A somewhat under-the-radar fast heavy/medium from the old days of the game. Must be another Hellbie article. I feel I might be a little typecast here at this point, didn't I just do this with the Champion, the Clint, the Vulcan, etc.? And here we are again with this thing? Don't I get my way? Can't I talk about a Fire Moth, a Banshee, even a Panther or something fun like th-
THE MASKIROVKA THANKS YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE AS WE GET THE AUTHOR BACK ON TRACK...well, ah, anyway, while I look up what lotion to put on cattle prod scars, let's talk about Kong Interstellar. Our friends at Kong made some interesting Mechs over the years, always starting with 'Ost'- while I never have found an exact reason for this, it's reminiscient of Douglas Aviation starting all of their aircraft designs with 'Sky' (such as the venerable A-4 Skyhawk), and that warms this old aviation buff's heart. Kong, based on two different systems in Loxely and Connaught, had a tough time with the Succession Wars, with the former facility totally wiped out and the latter reduced to a shell of its former self, sputtering out a few spare parts to keep Mechs running but not really able to produce entire machines anymore. While the post-Clan Invasion era helped with that a little, as we'll see later, it meant that during the dark days, their machines became rarer and rarer, and those that survived were almost always composed of cannibalized parts from less-fortunate Osts along the way. The future for Kong and their machines looked grim- but the Mechs themselves? Well, we had a look at the Ostscout a while back, a top-tier scout unit so long as you weren't looking to get in a fight- their heavy designs though... let's look at the Ostsol and see what we have here.
For starters, there's no way around it, the two heavies produced by Kong leading to the fall of the Star League (the Ostwar aside) are stepping on each other's feet here. Both the Ostsol and Ostroc are the same size, same speed, same basic layout, and it's honestly unclear from both in-universe and out-of-universe why they weren't just folded into being two variants of the same chassis. In-universe, it's like watching Toyota put out a four-door sedan to compete with their already-existing Camry- great, but you already make this, why are you cutting into your own sales? I've always believed one should have been a bit smaller or larger than the other, and never will understand why Kong deci-
...-cattle prod, yeah, I get it.
Anyway, we'll have an article sometime about the Ostroc, but for now let's stay focused on the Ostsol. Specifically, we'll start with the standard Succession Wars stalwart model, the
OTL-4D. Behind that oddly-curvaceous armor, we see a 60-ton frame with a big 300-class engine stuffed in it, giving it a 5/8 speed that would make Dragon drivers feel right at home. Using that big engine, as Dragon drivers will attest, means you need to be a little iffy on what kind of weapons you use- big ballistics aren't going to be a good fit here, even if you get creative like we saw with the Champion. Sixteen heat sinks give it a pretty reasonable ability to deal with waste heat if you're careful, with all of the ones not fitting in the engine down in the legs, so find some water! Jump jets aren't installed- you already got a big engine, stop being greedy.
We find that curved armor plating is actually not a bad shell, all things considered- since the arms haven't got any weapons or equipment in them, they're left somewhat under-armored, able to only stop a large laser before going internal, but sinc enothing is there, who cares? That let us focus the armor more in other areas like the side torsos, making what would otherwise be a worrying protection situation pretty reasonable- those side torsos will hold out an AC/20 shot, if only once, ditto for the legs and center! The rear is back to 'oh god, that's bad' levels of protection though, with four points on the sides and six on the center, so a fast unit that can sneak behind one of these has a great turn or two to look forward to (Spiders, for example, are a great way to deal with an Ostsol, so long as you're patient about it). It's an all-or-nothing armor system we don't see often in Battletech, at least not to this extent, and it works pretty well here- the arms are essentially more armor for the side torsos, and you're being strongly encouraged to never, ever let someone see your derriere. Ever. Do not.
So we crammed in a big engine, our armor is surprisingly good despite the weight... we must have had to skimp on guns, right? The Ostsol surprises us here by going with lightweight energy weapons, unlike the Dragon or Champion, and in doing so it's got a reasonable amount of firepower. Know the old rule we have here, 'speed, armor, firepower, pick two'? The Ostsol got creative and managed to pull off all three, really- particularly in the 60-ton dead zone, in which a design becomes much better if it bumps up or down by five tons, that's no small feat. In this case, we start with twin large lasers, in each side torso. This gives you a reasonable punch at useful ranges- I can't call it a 'long range' battery, but it's pretty handy at least. The heat can get a bit rough, since your heat sinks exactly match the lasers' output together without factoring in movement, external factors, other weapons, etc., so this thing does run hot if you aren't careful- but hey, twin eight point hits at handy ranges is a great main battery! To help keep things under control, two medium lasers are mounted as well, each large laser having a co-axial medium with it in the side torsos. In close combat, firing a large and both mediums while at a run keeps you- wait for it- heat neutral, which is pretty handy indeed, and gives you the second large if you really want to live dangerously for a bit. Two more medium lasers are turned backwards in the center torso, and as we already discussed the armor back there is so bad that you shouldn't ever be using these lasers as anything other than a 'from hell's heart...' attempt to kill whomever just got back there to end you.
