Before we begin our briefing today I will briefly discuss the Celestial Class of Omni Mechs. For the benefits of anyone who may have missed any earlier briefings, I have attached links to the information for you. Please feel free to look over them on your own time as some references are drawn off of that material.
Sarna overview of the Manei Dominihttp://www.sarna.net/wiki/Manei_DominiAdditional information about implants
http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=20507.msg1164613#msg1164613Prior briefings of other Celestial classes
Deva:
http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=21376.msg478084#msg478084Archangel:
http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=18562.0Seraph:
http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=19192.msg431950#msg431950Designed by Dr. Devon Cortland (aka Precentor Vapula), each Mech shares an aesthetic that is meant to keep their opponent unhinged and fill them with terror. The Celestial Mechs themselves are a tool for the most passionate and devoted of the Master of the Word of Blake, the Manei Domini, to carry out their missions with ruthless efficiency and in a manner designed to demoralize or outright break the morale of their opposition.
The majority of Celestials designs use a light engine to allow for a larger amount weapons when compared to a standard engine and a greater chance of survival when compared to use of an Inner Sphere produced XL engine. Each Celestial also features a small cockpit which makes piloting more difficult in comparison to a standard cockpit design. The cybernetic VDNI implants available to the Domini offset the larger difficulty that an non-augmented pilot would experience have trying to control the machine in the smaller, more cramped cockpit. C3i is also included as one might expect given it is at the core of Word of Blake tactical doctrine.
For additional information concerning Celestials feel free to look through supplemental briefing contained here:
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Celestial_seriesCelestial class Omni Mech GrigoriThe Mech is named after a class of fallen angels from Christian religion. The Grigori is one of two different heavy Celestial Mechs. It has an abundance of pod space due to the advanced components that were used to construct the design. Eschewing the use of bulkier materials such as Endo Steel, Cortland elected to use Light Ferro armor, an XL gyro, and the previously mentioned Light engine found in other Celestials. Compared to a Clan Mech of similar weight the amount of space available between it and, say, a Vulture is similar.
Having almost half your weight dedicated to weapons and ample pod space would make it a welcome addition to any force. In order to achieve all this the Mech is forced into a smaller engine than Clan designed machines. Most configurations make up for this by including Jump Jets and/or a Supercharger to improve mobility and speed in short burst. While the VDNI implants can assist in driving down the increase difficulty of having to jump around on a regular basis, there is something to be said for having the ability to sprint at an effective speed 100% of the time.
Configurations:
Invictus (Prime): The Invictus consists of a mix of several different weapon systems with different weapons ranges. At long range (18 hexes or more) it sports a Light PPC and an LRM-15 with two tons of ammunition. When closing to medium range (15 hexes of less) it sports an MRM-20. At the shortest of ranges it has a Streak SRM 4 and Retractable Blade for melee.
This configuration is designed to be a jack of all trades when a working C3i network is in place. It does nothing exceptionally well. Instead, in theory, it offers a good amount of medium range fire power to support other units. Ammo for all weapons is kept in the right torso with a layer of CASE. Unfortunately, if one of those magazines goes off then the Mech is left with only a functional LPPC and the retractable blade to provide offensive punch.
Dominus (A): The Dominus is a reliable machine. It features one main long range weapon, a Heavy PPC, backed up with ER Medium and Medium Pulse lasers, and a Streak 6 SRM. This variant also has jump jets which will allow it to hold its own over broken terrain. While all Celestials are to a degree ‘team player’ designs, this variant should effectively hold its own if the C3i link is severed by ECM.
Infernus (B): This variant includes jump jets for mobility and a weapon load that consists of a Plasma Rifle, 2 MML-7s with Artemis, a Medium Pulse Laser, and an ER Small in the rear arc. The weapons are decent, but nothing to write home about. This is another one of those designs that is either a team player or a specialist.
The Plasma Rifle is unquestionably one of the best weapons in existence for the utility it brings to the battlefield. MMLs give you a multitude of different munitions that you can launch at either long range or short range. The Medium Pulse laser gives you that extra firepower at knife fighting range. CASE is included to safe guard the ammo.
