OBT Forum

Wow, five entries again for the crazy puppy!

Great to see Bradshaw, nice job!

FYI, our contest here is gonna wrap up at the usually time (tomorrow midnight) but as Ice Hellion calls it I will be on holiday this weekend. I am gonna try to post the next challenge before I leave tomorrow and my review of this one is gonna be a little late (Tuesday at the latest).

So finish up those entries for the Mad Dog and you might see the next challenge posted a tad bit early.

12 hours to go folks get those designs finalized by midnight please!

You ain't kidding marauder648!

2 hours to go!

As I sit here at the cabin and type the postmortem for this contest I have really got to say spectacular job guys! Everyone involved bought their design game to a new level here and I really can’t say enough about the five challengers whose thirty-seven entries kicked the crap out of those poor four canon configurations. The unfortunate side of that is at least eight designs had to be cut so that the ten finest could assume their new place among the Quicksilver Upgrades. Before I begin tell you my picks I wanted to explain that my overriding thought in judging the winner of each design was is it a Mad Dog or not. As a missile boat from the get go I wanted something that best kept the spirit of the Vulture so entries featuring no missiles be warned.

First off for fluff it stinks that inspiration did not strike Abele as I was looking forward to seeing what stories backed up his individual Clan configurations. Ice Hellion like everyone else had some real good fluff but unlucky for him involved saKhan Brandon Howell who got killed in our Trial of Restoration which preceded the Quicksilver Trials, else wise very good. Going with the Ghost Bear perspective was very nice drakensis as was Bradshaw’s Star Adder report which sound very much like their Clan. However it was the more general approach of marauder648 that I thought was the best fluff this time around. Fluff point for marauder648!

Primary configuration from canon with its poor ammunition loadout got smoked by our contestants real quick. I was looking for a large twin LRM battery and found all five participants had at least one which could displace the six-turn-shooting original. While LRM-20 was my preferred mode here only marauder648 had what I was looking for there and his variant while powerful ran a bit too hot leaving me with the LRM-15s of the others. Abele’s Cloud Cobra configuration with Jump Jets was likewise still too warm even though it added two Double Heat Sinks. Even drakensis prime ran afoul of my cooler disposition here but not so Ice Hellion H with two LRM-15s with Artemis IV FCS and two Large Pulse Lasers which kept the spirit of the original prime. Movement put him slightly overheat but no big deal till Bradshaw A comes around. Now this variant traded one of Ice’s three Double Heat Sinks for an ECM Suite which I liked the fact marauder648 featured to protect the Artemis IV FCS. So even though Bradshaw’s runs slightly hotter I liked his version best which can use the Pulse Lasers and LRMs against aerospace fighters too. Point for Bradshaw!

Configuration A originally featured six SRM-6s, an ER PPC and a LB 5-X AC and right from the get go there was a configuration which caught my eye here above all others. Ice Hellion A with its twin ER PPC and five Streak SRM-4s cooled by three additional Double Heat Sinks was what I wanted here. While it can go overheat by a bunch on Alpha Strike - bracket fire and some smart usage of the Streaks can effectively manage these concerns since the heat from missile fire adds up to that of a single ER PPC. So opponents beware if you close with this bad boy your able to get shot up by forty points of highly accurate missile damage plus a fifteen point PPC blast, bang! Point for Ice Hellion!

For Configuration B I wanted to stick to the LRM/SRM mix of the original canon variant which like its primary companion seemed to have something against carrying ammunition. While most went away from that trend usually dropping the LRM for energy weapons only Bradshaw Prime kept the faith by reducing the LRM-20 to a 15 and adding more ammo. Also anyone lucky enough to sustain the LRM fire supported by twin ER Larges gets introduced to the short range bracket of Streak SRMs, Medium Pulses, and even an ER Small Laser for good measure. Nice job, point two for Bradshaw!!

Our last canon entry, C, is quite possibly my favorite with twin Gauss Rifles and a solid ammo supply with which to pummel its adversaries. I reckoned that you folks might have trouble unseating this one but man I was wrong and for the record these entries for C Configuration were the strongest and probably my favorite. Sadly there can be only one and first out was Abele C whose Fire Mandrill Gauss/LRM combo which included some close in support was trampled by my favorite weapon combo in BattleTech, the Gauss/ER PPC combo. Before I delve into them I also want to say nice work marauder648 on the twin ER PPC and LB 10-X AC. With your four additional Double Heat Sinks your long to mid-range firepower is quite impressive too. Ice Hellion C takes my combo favorite and simply adds a Targeting Computer and Jump Jets which is scary. Outdoing that is drakensis who adds an ER Large, an additional ton of Gauss ammo and three Double Heat Sinks to fire all the live long day. This while probably my favorite comes up short to Bradshaw C which adds two LRM-10s supported by two ER Smalls which best keeps the spirit of the Mad Dog and brings the best damage potential even if heat becomes a minor issue. Point three for Bradshaw!!!

