Bad ‘Mechs – Bane (Kraken)

Bad 'Mechs - Bane

Courtesy of Eldoniousrex

“I will defeat you with two of my Large Lasers powered down!”

“Then I will face you without my machine guns!” 

The red-haired MechWarrior scoffed at Star Commander Edwin’s counter-bid. “And you think those piddly armaments would do any more than scratch by Dire Wolf’s paint?”

“Well… there are four of them!” 

Star Commander Ross laughed. “Very well, we shall commence our ‘Mech-based duel without your anti-infantry weapons.” The surrounding MechWarriors chuckled at the Clan equivalent of a good zinger.

It was clear to Edwin that he was already losing the opening rounds of this Trial of Grievance. It was unusual for warriors to bid away individual weapon systems before such a trial, especially when both their ‘Mechs were of equal weight, but Ross believed the best way to prove the superiority of her Dire Wolf was to fight Edwin’s Bane without two of its main weapons. Edwin, proud of his classic Jade Falcon assault ‘Mech and eager to demonstrate the superiority of Falcon engineering over a traditional Clan Wolf design, couldn’t let Ross humiliate him before the battle had even begun. 

“Additionally,” Edwin called over the laughter of his fellow MechWarriors, “I will fight without two of my autocannon’s ammo bins.” 

That caused the laughter to stop–from everyone but Ross. “Well bargained, and done!” She then turned and walked towards the hangars, leaving Edwin speechless and surrounded by looks of concern.

The fight began at range. Ross’s remaining ER Large Lasers stitched lines across Edwin’s Bane, while LRMs pockmarked the assault ‘Mech’s tough armor. In response, Edwin fired all ten of his ultra autocannons, dumping hundreds of rounds into the Dire Wolf’s equally thick hide. The two behemoths stalked forward almost in lockstep, closing the distance while under equally withering fire. By the time the distance between them had closed to within range of Ross’s Medium Pulse Lasers, both their armor were in tatters. 

One more fusillade and Edwin would start tearing away at Ross’s internal structure. He pulled the trigger to start delivering the final blows, only nothing happened. A blinking red light on his HUD confirmed his ammo bins had run dry. And without being able to use his machine guns, he was reduced to dishonorable physical combat.

“What’s the matter, Star Commander,” came Ross’s mocking voice. “Have you run out of ammo?” 

Edwin slumped in his command chair. She was right–he didn’t stand a chance without working weapons. But he was a proud Falcon warrior, and if there was one thing Falcons didn’t know, it was when to quit. 

Edwin shouted into his neurohelmet and kicked his Bane up to its maximum speed of 54 kph. As green bolts chewed into his ‘Mechs internals, Star Commander Edwin lumbered towards victory or death.


Bane TRO 3055

There is perhaps no greater example of the Clan’s disregard for ammo dependency than the Bane. With a mere four tons of ammo feeding ten dual-speed autocannons, the Bane is liable to empty its bins in even light combat actions. In protracted fights, the Bane will find itself a 100-ton target for ‘Mechs designed with the foresight of unrestricted warfare.

Like the Stone Rhino, the Bane (or Kraken, as it is known in the Inner Sphere) started life as a Star League-era prototype design. No examples were built before the Amaris Civil War, but as with many future Clan ‘Mechs, the Bane‘s blueprints were taken with General Kerensky during the Exodus. Following Operation Klondike and the re-taking of the Pentagon Worlds, small-scale production of the Bane would see it included in various Clan toumans, fulfilling the role of heavy ranged support. The Bane would be phased out with the arrival of the OmniMech, although the venerable design would continue to see use in second-line units and garrison forces. 

Despite newer ‘Mechs supplanting its role in the decades following its introduction in 2827, the Bane would continue to be a favorite of Clan Jade Falcon, often serving as a test-bed for the latest generation of equipment. Production of the Bane would continue at Tokasha MechWorks until the Falcon’s abjuration from the Clan Homeworlds, at which point production was transferred to Olivetti Weaponry on Sudeten. 

