OBT Forum

This is a companion design to my Zulu-class medium ASF.  While the Zulu is a fast-moving strike fighter that fills a variety of roles with finesse and precision, the heavily armed and armored Hun is a sledgehammer designed to shatter other fighters, small craft, DropShips, JumpShips, and even capital WarShips!  Let me know what you think.

Master Arminas

Hun

Overview:

The massive 95-ton Hun is a brand-new Goliath Scorpion design that debuted just four years ago, in 3039.   This heavy fighter is capable of less raw thrust than more modern Clan heavy units, but is equipped with thick armor, multiple hard-hitting weapon systems, and an Electronic-Countermeasures Suite.   Exclusively produced by the Scorpions, the Hun is rapidly becoming the assault fighter of choice among the Pilots of that Clan.  The lack of maneuverability has made employing this fighter tactically challenging, but the sheer concentrated and highly accurate firepower the Hun can project more than makes up for that deficit.

Capabilities:

One of the heaviest Clan aeospace fighters (only the 100-ton Kirghiz outmasses this bird), the Hun is rather limited in the amount of thrust its engines can produce:  even with a 285XL fusion drive, this fighter can only reach a maximum acceleration of 4-g's . . . while carrying no external fuel tanks or ordnance pods on its nineteen retractable hardpoints.  Fifteen and a half tons of ferro-aluminum armor plating has been provided to the design, however, which somewhat offsets the slower thrust capabilities.  The nose is sheathed in sufficient armor to absorb the damage from no fewer than six Clan ER PPC bolts or Gauss Rifle slugs and resists thresholding by Clan ER Large Lasers, IS PPCs and ER PPCs, Large Pulse Lasers (both IS and Clan), and all models of AC-10 autocannons.  The wings are slightly weaker, but even they carry sufficient armor to stop the thresholding ability of IS Large Lasers, and can absorb the damage from nine such hits before suffering penetration!  The tail is the weakest section of these design; even here, however, the Hun is immune to thresholding from Clan ER Medium Lasers and can sustain up to eight direct hits without suffering internal damage.

Fuel tankage is five tons . . . slightly less than what Scorpion pilots would have preferred, but seen as adequete.  Long-range missions typically deploy with ten external fuel tanks on the hardpoints (reducing maximum thrust to 2.5-g's!), but doubling the fuel load.  Few Scorpion commanders will utilize the Hun in the bombing role because of the severe cramp that a sizeable load places upon the available thrust; a full load of ninteen pods, bombs, or fuel tanks will result in a safe acceleration of one-half G and a maximum acceleration of 1 G!  The design is normally limited to the use of fifteen hardpoints with accelerations of 1-G and 1.5-G's (ten is far more common), although this is still enough to carry three Arrow IV stand-off munitions (two in the higher thrust configuration).

As with the majority of Scorpion designed OmniMechs, BattleMechs, Aerospace Fighters, and Combat Vehicles, the Hun is equipped with an integral targeting computer . . . a seven-ton targeting computer in this case!  This piece of equipment increases accuracy for all of the weapon systems carried aboard the Hun providing Scorpion Pilots with better targeting solutions at long-range.  The primary armament is concentrated in the nose, and consists of a four-gun battery of Clan ER PPCs!  This incredible amount of concentrated firepower can literally shatter many aerospace fighters in existence and poses a major threat to even the heaviest WarShips when Stars of Huns are deployed in an anti-shipping strike role!  Thirty double-strength heat sinks were added to the engine and fuselage, eating up twenty tons of available space but providing sufficient cooling capabilities to utilize the quad ER PPC battery without generating any excess overheat.

