Courtesy of Eldoniousrex
“All I’m saying is, if the WOBbies are gone and the good times are here, why are we retooling a ‘Mech factory in the ass-end of Moscow?”
Undago sighed, once again reminding his comrade that peace was never sustained without force of arms. “And besides, you still want a paycheck, right?”
“Hah, you got that right,” Milia replied with a snort. “And it’s in this new ‘Republic of the Sphere’ script too. They haven’t even got a design figured out yet.”
“It’s just numbers in a ledger on some server anyway,” Undago said. “I hear they’ll call be calling it the ‘Stone’ thanks to our fearless leader.”
“Great. ‘I’ll give you two Stones for a hot dog,'” Milia seemed to ruminate on the sentence for several moments. “I can’t tell if that’s an offer or a threat.”
Now it was Undago’s time to snort with derision. “Maybe that is the point.”
The two silently returned to their task configuring the massive robotic arms that would soon have Skobel MechWorks churning out new ‘Mechs for the Republic Armed Forces. The facility itself was ancient, dating back to the original Star League where it would produce the Mercury and Jackrabbit for the SLDF. Then it had been Excaliburs for ComStar, then the Legacy and Omega for the Word of Blake.
The Word. Undago stared at the screen as he involuntarily recalled the occupation, the camps, the re-education treatments, being forced to work day in and day out repairing WOB ‘Mechs as they fought tooth and nail against Stone’s coalition. He remembered the Word of Blake ‘Mechs that held both his and every other engineers’ families hostage. And the night that ‘Mechs turned their weapons on—
“Hey, you alright?”
Undago snapped back to reality. “Yeah, yeah, sorry. Just… remembering.”
Milia nodded but said nothing. She’d had to drag Undago out from dark memories more than once. She was usually successful, each time offering her silent support. Undago was silently grateful each time.
“What are we even making here?” Milia asked.
“A new design,” Undago grabbed a holopad and brought up the schematics to show her. “It’s called the Thunder Fox. Quadruped design, but other than that, it’s a simple standard chassis and fusion engine. Off-the-shelf parts keep Skobel’s per-unit cost to a minimum.”
“And the Republic gets a cheap ‘Mech that they can fill out all those busted regiments with,” Milia nodded. “Smart.”
“Even smarter, Skobel didn’t even have to pay for development.” Undago pointed at the Thunder Fox‘s frog-like skeleton and the weapon mounts next to its angular cockpit. “I’ve heard more than one rumor that the chassis and weapon coupling ports are essentially lifted from another design. But nobody is suing because everyone wants to play nice with Republic procurement.”
“Or there’s nobody left to sue.”
Milia meant it to be an off-hand comment, but it had sparked another memory within Undago. The big man froze as he stared at the Thunder Fox‘s schematics, recalling the night his family had been gunned down by a WOB ‘Mech with four legs. It had a more bulbous armored skin and rounded actuators, but the engineer in him saw the skeleton, the same weapon junctions, and the same deadly intent.
“Hey! Are you—”
Before Milia could ask if he was alright, Undago grabbed the holopad and brought up the schematics for the Blue Flame, a 45-ton Blakist ‘Mech. He then superimposed it atop the Thunder Fox. Milia gasped as she saw the same thing Undago had; the two chassis was nearly identical.
“You were right,” Undago muttered with quiet dread. “The Word of Blake is no longer here to sue Skobel for copying its design.” He then got up and walked away as Milia stared at the schematics. He didn’t say a single word to anyone else at Skobel. He merely left his security pass at the door and never returned to work.
Courtesy of Bishop Steiner
With the destruction of the Word of Blake and the capture of Terra, Devlin Stone‘s nascent Republic of the Sphere conveniently found itself in possession of significant ‘Mech manufacturing facilities it could use to refill units devastated in the fight for humanity’s homeworld. Unfortunately, most of those facilities were manufacturing ‘Mechs that were now heavily associated with the most reviled group the Inner Sphere had ever seen, perhaps barring Stefan Amaris and the Rim Worlds Republic. To ask dispossessed MechWarriors to begin piloting ‘Mechs so recently taken from their villainous foe was simply not an option.