Bane Kraken CCG

The initial design for the Bane saw a 100-ton chassis bristling with small-caliber autocannons and machine guns. The Bane had ten such Ultra Autocannon/2s backed up by four machine guns for anti-infantry work. This armament made the Bane incredibly effective both as an anti-aircraft platform and a ‘Mech that could eliminate entire platoons of unarmored infantry. That would remain true until the advent of Elemental armor in the late 2860s, although the sheer volume of fire coming from a single Bane was still problematic for even a full point of Elementals.

The Bane‘s armament would prove less effective against peer foes, especially new-generation assault OmniMechs like the Executioner, Warhawk, and Dire Wolf. Although still effective at crippling lighter ‘Mechs at extreme ranges, heavier units could withstand the Bane‘s lead rain and respond with more potent weapons. Bane MechWarriors often found their four tons of ammunition run dry just before penetrating heavily armored opponents, leaving the Bane combat ineffective at the worst possible moment.

Although flawed for its extreme dependence on ammunition and access to secure supply lines, the Bane did have an exceptional nineteen tons of armor and ten double heat sinks to keep the machine cool in various situations and environments. Its use of standard armor and a standard chassis also made it easier to produce and repair, two qualities that made the Bane especially attractive when Clan Jade Falcon switched to an Inner Sphere production line.

Bane 4 TRO 3055U

Recognizing the Bane‘s now inadequate armament, the Jade Falcons introduced multiple production variants to address the Bane‘s primary flaw. The Bane 2, introduced in the late 3050s, swapped the original’s light-caliber weapons for four Ultra-class Autocannon/10s. Better yet, the Bane 2 featured fourteen tons of ammunition, allowing it to deliver devastating salvos throughout even extended combat actions. Similarly, the Bane 3 swapped its autocannons for an astounding eight LRM-15 launchers for awe-inspiring volleys of up to 120 missiles. Nineteen double heat sinks kept the Bane 3 cool enough for continuous bombardment, although some of its launchers would eventually remain silent if the pilot wanted to avoid heat issues. A single one-shot Streak SRM-4 launcher seemed inadequate to deter Elementals that manage to sneak their way through enemy lines.

When the Advanced Tactical Missile became more widely available, the Falcons mounted them on the Bane 4 in the mid-to-late 3050s. This variant of the Bane came armed with three ATM-6s with four tons of ammunition, although those were secondary to the ‘Mech’s primary weapon system: twin Ultra Autocannon/20s. These massive cannons were backed by six tons of ammo as well as a single ER Large Laser for additional long-range punch. Seventeen double heat sinks keep the Bane 4 cool. 

Although all Banes shared the same chassis, individual variants could appear radically different. For example, the original model Banes featured plantigrade legs, while newer-model Banes feature digitigrade legs. Up until the Dark Age, plantigrade Banes were more common, but increased production from Olivetti Weaponry eventually led to the digitigrade style becoming the standard orientation for Bane locomotion. 

Bane IlClan Recognition Guide

Further Dark Age variants continued the Falcons’ penchant for experimentation on the versatile Assault ‘Mech. The Bane 5 uses Inner Sphere-sourced Rotary Autocannon/2s while the Bane 6 returns to the original’s focus on massed small-caliber weapons. Ten ProtoMech AC/2s are matched to twelve tons of ammo and a Targeting Computer for highly accurate long-range fire. The Bane 5 matched its autocannons with an ER Large Laser and twin LRM-10s, while the Bane 6 had four ER Medium Lasers. ECM kept both machines protected while operating at range. Finally, the Bane 7 paired twin HAG 40s with a Large Pulse Laser and four ER Medium Lasers, harkening back to the Bane 4 in terms of armament.  

Barring the brief decades following Operation Klondike, the Bane has gone from a relative rarity to a much more common sight on the modern battlefield. However, that can largely be attributed to the Jade Falcons’ scientist caste. Had the Falcons now continuously iterated on the Bane with newer technology, it seems most likely that the Bane would have died out when its armament became outmatched.

And as always, MechWarriors: Stay Syrupy.

stay syrupy

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About Sean

Hooked on BattleTech at an early age, Sean honestly can't remember whether it was the cartoon, the serial novels or the short-lived TCG that did him in. Whatever it was, his passion for giant shooty robots never died, so now he writes about the latest and greatest in 'Mech related news.

