Why Do We Love the Mad Dog?
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- Опубліковано 27 вер 2024
- Mad Dog MF Record Sheet: www.dropbox.co...
Resources: 3050 TRO, 3050 Revised, 3058 TRO, Tukayyid 3rd Ed, Golden Century, IlClan Rec Guide 10, TRO Dark Age, Compendium
Thank you to Dwane Loose, Anthony Scroggins, Matt Plog, Łukasz Matuszek, Bishop Steiner, Flying Debris, Alan Blackwell, Chris Lowry, Dale Eadeh, Harri Kallio, Loston Wallace, Justin Nelson, Rick Harris, Franz Vohwinkel, and all the other BattleTech artists that have brought the IP to life through their amazing work.
BattleTech imagery and mech info remains the property of Topps.
Concept Art from Mechwarrior Online and game art from MW5 is owned by Piranha Games.
Imagery from HBS BattleTech and Mechwarrior 5: Clans Trailer
Some imagery/video from Pixabay
Background Music: Purchased rights to use from Fanatical
Intro Music: ABS Sounds - Hard Electro Synthwave - Rights purchased from Fanatical
#BattleTech #Mechwarrior #CatalystGameLabs #lore
The Vulture is one of those mechs that just looks right
Form and function.
I've got questions about where the missile reloads go though, based on the size of the missiles, the launchers and the 'mech's torso in general....
@@todddelevan9488They're in there somewhere around the omni; it's what gives omnimechs their mystique.
@@todddelevan9488clearly, the toes
@@ogrehaslayers605 a feature clearly borrowed from the Crusader!
just started watching, i really hope the custom MF loadout is called the Mad Frog
Solid!!
Well, it is able to hop around with those jumpjets, so that's fitting.
Yes, it can even jump.
but where is the Plasma Cannon(s) for a real MF mech
The CT turret?
Oh Ea-nāșir, you’ll never live it down.
Alrighty.
they say you only truly die when noone speaks your name for the last time
in that sense, he has achieved immortality
So long as someone's name is remembered, they're still alive in some form.
And may _that_ man in particular live forever.
I still have a poster of the Mad Dog/Vulture I got back in 98 it's looking ragged, but I'll never get rid of it
Good as gold.
Alright the Mesopotamian copper joke got me lol
Glad someone other than I found it entertaining.
I'd heard about that one too. Made me snicker.
It was some VERY poor quality copper
4:20 in... "Oh, Battletech times lines are silly sometimes..." Truer words have never been spoken.
Grain of salt and a suspension of disbelief.
In a setting so amazingly constructed, those moments when a Mech design takes more than a lifetime to be completed or it takes a successor state a hundred years to go "Hmmm... how about I replace one heatsink with a medium laser?" are like little gems of entertainment.
Smoke Jaguar opted to provide the Clans the ultimate weapon. It is their legacy. The Mad Dog.
As far as legacies go, this is a good one.
Did not help them to win vs Comstar or save their clan though.
I could not resist. Big Fan.
It's also not an Orion,
It is a fantastic smoke jaguar legacy but it is hard to say that it is their ultimate weapon. So many of their mechs did so well such as the dire wolf, warhawk, and mist lynx also props to them for not inventing it but getting it to production first like a proper asshole.
@@thil2894 All the best weapons in the world wouldn't have helped them given their grand strategy was horrible.
Like, unless the clans got some Gurren Lagann tier mechs, they were always going to lose.
The Slayer of the Black Widow definitely deserves a video of her own. I like to think that in another universe, an ancient, decrepit Joanna dies after beating Malvina Hazen to death with those steel-tacked gloves for disgracing the Clan.
If only...
Bonus points in that timeline? Horse is some how mixed up in it. They are coffin mates after all!
Joanna is my favorite Jade Falcon and my favorite Battletech character in general. I would LOVE a vid giving her the attention she deserves.
I really like her character. She's just too grumpy not to appreciate.
lol, maybe Quikscell should sell a combat vehicle called the Ea-nasir-it would certainly fit them
Hmm.