In the case of the Thunder Fox, a morally dubious solution was found. Rather than make a completely new ‘Mech, Skobel MechWorks would take an existing Word of Blake design and modify it so no one would assume it had been birthed by the Word. That original ‘Mech was the Blue Flame, a 45-ton trooper ‘Mech commonly seen in Word of Blake forces during the Jihad.
How Skobel came to possess the schematics of the Blue Flame was only revealed during the trial of one Lara Harman, the lead designer of the Thunder Fox. Previously an engineer at Mitchell Vehicles Interstellar, Harman left her former employer in 3075. Whether she deliberately stole the Blue Flame‘s schematics in an act of corporate espionage or merely retained them in violation of her nondisclosure agreement was never proven in court. What is known is Harman used those schematics to quickly develop the Thunder Fox for Skobel MechWorks who then began manufacturing the ‘Mech for the Republic Armed Forces. By the time the ‘Mech’s progenitor came to light, the contracts had long been signed and deliveries were well underway. Harman was later convicted of war crimes and profiteering, and the Republic buried the scandal to ensure its new main medium ‘Mech would still have eager pilots.
The Republic was entirely successful in burying the scandal, and the Thunder Fox became the backbone of the early RAF. It was beloved by technicians for its simple construction and easy maintenance, while pilots appreciated a modern design with state-of-the-art weapons. Production would continue for half a century with the design being licensed to both Defiance Industries and Luthien Armor Works.
Introduced in 3077 (although full-scale production wouldn’t begin until a few years later), the TFT-A9 Thunder Fox had a DAV 220-rated standard fusion engine mated to a modified version of the Dennenbach-Mitchell Series 8 chassis using standard materials instead of endo steel. Although slow for a 55-ton design at 64 kph, the Thunder Fox‘s four jump jets gave it a degree of maneuverability. Nine tons of ferro-fibrous armor protected the ‘Mech with all ammunition stored in a cellular storage panel in the right torso.
The Thunder Fox was armed with the best weapons the Republic could source cheaply at the time of its construction. This included a Corean Light Gauss Rifle, a Diverse Optics Sunbeam Extended-Range Large Laser, a Diverse Optics Extended-Range Small Laser, and a Guided Technologies 2nd-Gen Streak SRM-4 launcher. All weapons were mounted on either side of the Thunder Fox‘s torso in swivel mounts.
Although well-liked by pilots, the Thunder Fox did see some complaints over its relatively light main weapon. The Light Gauss Rifle, produced by the Free Worlds League over a decade before the Thunder Fox‘s introduction, managed to achieve the same tonnage savings as the Clans did with their version of the Gauss Rifle. However, the caliber of slugs fired in the Light Gauss Rifle was half that of a normal one, resulting in twice as much ammo being stored per ton but dealing roughly half as much damage per shot in return.
Analysis of the Light Gauss Rifle’s performance revealed it to have a damage-per-ton ratio roughly on par with an AC/5, which was considered rather anemic by the late 3070s. It did offer a superior range, though, and when combined with the ER Large Laser and the stability of four legs, the TFT-A9 proved itself an ideal sniper.
Production at Luthien Armor Works resulted in the TFT-C3 in 3085. A C3 command ‘Mech, the Light Gauss and Streak missile launcher were removed in favor of a C3 master computer, Medium X-Pulse Laser, and ER Medium Laser. A light fusion engine was used to free up space for a Cockpit Command Console, making the TFT-C3 excellent in both training and C&C duties.
The Lyran Commonwealth’s TFT-L8 was introduced by Defiance Industries in 3082. This Thunder Fox opted for an XL 275 engine to provide a top speed of 86 kph and make room for a heavier weapons armament: two Snub-Nose PPCs and an LB 10-X autocannon. An additional jump jet was installed to further improve the TFT-L8’s mobility over its cousins.
Production would expand into the 3100s and the design would find its way into multiple factions before Gray Monday, each with its own subtle variations. Some would alter the missile launcher in favor of additional energy weapons, while others would swap the Light Gauss Rifle for other projectile-based weaponry. Almost a dozen variants were known to exist by the 3130s, although their schematics can be difficult to find.
