PROGRAMMING NOTE: Due to power outages across the Washington D.C. area today as a result of winter weather, I'm posting a day earlier than usual while I'm still able to! Lucky you! Frozen Hellbie![Arnold voice] "Talk to the hand."
TRO:3055 brought us a book many players had wanted for ages- a book of all-new Mechs to use. '50 had been a joy in giving refits and new life to the classics from the old 4th Succession War days, and TRO:2750 of course was a look at what the Star League was able to call upon in its heyday (for better or for worse), but '55 gave us that long-sought new-toy catalog for the post-Clan Invasion era, a look at what both the Clans and their Inner Sphere foes were doing in the immediate wake to try to bolster themselves for the next wave of violence, whenever it may be coming. Among the more interesting aspects was a look at Clan second-line machines. We'd had a look at field refitted Inner Sphere Mechs thanks to the Twycross scenario pack (most of which were underweight and hideously flawed), but now we were seeing purpose-built Clan Mechs to serve in garrison units and the like. Many were fresh designs such as the Bane and Howler, but many others were new designs based on Inner Sphere stalwarts like the Shadow Hawk, the Warhammer, the Jenner (oddly enough). These usually came with a total rethinking of how the design was to work, and often a drop in weight thanks to Clan construction techniques. A couple beefed up a bit too, such as the Marauder, to better approach their assigned role. Perhaps none departed more from the original plan though than the venerable Phoenix Hawk, turning from a 45-ton scout hunter and harasser into a massive 80-ton beast of a... scout hunter and harasser? This is going to take some work to look through.
So first off. there's the fact that the new design shares a vague look and a name, and otherwise there's hardly any relation between the IIC and the old PXH. Supposedly- and that's all I have to go on is apocryphal third-party info- the design we know today as the Phoenix Hawk IIC was known as the 'Matador', and had no relation to the famed Inner Sphere medium Mech it now is based on. The name change reason isn't known, and the name Matador was later used for a totally different Steel Viper garrison machine of... er, 'dubious' value. So that makes sense, to an extent, in explaining why this feels so different from its parent design, but we still don't have anything explaining WHY this was done- or even if the above is really the case or not. It's one of those strange looks behind the curtain of game production that leave syou with far more questions than answers.
But, what we DO know, in-universe, is that the Steel Vipers looked at a 45 tonner and said 'hold my beer' before adding 35 tons to it. One can only assume the scientist and engineering types assigned to the project found some Goliath Scorpion necrosia to cause this- there's no shortage of things to do with a PXH-1 that would allow you to make it a far more efficient design using Clan technology- lightening it a bit, adding ER tech to the lasers, maybe more MGs, a large pulse... laser... in place of the old large... wait a minute. If this thing is the Matador renamed, could the original concept to the Phoenix Hawk (the 'original' IIC') have become the Vixen/Incubus? They look a little alike, the stats are very comparable...
I'm getting mired down here again. The Vipers wanted a mobile beast for their second line forces, and used the Phoenix Hawk as their model to create the new design, the
Phoenix Hawk IIC-1. To accomplish making an 80-ton machine work like a 45-tonner though required a lot of work- and a massive engine, a 400XL in fact. This gives the behemoth a game speed of 5/8, which is of course rare among assault Mechs. The added jump jets give it a 150-meter hop, which is even rarer. It's not QUITE as fleet-footed as its 'parent' design, but it's close enough that it can operate alongside units like that comfortably, hunting enemy scouts and performing flanking attacks, the kind of work you don't exactly see Warhammers and Marauders doing much. It's quite the performance- but even with XL tech, the weight is astonishingly difficult to work with, leaving us very short in other areas. Hopefully the engineers kept that in mind and used lightweight, intelligent weapons and didn't do anything dumb like big ballistics. Then again, why would you mount those on a Mech related to the Phoenix Hawk? That's an absurd thought.
When it comes to protection, the Phoenix Hawk was never really what you'd call a brick. It wasn't big enough to mount heaps of armor, and so it tended to rely more on mobility for protection, keeping movement modifiers high and using terrain to keep it safe from harm. If the armor started taking hits, it was time to withdraw- or risk the Mech. Here... this is a very different beast. Using Ferro-Fibrous plating, Endo-Steel, and the sheer size increase to heap on extra plating, the new Mech is still fleet of foot, but can atke a hit if it needs to. That's over ten tons of plating, which is plenty to do the job- all limbs can take an AC/20 and hold (if only just), and the rear even can hold out an AC/10 hit. So while it's not nearly as tough as, say, a Warhammer IIC, it can take a few hits in the course of a fight and be okay- and still keep those high move mods to limit how much work that armor has to do. Note that, as we saw with the Ost-Mechs a few weeks ago, the arms are essentially extra armor as well- with no weapons in them and no interest for Clan pilots in brawling, they're essentially useless for combat purposes other than to keep the torso safer.
