TR-7 Thrush - 25t, TRO3025
Originally posted 25 May 2005. All proposed fan-variants should be posted in the corresponding "FotW Workshop" thread. House Liao’s primary light fighter in the Succession Wars, the TR-7
Thrush was apparently quite popular as an introductory type as well, as many
ab initio pilots found its responsiveness a joy. These pilots seem quite prepared to overlook the TR-7’s penchant for departing controlled flight within atmosphere (thought to be a product of its circular wing-form) and its near-non-existent armour, both of which should have given the craft a reputation as a widowmaker. Personally, the thing is too much of an over-engined deathtrap for me to go near. ::)
Another 12/18 twenty-five-tonner, the
Thrush can match the performance of the FWL
Cheetah and fly rings around the heavier, slower FedSuns
Sparrowhawks. Five tons of fuel gives it better endurance than the F-10, meaning that it can use fuel-conservation tactics on the only fighter that can match its agility, though the SPR-H5’s lower thrust means it might actually fare a little better on those terms. Armed with three Kajuka "Bright Blossom" medium lasers, one in the nose and one in each wing, the
Thrush outguns the Leaguer machine and arguably the Davion one as well; note that despite the fluff, the
Thrush’s weaponry causes no heat-problems in its own right, an alpha-strike generating only nine points, which the type’s free ten SHS laugh at. But all of this comes at a price; carrying only one and a half tons of armour in a 7/6/5 pattern, the
Thrush is effectively a layer of tinfoil wrapped around an engine, meaning that a single hit from any angle from any weapon as potent as a large laser (or a pair of mediums) will blow it into very, very tiny pieces. As almost every fighter in the inventory of its two main competitors mounts such firepower (or more), this makes combat a brief yet highly eventful experience for any
Thrush unit that tries stand-and-deliver tactics.
On the other hand, the
Thrush is also a fair light attack spaceframe. Five tons of external ordnance arriving at 11/17 is certainly respectable; a strafe or strike from three medium lasers isn’t the Finger of God you find in heavier types, it ain’t exactly a laughing matter either, especially to lighter ground-units or as a crit-seeking measure; and while massively fragile in the face of return fire, a
Thrush squadron can hand DropShips three three-point Capital whacks per turn, which can be a true brick-passer if six or seven squadrons are at work on said Dropper (as they should be, if the player is doing it right). All this being true, if the SYD-Z1
Seydlitz is the MiG-21 "Fishbed" of the CBT universe (cheap, cheerful, and hard-hitting), and the F-10
Cheetah is the A-4 "Skyhawk" (cheap, tough bomb-truck), then the TR-7
Thrush is a good candidate for the F-5E "Tiger" (a cheap, fast bomb-truck with some limited use in aerial combat).
TR-7s are explicitly designed for boom-and-zoom swarm tactics. Anyone not throwing at least a full squadron at a single target fighter (or whole wings at a DropShip, if you lack any other anti-ship platforms) has completely missed the point of the exercise: individually, they cannot kill bigger fish, but a pirahna-pack of the things can nibble the other guy to death but
quick. As always, the
mantras must be observed:
Thrush pairs should come screaming in and make slashing attacks on individual targets, then beat feet to extend and troll for another customer. Stand-up fights and turning engagements are suicidal for something this brittle.
As I mentioned in the
Transgressor article, there’s an alternative tactic some might want to try: the skeet-shoot. Working in cooperation with a unit of
Trangressors or
Thunderbirds, a wing-pair of
Thrushes plays judas-goat, forcing or luring enemy units into the heavier birds’ line of fire, then breaking clear of the danger area to watch as their companions crank the volume on the good news up to 11. ;D Yes, folks, the "Thach Weave" lives on!
Of the Free Worlds and FedSuns types, only the
Cheetah is capable of keeping up with the
Thrush, and that only as long as its smaller fuel-fraction lasts, which means that turning fights with
Thrushes are not an option - leaving you with the other stand-by: firepower. The TR-7 tries to draw/force enemy aircraft into kill-zones, and so it should be done to them: screen a lance or two of LRM-birds with some dogfighters (or even a couple of well-armed dogfighters with a few lights) to deny space to the TR-7s. The Cappies’ lights will either have to avoid the heavy fire-zones (which gives you the tactical advantage of denying them freedom of manoeuvre) or watch their
Thrushes get decimated from outside their own range. If you can arrange for some friendly light-fighters to crowd the TR-7s into those pre-set KZs, the results will not be unlike watching a flying sausage-grinder in action. ;)
[VARIANT PROPOSAL(S) REDACTED] All proposed fan-variants - including my own - belong in the corresponding "FotW Workshop" thread: http://www.classicbattletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,2299.0.html Be advised: the attached .txt transcripts of previous runs of this thread contain numerous reader-proposals for variants. I’ll try to change those out for ‘sanitised’ versions of those threads when I can, but I can’t promise it’ll be soon - that’s a lot of ground to cover. ;)