Much like how the Word of Blake’s destruction led to the Thunder Fox, the destruction of the Republic has likely resulted in the Thunder Fox‘s original factory being retooled to manufacture a design less reviled by Clan Wolf MechWarriors. But with such widespread manufacture beyond Terra, it seems the Thunder Fox is likely to survive well into the future.
And as always, MechWarriors: Stay Syrupy.
Before I get a bunch of angry comments, it would technically be Mitchell Vehicles that does the suing, not the Word of Blake. But it would have been less impactful for the story, so I fudged it. Sue me :P
Having played against a Thunder Fox a few times, I found it often fell under the category of “annoying, but rarely lethal.” The biggest punch any of its weapons can offer is 8 damage, and while I usually appreciate 8 damage as a reasonable holepuncher (precisely the thing that something like a Streak SRM-4 wants), I can’t say I’m particularly whelmed by its capabilities overall. It can take out a ton of armor at a time at mid to long range with no heat worries and while jumping. Great! But it’s not really unique in that regard either, and I find that its quad posture does expose it to some shortcomings, which the armor in turn doesn’t quite protect it against. Perhaps it’s for the best it doesn’t draw so much attention, since it’s not quite mobile, not quite protected, and not quite dangerous.
That said, I personally think the Thunder Fox F11 variant is hilarious, but in a schadenfreude-esque “glad I don’t have to deal with that” kind of way.
The F11 is hilarious, and I love the idea…
Nope… Like the Quickdraw NOT a bad Mech at all! The Thunder Fox is fun to play, and the 86 kph model is great. Light Gauss or Snub PPC, they both perform pretty damn well.
Nice to see a Dark Age design here though…
Wait until old mate hears about the Kheper
I love this mech. And I lov and hate the miniature. Unless someone can show me how to assemble one onto a single hex base with NO modifications please? That being said, she is a reliable medium, a good jack of all trades. Doesn’t matter any one thing, but she is a godlod stand-out. The hardened PPC turret is totally lulz-worthy however.
wait for the plastic one that is apparently coming :)
Visually a nice design: is it on the bad mech list due to lack of punch in it’s weapons? That can always be improved on, providing the design is versatile enough to modify!
“It’s not that bad! You just have to run it in a lance with 3 Timber Wolves, use marked dice and sacrifice a goat to the gods of luck every time it fires!”
That’s how a lot of the responses to these articles come off.
(I’m not calliing you an old man – just being self-deprecating.)
I’ll be an old man here, shaking my cane at these new-fangled players who have the audacity not to have started with the original Battletech/Aerotech boxes back in the 80s.
(Correct me if I’m wrong, but one of those, it might have been Aerotech, had only ONE autocannon – there was no differentiation between sizes/damage/etc. And of course, it was an Autocannon/5. Unless my mind is playing tricks on me again.)
ANYWAY, the gatekeeping part, is that I love these articles, and feel that the original ‘Mech is the 80% the one that should be considered a good/bad ‘Mech. Is there a ‘Mech out there which is awful AND has nothing but awful variants? Variants are great. Custom builds are fine. But it’s the original ‘Mech design which should bear the majority of the judgement, IMO. Really, ANY ‘Mech can be spruced up with the “add Endo Steel, an XL engine, extra armor, and swap the AC/5 out for a PPC and additional heat sinks and SRM-2 for 2 ML’s” style.
I look forward to these articles every month, love the artwork, the stories, and the comment section.
/oldmanrant
No, it’s really NOT a bad Mech, and works great within a Lance.
I hate the Timberwolf… Very overrated…
If you think this mech is good and the Timber Wolf is bad… then I think that says all it needs to.
I said the Timber Wolf is overrated… Get the Corn Cobs out of yer ears… Stop running backwards in Cornfields as well, it’s a One in a Million shot anyway boyo…
Thunder Fox IS a good Mech… Better than a Timber Wolf combat wise?… Sadly no… Still a good Mech.
Looks like a decent mech for how cheap it is. Wish the ERLL was clan-spec as that would fit well with its role, but oh well. Reminds me of an upgraded Scorpion, in the sense that it can maneuver into position and then dig in while contributing to combat at range. Slower, but the JJs makes it more capable of working in varied terrain.