We then need to review the weapons, which as we said will likely be based on the original design- lasers, nothing silly like big ballistic weap- ARE YOU KIDDING ME? That was good necrosia. Replacing the classic large laser/two medium laser combo of old are... two Ultra AC/10s, one in each breast. Which... again, that has the double-whammy of being both inefficient on a Mech with that massive engine, and being all but unrecognizeable as a Phoenix Hawk descendant. I genuinely can't fathom this from in in-universe perspective (and lends further credence to the Matador story above out of universe!). But... here we are, twin autocannons fed by a total of six tons of ammo, so feel free to double-crank them every turn- you won't run dry any time soon in most Clan engagements. The guns are reasonably powerful, and with luck you could be landing four ten-point hits per turn, and by an Inner Sphere perspective that sounds great. But for a Clan Mech, that's not all that impressive- consider that the Warhawk is only five tons larger and lands FOUR fifteen-point hits in a salvo if you want it to. Hell, we can drop down to the Nova at 50 tons and have this kind of damage output without trouble, at the same movement rate. It's a very strange choice, and the heat efficiency is only partially mitigating the disappointment. Two machine guns (one each in the left torso and center torso) provide a little extra entertainment at knife-fighting ranges. Note that the original TRO used fracitonal accounting, and had only one MG in the head. The guns share half a ton of ammo (in the head!), and all of that ammo is protected as always by CASE.
So hey, that was weird, right? What if we try again, this time using weapons that aren't enormously heavy and inefficient?
Phoenix Hawk IIC-2 is an appealing idea that leaves any old-school Archer pilot weeping in joy. The cannons go away in favor of a four-pack of LRM-20s, thanks to those lovely half-weight launchers. Now we're talking! We've turned it into a highly-mobile and reasonably tough bombardment unit! We DID lose the MGs and a bit of armor, but we're able to fire from longer ranges now (and behind cover if we so wish), so we're not all that upset about it- we now lob 80 missiles downrange a turn, and that, friends, will bruise. Each launcher has two tons of ammo for a very reasonable 12 turns of total annihilation. Don't even think about using the original if this is available to you- it's just a better Mech in every possible sense of the word, though heat can be a problem if you lean on it too hard. Never mind- hop away for a turn and cool down, then let the Katyusha-esque fun continue. This thing is a blast- like you stapled two Archers together and gave it a steady diet of methamphetamines. As much as I find the original dull, I
adore the IIC-2.
I have always thought the Pixie IIC-4 looks like an old-school Voltron baddie.
As with so many machines in the 3060s, the Phoenix Hawk IIC got a revival, with new variants and a coincidental facelift that changed its looks completely, what a shock. In this case, we're told that the Project Phoenix-ized
Phoenix Hawk IIC-3 is the result of the Steel Vipers trying to beef up their touman following the Jade Falcons sending them home without supper. Ejection from the Inner Sphere was humiliating for them, and to compensate for that they began to strengthen in hopes of at least beating up on other Clans to compensate, maybe even someday return... plans that eventually lead to a massive conflict within Clan space, but that's getting ahead of ourselves and beyond scope. In this situation, refitting one of the Vipers' homegrown (if odd) designs made sense, and the Diamond Sharks were contracted to start cranking them out as quickly as possible. Interestingly, we see a machine that feels a little more Phoenix Hawk-ish this time, combining the now-standard mobility of the design with a battery of energy weapons. The layout is very Ost-mech in nature, with a heavy large laser and small pulse laser in each side torso, backed by a center-mounted medium pulse laser. That's pretty reasonable, though the inaccuracy of the heavy lasers is always a bummer- but wait, a spiffy targeting computer mitigates the problem! The heat is even managed to a remarkable extent via 22 double heat sinks- a rare machine that packs twin heavy large lasers and can actually use them on the move without withering in misery. This honestly ends up being a surprisingly good Mech, back to the original PXH role of scout hunting for example, and while it didn't look like much to me when it came out, I warmed to it a few years ago and rely on them in second-line forces now.
Phoenix Hawk IIC-4, however, goes a different route, feeling like the IIC-2's logical next step. The Sharks had been contracted to build the IIC-3, and with the plans in place they made their own variant- something that I'm sure the Vipers had to know was coming. The Mech's basic layout is unchanged, but the role certainly has- we are now little more than a slender, spiky platform for the Advanced Tactical Missile System to live on. Four mighty ATM-9 systems (two in each side torso) give the Mech the ability to absolutely demolish a target at close ranges, and be reasonably effective at mid-range as well. (Let's be real here, ER ammo is fine for harassing someone as you close in, but no one is afraid of that stuff) The missile racks and engine take up the side torso spaces though, so the arms became ammunition-magazines with hands essentially. And here we get a little worried, because while the firepower is immense, the endurance is a bit lacking- seven tons (three in each arm and one in the center torso- yikes) sounds like a lot, but with four racks pulling from them it goes remarkably quick. For the Clans, a standard Trial won't last long enough to worry about that, but if you're using it in a longer operation you'll start to worry a bit about those bins- particularly if you bring multiple types of ammo to pull from. It's a great Mech, really- a bit warm if you push at it, but the muscle is worth it... for a while.