"I'm pretty sure the armor is copper. And no, I didn't bother to check the quality."
What would it be armed with? Rocket Launchers disguised as LRM launchers?
@@h.a.9880 that's a good one, actually
Why do I love the Mad Dog? Because from the waist down, it's a Timberwolf. (The programmers for the early iterations of the Virtual Worlds pods wanted to be able to recycle geometry when they could to save memory space. Thus the Doylest reason the Omnimech was born.)
Joanna is a severely underrated character
Truth.
Sure, the Timber Wolf gets all the glamor shots and glory, but the Mad Dog was the real workhorse of Clan Invasion era. It was my first choice back when I played MechWarrior 2, and it's still a rock solid platform for when I want to play with Clanner tech for a bit.
Absolutely agreed.
Cheers for a classic clan mech overview :-) we love the vulture because of the 2 dirty clan large pulse lasers that are amongst the nastiest weapons on the battlefield :-)
They do tend to leave a mark.
I failed to mention I was recently gifted an original first run Mad Dog poster from FASA. That treasure, along with another original, still in packaging lead Wolverine mini from the 80s, were part of a Christmas package.
Great score 👍🏿
Another Clanner mech I first saw in the Battletech cartoon. I cannot help but like this particular one other than the MadCat.
A personal thank you from my Clan to yours for featuring a Hell's Horse configuration in appropriate colours AND Elementals. Well met, Trothkin.
I mean, they do need some love occasionally.
I LOVE the mad dog, such an iconic design. Plus as a lover of missiles, a mech with big missile boxes make me happy.
Hard to find much wrong with it.
The missile racks being so close to the engine always amused me
But it looks like a fighter jet with legs so you gotta love that
I remember my first time jumping into a mechpod at a Jillians in Denver. The mech I picked was the "Vulture" (later learned it was called the Mad Dog).It felt satisfying when I rained down volleys and volleys of LRMs on the enemy mechs from a ridgeline. My brother was backing me up in his Hauptmann and just decimated the softened targets with an AC20.
Most people say the Mad Cat is the most iconic clan mech and they are factually correct, but for me it was always the Vulture. For some reason images of the machine featured very heavily in magazine previews of Mech Commander (my introduction to the universe) back in the day and the design just stuck with me. Of course, it helps that it *is* a good machine, too.
Also, shoutout to Ea-Nasir.
My favorite mech as a kid growing up in the 90s.
The art that was on reinforcements 2 boxset (and used elsewhere) went so hard, made it my instant fav in the early 90s!
My second favorite mech next to the Kodiak. Glad to see this one.
The Config C was a fun mech to use in MW3 when you had MFB's to re-arm you.
What a beautiful mech. And yes, Joanna absolutely needs her own video!
I always loved the cut away view of the Vulture on the cover of the one TRO book.
Plenty of great MD art.
Joanna just bee deserving of a video including herself and other standouts from Jade Falcon!!! Thanks for everything. Happy Fathers Day (belated)!!
- Godspeed
Thanks for coming by. Hope your Father's Day weekend was stellar.
@@MechanicalFrog TY
A huge YES to a Joanna video! Please!
It would be fun.
Considering how the Legends book treats her she definitely deserves a video.
The MadDog is the perfect example of Clan mindset during the initial invasion. Overgunned, undersinked, and without enough armor. But the shock, awe and overwhelming aggression won them great gains initialy.
I gotta hand it to the designers, j adore the variant with a ton of SRM tubes. Its like duct taping a bunch of trench sweepers onto a giant robot of death.
It's just neat...
@@MechanicalFrog it could use more srms, though... ;)
*Clanner:* "Listen closely, this is the Timber Wolf, and this is the Mad Dog."
*Spheriod:* "Mad Cat and Vulture, got it."
*Clanner:* "..."
Thanks for the video. The prime config of the Mad Dog always truck me as some one wanting the Timberwolf load-out on a lighter frame.