So. Good Mech, despite expectations. Variants? You betcha. It's a 3025-era design, so get comfy, there's plenty to talk about.
We start with the
OTL-4F, an attempt to take a handy mid-close fighter and make it an energy sniper. The weapons all get stripped out for twin PPCs. That's it. No armor or heat sink changes, just lasers out and PPCs in. We're done here- though not as well-done as your pilot will be after a few turns of firing. Sixteen heat sinks don't really do the job here- you need to essentially fire a 2-1-2-1 pattern, and even then you'll need to keep an eye on things. This was just not a good idea, and I can't suggest it as a PPC-sniper option if you have other options out there like the Catapult-K or just a regular old Warhammer.
"JAZZERCISE!!!"Whether due to the 4D being as good as it was, or just the scarcity of the design as time went on, we don't really have a lot of other variants until the Clan invasion era, when Star League lostech started to improve designs across the Inner Sphere... to some extent or other, at least. The Ostsol being no exception, we get the
OTL-5M as our debut model in the era. And immediately there's a big change in that we have an XL engine. I'm on record as being good with an XL, if it allows the Mech to do things it otherwise wouldn't be capable of. Here, we... ah, didn't REALLLY do that though, if we're being honest. The lighter engine freed up an enormous amount of weight, which went into making all six lasers pulse models. That's a hefty loss of range capability in favor of accuracy bonuses, but the Mech is far more reliant now on closing into knife-fighting ranges, where that armor is going to get worked over a lot more than before- and it didn't get any changes at all. It DID get an anti-missile system installed in the right torso, with the ammo on the other side for some reason, so that's a help against SRMs and the like, but the machine now has an XL engine and a small bomb mounted with it (no CASE!), so... crud. Our heat sinks got upgraded, though, so we now sink enough heat to fire all four forward guns without any heat issues. It's a sidways upgrade at best, and I've never been able to warm up to it- personally, I'd rather keep the old lasers and engine, and just upgrade the heat sinks, maybe switch to ferro, just... not this.
OTL-6D comes next, but we wait until the FedCom Civil War is under way for it to debut. Reeking of FedSun design philosophy of that era, we find that the Mech keeps the XL engine of the 5M, but took my earlier advice and went with ferro-fibrous plating, increasing the armor in places like the legs and... arms... which still don't have anything in them, but I guess the 'ablative armor' arm concept is just tougher now. The heat sinks are still doubles, but have dropped to only 14 of them. The twin ER large lasers, then are a great sniper weapon that uses those heat sinks' capability up nicely, and allows the speedy heavy to rapidly move to good long-distance firing positions. But wait- that's not all, because the handy little sniper has a targeting computer to make those guns more accurate! NOW we're talking! But in case you like to get up close, the 6D has another trick up its sleeve- a close-range battery consisting of two ER medium, two medium pulse, and two small pulse lasers, all also using that computer (and all flipped forward, no more rear guns!). That would be muscle enough to worry an opponent, but the Triple-Strength Myomer means that the heat from all that makes the Ostsol into an angry lunatic, throwing massive punches and kicks to boot- and remember, nothing in the arms... This is a great dual-role Mech, equally at home as a sniper or brawler, and should be a staple of any Davion player's bag of tricks. Genuinely impressive.
Interestingly, the 6D was one of TWO Davion models to come out around the same time during the Civil War. The other, the
OTL-5D, is intended to be an upgrade of the original-flavor 4D, refitting those old stalwarts. We again see ferro-fibrous replace the original armor, though not to the extent on its cousin. The forward lasers remain the same as ever, as do the heat sinks. The weight savings of pulling the rear lasers goes into a quintet of RL-10 systems to give the machine a massive gut-punch of a salvo... once. This is a very odd weapon to see installed on a Great House machine, particularlyl since I'm not aware of other Davion Mechs bothering with rockets at all. Controversially, the Taurians noted a similarity to one of their similar-era Ostroc variants, which I'm sure kept Victor awake at night. All in all, I'm not a rocket fan, so I'm not a big fan of this in this era- it's not terrible, it just also isn't going to be a game-changer in a world of mid3060s tech. If you have them in your FedSun forces, they're in for a tough day- though they work fine against the kind of things you'd see on pirate patrols on the edge of the Periphery. Handy too for lower-class merc units.
