
Courtesy of Eldoniousrex
Merchant Factor Stephens knew this was not the normal way for a ‘Mech to be produced. In order to ensure the Thresher Mk II (or Thresher II—the Clan had yet to decide on an official moniker) was ready as soon as possible, the scientist caste had been largely bypassed and only the Technician Caste was involved in modifying existing Thresher chassis. While this hastened development, it also caused a number of unforeseen issues to arise.
That number, according to chief technician Waylen, totaled 117.
“The PPC in the left arm is far heavier than the original pulse laser, and because the gyro had not been reprogrammed with the new center of mass, the ‘Mech pulls to the left,” Waylen explained. “And last of the major issues, the new CASE II ammo bins aren’t quite large enough for the added missile capacity, so the LRM launcher jams at a rate of 12 percent.”
“That does not sound so bad,” Stephens said, hoping to find some silver lining in what was increasingly looking like a technological boondoggle.
Waylen shook his head. “The launcher loads 15 missiles at a time, so that is slightly more than one jam per reload.”
Stephens sighed. He had been given command of the Thresher refit project after Clan Sea Fox had failed to find buyers for the venerable garrison ‘Mech, but at least the three-centuries-old design worked. Politicians always felt like starting with a proven design was the fastest way to get to another, equally effective weapons platform, but Stephens knew that wasn’t always the case. In fact, sometimes it was the complete opposite.
“Oh, I had also forgotten to mention the problem with the engine supercharger.”
At this, Stephens simply threw up his hands in frustration. “Let me guess: the engine tolerances were insufficient so the engine overheats and risks shutdown mere moments after activation?”
Waylen checked his noteputer, then nodded mutely. As chief technician at Trellshire Heavy Industries, he had long since learned when not to speak during a tense meeting with the boss.
“‘There cannot be any delays.’ Such was the command of Khan Hawker himself,” Merchant Factor Stephens muttered, mostly to himself, but loud enough to forestall any requests for a delay from technician Waylen.
“We do as we must. Organize this list based on time estimates for rectification—easy fixes first, hard fixes last. We will produce the most complete BattleMech we can.”
Midway through Waylens’ second nod, a warrior still clad in her neurohelmet and jumpsuit burst through the door. “What surat designed this accursed machine? My targeting system shut down during a live-fire test!”
Stephens blinked and then turned to Waylen. “Is that on the list?”
“Neg, Merchant Factor.”
“Thank you, warrior—” Stephens quickly scanned the warrior’s name tag as he rose from his seat to address her with all the respect due to the warrior caste, “—Fez. This will be noted for future revision.”
The warrior’s demeanor softened, but only slightly. “See that it is done. I cannot imagine the Wolves will be repeat customers if we sell them faulty Thresher refits.”
Fez stormed off, leaving Stephens and Waylen to consider her words. Then Merchant Factor Stephens turned to Waylen and said, “I had thought these refits were for our own touman.”
“Neg, Merchant Factor. These are for Clan Wolf.”
Stephens sighed again, but this time in relief. There is no way that Clan Sea Fox would have taken on such an order without acquiring payment upfront. “Ah, well, then I am sure the Wolves will understand if the Thresher Mk II has some teething issues, given the short delivery timeline.”
“And the targeting systems?”
Stephens thought for a moment, then smiled. “Tell them that it will be fixed in a future software update.”
Audio courtesy of Nate from BungleTech
The business acumen of the most mercantile Clan to ever enter the Inner Sphere is usually beyond reproach, except in a few notable exceptions. Alongside the Dasher II, the Thresher Mk II is one of those exceptions.
Following the Blackout, Clan Sea Fox rightly sensed a remilitarization of the Inner Sphere was soon to follow, and that customers would be demanding both high-tech, cutting-edge machinery and dependable, low-cost BattleMechs to garrison their holdings. The Thresher, a nearly 300-year-old design, seemed like the ideal BattleMech to resurrect for Inner Sphere customers.
To be fair to Clan Sea Fox, merchants had seen plenty of success selling older Clan OmniMechs to Inner Sphere customers (the Coyotl being perhaps the best example), so one could forgive Clan leadership for assuming that the Thresher would be equally as successful. Instead, Clan Sea Fox was dismayed to see its entire first production run of the venerable Clan BattleMech sit unsold.
But where the Sea Fox’s business acumen fails, the Clan’s blind luck succeeds. Desperate for as much materiel as possible, Khan Alaric Ward of Clan Wolf agreed to purchase every Thresher the Sea Foxes had thus far produced, but only on the condition that they be refitted into the ideal weapon to face the Republic‘s combined-arms regiments. Among the Khan’s demands were Reflective armor, additional speed, and arm actuators to improve the Thresher‘s capacity for physical combat. He also demanded that the ‘Mechs be combat-ready within the year.