With the missile-monster idea revived, it was no surprise that the original-flavor got a facelift as well. Debuting at the end of the 3060s, just as the Inner Sphere descended into madness and hilarity, we get
Phoenix Hawk IIC-5, and immediately we see the same problem crop up as the original flavor- on a Mech with a giant engine, big ballistic weapons are a bad idea. But, we had new toys to show off, so here they are. The Hyper-Assault Gauss Rifle, a name only matched in absurdity by its shortened version, the HAG (not to be confused with my ex-mother-in-law, HEYOOOO) deserves its own article sometime to explore the ins and outs of its existence, but here the shotgun-Gauss gets shoehorned into a Mech that really doesn't need it. HAG/20s aren't great, honestly- the damage is spread across a target like LRMs, but far heavier, and while the bonuses against aircraft and such are nice it's hard to really love them on this platform, at least. Still, one gets crammed into each side torso like the old model's cannons were. And where the two MGs kept us safe from infantry, four AP Gauss Rifles now get installed (in the arms, our first version to have arm-mounted weapons!), sharing one ton of ammo in the center torso. The HAGs though, they get twelve rounds each. That's... kind of like the 4, we're a bit thin for longer operations, aren't we? At least in the 4's case, the sheer wallop per salvo means that the fighting is done quickly- we can be out of ammo quickly so long as no one is alive to take advantage of that flaw, right? Well, the HAGs don't have the ATMs' stopping power, so twelve shots each doesn't really get the job done. It needs help- something else to open holes in the target to take advantage of (say, a Pixie IIC-3!), but that's a very unClanlike way of thinking. It's a tough Mech to warm to, and unless you really need a mobile AA platform- and there are better options for THAT job, even- it's worth skipping this oddball.
So for those who have been keeping up so far, we took an assault chassis, crammed it full of a too-big engine and jump jets, and made it cosplay as a medium Mech. What if we turn that idea to eleven and make it even MORE mobile, at the expense of firepower?
Phoenix Hawk IIC-6 throws improved jump jets into the mix, giving us a new movement curve of 5/8/8. Our 80-ton beast jumps as far as a Spider. I mean... the author here is a pretty mobility-oriented player, preferring fast heavies and mediums as a rule, but... this is a bit much. But, while those jets and the usual engine make for a lot of weight and space, we at least used the paltry remaining space wisely. The new plasma cannon makes an appearance, with one in each arm and each with two tons of ammo. Smacking a target with a white-hot wad of styrofoam, this causes a miserable heat boost to targets that track heat, and just ruins anything else. They're also remarkably compact for their utility, so they make a great choice here. Backing them are a pair of heavy medium lasers, in the side torsos- again, as we discussed earlier, the inaccuracy is a pain, but the sheer punch is worth it. The medium is probably the best of the heavy laser family overall thanks to its size-to-power ratio, and as with the 3 we stuff a computer on board to mitigate the inaccuracy problem (also helping the plasma guns). So we move alarmingly fast, hit reasonably hard, and commit toasty war crimes wherever we go. This thing is a laugh riot- watch your heat, but make your opponent watch theirs too. Great Mech to play with if you need something outside-the-box.
No, seriously, you hear the Voltron music too, right? Just me?
We jump then to the late years of the Wars of Reaving (and Jihad), and find that as shattered militaries attempt to rebuild on the fly- or geat up for one last push to defeat their enemies- the Sharks saw an opportunity for more sales, because that's what the Sharks do best. (Clan Diamond Shark: You Say 'War Profiteering' Like It's A Bad Thing!) The odd thing is that they looked at the Phoenix Hawk IIC concept yet again and this time... they dropped the engine? Look, that engine was too big, as we discussed before, but it also gives the Mech its personality- dropping it for a more conventional movement curve removes what makes this design unique, and I'm a little bummed by that. We kept the jump jets from the IIC-6 though, so
Phoenix Hawk IIC-7 moves 4/6/6, so that's something at least. The designers then made it up to me by installing my favorite weapon on the Mech as the main guns, with twin LB-10X. Big ballistic weapons are fine if you have a smaller engine, so let's go nuts! Sitting in the usual side torso slots, these guns famously combine range, heat efficiency, power, and versatility into a handy package, and two of them is all the more fun. Each gun gets two tons of ammo (in the arms again, such a weird quirk!), and life is just great- we jump a long distance and let go with a couple of 100mm shotguns when we get there, what's not to like? Backing the guns are a pair of Streak SRM-4 systems for a little more cluster-power (both in the center torso, with the ammo in the head of all things), and a couple of ER medium lasers in the arms. It's a good Mech- odd, but effective. It just also, as I noted, doesn't feel like a Phoenix Hawk IIC anymore, and that's a bummer. But, the Sharks needed income, so they began selling this to anyone who would rub two coins together for them- even Inner Sphere forces. Remember- the drawdown after the Jihad in military forces limited the size of an army, not its spending- so if you're only going to have three units where you had ten before, but the same money available, investing in something like this makes some sense. And in this era in which combined-arms warfare took on a far greater role than ever before, guns that savage vehicles and aircraft are pretty handy to have.