I always liked how it looked like the evolved form of an Archer
Definitely some similarities there.
I just remember seeing the intro to MW4 all those years ago and falling in love with the Mad Dog/Vulture in all its iterations
It has that classic beautiful look to it.
never gave this mech love back in the day but seeing how it has remained useful thanks to that massive pod space......just impressive. also you gotta love the look!
Absolutely. Hard to deny the drawing power of all that room.
The Mad Dog is one of those mechs that is living proof of the mystery of why there are not more clan 60 tonners. It fits the holy trinity of firepower, armor and speed for a heavy. We need more 60 tonners in the future.
My favorite variations are the F and a custom variation of the Prime I made in MWO. I took off the cLPL's for cMPL's, upgraded the cLRM 15 racks with Artemis IV and gave it much more needed LRM ammo tonnage. Love the balance of long range support while if any lights or mediums are stupid enough to get close, they get blasted by 4 cMPL's.
60 tons is a weird spot of being a heavy but 55's get almost all the same thing where as a 75 can be generally as fast with more armor and just as many weapons.
Taking the Prime config and letting the Mechtechs get their grubby hands on it, Downgrading the Large Pulse Lasers to Mediums, and using the leftover tonnage for more ammunition seems like a no-brainer.
Mechwarrior 4 intro cinematic. That's why I love this mech.
B config is the best tabletop config for the Mad Dog IMO: The 'mech itself has too little armor for much staying power in a fight, so it needs to either be fire support, or deal so much damage so fast that longevity isn't an issue. The Mad Dog B is the latter. This is a design you play aggressively with, the heat curve is actually phenomenal - you can risk a small overheat with the streaks thrown in (don't fire one ERLL) and if they don't hit, you're actually in the clear, you only overheat when things go your way, and if you overheat from infernos or whatever, you just mixup some combination of the medium pulse lasers and the streaks to get back in the green while still dealing serious damage.
The LRM20 at first glance seems bizarre - only has 6 shots, which looks really dumb at first, but not when you realize they aren't for long range fire support - Clan LRM's have no short range penalty; their best usage here comes from crit-seeking holes in an enemy 'mech's armor, in the Mad Dog B, its best in a backstab. This is a 'mech that you manuever into the rear arc of an enemy 'mech, break down the armor with the lasers and then and unleash so much missile/crit-seeking firepower that you kill or cripple a nearly pristine mech in 1 round.
If I can get a Mad Dog B into a proper brawl (and Inner Sphere players always want a brawl), it will reliably remove a mech every round or three, especially if you save it in reserve sniping with the ERLL's until enemy units have a few holes in their armor - say rounds 8-12; by round 16 it'll be dead or nearly dead, just like the entire lance it brawled with.
This variant exemplifies what a Clan brawler should be like - You play insanely aggressive, almost suicidal. It's a stark contrast to how most people play Clans, which is methodically maximizing movement modifiers and range brackets slowly whittling down Inner Sphere tonnage over the course of 20-30 rounds. Which is a playstyle that works, but really isn't fun. The Mad Dog B is the exact opposite of that. You get in a short range knife fight and everything starts dying.
In my experience playing with people, they have a lot more fun this way, both for them and for me - rounds end faster, stuff blows up more, and everyone feels like they're doing something interesting rather than being helplessly pinpricked for 80% of the game until they finally corner a Clan 'mech and kick it to death.
The Mad Dog A is all kinds of fun with those SRMs.
Yeah it'll be a friendship tester. "Time to roll the damage on 30 SRMs..."
I just finished painting a Zeta Galaxy Mad Dog for Jade Falcon. And got say heck of a mech to paint. Pure hell on the table against me.
You can look at it now and see all the shortcomings it has, but at the same time... the context of the times it was first encountered by the IS would have been terrifying.
So you're telling me it hits like a 3R Marauder with those lasers doing Inner Sphere PPC damage, but it has archer-levels of missiles on top? But it's moving 5/8? And then, when someone got brave, (or desperate) enough to close inside the minimum ranges for those two mechs, they get the rather soul-crushing surprise that clantech LRMs don't have a minimum range.
