Cray
01/22/04 04:11 PM
147.160.1.5
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[This is an example of the dreadnought rules just posted in the thread, "Rampant Munchkinism: Dreadnoughts." It should be a clear indication of why these dreadnoughts and super heavy mechs should never, ever appear in a regular game.]
WRATH OF BLAKE
"Blake's balls," the pilot cursed. His mech's...his dreadnought's...foot was stuck in the center torso frame of the Atlas he'd just dropped on. It was a real moodkiller after finally, finally getting to do what a 300-ton mech with jump jets existed to do: death from above. (How he loved the sound of that. Death from above. So silky and darkly seductive. Death from above. A phrase to be whispered in the darkness of the bunkroom, punctuated by the giggles of other Wrath of Blake pilot trainees thinking
the same thing.) Only the Lyrans would charge slow mechs within 60 meters of a 300-ton titan, and he hoped they kept doing it. At this rate, the Second Battle for Tharkad was as good as won.
Behind the Wrath of Blake's pilot, Demi-Precentor Carl sighed. He had long since given up remonstrating his crew about taking Blake's name in vain. They got the job done, and they were certainly a matched pair. Instead, his fingers danced over the bank of touch-sensitive screens that surrounded him as he opened a communications link to two of the other Wraths of Blake in the unit. He had pulled in the end WoBs as the charge of the Lyran Fafnirs and Atlases had washed over his unit, keeping his WoBs from being flanked. Now it was time to expand the line's frontage again as-
The Wrath of Blake surged softly, then again, again, again, four kicks a half second apart. The Demi-Precentor looked up at the shouts of the gunner. Was it WoB-1's gauss rifles firing or were Fafnir shots hitting home again? The sheer mass of WoB-1 soaked up recoil and impact so well that it was hard to tell. Through the man-high display screens swathing the cockpit, Carl watched a Fafnir gout armor plates as four...seven...twelve gauss rifle slugs from his unit hammered the bantamweight mech. No less than sixteen bolts of subatomic energy arrived to pummel the FNR-5 into scrap.
"Yeah! YEAH! Get some! GET SOME! Yeah, you liked that, didn't you?!"
Carl thought about telling Gunner Rupert to calm down again, but it was pointless. Carl's neurohelmet (mostly used for direct interface with the WoB's sensors and EW suite) muffled the shouting, so it didn't interfere with the Demi-Precentor's coordination of the rest of the unit.
"Oh, you want some, too?! YARRRGGHH!!!"
WoB-5 was just 90 meters from the wreckage of the Fafnir and its still-standing Atlas lancemate, so the other WoBs in Carl's unit were effectively at point blank range of the Atlas, too. The thickly-armored mech disintegrated in seconds; 12 of its long range missiles ineffectually peppered WoB-3. Carl grabbed for stanchions as Pilot McCoy threw the Wrath of Blake forward - Pilot McCoy, the Demi-Precentor noticed, was prone to picking up on the Gunner Rupert's excitement.
The surviving Lyran assault company seemed to concentrate on Carl's mech, WoB-1. For the next minute, his perceptions were filled with shocks and bumps, like being tumbled around in a padded clothes dryer or a slow bumper car ride. Class-20 autocannons, gauss rifle slugs, heavy gauss rifle slugs, and LRM salvos all pummeled the Demi-Precentor's Wrath of Blake, but there were no armor breaches. In turn, WoB-1 and its friends dealt out far worse to the Lyrans.
"RRAAHHH!!!" Another Atlas blew apart.
"BRAAGGGHH!!!" The Lyran company's token Zeus evaporated.
"BOOYAH!!!" The Gunner's compliment as Pilot McCoy punched a hole from glacis plate to rear hull in an Atlas. Carl checked his abbreviated status display and, yes, the Wrath of Blake was hot enough for its TSM to go active. The cockpit insulation was excellent, it was still a cool 20C in the cockpit.
"YEEE-HAAWWWW!!!" The last Fafnir crumpled like a soda can under a soldier's boot as Carl's WoB-1 dropped on it.
"AAAAAAHHHH!!!"
The last shout sounded more fearful than victorious, causing the Demi-Precentor to jerk his head up from his strategic displays. Communications had gone haywire and the other Demi-Precentors were suddenly losing communications discipline, shouting almost as fearfully as Carl's crew. What was going...?
"AAAAAHHHHH!!!" Demi Precentor Carl added his voice to the screams of his crew as the squadron of Eisensturms dropped over 100 gravity bombs on his Wrath of Blake, his WoB-1, alone. That was not the only squadron in the sky....
DEVELOPMENT
Though some members of the WoB Dreadnought research team pushed for a 400-ton dreadnought on principle, calmer heads pointed out a "reasonable" speed could be obtained with a 300-ton dreadnought.