Where this configuration experiences issues is the lack of necessary ammo reserves for the MMLs to be fully utilized. What you have is a design that either you are wasting the abilities of the Artemis to use special munitions or the flexibility of the MML system outside of the ability to shoot long and short range missiles from the same launcher. Even with those limitations you can load up on inferno rounds, Tandem Charge warheads, tear gas rounds, or any other number of specialty rounds that make the Word a real pain in the ass to every non Mech unit out there and even a good amount of mechs.
Comminus (C): Jump Jets are again included on this variant. It features 3 MRM-10s and 2 Streak 6 SRMs with a couple ER medium lasers. CASE is included to protect the missile ammo. Of note this system also features a Guardian ECM suite to either reduce the effectiveness of opposing electronic enhancements or counter the opposition's ECM.
This Comminus configuration is a good candidate to be the poster child for short range combat, if it could get there fast enough. The increased difficulty of hitting with MRMs is mitigated to a degree by the VDNI implants and the C3i system as long as it has not been jammed. Overall the 2 Streak 6 launchers and Medium lasers are the most reliable firepower in the design.
Had the MRM-10s on this design, instead, been something else this could be an extremely lethal design. Light PPCs or even a pair of Large Lasers come to mind as a good substitute. Fortunately for the rest of the universe neither Cortland or anyone else in the Word of Blake came to this conclusion.
Luminos (D): The Luminos configuration features 6 improved jump jets. That on its own makes it a much more capable design as long as the weapons are there to compliment. The design doesn't disappoint there either. It features a Heavy and Light PPC that is backed up by a pair of ER Medium and ER Small Lasers. That line up of firepower is very good considering the tonnage that has to be sunk into the Jump Jets.
The design runs warm because no additional heat sinks were added. Smart pilots will simply disengage to safety before the dangers of a possible shut down become likely. The only piece that I find missing from this design is an ECM system. With 180 meters of jump you could dictate where you want to in order to get good position to nullify their ECM.
Eminus (E): This Grigori features a good mix of firepower at all ranges. At long range the design features an ER PPC and a Thunderbolt-15. For mixing it up at medium range the design carries 5 ER Medium Lasers and an ER Small Laser to fill out tonnage. CASE remains on the design to mitigate catastrophic damage. Ammo is placed in the arm along with the missile launcher. 2 additional heat sinks are installed to help deal with the heat produced by all of these weapons, but only if the pilot elects to fire their weapons at their intended ranges.
This is decent design carrying advanced technology in the form of the Thunderbolt launcher. That opinion I know won't be shared by everyone. An AMS has a modest chance of shooting it down and the ammo magazine only has 8 shots. The later issue is something that could be easily solved by sacrificing an ER Medium Laser.
Against Clan opponents there are only 25 Mech designs that feature an AMS system and 3 vehicles during the same period (which didn't hit production until the late Jihad or later). 12 of those are not likely to be encountered in any large number because they are unique, short run/or field refits, exclusively used by the home world Clans, or Late Jihad designs. The majority of the remaining designs are designs 50 tons or less. So odds are if you are shooting the Thunderbolt at a larger, less mobile, targets the AMS isn't going to be an issue that you will have to deal with.*
Against an Inner Sphere opponent, things are somewhat different. There are 80+ mechs and 20+ tanks that feature an AMS. If you adjust those numbers for unique designs, short runs or field refits, and Word of Blake/FWL exclusive Mechs then the number is still 50+.*
The conclusion here is that the Thunderbolt isn’t a bad weapon to use against the Clans. However, it was a poor choice against the Inner Sphere units it would face the majority of the time. Any number of weapons from an Ultra-10, an additional ER PPC and heat sinks, to a Gauss Rifle (by way of dropping some of those medium lasers) would be a better use of space and overall design.
