OBT Forum

TAKIRO: Your about to play with the most tonnage around for weapons and armor. Sure maybe they aren't the fastest war machines around but Lyrans sure think they are the best!

But most of that weight is an illusion.

For an 80-ton 'Mech, if you set it at 3/5 with a 240 standard engine, and max the armor, that gives you 39 tons, which is a lot, but many weapons systems aren't viable on a 3/5 'Mech.  For example, you wouldn't make the thing a medium laser vomit build, because that's stupid.  And you can't be a small laser/machinegun or SRM backstabber.  You're dependent on ACs, large lasers, PPCs, LRMs, and Gauss Rifles, so your build options are going to be pretty limited.

For an 80-ton 'Mech, if you set it at 4/6 with a 320 standard engine, and max the armor, that gives you just 27 tons.  That gives you only slightly more weight than...a 50t centurion moving at 4/6.  Yes, you have more armor, but the weapons load-out is that of a medium or older (non-XL, 4/6 speed) heavy.  And your weapons selections are still pretty limited.

If you use an Inner Sphere XL engine, you're making your assault 'Mech an easy side torso kill.  We'll still design a few of those here, I'm sure, but still.  And if you don't max the armor, you're again making your assault 'Mech an easy kill.  So the design requirements eat up a large chunk of the weight, the low speed limits the weapons systems that are viable.

The Lyrans pre-Clans used lots of Assaults because (in canon) they have more money than sense, and they relied on lots and lots of armor to out-attrition the opponent.  But a "Lyran Scout Lance" is not an object of fear or respect, it's a joke about wasted resources.  Don't get me wrong, I love me some assault 'Mechs, and threw together some ideas already.... but until we're using Clan technology or light engines, the sorts of 'Mechs you can design with 3053 level 2 tech is going to end up with lots of very "samey" designs.

For example, I created over a dozen Marauder/Orion 75t variants, and about two dozen Warhammer/Archer/Grasshopper 70t variants.  But I can't come up with a lot of distinctive 80t variants that (a) are really distinct, (b) are 3053 level-2 technology, and (c) haven't already been created in canon.

The Charger I see as the speed demon of the 80s with a minimum speed of 4/6 being considered by me although I believe it was Ice who made a nasty AC/20 variant that was at that minimum. Let me say also a good story like Ice Hellion did on the Charger could see the Capellans who are in search of an Assault Mech turn to something in this direction.