The Wrath of Blake does approach "practical" for a dreadnought. It has fully functional humanoid limbs to aid its movement in all terrains and provide daunting combat engineering capabilities. The intimidation value of being able to pick up whole Riflemen and Manticores when the Wrath of Blake's TSM are hot is not to be underestimated, either. Its jump jets aid its movement over rough terrain and speed deployment from dropships.
And the WoB Dreadnought research team did put some thought into deploying dreadnoughts. The solution was modified cargo dropships, Mules typically, which could carry 6 or 12 dreadnoughts in special bays. It was preferred to land the dropships and have the dreadnoughts walk off, but orbital drops were possible if the dreadnought had jump jets. Since it would be too expensive to develop cocoons and parachutes for dreadnoughts, the WoB solution was to give the dreadnoughts fuel drop tanks for their jump jets and let the huge mechs brake to a near halt outside the atmosphere, thus avoiding the re-entry heating problem.
The Wrath of Blake looks like a bodybuilder among mechs, a heavyset mech about a head taller than an Atlas. Its four gauss rifle ports are under its "ribs" like the Mauler's ACs, while laser and PPC ports dot the back of its forearm. Attackers who think they're clever and strike a Wrath of Blake from behind will be dismayed to find a pair of pulse large lasers blazing at them. The basic heat sink capacity of the twin 360 Hermes engines is impressive, but the Wrath of Blake is bolstered by 6 additional heat sinks. Even so, a careless gunner can severely overheat the machine. The little, bunker-like cockpit canopy conceals a rather expansive volume consisting of a forward "bridge" where the pilot and gunner sit side-by-side and a commander is behind and slightly above them. Behind the bridge (and a bulkhead door) is a compact crew space with 3 bunks and assorted facilities crammed into a cramped, 2.5m x 2.5m x 2.2m chamber.
The Wrath of Blake is not a simple brawler. Its electronics suite is outstanding, including a C3i computer, active probe, and ECM. The pilot and gunner work in tandem to perform better than a single, overtaxed mechwarrior, while (on the WOB-1B) a commander provides superior coordination to them and the rest of the unit. An advanced communications suite further assists the commander in coordinating the unit.
Code:
Type: WOB-1B Wrath of Blake tons
Class: Large Chassis Dreadnought
Tonnage: 300
Internal Structure: Endosteel 30
Engine: 2x360 Hermes 66
....Walking: 2
....Running: 3
....Jumping: 2
Heat Sinks: 26 (52) 6
Gyro: 8
Cockpit: 3
Armor: 888 55.5
Head: 11 33
CT: 93 150/35
RT/LT: 63 100/26
RA/LA: 51 100
RL/LL: 63 108
Weapon Crits Loc
GR 7 RT 15
GR 7 RT 15
GR 7 LT 15
GR 7 LT 15
CASE 1 RT 0.5
CASE 1 LT 0.5
Ammo (GR) 48 6 RT 6
Ammo (GR) 48 6 LT 6
Pulse Large Laser 2 RTR 7
Pulse Large Laser 2 LTR 7
ER PPC 3 RA 7
ER PPC 3 LA 7
ER Medium Laser 1 RA 1
ER Medium Laser 1 RA 1
ER Medium Laser 1 RA 1
ER Medium Laser 1 LA 1
ER Medium Laser 1 LA 1
ER Medium Laser 1 LA 1
Dual Cockpit 1 H 1
Command Console 1 H 3
3 Crew Quarters 3 H 3
Elbow Room x2 2 H 0
C3i 2 CT 2.5
Guardian ECM Suite 2 CT 1.5
Beagle Active Probe 2 CT 1.5
Jump Jets 1 RT 6
Jump Jets 1 LT 6
TSM crits: 2 RL/LL, RA/LA
Endosteel crits: 7 RA/LA
Both hand actuators present
Advanced Satellite Uplink
Crit remaining: 6 RA/LA, 2 CT
VARIANTS
Each group of 6 WoBs typically only includes a single command unit (the WOB-1B, shown above). The other 5 Wraths of Blake replace the command console with an additional heat sink (also engine mounted) and two more ER Medium Lasers. A popular field modification replaces the ER Medium Lasers with standard medium lasers, which enables more simultaneous use of the lasers and ER PPCs.
Near the end of the Jihad, the Word of Blake was planning to address the Wrath of Blake's vulnerability to rear attackers (who were learning to attack from over 300 meters behind a Wrath of Blake) by replacing the pulse large lasers with rear-firing ER PPCs. This would necessitate relocating a ton of ammo from each side torso to the center torso.
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.
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Diablo
01/22/04 08:55 PM
65.48.253.212
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n/t
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