But that is only the primary weapon system aboard the Hun!  For closer range encounters, this aerospace fighter is equipped with eleven Clan ER Medium Lasers:  four in each wing, one in the nose, and two set in the tail to fire astern.  Against lighter opponents who get too close to the Hun, Scorpion pilots can fire all nine forward mounted ER Mediums and one ER PPC while remaining heat neutral!  These weapons are also used extensively on strafing runs when these fighters are called upon to deliver close air support.  The two tail guns serve to discourage hostile fighters from getting too close to this relatively vulnerable position, and to make them pay the cost if they do.  Finally, the Hun is outfitted with an ECM Suite to sow confusion and electronic chaos amongst the opponents of Clan Goliath Scorpion.

Variants:

To date there have been no variants of the Hun introduced.  The fighter's configuration of systems is so finely-tuned that changing out even a single weapon for another has proven to be technically challenging.  Besides, the Scorpions see no need to alter the design; it accomplishes all that they desire in a heavy-weight aerospace fighter.

Deployment:

With fewer than one hundred currently in service, the Hun currently serves only in the Knife Dance Keshik and the clusters of Alpha and Beta Galaxy (10 fighters per cluster, for a total of 90).  The next delivery of Huns is scheduled for the Scorpion Fleet, which has a larger priority on these new heavy fighters than the remaining Scorpion ground formations within the Homeworlds.  Of the remaining ten production and prototype fighters of this class, four are assigned as trainers at the Scorpion's aerospace Sibco on Roche.  The rest were given to Clans Ghost Bear, Hell's Horses, Jade Falcon, Snow Raven, Star Adder, and Wolf so that these Clans might evaluate the design and decide on whether or not to Trial or barter for the rights to produce their own.  Operation Revival has put such active Trials on hold, but there are rumors that Clan Snow Raven has recently offered the Scorpions a sizeable bounty in exchange for production rights.

                    AeroTech 2 Vessel Technical Readout
                                  VALIDATED

Class/Model/Name:  Hun
Tech:              Clan / 3049
Vessel Type:       Aerospace Fighter
Rules:             Level 2, Custom design
Rules Set:         AeroTech2

Mass:              95 tons
Length:            22 meters
Power Plant:       285 XL Fusion
Safe Thrust:       5
Maximum Thrust:    8
Armor Type:        Ferro-aluminum
Armament:         
    4 ER PPC
   11 ER Medium Laser
    1 ECM Suite
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class/Model/Name:  Hun
Mass:              95 tons

Equipment:                                                              Mass
Power Plant:  285 XL Fusion                                              8.50
Thrust:  Safe Thrust: 5
      Maximum Thrust: 8
Structural Integrity: 9                                                   .00
Total Heat Sinks:    30 Double                                          20.00
Fuel:                                                                    5.00
Cockpit & Attitude Thrusters:                                            3.00
Armor Type:  Ferro-aluminum  (297 total armor pts)                      15.50
                           Standard Scale Armor Pts
   Location:                            L / R
   Nose:                                92
   Left/Right Wings:                  72/72
   Aft:                                  61

Weapons and Equipment      Loc        SRV    MRV    LRV    ERV  Heat    Mass
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4 ER PPC                   Nose        15     15     15     --   60     24.00
1 ER Medium Laser          Nose         7      7     --     --    5      1.00
4 ER Medium Laser          RW           7      7     --     --   20      4.00
4 ER Medium Laser          LW           7      7     --     --   20      4.00
2 ER Medium Laser          Aft          7      7     --     --   10      2.00
1 ECM Suite                Aft         --     --     --     --    0      1.00
1 Targeting Computer                                                     7.00
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS:                                                   Heat: 115     95.00
Tons Left:                                                                .00

Calculated Factors:
Total Cost:        16,191,001 C-Bills
Battle Value:      4,156
Cost per BV:       3,895.81
Weapon Value:      4,753 (Ratio = 1.14)
Damage Factors:    SRV = 69;  MRV = 60;  LRV = 12;  ERV = 0
BattleForce2:      MP: 5,  Armor/Structure: 7 / 0
                   Damage PB/M/L: 8/8/4,  Overheat: 4
                   Class: FH;  Point Value: 42
                   Specials: ecm