BattleTech Player Boards > Fan Articles
Mech of the Week: Deimos
MoneyLovinOgre4Hire:
Deimos was the Greek god of fear who accompanied his father Ares into battle and created disorder among armies. In 1877, when astronamers discovered the two moons of Mars, it was the name used for the smaller one. And in the 3060s when Clan Snow Raven decided to build themselves an assault omnimech for their ground forces, it was the name chosen. The Inner Sphere stopped hearing about this mech during the chaos of the Jihad (and Wars of Reaving), but in the 3080s it was once again revealed as the Ravens settled into the Outworlds Alliance.
Weighing in at 85 tons, the Deimos omnimech uses a 255XL engine to give itself a 3/5 movement, with occasional bursts of speed up to 64 kph thanks to the use of MASC. An endo-steel chassis saves weight while 14.5 tons of standard armor plating give it about 88% of its maximum protection, arranged fairly sensibly across the mech without leaving any locations excessively thin. The mech made its official Battletech debut (see below) in the PDF exclusive TRO: 3085 Supplemental before being reprinted in TRO: Jihad.
This left the mech with a considerable amount of tonnage to devote to its offensive capability. On top of its 43 tons of pod space, it carries four external double heatsinks: two in the Left Torso and one in each leg. It also makes the unusual decision to hard-mount several weapons, specifically an ER Medium Laser in each side torso and an anti-missile system in the head with one ton of ammo stored stupidly in the center torso. Seriously, I do not understand the obsession of CT ammo bins in TRO 3085.
Showing the Snow Raven bias for air combat, the Deimos possesses the Anti-Aircraft Targeting quirk if quirks are in play, and the Prime features a weapon load that plays to that. Six Ultra 2 ACs are equipped, three per arm, while a pair of LRM 15s are nestled in the side torsos. Three tons of ammo are devoted to the autocannons (one in each arm and one in the right torso) and another three tons are split between the missile pods (two in the left torso and one in the right). The heat sinks aren't quite enough to handle a full alpha strike, leaving you at a net 4+movement+plus possibly the AMS, but that can easily be managed by deciding whether or not to double tap with the autocannons in the same turn you use the lasers.
The A is built for closer-range engagements with better anti-mech capabilities, now possessing paired ER PPCs and Medium Pulse Lasers mounted one in each torso as well as a pair of LB 10-X autocannons located in the arms. An ECM sits in the center torso, good for jamming enemy missiles or C3 networks. Each autocannon carries the standard two tons for an LB 10-X, allowing the use of both solid and cluster munitions, but the addition of only two extra heatsinks leaves the mech barely able to handled the heat from the ER PPCs while running, to say nothing for the rest of the weapons. Alpha striking in this machine is dangerous, it shoots you straight to 20 heat just from weapon fire alone, 23 if you ran and the AMS activated. That's shutdown and ammo explosion roll territory.
The B is built to fight at closer range than the Prime but longer range than the A. It keeps the ECM from the A in the center torso, while mounting a pair of ER PPC and Large Pulse Lasers, one in each arm, along side four LRM 10 pods, two per side torso. Six tons of ammo for the missile pods are split between each arm, which gives plenty of flexibility for using any alternate munitions that might be available to you. But like the A, it only has 32 heat dissipation but the heat is even worse! A running alpha strike with the AMS active will shoot you straight to 47 on the heat scale! That's literally off the chart (and an automatic shutdown) unless you're using the optional expanded heat scale rules from TacOps. Very few mechs can overheat themselves that badly in one round of fire. Bracket fire or die in this mech.
The C variant returns to more close-range focus and also grants an impressive mobility boost. The ECM suite is still parked in the center torso, while the arms are each equipped with one ER large laser, one Ultra 10 AC (fed by a total of four tons of ammo, one in each arm and one in each side torso), and one Small Pulse Laser. The heat sinks are back down to the 14 hard-mounted ones, and the remaining tonnage is devoted to 4 Improved Jump Jets. Was it really worth paying five tons for that extra one jump movement over using standard jump jets? I'll let you decide. Again, this mech runs hot but at least this time it's got easy bracket firing: you use the ER larges or you use everything else. If you do feel the urge to alpha strike, you're looking at 22 plus movement and AMS. So try not to do that unless you really need to.