"Oh boy, here I go Ost-ing again!"Marik, meanwhile, built their own version in the mid-'60s, and it's exactly what you expect out of Marik at this point- cram on LGRs whether it makes sense or not. Enter the
OTL-7M, and immediately we can say this- if you don't like the light Gauss rifle, you're in for a bad day. Standard armor is beefed up a little by using endo-steel plating, an XL engine is a no-brainer, we're down to ten double heat sinks... as noted, each side torso packs an LGR, with a single ton of ammo each being plenty enough for both. Four ER medium lasers tax the heat sinks a tad, but not unmanageably so, and giving the Mech a nasty mid-range sting as the enemy advances past optimal rifle range. It's... if you like LGRs you're in luck, and if not you'll hate it. As with most Marik designs, it works best as part of a team, with one of these providing good support to LRM-heavy designs, covering for TAG-carrying smaller units, etc... one can't help but wonder, in the IlClan era, if anyone took an old 7M and popped in Clan Gauss guns...
Like Davion, Marik decided to double up in the Civil War era though, with one wondering how much of that was prodded by the Blakist cancer growing within the League at the time. The result was their second version, the
OTL-8M. This time they went in a very interesting direction, bumping the Mech's speed to 6/9. A PPC provides long-range power, a battery of pulse lasers like the old 5M gives close-range muscle with an ER medium and ER small to boot, and the TSM from the 6D making a surprise appearance. It feels like a return to form, using speed to dash in under cofer of a modest-ranged energy assault, then using close-range laser barrages to shred the target. As such, this works well- the new speed, particularly augmented by the TSM, allows for lightning-fast attacks, though the eleven double heat sinks are a little tricky to manage well. But, like the 6D, the arms are free for punching, so... go nuts!
As the Civil War died down, the nations of the Inner Sphere took a deep breath, collected themselves, and prepared for what was certain to be an era of peace, prosperity, and- nah, the Jihad gave everyone the punch in the gut they probably deserved, and as before the Ostsol was thrust into the fire. The
OTL-8D again carries a hefty Davion musk to it, this time the result of their beloved light autocannon/targeting computer combo. I've never liked LACs, so we're off to a rough start here, but I'll acknowledge the utility of being able to play with all kinds of neat toys in the ammo bins. Two LAC-5s are fed by four tons of ammo, so go nuts with those toys, while the computer makes them more accurate. A single light PPC and two ER medium lasers form the backup weapons. The machine is made more survivable by a combination of a light engine, CASE for the ammo bins kept next door, and heavy ferro armor giving it a surprisingly tough shell to break through to begin with. The pilot would probably throw his hands up in celebration if not for being stuffed in a small cockpit. Ten DHS keep it running cool for the most part. It's not a bad Mech, I suppose, if you like LACs, but much like the LGRs on the 7M, you'll find it lacking if you're not a fan.
It appears Davion planned again to debut two variants at roughly the same time, and we find a new manufacturer in the Draconis March... just in time for it to get conquered by Kurita. Doh! The
OST-8E then likely was found by Draconis Combine warriors to be a nice little boon to their war efforts. XL and standard Ferro, 17 DHS, all of that is pretty pedestrian at this point, but X-Pulse laser tech, THAT'S new. Two large and two medium are installed in the classic side-torso positions, with the heat sinks desperately trying to deal with their ferocious heat. A pair of ER small lasers are mounted in the old CT-rear location as well. Being that these have a similar range profile to the old 4D's battery, this feels like home- but that heat is ROUGH if you're not careful. This pairs nicely with MRM-heavy units for range bracket purposes.
A basic change to the 8E, the OST-8E3 is the same Mech, but with TSM thrown in to take advantage of that waste heat. It's obviously an upgrade, so if you get to pick, use it. Not much more to be said- the myomers don't cost any weight or anything, so we don't lose anything from the 8E, we just get angry when we get hot. Jump in, heat up, and slap a Nova Cat.
Whether distaste for them, supply issues, or just not wanting to deal with the heat, the DCMS soon was building a second 'side-upgrade' to the 8E with a more classic feel. Looking like they took some cues from the 6F, the
OST-8F jams on twin ER PPCs in place of the X-pulse battery. The fast-heavy PPC sniper returns, but this time 18 double heat sinks allow it to fire both guns without being miserable afterwards! Four ER medium lasers back that up, in the classic places- one in each side with the PPCs, two in the center-rear. It's... honestly for its era it feels a little bland, really, like there's nothing new going on here that we couldn't have done in 3050. That doesn't make it a bad Mech, of course- life is miserable under fire from these- but it's interesting that the Combine felt like going old-school like this after capturing a line that was producing an X-pulse lunatic like the 8E.