I don’t think it’s a bad mech, just niche. Maybe not a great mech as a mainstay trooper for the RotS but once they started rebuilding a standing army it’d do well for militia forces.
For how cheap of a mech it is, I think it’s pretty decent. I wish that its ERLL was clanspec instead to make it better as a sniper, but otherwise it’s fine. Reminds me a bit of the Scorpion, except slower but with 2 main weapons instead of 1. The JJs do help make up for the speed somewhat, especially in varied terrain.
Maybe not the best mech, but as a general trooper for regular army (and eventually militia once better mechs reach the army) it’s pretty good. Quads are pretty low armour in general, but the ability to go prone helps make up for it, and I could see that being how these are supposed to perform: crawl up in formation plinking opponents and then jumping in to finish the job with the streaks.
This is a bad mech how?
If anything, you could argue that the Thunder Fox being a Republic copy of the Blue Flame is morally dubious, but considering how much military tech we use irl, from assault rifles to ballistic missiles, technologies that were originally developed by Nazi Germany, I’d argue that creating a derivative of a proven design is more the military industrial complex being pragmatic than anything.
Even then, The Thunder Fox seems to be a better derivative than something like the Rakshasa. (now THAT’s a legitimately bad mech.) The anemic weapon damage can be fixed easily, just swap out the light gauss rifle for a heavy PPC and extra heat sinks, and you have an more effective sniper that’s even less dependent on resupply.
It’s slow and is light on the armor.
However it does have long-range sting. Call it a longer-ranged and expensive Enforcer? I do like the combo with SRMs for in-close and the hardness of not using an XL engine. Also the heat management aspect is decent.
The quad arrangement is interesting and will attract players who like weird or rare things.
Idea – since BT already absorbed the Robotech mecha, why not go full blast and get the “Inorganics” from Sentinels? The Hive-controlled drone mecha including the infamous quad “Cats” were armored tanks with battlefield endurance instead of the lightly-armed weapons-heavy glass cannons that the REF, RDF, and Zentraedi generally favored. They did have light weapons in some cases but relied on physical attacks and swarming with numbers.
Robotech wasn’t absorbed, FASA had licensed specific images from the design house who did the designs for Macross, Western Cross, Dougram, etc which are the Japanese shows that Harmony Gold cut together to create Robotech. Robotech is still a completely separate entity, and whatever designs were not licensed originally still cannot be used. While the Phantom Mechs are back, anything that wasn’t originally in Battletech should still be off limits.
If Israel’s first fighter airplane can be a Messerschmitt Bf-109 knockoff, no one can gripe about the IS in general, or RotS specifically, using a WoB design.
This unit’s flaw is its glacial maneuverability, and the variants fix that.
Not really sure how this qualifies as a bad ‘Mech. It sounds like it had an underwhelming main weapon but performed just fine despite it. Even basing it on a Wobbie ‘Mech doesn’t seem to’ve had any noteworthy repercussions.
Why do people here hate the Rakshasa so much? If it had appeared in the Inner Sphere as is pre-Clan invasion the Rakshasa would have a game-changer in the Inner Sphere with it’s capabilities!
The Thunder Fox is only ‘bad’ in the sense that it’s a quadruped mech, and thus subject to all of the nonsensical design rules that apply to quads. (read: drawbacks that outweigh the benefits)
Despite that, it is a perfectly serviceable sniper mech for its weight and cost, and I can certainly see the appeal in it as a standard trooper mech for the Republic between its distinctive appearance, modest price, ease of use and low maintenance.
The Thunder Fox is designated as “slow” for its tonnage despite a good number of similarly heavy mechs skipping by as “average” in this regard (Centurion, Crab, Hunchback…) and they aren’t carrying weapons that reach out as far as the Thunder Fox’s does. The armor is thin for its weight, but not catastrophically so.
It’s an okay mech, and one that could stand to get the PPC upgrade treatment (which it eventually does in a later variant), but by no means deserves to be lumped in with utter trash like the Charger, Jaegermech or Quickdraw.