Sea Fox technicians at Trellshire Heavy Industries made a heroic effort to meet Ward’s demands with orders starting fulfillment in 3149. Initial combat reports against Republic forces on Chertan and Pollux were positive, but MechWarriors reported the Thresher Mk II suffered from dozens of technical glitches ranging from sticky actuators to miscalibrated gyros. The worst issue centered on the Thresher Mk II‘s Dtrac Suite 1 targeting system, which would sometimes shut down completely for no apparent reason. Most of these failures happened during routine patrols and training, but at least one instance occurred to an unfortunate Clan Wolf MechWarrior during the Battle for Terra, forcing him to resort to physical combat.
The Sea Foxes explained to angry Wolf pilots that the Thresher Mk II‘s rushed development meant that certain technical faults evaded the Clan’s rigorous testing and that all could be resolved through software updates. However, the damage to the ‘Mech’s reputation—within Clan Wolf at least—was already done. Unpopular in the Wolf touman, the Thresher Mk II is expected to be phased out in favor of the Dominator, which has the benefit of being domestically produced as well as sharing similar capabilities.
To keep costs down, the Thresher Mk II retains the same chassis, engine, heat sinks, and jump jets as the original Thresher. The only changes are to weapons, armor, and the addition of both arm actuators and an engine supercharger.
The Thresher Mk II completely removes the original’s weapons in favor of a Type 22 ER PPC, a Type XV “Crossbow” 15-tube long-range missile launcher (with two tons of ammo), a Series 44h Large Pulse Laser, a Mk. 22 Type II 4-tube short-range missile launcher (with a single ton of ammo), and a DuPont Ultra PM Flamer for anti-infantry defense, allowing it to engage foes at any range. Only 13 double heat sinks are insufficient for the now largely energy-based payload. CASE II protects all ammo bins, and the Thresher‘s 9.5 tons of armor plate has been replaced with the same amount of Gamma Special Reflective armor, providing additional defense against energy-based weapons.
The engine supercharger—when combined with the existing MASC system—allows the Thresher Mk II to achieve an impressive top speed of 140 kph. This allows the Thresher Mk II to excel as a cavalry unit and even serve in scout Stars as heavy fire support. However, the twin speed-boosting systems double the potential for catastrophic failure when used simultaneously.
On paper at least, the Thresher Mk II is a capable machine, but its rushed development made it arrive as an unreliable one. With lives at stake, soldiers require the reliability of their weapons more than anything else. Its reputation is likely forever tarnished among the Wolves, but the Thresher Mk II could still see success on the open market or within the Sea Fox’s own touman, once its many issues are corrected.
And as always, MechWarriors: Stay Syrupy.
MASC and Supercharger should probably be not allowed by rules due to reality-bending (one speed upgrade only), but besides that, high BV / currency cost?
5/8/5 is not optimal with 60 tons but this machine is only guilty of being light on armor for an XL engine. In my experience, XL engines need maximum armor on those side torsos – even 5 points short can result in disaster.
I’m not a huge fan of flamers. However there’s no denying they add options on a tactical level in certain terrain.
Clan XL, losing a side is not a disaster
So it’s a bit (OK, a lot) underarmored for a heavy, but it is also insanely fast for a heavy. I still think that if you keep that in mind, and let go of the idea it’s going to do typical heavy ‘Mech roles, and instead use it the way the original battlecruiser was intended to be-a very heavy scout unit that could crush the enemy’s recon forces and lead the main force to the enemy, then fall back a serve as a mobile reserve to exploit breaches. The ER PPC/Large pulse combo makes it a terrifying scout hunter. Those smaller ‘Mechs tend to lean heavily on energy weapons, so the reflective armor really shines (sorry not sorry) in this role. So I can see this as a leader for scout or striker Stars, provided you have a spare *record scratch* I’m sorry, battle value WHAT?
That’s right folks. In BV terms, there’s less than half an elemental suit’s difference between this and a Turkina B. I know which I’d rather have. The jump jets, MASC, and supercharger all eat up a ton of weight that can’t be used together while inflating the battle value beyond all reason.
I also find it funny they added hands to improve close combat capability while also installing reflective “get into melee, lose your knees” armor.
“Battlecruiser” reference is historically speaking, not kind. Interesting of course in concept. Surprised it’s still a word in general use to be honest, I would have thought the English Navy wore it out. Like British Racing Green. Even “Glass Cannon” is kinder!