41 thoughts on “Bad ‘Mechs – Bane (Kraken)

  1. sharlin

    The lord and master of door dings, fighting a Bane is an exercise in irritation because if you’ve got a clear LOS, you can blaze away with the guns and nibble someone to death. Yes it relies on TAC’s but the constant hail of door dings that it can do are pure frustration.

    The Bane 3 is horrific, and the later ones are also nasty, the one with the dual UAC-20’s is terrifying, its basically a King Crab but dialed up a notch or two.

    Reply
  2. Andy

    See, I’m not so sure the Bane is all that bad. Clanners are all about reducing waste, right? What better machine to reduce waste than one that can kill the pilot without ever actually penetrating the armor, by just getting 1 or 2 head hits every single turn, from 27 hexes away?

    Perfectly salvageable isorla, every time. :D

    Reply
    1. Benjamin Myers

      chance of rolling a 12 on 2d6 is 2.77$. Probabilities don’t stack, each indicidual role has the same 2.77%

      Yes, if you hit with literally everyting you have 20 (24 with a Bane 4) bites at the apple (and annoy the whole table,, while they wait), but that’s a big if.

      On average you’ll hit with 1/2 to 2/3 of them. Closer to 1/4 if you want to stand back at maximum range.

      On average you are likely only to hit with 5-6 (2-3 of the 4 if B4), and from 27 hex away? Closer to 3-4 (1 out of 4 for b4)

      With UACs, you roll on SRM2 tables, and are most likely to still only hit with a single rd per. but we’ll be generous and give it 1.5. So low end? 5-6 actual ac2 hits, each with a whopping 2.77% change to hit the head? 9ish hits at mid range?

      With the Rotary model at sexuple rate, you role on SRM6 table for number of hits, which average 4 hits. So most likely between 8-12 hits mid range, 4-6 at maximum?

      You might get real lucky and get that cluster, but just basic maths, you aren’t going to average 1-2 head hits per rd, even before we count in jamming.

      Reply
      1. Owl

        Don’t forget that there are TWO critical hit locations on the distribution chart, one is the head, the other is a through the torso critical hit. Basically the chances are 2 in 36 for something to go really wrong.

        And just FYI, the maths isn’t like that, the 2.77% is for a single “roll”, if you are doing multiple rolls, the odds are (0.723)^10 for no critical hits at all. So the chance to get AT LEAST ONE critical hit in 10 rolls is really close to 96%. i.e 1-(0.73)^10.

        Of course this all depends on if all 10 shots hit in the first place. After all, you got to hit the target before you can roll on a “hit location table”. But if all of them hit, something bad tends to happen to the enemy.

        Reply
  3. Stretch5678

    A standard-issue Bane is the Battlemech equivalent of a minigun loaded with BBs.

    Is it tactically or strategically useful? No.

    Is it fun as hell to use? Yes.

    Can you still somehow plink someone’s eye out with a lucky hit? Also yes.

    Joking aside, aircraft should definitely beware of the horizontal hailstorm this thing can churn out.

    Reply
    1. James

      I don’t have it with me, but I thought the Bane 5 used four Clan RAC-2s, not the IS version. I’ll have to check my ilClan manual later

      Reply
    2. Rob C.

      There largely one thing about the original Bane people miss. It’s crit ding machine. With enough hits at long range, you could (table top wise) get good chance of getting criticals on a target.

      Reply
  4. Bishop Steiner

    but but but… CRIT SEEKING!

    Says the players who don’t have an actual.. ya know.. plan. lol.

    Reply
    1. John Kraemer

      The Bane is one of my go-tos for when I don’t have a plan and my sense of whimsy has completely overriden what little logical thought I have. My old group back in the late 90s used to have “sheet recycle days” when RS copies would be marked with a permanent markers before getting tossed in a shredder, instead of pencil for being erased later…I had a preference in assaults during these instances: the Bane, the classic 1A1 Charger, and the classic 3E Banshee.