Frankly, I think it’d be a great mech to actually pilot directly since the major disparity in firepower between Large Lasers and PPCs is much better addressed in the Mechwarrior games (especially fan modded material that includes non-canon upgrade modules for such weaponry) due to rate of fire being another variable that doesn’t really exist in the tabletop.
It seems like a typical but somewhat outdated mech comparable to say the 3025 Enforcer. Thats not bad, but underwhelming in the face of better technology. Its slow for a medium mech. It Doesnt really use its weapons well It would be hard to edge to to redline which means its firepower it pretty weak a most ranges. Its equipment also reminds me of the 3025 Shadow Hawk.
It probably should have replaced the Light Gauss Rifle with an LRM-20 to give it some long range fire support punch, or maybe an MRM-30 for some heavy close-medium range firepower.
It was always a liability when RATs blessed me with it or Blue Flame. Part of the blame is on large maps and competitive spirit of play, but the effect-to-BV ratio on this dog was always low and frustrating. Another effect-reducing factor was the need to constantly jump move to maintain LOS and range due to lack of torso twist and speed. It was common for opponents to entirely ignore it.
I’d never heard of this one before, not being up an anything post-Jihad. Looking it over, it’s not a dumpster fire like the Fireball or Hellbringer, but it’s definitely bad. It’s one of those ‘Mechs that make you ask, “Where did all the tonnage GO?”
Mobility: 4/6/3? Really? I know that 3 JJs will usually get you by, but 4/6/4 was average medium trooper speed back in 3025. The Thunder Fox comes out five decades later, and a good two decades after the re-introduction of the extralight engine and heavies cruising around at 5/8/5. For its period, the Thunder Fox is dangerously slow. Especially for a quad, with its lack of torso twisting.
Armor: Effectively 9.5 tons of standard, which is the same protection afforded the classic unseen 55-ton trio. Of course, those were, again, 3025 ‘Mechs, and faster ones, facing lower levels of firepower. It’s not catastrophically thin-skinned, but subpar armor and subpar speed is a combination that makes me very nervous.
Firepower: Alright, so we’ve compromised a bit on both speed and armor. Clearly the payoff is going to be on third side of the triangle, the guns.
“Well yes, but actually no.”
Two 8-pointers would be decent in 3025, but at risk of sounding like a broken record, this isn’t a 3025 ‘Mech. Pairing the ERLL, which is the shortest ranged long-range weapon available, with the LGR really undercuts your range advantage. You either sit at LGR ranges and let half your already meager firepower sit idle, or you close to bring the laser into play and defeat your sole strength. The SRMs are more of a defensive thing to keep enemy light harassers honest, since you don’t have the punch to open up the enemy’s armor, or the speed or armor for infighting. I’d have liked to see an ER PPC/LRM-15 combo for range, using the freed tonnage to max out jump jets and armor, and finish out with some heat sinks and lasers. Yeah, it’s basically a quad HOP-4C, but you know what it isn’t? Terrible!
Somehow, the Thunder Fox is a ‘Mech that manages to be at best medicore in every category, with no standout strengths to bring to the table. It’s a post-Jihad ‘Mech that somehow performs on the level of 3025 troopers.
The Thunder Fox could be a really good hit-and run design in combat: get in there, hit hard and get out!
Quad Mechs do have good agility being on four legs!
Well, except that:
a) It doesn’t want to get in there, because its only notable virtue is the extreme range of the Light Gauss, and the limited firing arc makes quads crappy infighters.
b) It doesn’t hit hard.
c) Once it’s in, it’s too slow to get back out.
And all the quad sidle really does is provide some inadequate compensation for not having arms or a torso twist, and it’s MP-expensive to make use of. The Thunder Fox doesn’t have the MP to make good use of it.
So, dump the Streak 4 and its ammo. Use the tonnage that frees up to upgrade the LGR to a full-up Gauss (with another ton of ammo). Dump the CASE; without the Streak ammo, you don’t really need it, and it’s not going to save you anyway, because, CASE or no, you lose the right front leg along with the side torso if the Gauss blows up. Dump the ER SL. In any situation where you’d be using it, it’s not going to be adequate anyway. Switch from LFF to Endo Steel. Use the tonnage that saves to upgrade the ER LL to an ER PPC, and up it to 10.5 tons of standard armor (netting you an extra 16 points over what LFF provides… I distributed it to make it pass the AC/20 check all across the front, and at least an ML check in the back). I’d go with 10 tons and bring it up to max jump, but it’s too crit-packed to cram another JJ in. Because quad, and because the tiny engine means that it has to make room for two bulky DHS on its crit chart.