You are correct though – it is an effective design against say, Wolfounds and Jenners. Which is definitely useful. Clan LPL’s are murder! Also against IS heavies such as Black Knights, Grasshoppers, and Penetrators with energy-weapon heavy loadouts that are a tad slow on the ‘modern’ (3100s) battlefield.
As true as that hunter role is, spending over 3300 BV to bully light ‘Mechs is hilariously overkill.
Ha, 3300 – you could buy three Wraiths with that.
Sometimes you play to win, sometimes you play for flavor other times you play to PROVE A POINT.
ALL LIGHTS MUST DIE.
That being said I have no problems with lights but sometimes after losing something to a nice back stab, you just want vengeance the next time you play.
This mech gives you that.
Over all it’s not terrible, but as always enjoy the write up!
Actually, that’s the way that battlecruisers tend to be in Aerotech 2–tremendous firepower but relatively thin-skinned, so the comparison is apt here.
I guess I can get behind this one as a Bad ‘Mech. Most of its gimps come from the lore, again, but the Ramshackle quirk is IMO not enough. Now throw in Poor Workmanship and Difficult to Maintain, and yeah, this is a ‘Mech that no sane warrior or tech would want to touch with a 20-foot pole. But relatively few players use Quirks anyway–just too cumbersome in anything larger than a lance-on-lance or Star-on-Star battle–so even just the canon Quirk isn’t likely to have much in-game effect.
This ‘Mech has not quite new toy syndrome, but sort of a “too many toys” syndrome. The underlying philosophy seems to be to avoid closing with an opponent at all costs, lest that Reflective Armour become a liability in physical attacks. The MASC can be seen as a backup for the supercharger. The main weapons are there for reaching out and touching someone. But for balance, the combination of high mobility (complete with the 60-ton jump jet curse) and relatively thin armour recall that classic mediocrity, the Quickdraw. All in all, it remains a Thresher–neither notably great nor completely useless.
“Battlecruiser” is a sexy word. I assume that’s the reason it ultimately won out over the other terms for the type, like “dreadnought cruiser”
Cruiser Dreadnought was also considered. And to be fair to the original Battlecruisers, they were not intended to fight battleships, they were meant to fight the armoured cruisers (and replace them) of which there were many. But they were too expensive. By the end of WWI the line between the most modern Dreadnoughts and Battlecruisers was blurred, Battlecruisers were armoured on a par with Dreadnoughts and the Super Dreadnoughts were as fast as the early Battlecruisers.
While I personally think large things moving unreasonably fast is funny, I can also understand why this didn’t exactly catch on. Definitely has to be up there in terms of BV cost, especially on a unit this size.
I honestly do want to like it. I feel like it’s so close to viability and yet it’s tripping right at that last hurdle and faceplanting in front of the judges.
Half of this article is fanfic, and the other half reads more like the author doesn’t play with Clan mechs and their BV penalties. Yes it’s undersunk, yes that means you have to understand what to fire when, this is Clan 101. The armor is fine for a low end heavy that doesn’t have cFF, and is fairly reasonable compared to other mechs in this weight class, and massively better than the mechs it would be expected to catch. It’s weaponry is a solid mix of guns, and is basically a slightly optimized Thor. Almost every article in this series has been newfriend tier takes, and I don’t get how someone who says they’ve been playing since the 90s can make them.
When half the problems with any given mech are only quantifiable within fiction/lore, (or MechWarrior Online, perhaps…) Half of the article does have to be fanfic. 90% of people don’t play with Traits, and Bad Rep only comes up in a campaign. C’est la Vie.
I’m sure the early days were well spent on poorly designed mechs from the early days, but people liked it enough then to carry it on into territory where it’s truly reaching.
Agreed. While I don’t mind a badly produced mech here or there in later eras, this isn’t 3025 anymore. The Thresher II is an expensive but useful light and medium mech hunter especially against other Clan and Inner Sphere opponents. You could dump the SRM-4 for more heat sinks and armor, but that’s really about it. People also don’t understand that playing in the later eras (Jihad and beyond) means you have to up your BV. A Clan Star compromised of Dark Age and ilClan era designs can easily be 15,000 or more. Even IS factions are more expensive.
Gone are the days of 12 Shadow Hawk 2Hs (thank goodness, because that mech is garbage only surpassed by the Quickdraw.) We’re rocking moderate amounts of expensive units unless it’s a major campaign like the third Battle of Terra or the invasion of New Avalon. Look at TRO 3145 and 3150. The Grand majority of units mount some form of advanced tech beyond Star Leauge or Fedcom Civil War stuff.