      Reply
  5. Salty Mariner

    The variants are all pretty nasty except the 6, which seems to be even worse than the original. Ten Proto AC/2s with 480 shots? Backed up by 4 medium lasers? Even with a targeting computer, that’s twenty points of damage at medium long range, 20 hexes, with 48 shots per AC. That’s awful. There must be medium class ‘Mechs that outgun that variant, only, without the armor.

    That being said, the original, yeah, a 100 ton ‘Mech with not even ten full volleys with its main cannons, backed up by almost nothing, is just unfathomable. Ha.

    Reply
    1. Charon

      Guessing the ten proto ACs variant was an in-universe method of the Falcons using up leftover resources after shutting down their Protomech program, no letting war material go to waste and all that, much like they did with micro lasers on the Pinion, and a lesser extent proto 4s on the Fire Falcon

      Reply
  6. Beemer

    When I redid the Ashley Watkins article, I learned that she designed the Bane to take advantage of the Solaris VII dueling rules per direction from FASA. I’ve never played those rules but I imagine 10x Ultra AC/2s are probably very dangerous with that ruleset. The Bane 3 and 7 are my favorites.

    Reply
  7. KhanCipher

    >a 1950 bv clan assault
    >it’s able to reach out farther than LRMs
    >has practically full armor and decent front/rear distrobution
    >somehow this all makes it bad

    okay, tell me you’ve never used it without telling me you’ve never used it.

    Reply
    1. Flashfreeze

      But consider the rest of the points about the Bane Prime.

      > Armed with 10 Ultra AC/2s for a maximum of 40 damage as 20 2-point clusters.
      > Statistical likelihood of about 13-14 actual hits out of a possible 20 clusters, assuming all 10 salvos hit the target, since Ultras use the SRM-2 table.
      > At maximum effective range, statistically likely to only land 1/2 to 1/3 of shots, producing 5 to 7 actual hits out of a possible 20.
      > 1 in 36 chance of jamming any Ultra fired on double, regardless of range.

      Low BV and long range are great, but what good are those without effective power projection, especially if you’re obeying zell like a proper Clansman? You have no holepunching capability to make use of that crit seeking, and its threat value diminishes dramatically with range because of the law of averages–14 damage per turn at long range is not a worthy investment. The math simply does not favor this build.

      Reply
      1. Owl

        For the tabletop rules, you can get a crit THROUGH the armor, you don’t need to hole it to get a crit.

        Reply
      2. Owl

        My previous post mysteriously disappeared, ignore this if it turns up again.

        On the tabletop, there are hit locations that give you a crit THROUGH the armor, no need to punch holes in it to score some Engine damage or a Gyro hit. The maths is that if all 10 AC2s hit, there is a 96% chance of getting at least 1 critical in the torso location that you are facing. So when he says “crit seeking”, he does not mean the “shots looking for previous holes” method that people normally use (and yes, I agree that this is normal, the “crit without penetration” is an abnormal method.) and instead tries to destroy the mech without destroying the armor.

        Reply
        1. Flashfreeze

          Fun fact: when this design was first released back in 1992, Through Armor Criticals did not exist. You were expected to sandblast your way through enemy armor the hard way.

          Regardless of that old chestnut, expecting all of those AC/2s to hit a pipe dream. Realistically, test simulations and basic math show that:

          1) they won’t accomplish that short of having the most impressive dice luck known to man
          2) they also won’t get those much needed TACs with any reliability with the number of shots that will land each turn
          3) even getting a TAC does not guarantee that the slot it hits will be important.

          Conversely, enemies with even basic hole-punching capability will usually start to do something horrible to a Bane’s armor somewhere between turn 3 and turn 5.

          Reply
  8. Craig

    It definitely is a “bad” mech in that the reality would be pretty useless. This mech’s speed makes it basically a gun turret such as an Urbanmech.

    For defending a position against vehicles, VTOLs, infantry etc. it would be not bad as long as it doesn’t double-fire the ACs.

    Against mechs and in desperation, _that’s_ when you carefully pick your spots for double-fire and empty those bins hoping for head hits / crits.

    Sacrifice one cannon for ammo and it becomes… less bad.

    In Clan terms, this mech should be used to defend a bidding objective such as a station, command center, spaceport, genetics repository etc. as a last-ditch effort against more mobile forces.