Caelestis (S): This is a mixed tech design that features a Silver Bullet Gauss, Clan Streak 10 LRM, and a pair of Medium X-Pulse Lasers. It is another team player design that provides decent AAA and crit seeking via the Gauss rifle. The Streak launcher provides a decent (at least in terms of an Inner Sphere design) direct fire support weapon without waste. The pulse lasers and Streak will do an okay job of defending itself from anything that gets to close. CASE II provides superior survival in the case of an ammo explosion. I think one could design this to do the same job more efficiently with other weapons. However, by the same token, it isn’t horrible for what it is designed to do.
Exanimus (U): This is the variant designed for underwater combat and features as most U variant Omni Mechs out there UMUs. It is an all energy configuration with its punch coming from a Heavy PPC and an ER PPC. A pair of ER Mediums and ER Small Lasers round out the weapon load. An Active Probe also added for good measure. M.A.S.S is included to help a MechWarrior survive should their Mech become disabled underwater.
I love me some underwater combat. I love it because when you need mass chaos and random **** happening, very little is better for that than rolling for breaches on each and every hit. The last thing you want though is a fair fight, which in my opinion, is what the Mech gives your opponent a chance at.
While C3i generally puts range in your favor, ECM and this other thing called torpedoes exist that this design lacks. ECM is fortunately not mounted on most Mechs with UMUs. Torpedoes on the other hand are. Most underwater Mechs with UMUs have them and the majority of Clan Omni Mechs definitely have them. Thus your effective range with one weapon is in most cases worse than your opponent's in this type of niche situation.
The HPPC in this case should have been either an LRT or a few smaller LRT launchers. That would have made the design quite a bit better. As is I'd never want to take this thing into the water unless I know my opponent doesn't have torpedoes.
Rufus: Listen to this dude Rufus. He knows what he's talking about. The Rufus is the personal ride of Opacus Venatori member Rufus Black Bear. Rufus, like me, was of the opinion that the Infernus configuration could use more ammo. Unlike me, he decided to overhaul the rest of the design and keep the Artemis IV system hooked up to the launchers. Rufus also stuck a Supercharger on his Mech for additional speed. Rufus, please give my love to the princesses when you see them.
The Plasma Rifle is replaced by a Light PPC with a Capacitor to give it a comparable damage curve and better range, on a delayed firing cycle. A Medium Variable Speed Pulse Laser is also included to add some punch at shorter range. It also jumps just like the original.
I am torn about either the inclusion of the VSP instead of second Light PPC with Capacitor or maybe it is the other way around and it should have a second VSP. Either way it is a capable design, but a support unit/team player like its inspiration.
Tamiel: Personal ride of Poltergeist Sigma (Precentor) Tamiel of the 47th Shadow Division. The design has Jump Jets, ECM, 2 Thunderbolt 10s, and a Snub Nose PPC. Like the Eminus, it lacks deep magazines so it doesn't have the ability to engage in a prolonged fire fight. However, for the 60 seconds that it has to be engaged in combat with all weapons on deck, it has the firepower of an Awesome. I suppose that has to count for something. Things probably were going poorly if Tamiel is engaged in combat. In the end, they did. The 47th was destroyed at New Home by orbital bombardment.
Final observations- The Grigori manages to traverse the full scale of good and bad design through its configurations. The use of the Light engine is obviously a choice based on survival over other considerations, such as speed. If I was to make any structural changes and break with the other designs in the Celestial series it would be with the Grigori.
Lacking a heavy cavalry Omni Mech the Word of Blake's Grigori stands to gain more out of the use of a higher rated XL engine than the Deva. A XL engine and Endo Steel swap ends up at a cost of only 2 additional critical spaces. The net benefit is the Mech generating enough speed to hit a +3 to hit modifier and none of the existing designs are compromised.
When I started this article, I was expecting that my perception of the Grigori’s value to be lower than that of the Deva. Instead I find it the other way around. Between the two, the Deva might be the less useful of the two heavy Celestial chassis. With only minute differences to the design as is, you could port any configuration on the Deva over to the Grigori at the cost of a more sensitive gyro. On the average that results in a BV reduction of 200 points per configuration.
So team, what are your thoughts on the Grigori?
*researched through the MUL
