point of armor will come off the head, CT, or CT rear, and the CT rear is the only place where it's a good choice to remove that point. As for the smart armor test, it passes almost everywhere with flying colors. The arms and side torso each have 30 points of armor, enough for 3 PPC hits or a pair of Gauss slugs. Each leg carries the max of 38 points. The rear side torsos have 8 points of armor, enough for a Large Laser, and acceptable since it's maxed out. As it stands the head has 9 points the CT has 45 and the rear CT has 12 points. One point has to come from one of those 3 locations, and the rear CT is the best choice.
Overall I think the Pulverizer is a well-designed assault 'Mech. Even if it had been built with an Inner Sphere ER PPC instead of the Enhanced ER PPC, it would still rank highly in my mind. It's obviously designed to fight at a distance and it has enough heat sinks to allow it to put out a good punch at range.
My rating: 9/10, hard to kill, with a long range head-capping ability the Pulverizer is a beast.
How I would improve it:
Really this 'Mech is limited by the tech base, but if I had to make a change, I would remove the LRMs, ammo, and CASE. Then I would us 0.5 tons to max the armor, add a double heat sink, and add a Medium Laser and two Medium Pulse Lasers for close-in damage.
How I would use it:
With the Pulverizer the idea is to stay at medium to long ranges, using your PPC and Large Lasers to open holes, while using the LRMs to try and crit-seek. You have plenty of armor, and with a 4/6 assault 'Mech it's tempting to wade into the middle of things and take on everyone, but sticking back at range, using the thick armor to let you outlast everyone else is the best plan.
Variants
No official variants to speak of, but there is the interesting speculation that the Pulverizer could have been a forerunner to the Kingfisher Omni. Both are 90 tons, moving 4/6, with an Endo Steel Structure, Ferro-Fibrous armor, and they carry almost the exact same armor placement. Most of the original Kingfisher's original variants feature large energy weapons and are designed to fight at medium to long ranges.
The MUL has it right here: http://masterunitlist.info/Unit/Details/2590/pulverizer-pul-2v
CamoSpecs, over here: http://camospecs.com/MiniList.asp?Action=Detail&ID=1626
As a bonus, the 2008 CSO Diorama pictures (including those with the Pulverizer) can be found here: http://camospecs.com/Unit.asp?ID=984