    Reply
    1. Andy

      I mean, it has a 3/5 move profile, same as 90% of assault mechs. Are you considering Dire Wolves, Atlases, King Crabs and Devastators “gun turrets”? Seems a little harsh. There’s a big difference between the 2/3 Urbie and a 3/5 assault.

      Reply
  9. Eric Karau

    The design’s armament is so pitiful: when you’re in combat, you want to KILL your opponent very dead very fast then move on to new targets! I have a hatred for the LB-X autocannon and it’s cluster ammo: you KILL your opponent, NOT tick him off by sanding off his armor!

    Reply
    1. Warmind

      LB-X can fire slugs too. Besides, cluster is amazing for TACing, Critseeking, Anti-Air, and Anti-Tank jobs. It kills things very, very dead. The Bane’s armament is fine for shredding the skies. The issue is that it’s marketed as a frontline assault ‘mecc.

      Reply
      1. Kage

        Marketing? To whom? Please cite your sources, beause Sarna refers to it as a Defensive Fire Support Mech. Maybe you are confusing the weight classification of Assault as it’s role?

        Reply
  10. Flashfreeze

    A post about the Bane Prime and no mention of the legendary JadeHellbringer incident? Shock.

    (For those who don’t know: JadeHellbringer is a mod over on the Classic Battletech forums and he sometimes has the worst luck with dice. Most notably the time he was rolling out in a Bane Prime at a convention and spent his first turn firing them of his guns on Ultra.

    Of ten Ultra autocannons, he jammed seven of them. On his first turn.

    Someone else did the math and determined the odds of experiencing seven jams in one turn was about one in several hundred… million. He destroyed the offending dice with cleansing flame in the parking lot afterwards.)

    Reply
  11. DReising

    Thank you for writing these articles, Sean. They are very entertaining and informative. I appreciate the effort that you and Eldonious Rex put into these articles. You were asking for suggestions on future “bad mechs” in a previous article. My suggestions are the Dervish, Vindicator, Panther, Jagermech, and Urbanmech.

    Reply
    1. Colin

      Hey, the Vindicator is a great little trooper. What makes it ‘bad’ is it’s the Apple Mac of ‘mechs: everything bar the small laser is proprietary to Ceres Metals Industries, which means if the Cappellans don’t like you, you’re not getting parts.

      Reply
    2. Pale Wolf

      Nah, the UrbanMech isn’t a bad mech.

      The trick is that mechs like this aren’t really light mechs, whatever their weight category. It’s not meant to perform the roles of a light mech, and it doesn’t belong in a light lance because it fundamentally can’t do the job.

      It’s actually a thirty-ton assault mech. It’s meant to perform the duties of an assault mech at the lowest feasible price point. It’s less than a sixth of the cost of the Annihilator, about a sixth of the firepower, performing basically the same role at comparable speeds. Less well, but six UrbanMechs vs an Annihilator is starting to be in contention.

      They might still lose, budget options can often be less cost-efficient than the boutique model. But on the other hand, if you’re strapped for cash the UrbanMech may be the only thing you can use to fill that role at all. And while they’ll probably lose in a white room ‘everyone is staring at one another across an open field’ match, their numbers allow things to get a lot more interesting in the tight confines of a city, where both Mechs are meant to do the fighting and half of them can be shooting at the Annihilator’s back.

      The UrbanMech does what it’s meant to do perfectly. It’s just that what it’s meant to do is very much on the low end of the setting. The UrbanMech’s failings are the fundamental limitations of its role, not flaws in the mech.

      Reply
  12. Joseph

    Finally, the Bane! I knew it would show up here eventually, and I’m not disappointed.

    I’ve noticed that one of my favorite weapons systems, the AC2, gets a lot of hate from the community. And while I could probably write an article of my own about AC2’s, I think the Bane is a good example of both the strengths and weaknesses of the weapon. It certainly takes the ideas I think would lead to the best results with AC2s, albeit it takes it to the illogical extreme.