Life is full of little challenges if you're an Inner Sphere mechwarrior.
I've always liked the look of the Vulture, but MW4 really took it to another level. That intro cinematic was one of the best. The MWDA Vulture followed MW4's design with the chin lasers, and one of the things I appreciate most of the CGL refresh is the nod to that chin turret with the sensor pod thing.
The Vulture is the Clan Omnimech Archer, and in turn influenced the Bushwacker's long, narrow torso with an XL, as well as the Avatar (one of Kurita's first home-built Omnimechs). IIRC the MW4/MWDA Vulture has been reclassified as a Mk II or Mk III, with the II supposedly being mostly an aesthetic change (and possibly moving the medium lasers from the Prime into the CT) and the III making a full suite of configurations based on that new design aesthetic.
Have a look at the Mad Dog D. It is roughly contemporaneous to MW4. Ever since MW4 there has been a long effort to match the Mad Dog to the MW4 aesthetic. I prefer the sleeker original, but that is what we get.
The Vulture/Mad Dog in MW4 is said to be the Vulture/Mad Dog Mk II produced by the Ghost Bear Dominion
next to the timby the Mad dog is definitly one of my favorite mechs
@T.ELE.GRAMMechanicalFrog like where?
That is a scam/bot account. Don't respond.
@@MechanicalFrog i figured.
You really had me wondering what Ea Nasir had to do with the Vulture for a second there
Well, you see... it's a bit of a long story.
One of the Mechs starring in Battletech game intros nearly as much as the Mad Cat / Timberwolf
You work hard , and it is appreciated .
Thank you.
"Why do we love the Mad Dog?"
I mean... effing look at it.
"Why do we love the Stormcrow?"
Because it's a medium that thinks it's a heavy.
I will always remember that first mission in MW2 where you pilot a Mad Dog in the desert. I can't remember if it was the JF or Wolf campaign. I think the end goal was to scan the enemy dropship after eliminating all enemy mechs. Talk about nostalgia.
The A config is just SCARY to me.
I've loved the maddog since I was a child, never knew it wasn't fire support 😂
The mad dog looks as similar to the lupus as the hunchback does to the urbie.
Heh.
4:05 Smoked Jaguar was never known to for its lower castes. The warriors had a, “the beatings will continue until moral improves”, management policy towards them. I don’t blame them for taking that long. An upset warrior probably killed the lead designer every quarter.
As a Mechcommander enjoyer, the Mad Dog was a go to mech pretty much as soon as it was salvaged. Tons of weapon space, fast and light. A great lance mate for the Timber Wolf you spent hours trying to salvage at the beginning of the game.
As a side note, heavy lasers were amazing weapons in Mechcommander 2. I would load up Blood Asps with heavy large lasers and just delete mechs.
The Vulture/MadDog was my favorite Mech to use in MechAssault 1 and it's the most successful Mech in BattleTech, in the way of how many Clans were using them during the Clan Invasion
The Archer's less lanky cousin that I can't trust to not smash my poor mechs with way too many missiles.
How many missiles? All the missiles.
The Mad Dog. AKA, the Budget Timberwolf. AKA, hell's hottest bastard when I load this thing up with ATMs, a few tons of ammo, ER Small lasers, and a prayer. You aren't everyone's favorite mech, but for a medium-speed striker lance, you're one of my first picks.
The Mad Dog's a superb 'mech, its iconic and its configs and various models make it a real swiss army knife of a 'mech with a weapon for every role.
Such a beautiful mech. Thanks Frog.
My pleasure!
I took a Mad Dog D in one of Catalyst's GenCon tournaments. I gutted a Kodiak knocked out a Stalker II before I lost my ATM launchers...fun times
glad to hear that.
The Mad Dog is pretty much the introduction of Pulse Lasers. Its the only first-gen Clan Mech that had them in the prime configuration.