“Surely, ilKhan Ward would not be capricious or vindictive enough to challenge every single Sea Fox technician to single combat in a Trial of Grievance, quiaff?”
The Battlecruiser concept: “Speed will be it’s armor!”, is NOT a concept that worked very well for Jackie Fisher, First Sea Lord of the British Royal navy! Great that he came up with the Dreadnought, which set the standard for Capital ships up until the Aircraft Carrier, but the Battlecruiser? EESH! Not enough armor to take a hit, as the crew of the HMS Hood found out in 1940 when their ship was blown in half by a shell from the KMS Bismarck! Out of it’s 1100-plus crew, only THREE survived! The Thresher MK II, based on the Thresher, which in turn inspired the far-superior Summoner/Thor OmniMech, seems to have been built for the same reason the Battlecruiser, and so many other war machines, was: “It SEEMED like a good idea at the time!”
*sigh*
The Hood was not “under armoured”, she was one of the most armoured ships of the era. What happened was essentially a one in a million shot: The Hood had an issue where her bow wave, at flank speeds, would expose a tiny portion of the unarmoured lower hull (all BB’s left the lowest parts unarmoured) exposed. A tiny, insignificant part, and behind it there was a fuel bunker.
The Bismarks shell managed to hit this (this is akin to you hitting a postage stamp at 200 yards with ironsites in a storm) at just the right angle so the shell glanced off of the wall of the fuel bunker at just the right angle to travel through a series of connecting corridors and rooms at just the right angle that it impacted on the magazine of one of the turrets at just the right angle and with just enough velocity to penetrate. You could try to replicate that shot a million times and it would not work.
Regarding the original Battlecruiser design: They worked as intended and did so very well. The losses and poor performance at Jutland where down to the practice of leaving the bulkheads between the magazines, handling rooms, and gun rooms/turret hoists open to facilitate faster firing. This stems from the Battlecruiser fleet being based in the Firth of the Forth where they where unable to carry out gunnery practice owing to the muzzle blast from one broadside of 15″ guns fireing from a Big Cat would shatter every single window in every single building in the bay, and the admirality did not have the budget to replace them twice a month. This led to the aforementioned poor practice of leaving the bulkheads open to facilitate faster firing to make up for the loss in accuracy, which came about due to the lack of gunnery practice. That and the British shells suffered from CC faults that where rectified.
Of note, every single other major fleet employed Battlecruisers as both recon units and as scout hunters. The Germans BC’s clashed with the British BC’s at Jutland in the initial Run to the South.
Note that I’ve edited this for violating the “no personal attacks” rule. Be careful in future posts or your post won’t be approved. Repeated violations will result in a ban.
This one refuses to be held responsible for the broiling rage that the “””history channel””” incites in anyone with even a passing knowledge in the subject at hand, nor for the same feelings towards those spreading said information.
I heard differently. Unarmored or lightly armored deck, plunging shellfire, and then deflection into one of the 6″ gun magazines.
Hood sank cause some brilliant idiot thought keeping the 6″ ammo under an unarmored deck would be fine. It’s only a battleship and heavy cruiser they were after, after all. Just like at Jutland, a good hit penetrated a magazine, and cut the ship in half.
I don’t have broiling rage: I just like to apply real-world history to this subject: makes it more real, that’s all. And the Thresher MK II COULD be a good mech with the proper armament and armor load-out! After all, it still “seemed like a good idea at the time”!
Eric, please learn to use the reply feature… please. aaand Real world history doesn’t translate to Battletech, because speed does work when Armor is lacking (see every single light mech maybe minus the Urbie)
You’re right: Battletech doesn’t apply to real-life history, but it would be fun, and rather terrifying if it did!
Battletech’s history / lore definitely has the echoes of our past built in, also it’s interesting commentary (collectively) on the human race advancing in fits and starts – and basically mall leaps in singular technology. Fusion and hyperspace jumps added to Triple-F Burger franchises, essentially unchanged whole swaths of weaponry (artillery, autocannons, machine guns), some new stuff that handles the extra power but comes at the cost of heat (lasers, PPCs), and some out-of-the-blue lower-tier stuff (polymer / plastic guns).
As for the Dreadnoughts / Battlecruisers at Jutland, I am a little fascinated by the pre-war pace of development, with 1905 being a “corner” where gun-sighting technology was advancing so fast that the older battleships were considered junk.
So Mr. Prime Minister of the Navy, Sir Winston Churchill, decided to use three of the “outdated hulks” as punching bags for mines in the Dardanelles! After that third one I suspect he was removed forever from decision-making…
As it turned out, the “Battle” of Jutland was foggy and ships popped up out of nowhere on each other. Maybe those old “junkpile” pre-1905 Battleships would have been more useful than their modern replacements? Slower but more armor?