Can’t fix the mobility issue without XLing it. It’s better-armored than stock, and firepower-wise… well, actually a couple points less, total, but it all works in one range band instead of being spread in dribs and drabs across four different bands — two of which you don’t want to get close enough to be using anyway. And it comes it two big hole-punchers, one of them a head-chopper, instead of the biggest lumps not even breaching a full-armored head.
And it’s got a definite role, instead of trying to do everything and being underwhelming at all of it. Use the jump jets to bounce up on top of a hill at the edge of the battlefield, go hull-down, and start sniping.
Seeing as this article finally convinced me to make an actual account on here after so many years of frequenting the site… Gonna preface everything I am about to say with the following:
1: Avid BT/MW fan for 20+ years
2: Have mainly played the Mechassault games, MW4: Vengeance, MW4: Mercenaries, and MW5: Mercenaries
3: Have not, sadly, had the opportunity to play in proper tabletop (not for lack of wanting to; finances and a myriad of other issues have made it generally untenable)
4: Have, however, played and almost-obsessively collect the WizKids MWDA miniatures
5: I am massively biased
Oh, and 6: I am a staunch Liaoist
Now, then- given my lack of tabletop experience, this entire response is couched in general reasoning, mostly-sound logic, and a touch of personal bias. Calling the Thunder Fox bad is, in my opinion, much akin to calling the M4 Sherman bad- is it absolutely amazing? Hell no, but it can very easily get the job done when used right. Not every machine has to be some be-all-end-all bringer of doom (no matter what my utterly asinine configurations on any MW game say to the contrary), and the ‘Fox certainly is not one. What it certainly Is, however, is a decent medium-weight fighting machine that can provide similarly-decent covering and support fire, without (when you think about this from an actual combat perspective) drawing too much attention to itself. Sure, swap some components around, scrap this weapon or that bit of ammo, and upgrade it to a full gauss- now you have a much harder-hitting sniper that will force enemy assets to keep their heads down while also being a bigger target. A unit that is a genuine threat gets prioritized for destruction, while a mere annoyance is often ignored (for the most part). Yes this does not necessarily correlate to tabletop performance or even the decisions players make in such a setting; it is still sound battlefield logic to keep in mind. The Thunder Fox as a battlefield unit, is maneuverable enough to provide light covering/support fire all while being durable enough to survive scrapes with similarly-weighted/lighter recon or screening elements should the line of battle shift unfavorably. It is not meant to be a front line combatant.
Yes, I also know that does not excuse mediocre performance from an otherwise modern(ish) combat machine; however- isn’t that pretty much the majority of designs in the setting? “Mediocre” is pretty much the status quo with the majority of designs- to do the job they were made for, and do it well enough. This isn’t the Cicada, nor is it the absolute nightmare that is the Dire Wolf- it is neither genuinely bad nor outstandingly spectacular, and that is perfectly fine.
Sorry for being a bit of a rambling, opinionated twat on my first-ever post on Sarna, but I couldn’t not say something considering I absolutely love this machine to death.
Really, it’s not a “Bad” `mech… But neither is it a “Great” `mech. Most comments focus on the flaws in gameplay of Thunder Fox. Given its off-the-shelf nature and performance profile, I think the Thunder Fox would be an outstanding garrison `mech. The Thunder Fox’s weapons mix would be acceptable in a garrison machine. The Thunder Fox is like the Chevette… an economy car meant to provide simple service. Everyone seemed to hate them, but there was a bunch of them around… Doing yeoman’s work. Every `mech can’t be a Dire Wolf. Nor should be.
A Dire Wolf/Daishi? Great??? No way whatsoever! I would rather have a Marauder II (Later variants)
or, if it’s a Clan design, the Marauder IIC!