Phoenix Hawk IIC-8 goes the other direction from its cousin- rather than dropping engine weight by moving slower, it drops engine weight by going for the eye-popping expense of an XXL engine. So... you know, buy this instead of an entire company of medium Mechs, your call I guess. Whatever, let's see what that does for us. We move 5/8/7 with improved jump jets again, we have twin ER PPCs and the heat sinks to fire them while running for no heat- well, we WOULD have if not for the XXL's heat added in, oops- and we get a quartet of small pulse lasers added in, plus an ECM suite. It's... man, it's hard to like this. I know I said you can spend more on individual units in the post-Jihad era, but be smart about it at least. This is an enormous expenditure to get a high-heat unit into the field, and it's just not worth it for what you get in return. If you really want twin Clan PPCs on a jumping platform, there's far better ways to make that happen- a bog-standard Thor gives you similar performance (a little less jump), the space to get the same weaponry on board and then some, and won't eat your budget up to this extent. Neat idea in the same way the Charger was- "you CAN put a 400XXL in an assault Mech, and here's why you shouldn't do it."
...and here we come to what feels almost quaint compared to the wild tech we've been seeing on the past few versions- a hybrid of the IIC-1 and -2.
Phoenix Hawk IIC-9 combined one of the Ultra AC/10s from the former with two LRM-20s from the latter, gives all three weapons a two-ton ammo bin each, then adds the two MGs from the IIC-1 back on with half a ton of ammo, and... that's it. No weird jump jets, no crazy targeting system or heat sinks that shoot lasers or any of that stuff, just... a rugged, old-school Mech. I'm baffled by it, honestly- it isn't a great Mech in any sense, and in the post-Jihad eras it looks positively dinosaur-esque. I don't know what the target audience is for this, and I wish I had more info on it so I could figure out what the idea was here. As it is, if you need a Phoenix Hawk IIC, you're better off going with the 1 or 2 and being a bit more focused than on this almost Shadow Hawk-ish multi-role machine.
When I say 'we finish with the weirdest of the lot', I want you to take a moment and consider some of what we've talked about here today. THEN I want you to come back and read up on the
Phoenix Hawk IIC-10. That way you'll know that this is no idle boast- this is one of the weirdest Mechs I've seen from the Clans, ever. And yet, it also feels a little familiar in a way. The long-range weaponry consists of paired ER large lasers, one in the center torso and the other in the head, a setup familiar to fans of the old Blood Spirit stalwart, the Blood Kite. Three ER medium lasers get installed in each side torso. This is a bracket machine if there ever was one- the sixteen heat sinks will NOT handle a full alpha strike, so don't even think about it, bucko. So it's a high-heat laser boat with no crazy tech, what's the issue? That would be the hatchet in the right arm. Read that again and think about what you know about the Clans. They built a Mech with a HATCHET. I know things are different for the Clans in the IlClan era, but it's still genuinely jarring to see this. I wouldn't say it's a bad Mech by any means- be smart about how you use the weapons and you'll have a good day at the office. Honestly, outside of the right arm, it's almost bland compared to some of its cousins. But... can you imagine being part of the design team pitching this to the warrior caste? "Okay, so... how do you feel about smacking people with a stick, Star Captain? NO, not ME!!!"
Most of the recent art, I've really liked, but this one was pretty dull compared to the Reseen, or that wild VMI original.
So, there we go. A Mech with an engine too big and a basis too small has had, nevertheless, a long and impressive career through the history of the Clans. From early appearances in the aftermath of the Clan invasion as one of the original second-line Mechs through to the IlClan era, one can expect to almost always find these machines in a Clan force if you go raiding- and woe be it to the commander who ignores this odd but effective opponent. It may not bear much resemblance to the Phoenix Hawk, but in the end it's carved out its own niche- a mobile and deadly opponent in its own right, able to outmaneuver anything it can't outgun, take a few hits along the way, and deliver a knockout blow from the most unexpected angles. It's a tough Mech to really master, but once you get it figured out, some of these become world-beaters.