Good god, are we done yet? Because I really need to go make some dinner and-
PLEASE, CONTINUE... right, cattle prod is still there. OK, ok. We have post-Jihad Ostsols as well. Happy now?
Kong is back, though they took another beating and had to rebuild- this company had it rough, folks. The
OTL-9R is their return, and it's... weird. Remember how we made a perfectly good fast heavy? Kong here slowed it down. Waaaay down. 3/5 is the new speed, right up there with the Atlas and Stalker. Okaaaay... TSM allows us a bust of 4/6, so that's nice, but what are you guys up to over there? A standard fusion engine returns, with a heavy gyro backing it for extra durability. 14 DHS try to keep up with the weapons, which has a few familiar faces. A standard large laser feels almost antique in 3077, but it's parked in the center, with a snub-nose PPC, a heavy PPC, an ER medium, and an ER small all joining it for a ferocious barrage. The fun continues with a C3 slave system helping to guide others' weapons better as you go in to brawl, but with the speedy rushes of other versions in mind it's hard to really love this one- it gets left behind too easily in mobile battles like we see in this era, and ends up being a brawler that can't get into range to brawl. So... why bother?
A version that debuts just as the Jihad is ending, the
OTL-9M is a major variant of the 8M, and as such it's familiar. The engine bump to 6/9 the Davions had tried is here, with MASC boosting it as fast as 12 at a run for brief periods- now THAT'S a fast heavy! The weapons are the classic mid-to-short battery, with an ER large holding court until the snub-nose PPC, two ER mediums, and medium pulse laser all get into range- which won't be long. Endo AND Ferro allow for the engine upgrade, but probably makes for a pain to keep maintained with spare parts. Finally, a Guardian ECM system makes for a handy way to screw with enemy electronics- and as the Blakists had shown the utility time and again of C3i, and assorted FWL factions were now looking sideways at each other with hordes of treats like Narc beacons and LRM barrages, that's not a bad idea. Pretty good Mech here- the speed is unexpected, even in this era.
And because they can't leave well enough alone, we get a final look at the old classic in the IlClan era, courtesy of Clan Sea Fox. The
Ostsol C is a pretty interesting design, one that could have simply been a straigh upgrade of the lasers on one of the older models to ERs, we're done, everyone off to the pub. Instead though, the Foxes built something fun. Twin ER large lasers backed by a targeting computer is familiar enough, but where the mediums could have become ERs, the side torso ones instead Improved Heavy mediums. Oh lord. Hefty punch at short ranges is miserable stuff. The CT lasers are ERs, and like the old days are rear-mounted. The armor is from the original 4D, though, so... don't expect for this to survive. It'll cause mayhem on the way out, but it's just too thin-skinned in this era to stand up to real punishment.
BUT BROTHER HELLBIE, ARE YOU FORGETTING THE CUSTO-NO, I am not. I simply hadn't gotten there yet. Yes, we have a few one-off models, and honestly with Kong's near-destruction in the Succession Wars (and again in the Jihad), it's likely there were a lot of others we just haven't seen out there- cannibalize a couple of wrecks to get a relatively-healthy machine running again, but the large laser on the left side is busted, just cram in three mediums and a couple of heat sinks, that kind of thing. But we know of three one-offs, so briefly:
The personal ride of one Konami Maki of the Deiron Regulars, the
OTL-5M Maki started life as a 4D prior to being upgraded. The only differences are some rearranging of the lasers. Whateer you thought of the 5M, this is no different at the end of the day, and wasn't worth me getting cattle-prodded for your amusement.
OTL-4D Ragnar is, unsurprisingly, the Mech driven by Ragnar Magnusson, hero of the Rasalhague uprising. His 4D swapped the rear lasers to fire forward, and if you like to charge the enemy the way he did, that's probably a good move- like I said earlier, those rear lasers aren't going to do more than scar the enemy that cored your backside out anyway, as thin as the armor is back there. I like the upgrade, though it does mean being even more wary of the heat sinks.
Finally,
OTL-4D Woo is another simple swap from a Sgt. Lynn Woo. So... I won't lie, I don't have a lot of info on this one- my PDF of Combat Manual: Kurita doesn't actually load properly. Apparently, upgrades to ER and pulse weapons, along with DHS, improve it dramatically (presumably ER large only, since the Inner Sphere wasn't making the medium and small versions by this point yet), but embarrassingly I can't give much better info on this one at the moment.
So. Ostsol. Most versions are quick for their size, most versions lack ammo-based weapons, most want to run up and get in your face, and there's just enough versions that DON'T follow that paradigm to keep you on your toes in case you get complacent. The classic has soldiered on long past the death of its factory- a couple of times, really- and survivors are still around kicking by the IlClan era somehow. Chime in with stories, post variants over in the Design Forum, have a blast!