    I think the Bane’s biggest strength and weakness is that it’s built on clan tech. While the clan tech does let the Bane pack in more weapons with less space and weight than an IS counterpart, it also means that they have less emphasis on packing enough ammo. Which I find a bit weird. While Clan mechs are usually stingy with their ammo allowance, they are usually very good about giving the mechs that boat weapons anywhere from plenty to excessive amounts of ammo for those weapons. I mean, look at the Bane 2!

    The Bane also suffers because Clan battle tactics discourage a lot of the tactics that where the Bane would be strong, that mostly being direct fire support rolls. However, as seems to be a trend with a lot of the mechs in these articles, a little more time and effort turns the Bane into a force to be reckoned with.

    One interesting note I remember from a forum article about the Bane I read once: The author of said article theorized that when being designed the Bane could have had a SRM4 in the place of it’s machine guns. The tonnage checks out, and the machine gun pod defiantly looks like it could have been an SRM4, so I wonder why they went with the machine guns. Filling out critical slots maybe?

    Reply
  13. Doug

    The Bane1 is wrong, it needed lbx acs to do its thing of crit hunting at long range. The Bane3 is WRONG because it so abusive and then some. Alternate lrm ammo makes it a nightmare. The other Banes are whacky. Fantastic mech and always fun to use, even the Bane1. This really needed an updated rotary ac2 version.

    Reply
  14. Charon

    Hmmm. Another interesting one, and worth a pause, and a think, well a bit.
    First (and I had many thoughts arguing over first place) trying to compare an older Bane, and newer (and significantly more resource hungry) battle monster like a Dire Wolf is a bit unfair. Kind of like asking why a Hatchetman can’t out fight a Griffin in open ground (but opposite) or why a Rifleman isn’t ideal to go one-on-one with a Warhammer or Marauder. Theyre just different uses.
    While many say there are no bad Mechs, just pilots or commanders, we know by now that’s not true.
    In this case Star Commander Edwin however, considering he was fighting a friggin’ Dire Wolf/Daishi was fighting on the side of idiocy, not his own Those things carry so much firepower, that they can’t hope to fire it all at once; losing two of its lasers is barely a reduction. Meanwhile, Edwin gets rid of half his ammo, and only weak backup.
    ‘Bargained poorly and done’

    For the Mech itself? Lots of possible improvements. Sure, it was made before Elementals, but in one hundred or so years, nobody thought to pull off the old machineguns? A pair of ER Med Lasers might not seem like much to the Clans, but to me its still almost two Large Lasers. Basically, enough to punch holes in Fire Moths or other light Mechs, or maybe finish off what you’ve been sanding down. I would rather just switch out a UA/2 on each arm for an ER Large though. Per arm, it would average about the same as the cannons, while still allowing you to pop off with the longest range weapons of the time (and have fewer cannons eating ammo) and give powerful energy weapon backups, at close to the range.
    Speaking of range… These are, again designed for extreme range, while 19 tons of armor is lovely, piloting one of these, I would happily trade maybe 2 tons of armor, to increase the ammo bays by 50%, with two fewer cannons blazing, gives you almost twice as many salvos (1.875 per close enough)
    Problems solved, all with fairly minor mods, and keeping with the low(er) resources used and keeping true to the original concept, without engine, skeletal or armor changes
    The machineguns in that case can even 1. stay, 2. Become the lasers still, 3. Retain your armor levels, or 4. Become two heat sinks to let it fire both larges continuously.
    Another long winded post, but that’s where I see things. Mech as a whole? Issues. Easily fixable though.

    Reply
    1. Charon

      Guess I’ll keep going after all, on the alternate versions (so many of which you might think it actually were an Omnimech)
      2. Awesome, well, not like the mech, but more Annihilation. Basically an Annihilator with far more armor (not saying that like it’s a bad thing). 3. Missile Boat from hell? Yes please. 4. With the twin Ultra 20, plus ER Large? Oooh I want one. And King Crab on steroids? True.
      Match up a full star (yeah, 5 100 tonners is asking a bit much, but still) with two of my modified originals, two of the UAC/10 and one with the dual UAC/20 to center things… Epic.

      Reply
  15. Nemo

    It really is a shame we have no Bane-3 in MWO. Clans don’t even have a LRM boat in the 100-ton bracket. The other variants, including the first one, would also be very, very fun (14 ballistics slots, anyone?)