The other odd thing about surface ships is the engines go up in cubic space but their resistance footprint on the ocean goes up by a squared relation. This meaning the bigger it was the faster it could go, basically. NOT at all like Battlemechs!
yet another serviceable mech, the Thresher can actually do it’s job and be effective in it. unlike what people people say, speed works in battletech in substitute for armor. still, even in lore all of the issues with this mech were due to a rushed development, and even then, most issues can be resolved with simple technical changes from pilot and techs who know their shit.
*sigh* please find an actual bad mech
Seems to me like if a ‘Mech is reliant on aftermarket modifications to be serviceable, then it’s a bad ‘Mech.
listen man, I use table top as my metric of “is it bad or not”, not the lore itself. 40k has given me a fear of lore due to my poor, poor Grey Knights
What is its intended role? AS scout unit, it lacks electronic components like a probe, an ECM, or maybe even a TAG.
As a heavy skirmisher unit, it lacks native speed. Sure, it can reach 140 in a burst, but how long before the mech destroys itself? I imagine a Piranha(the variants with the machine guns) would be the absolute nemesis of this unit. All it needs to do is for the Tresher to case it until either the masc or the supercharger (or both together) does its thing. As a reminder, the piranha is faster without MASC or supercharger than the Tresher with both active. Even without any shots fired, that might count as a victory.
Also, things like normal infantry or battle armor would be an absolute nightmare to deal with.
hm. you make a good point with the Piranha and battle armor.
for now lets kick the “software updates” thing out that really shouldn’t matter on the table top, and focus on the mech as an actual mech. it has an ER PPC, LPL, SRM 4, LRM 15 and a flamer. I think the best choice for this mech would be to cut out the ER PPC and replace it with a second LPL, and ditch the SRM4 in favor of a second Flame thrower. suddenly, this mech is a long range fire support/sniper mech, while having anti-infantry weapons, and those LPLs could deal with close range.
without those changes, I think the mech with those listed flaws is situational, but it has a purpose.
It’s the Cyberpunk 2077 of BattleMechs.
Of course, Battletech isn’t just about Mechs and armored combat: it’s also about stuff like Byzantine politics, like backstabbing, murder, marriages of politics, palace intrigue, forbidden love, and all the Human stuff that makes the world, or in this case, the Inner Sphere and beyond, go around! All of it set in a very richly realized universe, thank to all the books and such!
Personally, i would ditch the masc and the supercharger. That gives you 5 or 6 tons (I am not really sure how much that MASC weights.) to fix this mechs problem. Up the armor, maybe one or two heatsinks and it is an average trooper mech.
. . . the MASC/Supercharger is what makes it different, along with the Reflec armor (also a BV item) which against anyone else is going to be the weapon of choice to shoot at the speedster. The Republic had Clan spec ER & Pulse lasers- and Clan Large Pulse are THE light killers, which is the speed this thing comes in on.
Knowing what you are likely to face makes the decision of taking it to a fight- first time I used one I knew players were going to be present that liked Drac mechs. His No-Dachi 2K could not hit the Thresher Mk II often b/c until needed you alternate MASC or SC and when it did the damage was cut in half- 7 hexes, ERPPC’s short range, out of range for it’s MPLs . . oh, a 5 pt plink . . . here is my ERPPC, LPL and missiles.
The biggest thing is, like with any other Clan mech, you have to be fighting in something other than a phone booth.
In a one-on-one duel, you can keep the range open by walking backward (if you are not fighting in a phone booth), which will keep most of the 70 t No-Datchi weapon out of play for a long time. On the other hand, one bad roll on the MASC or Supercharger and that fight is over and you lose.
On the other hand, if you are fighting in a bigger action or a campaign the Tresher II will likely become a hangar queen. I try to imagine what a hidden platoon of SRM or even Rifle Infantry or MG-equipped BA will do to the backside of a Tresher II. It will be no doubt glorious.
Some Mechs are very fast by themselves even without the MASC/Supercharger, and the Thresher MK II is in that speed category even by Clan standards! More armament versus more performance: which wins out, I wonder?
“Only 13 double heat sinks are insufficient for the now largely energy-based payload”
…what?
1 ER PPC
1 LRM 15
1 SRM 4
1 Flamer
that’s literally a 25% energy based payload
Also has a CLPL so thats significant heat with the PPC, although you’re strictly speaking correct about it being mostly non-energy weapons.
Still runs hot, though, especially with that flamer!