Its got the usual flaws of the first-gen(not enough ammo, armor, heat sinks), but its fun.
It was on the cover of Mechwarrior 2 Ghost Bear's Legacy.
Its got several successors of various qualities.
The Mad Mod/Vulture MK II is kind of a black sheep. It was a model redesign around the early 2000s where the medium pulse lasers were moved to a chin rack. I also remember a 75ton version in the MekTek mod for Mechwarrior 4. That version had Gauss Rifles.
The Mad Dog Mk III downgrades the pulse lasers to get 80 long range missile tubes on a 60ton design, more than the LRM Carrier has.
The Mad Dog Mk IV is a Dark Age design with some new technology, but its much more of a brawler, downgrading to Short Range missiles even if it has 24 tubes.
Mad Dog, meant to be an insult. Turns out just an accurate description.
Did you hear about the heroic Mad Dog that ran into the burning hangar to bite one more mechwarrior?
The primary config is two mechs in one, it's a missile boat until they run out then it becomes an accurate sniper.
Good times had by all.
I'm looking forward to using the MF configuration. I think my players aren't gonna know what to expect from it LO. L.
This has been one of my favorite mechs since I first laid eyes on it. Easily a top 10 in terms of looks and I do enjoy many of its configurations.
60 tons. Enjoys the toughness of a medium, but the duties of a heavy.
Because it reminds us of our favorite wines of the 1980's.
"wine"
@@MechanicalFrog Morgan David made many "fine wines".
So many fun variants, though for dueling, I consider the I variant unique. Using the Capacitor enhanced Clan ERPPC, you hit with an AC20 at long range and twin Clan RAC-2s (and two tons of ammo) exploit the holes the ERPPC makes. Runs cool with the 15 DHS. May not be the most powerful, but in a 1v1 it can be effective. Me, I would probably ditch the twin RAC-2s for one RAC-5 with 6 tons of ammo guarded with CASE II, a targeting computer, and the oh so important emotional support ER Small Laser.
Little surprised you didn't do the cheeky mention of the Mad Dog Mk II.
Man I love the Vulture
Favourite visual design to me is the MW4 version, vs the original.
There's just this "refined" feel to it that I can't quite put a word to, and that last stand intro made it bad ass too.
And that chin mount moving always reminded me of things like the AH64D EOSS on the nose that follows the pilot vision.
I remember this thing most from the Battletech animated series in the hands of Star Captain Kristen Redmond.
A lesser known hero.
I really feel like the heat and ammo issues run into could be fixed if the LRM20 was just downsized to a 15. But the pilot would probably punch you for suggesting a reduction in firepower...
Possibly,though it allows the LRM to carry TWO tons of ammo for each launcher.
First of all, how dare you?
Second of all... how dare you?
:)
Oh baby Vulture Time!
My favorite Mod is 6x SRM-6 Streaks and 3 ER Micro Pulse. I based this off of the Vulture Prime from the BattleTech Center Pods.
The Mad Dog A is right up my alley!
First time i was aware of the IP at all was Mechwarrior 2. Clan wolf, they look cool. First mech the handed me was a Mad Dog. Love at first blast with those missiles. Always dig the symmetrical designs of battlemechs, this one will always be my favorite, closely followed by the Timberwolf
Excellent choices, both.
LOL The "S" config is an old friend of mine ... but I run it on a refit MAD-3R. 🙂
10:20 Finally
A relatable Personality
Gotta be the Coolest Frog in all of Battletech
Because it was in almost every video game.
Great video! Love the Madcat and Maddog. Looking forwardto moe videos.
Config V's is giving me ptsd flashbacks to mw4 solaris Vulture bot's Arrow IV
There were another MadDog Vatiant, but it was a special Game Version: The MadDog-MW4, because it was shown in the Intro of the Game Mechwarrior 4, you can find the intro here on UA-cam.
