GiovanniBlasini
04/13/17 02:36 AM
75.80.182.44
|
Necessity is often the mother of invention, and the HCT-3P is one such example. During the Fourth Succession War, on Kimball II, a Lyran HCT-3F Hatchetman suffered severe torso damage, destroying the 'Mech's AC/10 and causing severe engine shielding damage. Unfortunately, spare parts for the engine's shielding were in rare supply.
As luck would have it, though, the Hatchetman's pilot, Sr. Corporal Mariah Zevery, had another ready source of repair parts: a downed PXH-1K that her lance had defeated through the expediency of removing its leg at the hip and kicking its cockpit in. While this rendered the Phoenix Hawk unable to be piloted, its engine and weaponry were intact.
Zevery and her technical team worked overnight to harvest the 270 GM fusion plant, gyro and Harmon large laser from the Phoenix Hawk, remove the smaller engine and gyro from the Hatchetman, and implant the donor parts in the Lyran BattleMech. Technicians had originally hoped to add more armor, especially as the Hatchetman's extra heat sink had to be removed to make room for the larger fusion plant, but suspected that impromptu armor around the cockpit would interfere with the flight pattern of the Hatchetman's whole-head ejection system, and instead opted to install the Phoenix Hawk's small laser coaxial with the large laser in the 'Mech's chest.
While this did make for a more mobile Hatchetman, the modification did not catch on. Whether this was due to concerns that the use of the 270 GM in the Hatchetman would cut too heavily into availability for new Phoenix Hawks, or due to battlefield performance of the refit Hatchetman is not clear, though the loss of Zevery's Hatchetman later in the Kimball II campaign was probably not conducive to widespread adoption (note: Zevery ejected successfully, and her 'Mech's head was later fitted to another Hatchetman). Despite this, on rare occasions in the decades since the Fourth Succession War, HCT-3F series Hatchetmen would find themselves refit to the -3P specifications, most likely driven by similar necessity.
Code:
Hatchetman HCT-3P
IS Introductory Box Set
45 tons
BV: 995
Cost: 4,067,903 C-bills
Movement: 6/9/6
Engine: 270
Heat Sinks: 10
Gyro: Standard Gyro
Internal: 75
Armor: 104/153
Internal Armor
--------------------------------------
Center Torso 14 14
Center Torso (rear) 4
Right Torso 11 14
Right Torso (rear) 4
Left Torso 11 14
Left Torso (rear) 4
Right Arm 7 11
Left Arm 7 11
Right Leg 11 11
Left Leg 11 11
Weapon Loc Heat
----------------------------------------
Medium Laser LA 3
Medium Laser RA 3
Large Laser RT 8
Small Laser RT 1
Equipment Loc
----------------------------------
Standard None
Standard None
Hatchet RA
Member of the Pundit Caste
"Which side are we on? We're on the side of the demons, Chief. We're evil men in the gardens of paradise, sent by the forces of death to spread devastation and destruction wherever we go. I'm surprised you didn't know that." -- Col. Saul Tigh, BSG2003
|
Cray
04/13/17 05:14 PM
72.189.109.30
|
That is almost certainly a far better platform to get the hatchet into battle than a 4/6/4 'Mech.
Of course, I keep looking at that and wondering about trading the small laser in for a bit more armor, or 2 of the jump jets, or maybe weasel enough weight out of it for a PPC to keep the 10pt punch. A range increase and a speed increase would be a nice combo.
Mike Miller, Materials Engineer
Disclaimer: Anything stated in this post is unofficial and non-canon unless directly quoted from a published book. Random internet musings of a BattleTech writer are not canon.
|
KamikazeJohnson
04/13/17 07:38 PM
142.160.216.118
|
Quote:
That is almost certainly a far better platform to get the hatchet into battle than a 4/6/4 'Mech.
Of course, I keep looking at that and wondering about trading the small laser in for a bit more armor, or 2 of the jump jets, or maybe weasel enough weight out of it for a PPC to keep the 10pt punch. A range increase and a speed increase would be a nice combo.
The Hatchetman always needed a speed boost to be properly effective...and a "brawler" design needs as much armour as possible.
Fluff does a great job of explaining the engine upgrade, but the Min-Maxer in me keeps niggling that 5/8/5 would be the sweet spot. Fast enough for the vital +3 movement targeting modifier, but saves 5 tons for armour and/or the PPC upgrade.
Drop the Small Laser, add a Heat Sink, upgrade to a PPC, add 2.5 tons of armour for near max.