    Reply
  16. Steel Shanks

    The Bane is a terrible Mech, I concur… But I also think a lot of Clanner Crap is bad. The Dual Ultra20 with a ER Large, was the only one that gave Me pause… That one seems far more serious. Now, the Newest Art is fantastic, I like it just for that. Great looking design. The Original Art… Not so much. Seemed really Janky.

    DReising- Dervish is a great Mech man, I do not agree it is bad at all. The same with the Vindicator. The Vindicator is the ONLY good thing the Capellans ever did. Especially if it’s tweaked out like St. Ives Blue…

    Reply
  17. Chaosticket

    Most battlemechs have the problem is that theyre well tanks and not.

    The Bane prime is basically a walking Anti-Aircraft platform, but its also a 100ton battlemech rated at the same tier as the likes of the Dire Wolf.

    A big problem with Battletech is that Autocannons are bad. Theyre either too heavy and short ranged or too weak and still pretty heavy.

    A 2.5-5 Clan Ultra-Autocannons can be replaced by 1 single Clan Extended Range Large Laser.

    Reply
  18. Colin

    The Bane Prime is the idea of ‘more gun’ extended to its logical conclusion: “We *can* fit that many plinkers on an assault mech, and so we *will*!” Does it make sense? No. When the storm of boolets causes a hit on the head and the pilot fails their consciousness check, is it as funny as the Charger getting into melee range? Oh, very much yes.

    Meanwhile, the Bane 4, slightly irked at all the pointed comments, became the Clan King Crab, down to the missile ammo scarcity. The ATM, though it’s more of a weapons system you design a vehicle around, can unleash a storm of 3-point HE hits. That’s three Artemis IV-enhanced SRM6 launchers, but *worse*. Thus, I never want to be on the receiving end of it.

    Reply
  19. SilverCyanide

    The Bane is one of those comedy ‘mech that is decent in some specific roles (anti-infantry, anti-vehicle, anti-aircraft), but awful in the one role that matters, anti-‘mech warfare. Some of the variants are more decent, of course. Even with the simple logistics of the Bane (standard parts all over, simple autocannons…), you would be better off building a Stone Rhino factory 98% of the time to build “simple yet effective” designs.

    Reply
  20. Jared Blando

    The Kraken is a fine mech, and for a 100 ton Clan Mech, pretty affordable. The Prime is 1950BV, and the 2 is 2500BV (before adjusting to 3/4 of course). The Prime variant can seem underwhelming, until you are fighting off swarms of aerotech assets, hovercraft, fast vehicles, and annoying infantry… its basically a giant rifleman that doesnt suck. And yes crit seeking is absolutely a thing. Ping the face and see them fail that conscience roll and even the biggest baddest mech will fall while the rest of your star mates swarm it. Considering the Bane 2 is an absolute beast with enough ammo to blast away with everything it has for almost 18 turns and take an insane amount of punishment… i honestly dont understand why this article was even written other than for funsies and to dunk on Clanners, lol. Almost all the Krakens have a support purpose in mind, and while they may not be as versatile as your average Clan Omnimech (or as fast), they focus on that job with laser efficiency.

    Reply
  21. Trenchbird

    The Kraken 3 is pretty much the epitome of “Be careful of who you call ugly in Middle School” in mech form.

    Reply
  22. club

    Bane I has a niche; cleanup. It just isn’t a niche you want to use your 100 tons of cleantech on.

    Reply
  23. Wok

    One role of the Bane not mentioned here already is what i call a psychological Mech.
    A term that came into mind while still paying MWO is defined by the enemy desperately wanting to kill you – instead of your lance mates. So if your low flying Jenner is the first target the enemy sees, you just got promoted to short-lived main tank.

    Now, everybody wants to kill a 100 tonner.
    Everybody wants to kill a Mech who is scoring hits at them constantly.
    And all the Banes have the armour to play “distant tank”.

    Distraction. Show your Plinkyplink while working out your plan. Works against the computer or in action games every time, and once against human opponents.
    Maybe twice. It’s psychological.

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