BattleMech of the Week: OcelotWelcome back! Been a while since I did one of these, hopefully I still remember how. Because no one stopped me, I'm fulfilling a request to cover the
Ocelot. In the history of BattleTech, the
Ocelot was one of the new BattleMechs introduced by WizKids for
MechWarrior: Dark Age, a time of plastic ClickyTech hailed as a golden age by some, an abomination by others, and "Wait, that existed?" by a lot of the rest. Several unique pilot cards existed, with miniatures for several factions, a degree of intricacy I'm not really well equipped to explain, but the MWDA models serve as a foundation for what would come later. Strap in, BattleMech fans, for now you behold the
Ocelot in all its glory!
Wait, that's an ocelot. This is the
Ocelot!
During their relocation to the Draconis Combine when their decision to follow their visions into the Second Star League was not greeted with enthusiasm by their neighbors in the Clan Homeworlds, a move that would in no way come back to bite them on their collective fuzzy butt, the Nova Cats dragged along a collection of Smoke Jaguar scientists who were taken as
isorla. (And you thought the recruiter at career day gave you the hard sell!) After another vision that these scientists would be necessary for the Cats' symbolic rebirth, Khan Santin West gave them a couple of managers and a mission to produce a new, viable BattleMech.
What resulted was
the Phoenix Hawk the next Horned Owl revival a BattleMech with a time-tested combination of armament and mobility taking a few cues from the
Pack Hunter. Named for a small, agile, spotty, adorable jungle cat in Latin America, the
Ocelot clocks in at 35 tons, and when you think about it, the name fits. Every single
Ocelot has a single heavy energy weapon, typically a large laser, in the left torso and a pair of medium lasers on the right arm, and they all go 6/9/6. The ferro-fibrous armor is solid, 6 to 6.5 tons, and it's arranged sensibly. It's a light, it's not
that tough, but all the front plates are above 10 points. The main problem I have with the 2 and 4 is someone thought it was a good idea to thin the center torso down from 16 to 14 instead of, say, thinning the legs to 15, so that they can still stop a Gauss rifle or an ER PPC without going internal, but let's be honest here, it's a 35 tonner. Your main defense is your TMM, which means you don't want to stop moving. Trading blows is for Steiner's wall of steel; you're a stalking cat, so act like one! (Chasing wiggling bits of string is optional.)
The results of this were presented to saKhan Devalis, who was initially unimpressed but after taking for a live-fire test, he found it very acceptable and ordered it into service. If you're wondering why you're not familiar with that, it's because the anecdote of him pronouncing it to merge the claws of battle with the warrior spirit is only found in
Jihad Hot Spots: 3070, a book old enough the record sheets are from HeavyMetal Pro.
Where the variants differ significantly is the details of the armament and supporting equipment. The first one to hit production carries a heavy large laser and a pair of ERMLs, marking it out as an infighter. You lack even the pretension of long-range capabilities on the modern mapsheet but the Clan HLL packs the kind of wallop
no one wants to get hit with and with 15 double heat sinks, even an alpha strike isn't crippling. It's not "tape the triggers down", either – you'll hit a +4 overheat – but a
Nova Prime this is not. A light active probe rounds out the package with a bit of short-range warning and detection capability. Considering this is a fast, aggressive 'Mech well-suited to hit and run tactics, the probe makes getting ambushed in turn less likely.
The next model up, logically named the
Ocelot 2, trades in the heavy laser along with the probe, a half-ton of armor, and a heat sink for an ER PPC. Personally, I think this is a better weapon setup, but I've never really found the HLL as appealing as the Clan ERLL, LPL, or ER PPC, so opinions can vary. What makes this one great is the ability to either snipe at range or to close and use the jump jets to deliver a barrage to the enemy's flank.
That's a capability shared by the 3, introduced in 3075. The ER large laser is one of premier sniping weapons in the game and a pair of heavy medium lasers make for a formidable array once the
Ocelot 3 closes in. Tying the lasers into a targeting computer makes things much more accurate. Then someone added an ECM, plus the light active probe from the original model is still here. It runs hotter if you alpha with only 12 freezers, but this is a solid performer. Sticking to just the ERLL and a single HML is refreshingly cool, too.
The last variant is also one of the ones featured in MWDA materials and dated to just before the Second Combine-Dominion War, opting for a single large and two medium pulse lasers. If that sounds familiar, you now know why I made a crack about them building a
Horned Owl earlier, but like the
Horned Owl, this setup just works. It works even better here with an extra couple of heat sinks and the
Ocelot's ferro-fibrous plating.
Tactically, the
Ocelot is a lot like a
Phoenix Hawk, whether you're running one or staring one down. 6/9/6 isn't as fast as it's used to be but it's still sporty enough that even something like a
Spider can't count on being able to outmaneuver one unless that
Spider is in full retreat. Most of the variants can play sniper games and all of them have good fire endurance with a modicum of planning ahead at short range, but where the
Ocelot comes up short is sheer striking power. A lot of Clan BattleMechs can overwhelm a foe with brutal, shocking rounds of fire. An
Ocelot is more suited to using its maneuverability to play the angles, create favorable odds on the targeting numbers, and control who can shoot at it in return – a straight up exchange of fire is playing a game the
Ocelot's armor won't stand up to for long. If you're using one, plan ahead and make sure you've got an escape route handy if things don't work the way you want them to. If you're opposing one, either have the capability to deal with its targeting numbers or be prepared to suck it into the phone booth, and don't ignore that speed – it only takes one bad turn for it to punch several good-sized holes in your back plates. Solid armor or not, this is still an XLFE light, and that means it's even more fragile than usual if the armor gets breached.
So that's what I think. What about the rest of you?
MUL Link:http://masterunitlist.info/Unit/Filter?Name=Ocelot