Idk what internal Equipment or how many Heatsinks it had, but the infos about the Weapons from the Intro... IDK if this is even possible with the normal rules. Also the Appearence of that Mech is a little different from the Classic Version.
For example, it had the Arm Weaponpods direcktly connected to the left and right torsos, without the Arms between them, and it had a small Turret under it's center torso nose.
It had 2 AC Unknown Types (I think it where AC/5s), one in each arm Weaponpod, 2 Med Pulse Lasers in the nose turret and 4!! LRM 20 in the Missile Weapon Pods. (This is an error from one of the Scenes. I counted 2x21 Missile openings on each Side. Could be an Animatiors Error)
I think it had at least 1 Ton of Ammo for each ammo needing Weapon.
But, as we know, this variant havn't survived the intro so... idk if this an actual official variant. ^^
Anyone remember mech assault on the og xbox? The vulture was surprisingly powerful with that auto cannon load out. Especially with that ballistics upgrade.
Here are some of my Mad Dogs.
Mad dog Kings Knights 1. 2 clan er ppc, 4 clan er medium lasers, 2 clan LRM 20 with 2 tons of ammo, 12 double heat sinks.
Mad dog Kings Knights 2. 2 clan Arrow 4 missile systems with 2 tons of ammo, and 2 Clan er medium lasers. With 12 double heat sinks.
Mad dog Knights Knights 3. 2 clan er large lasers, 4 clan er medium lasers, 2 Clan LRM 20 with 2 tons of ammo, 16 double heat sinks.
Mad dog Kings Knights 4. 2 clan er ppc, 4 clan er medium lasers, 2 clan LRMS 12 with 2 of ammo, and 16 double heat sinks.
Mad dog Kings Knights 5. 1 clan er ppc, 6 clan er medium lasers, 2 LRMS 20 with 2 tons of ammo, 16 double heat sinks.
My favorite Mech
My favourite character in most properties is named "Mad Dog"
A longtime favorite!
Must point out the lack of a mention of the great Kristen Redmunds maddog from our favorite holodrama.
One of my favorite omnis. No, I am not nust saying that as a Ghost Bear.
Form and function.
Your MF variant is pretty nice. Infantry would probably disagree.
Their opinion doesn't matter.
I main the MDD so much in MWO that the people I play with are legit concerned over my level of attachment to this mech. 4xHLL on the Prime with 1ton armor strip so you can jam another cDHS on and you are cooking with great hit-scan damage and with the quirks you get can even sustain it rather well before cool-shots. You better use a macro or be good at timing to avoid that ghost heat though!
Steve Venters armor diagram goes brrrr!
I and V are hilarious while ammo last. Then you fall back while covering yourself with energy weapons to reload for round 2.
How do we get "Mad Cat" from a computer confusing a Timber Wolf for a Marauder and Catapult, but it doesn't think a Mad Dog is an Archer?
Suspension of disbelief?
I had a game with Jacob where the poor man's configuration A Mad Dog could not hit a single one of it's 6 SRM 6s. Like this man was hitting on 7s and could not roll higher than a five. Too bad for the Clanner MechWarrior inside who can't blame his machine, that'd be very unclan like lol
I love the Mad Dog because its like an Archer
I was piloting the MadDog before I could properly read as a kid MW2, but I knew a few words and chose the MadDog to play because It had the word dog, and I liked dogs more than cats 🤣 100% true, I absolutely love the Maddog 🥰
Never played the tabletop game, but I have played the pc games extensively, and recently tried out the H variant in MWO. Those heavy lasers are a nasty surprise to enemy warriors.
I'll admit the heat issue can be a problem, even with alternating weapons.
I tend to drop the heavy large laser for an extended range version on the Mad Dog H, it doesnt free up any tonnage for heat sinks, but heat management is easier, the range boost helps for long range tickles amd it still does nice damage when used with the heavy mediums
Joanna does want whats best for her friends, its just that Falconer Ellis was not her friend.
True that.
It's the A variant for me with a subtle swap PPC for erL add one to ammo and a sync