Although the PHX-with-a-hatchet is a great visual.
Peace is that glorious moment in history when everyone stands around reloading.
--Thomas Jefferson
|
GiovanniBlasini
04/13/17 08:38 PM
66.87.64.221
|
Quote:
That is almost certainly a far better platform to get the hatchet into battle than a 4/6/4 'Mech.
It makes it reasonable to deploy it in places other than built-up urban environments, and also makes it a lot more difficult to hit, while also making flanking easier for sure.
Quote:
Of course, I keep looking at that and wondering about trading the small laser in for a bit more armor, or 2 of the jump jets, or maybe weasel enough weight out of it for a PPC to keep the 10pt punch. A range increase and a speed increase would be a nice combo.
Yeah, I threw the small laser in there because I was envisioning this as starting as a battlefield refit. A production version should absolutely improve protection.
Adding a PPC is easy: drop the center torso jump jets, which I added, as well as the medium laser. Yes, you're stuck with 6.5 tons of armor, but you end up with a fast PPC carrier on Intro tech with better armor than a Clint, and you force your enemy into a situation where you either smack them at range, or have them risk you getting behind them up close and smacking them with the hatchet
Another possibility, of course, is Triple-Strength Myomer:
Code:
Hatchetman HCT-4P
IS TW non-box set
45 tons
BV: 1,206
Cost: 4,928,840 C-bills
Movement: 6/9/6
Engine: 270
Heat Sinks: 10
Gyro: Standard Gyro
Internal: 75
Armor: 128/153
Internal Armor
--------------------------------------
Center Torso 14 16
Center Torso (rear) 4
Right Torso 11 16
Right Torso (rear) 4
Left Torso 11 16
Left Torso (rear) 4
Right Arm 7 14
Left Arm 7 14
Right Leg 11 16
Left Leg 11 16
Weapon Loc Heat
----------------------------------------
Medium Laser LA 3
Large Laser RT 8
Equipment Loc
----------------------------------
Standard None
Standard None
Hatchet RA
TSM LA
TSM RT
TSM RT
TSM RA
TSM LT
TSM LT
Now that hatchet becomes a serious battering ram in-close when TSM is running, and you move 7/11/6 while it's active. If you don't want to futz with turning off heat sinks, you fire the LL and ML while running for three turns, after which you're at nine heat. From there on out, firing the large laser and running maintains heat. If you need to jump while keeping the heat up, use the medium laser instead and turn off a heat sink if needed.
Member of the Pundit Caste
"Which side are we on? We're on the side of the demons, Chief. We're evil men in the gardens of paradise, sent by the forces of death to spread devastation and destruction wherever we go. I'm surprised you didn't know that." -- Col. Saul Tigh, BSG2003
|
GiovanniBlasini
04/13/17 09:11 PM
66.87.64.221
|
Quote:
Quote:
That is almost certainly a far better platform to get the hatchet into battle than a 4/6/4 'Mech.
Of course, I keep looking at that and wondering about trading the small laser in for a bit more armor, or 2 of the jump jets, or maybe weasel enough weight out of it for a PPC to keep the 10pt punch. A range increase and a speed increase would be a nice combo.
The Hatchetman always needed a speed boost to be properly effective...and a "brawler" design needs as much armour as possible.
Fluff does a great job of explaining the engine upgrade, but the Min-Maxer in me keeps niggling that 5/8/5 would be the sweet spot. Fast enough for the vital +3 movement targeting modifier, but saves 5 tons for armour and/or the PPC upgrade.
Drop the Small Laser, add a Heat Sink, upgrade to a PPC, add 2.5 tons of armour for near max.
Although the PHX-with-a-hatchet is a great visual.
Yep, 5/8/5 should be fast enough in most cases, and does give you a great boost in firepower and armor.
Member of the Pundit Caste
"Which side are we on? We're on the side of the demons, Chief. We're evil men in the gardens of paradise, sent by the forces of death to spread devastation and destruction wherever we go. I'm surprised you didn't know that." -- Col. Saul Tigh, BSG2003
|
|
|
Extra information
|
0 registered and 200 anonymous users are browsing this forum.
Moderator: Nic Jansma, Cray, Frabby, BobTheZombie
Print Topic
|
Forum Permissions
You cannot start new topics
You cannot reply to topics
HTML is disabled
UBBCode is enabled
|
Topic views: 4352
|
|
|
|
|
|
|