Leaving canon behind forever we set a new course with D which I decided early on would be themed around the LB 10-X AC. Three entries fit the bill here and as I just cited marauder648 C was one of my favs as was Abele A who I thought almost from the beginning had this one locked up but then Ice Hellion D came along. Pairing the LB-X with a Large Pulse Laser is a favorite anti-air combo for me especially when supplemented by two LRM-10s it starts to share similarities with our new Configuration C. Two Small Pulses and an extra Double Heat Sink keep this one heat neutral and very effective. Point two for Ice Hellion!!

I wanted to focus on something based on Ultra AC/10s for our new Configuration E and there are two very good contenders. Ice Hellion E with its two Ultra AC/10s, ECM Suite, and five Jump Jets reminded me of Gregor Nash’s Mad Dog which uses the same main guns. However, marauder648 E shares similarities with our last two configuration winners by pairing an Ultra AC/10 with an ER Large Laser, two Streak SRM-6s, and two Medium Pulses. While it is clearly a bracket firer it is a nice combination that rounds out these last three configurations which pairs a large ballistic weapon with a large energy weapon together with missile support. This keeps it a missile boat at heart (very Vulture) while balancing the heat to create some nasty options for Clan Mechwarriors. Point to marauder648!

I grouped all four of our ‘fusillade’ entries together to see who would come out on top for the new configuration F. Featuring four large LRM batteries these contenders are obviously meant to saturate their opponents with massive barrages of missile from a distance. Ice Hellion Prime was the first to try to pull this off pairing four LRM-15s with two ER Larges and two ER Mediums. Heat concerns really turn me off this one but no worries drakensis B takes a shot with four LRM-15s each linked to Artemis IV FCS and its backed up by four ER Mediums, not bad at all. Ice Hellion G attempts to take a second bite at this apple in much the same way but he drops two tons of ammunition for two Small Pulse Lasers. While I liked drak’s better here comes Bradshaw again with his B configuration that has two LRM-20s and two LRM-15s all linked to Artemis IV FCS. While I do have concerns about ammunition supply (the LRM-20s have nine rounds while the LRM-15s have eight) it does manage to put the most missiles on target and can we have a Vulture without an LRM-20? I don’t think so, point four to Bradshaw!!!!

For Alternate G we have something so unique and apt for the Mad Dog I love it but the question is it completely legal. Bradshaw G mounts two Arrow IV Artillery Systems with four tons of ammunition for a very useful configuration that warriors might not like but could be very necessary in the war they find themselves in. My question how modular are these systems? They can’t fit in a single location and might take more effort to mount then a standard weapon system. This might be a plausible reason why you would need a Naga or a slower Zombie OmniMech from the Quicksilver Trials with its torsos opened to allow an easy fit. Well I’d like your input folks but if it is indeed possible then this is the configuration that I want. Unless someone can point to a specific rule which forbids point five to Bradshaw!!!!!

H configuration deserves something ‘heavy’ and we don’t have a variant yet that utilizes plain SRMs. Canon configuration A used six SRM-6s, an ER PPC, and LB-5X AC but drakensis A modified that ably by using eight SRM-4s and adds two ER Mediums along with a Double Heat Sink. Really there was only one that impressed with four SRM-6s, an Ultra AC/20, an ER Medium, and five Jump Jets for mobility. Bradshaw H really brings the pain and even though Mechwarriors can’t or shouldn’t fire everything but if they did there are 95 damage points coming your way. Now a jumping Alpha Strike would produce 40 points of heat (over by 16) likely shutting you this variant down but your opponent might be dead or crippled. Doing this with the help of short range missiles earns Bradshaw point six!!!!!!

Lastly how about a super accurate grouping of weapons for Configuration I like Large Pulse Lasers and Streak SRMs. A couple like drakensis D (Large Pulses linked to a Targeting Computer but no missiles) and Ice Hellion B (ER Larges linked to a Targeting Computer) come close to these criteria but just miss out. Abele’s Ghost Bear entry uses one Large Pulse and two Streak SRM-6s along with a bunch of other energy weapons but not quite what I was looking for. Even better was marauder648 B with twin Large Pulse and two Streak SRM-6s backed by a pair of Medium Pulses and four ER Smalls. What I liked best was Ice Hellion I with two Large Pulses linked to a Targeting Computer and two Streak SRM-6s with five Jump Jets for mobility. A highly accurate mid-range fighter with a little spring in his step, point three to Ice Hellion!!!

With such a close contest I was surprised that Bradshaw dominated with six design wins as much as for the first time drakensis was shut out! Even Abele was squeezed out along with canon, I was shocked when all of the entries which were so well composed that such a break was possible but that is how it shook out. Ice Hellion did well scoring three design points and marauder648 got two points but so many other configurations were left out of this top ten. So, like the Stormcrow (Ryoken) I’d like to incorporate a few supplemental of the best ones which didn’t make it as the favorite rides of notable Mechwarriors. I’ll post what I came up with below. What do you guys think? Anyway, gang tremendous effort and great job by everyone. See you next time!

Well done folks! And blimey, six points, awesome work there Mr Bradshaw

What did you guys think of the Arrow IV configuration? I think it is game legal and very innovative in this case.

I need to start working on my fluff better I really enjoy reading what you guys come up with.

These guys have done amazing work on the entire Quicksilver Trials, take a look at the Beat the Lupus contest for example which was Quicksilver Program #10 when they came up with nine fantastic design entries each with a great background story.