The S variant this time designates a mech designed for space rather than for city combat, as the only difference between it and the C is that it drops the ECM for one ton of liquid storage to provide reaction mass for the IJJs in a vacuum. Definitely a specialist machine, there's no point in using it if you're not fighting in space. Not really surprising to see, given who builds the mech.
Two more configurations for the omnimech showed up in TRO 3145. The D is a variation on the Prime, swapping out the six Ultra 2s for a pair of Clan RAC 2s. The tonnage this saved allowed the torso LRM pods to be upgraded to a pair of Streak LRM 20s. Three tons of ammo still support the ACs, with one in each arm and the third joining the AMS ammo in the Center Torso because the Deimos wasn't apparently explody enough already. Four tons of ammo feed the Steak pods, two in each arm. This mech is relatively mild as far as heat goes, only going up to 6 plus movement and AMS on an alpha strike, and its heat can easily be controlled via being selective with the firing rate on the RACs.
The final omni configuration is the E, this time built for heavy close-range engagement. An ER PPC sits in the Right Arm, while an ER Large Laser and two Large Pulse Lasers sit in the left. These, along with the hard-mounted ER Medium Lasers, all tie into a targeting computer in the right arm for additional accuracy, while four Streak SRM 4 pods allow for serious crit-seeking. A single ton of ammo in the left torso feeds the Streak launchers. Ground mobility is boosted in the form of a Supercharger in the Center Torso, and the mech's 32 heat dissipation is boosted by the addition of a Radical Heat Sink System in the Right Torso. Probably taken as salvage from fighting the Davions. Even with the extra heat dissipation from the RHSS, the mech can't handle the heat from its weapon fire- a running alpha strike will see you at 23 or 24 depending on the AMS. Once more, bracket firing is the order of the day.
Now, we've covered all the omnimech's configurations, but there's still one last variant to deal with because the Ravens built a second-line version of this mech, apparently as a test-bed for some advanced tech.
The Deimos 2 differs from the omni by using Ferro-Fibrous armor and only mounting the stock 10 double heatsinks. These changes improved its armor protection to near maximum, with most non-head locations now only two points below max. The weapon loadout is based on the prime, with six Ultra 2 ACs, two LRM 15s, and two ER Medium lasers the same. However, it mounts a then-experimental laser AMS in the head instead of the standard AMS, which means that this is the only Deimos to not have ammo in the center torso. One ton of ammo for the LRMs and one ton for the autocannons sits in each side torso. This mech doesn't have the endurance of the original. It still has MASC in the right torso, but the engine has been buffed to a 340 XL, giving it a movement of 4/6(8) now. Heat's still there, but if you can control it with the Prime you can control it here.
Out of universe, the Deimos is a mech with a complicated history. It first showed up as a fan design in Mektek before making its way to the Sim Pods, then eventually was canonized in TRO: 3085 Supplemental as I mentioned earlier.
Fighting with a Deimos is typically best done at a distance. You're not very mobile and while you can take some hits you're not that well protected for a mech your size. Plus, the heat issues I've been banging on throughout this article are worse up close. Fighting against a Deimos? Well, screw with its heat. Cherry tap it with small missile clusters just to annoy it by forcing the AMS to kick in for a single LRM 5 or SRM 2, and give it a nice warm plasma bath to make the mech's overheating tendency even worse. And since everything but the 2 has an ammo bomb in the Center Torso, try to exploit that as much as possible- any crit there has a 1 in 12 (or 1 in 11 on the prime or 1 in 6 on the D!) of an ammo explosion that will almost certainly remove the mech from the map.
BATTLEMASTER:
I'd like to know the story about how this 'mech got canonized. I don't believe any other unit from a third party source has ever been canonized.
MoneyLovinOgre4Hire:
The Iron Cheetah is the closest thing to that that I'm aware of. I'm pretty sure it had to do with this mech's getting included in Mechwarrior 4/the Sim Pods.
BATTLEMASTER:
--- Quote from: MoneyLovinOgre4Hire on 04 May 2024, 15:37:50 ---The Iron Cheetah is the closest thing to that that I'm aware of. I'm pretty sure it had to do with this mech's getting included in Mechwarrior 4/the Sim Pods.
--- End quote ---
I didn't think the Iron Cheetah counted because it originated in Mechforce, which was actually canon official. Mektek's work was never canon at any time, nor was it an official expansion. I don't know what their involvement was with the sim pods, however.
Edited for Canon vs official.
MoneyLovinOgre4Hire:
Beats me.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version