Battletech's Cicada, the Scout Which Keeps Coming Back!
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- Опубліковано 27 чер 2024
- #battletech #battletechlore #mechwarrior
The Cicada is a weird case of a mech that keeps being brought to the brink of extinction before coming right back in huge numbers... pretty much like the old Terran bug it is named after.
A 40 ton scout mech, it sounds horrible on paper and is too expensive, but people keep wanting to buy it and deploy it.
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Mechwarriors *know* what they're supposed to do in a mech that runs hot. It's what they *do* that worries commanders.
I have to say out of all the Battletech UA-camrs I love how you give your lore from an in universe perspective as a mechanic it really is a great and unique way to present the lore
I think it is far more entertaining to do something like this than either just read a TRO or just give endless stats.
@@ProfessorHeyTeeEn exactly it definitely is and is much appreciated it gives it a feel that your giving the opinion of the average mechanic or citizen of the battletech universe
Like all 40 ton machines, the Cicada is in the unfortunate position of not having enough tonnage to be as versatile as a proper 50-55 ton medium and still lacking enough armor to not crumple over after taking a hit. To get it to the point where you have the tonnage room to make the thing useable you spent enough c bills on ferro fibrous, endo steel and XL engine you could have bought a factory fresh atlas new off the show room floor. Still its pretty common because scouts are always handy to have and as a trainer its better than pushing the poor sod in an Urbanmech. Still a swarm of Cicadas can overrun some formations if they have a numbers advantage and just brute force the enemy in volume of mechs.
You don't use a Cicada to scout. You use it to HUNT scouts.
There are far better bughunters.
The bugs will kill you, is the problem.
@@ProfessorHeyTeeEn I dunno, a Cicada has more armor and structure.
Also I wonder how well one with a light engine, endo, light Ferro, and a boatload of (Clan?) Medium Pulses would handle. M
@@Kepora1 Yeah, but those don't exist.
@@ProfessorHeyTeeEn one could be MADE to exist. Is that not your trade?
I remember getting the 4X prototype off the mech market, besides a heating issue but it surved surprisingly well as a battering ram against mech its size and smaller
People used to laugh at my bug...til they found out I've killed 2 MAD Cats, a Shadow Hawk and an Atlas on the tabletop with it!! (The Atlas was a double cockpit hit...the dice were hot for me THAT night I can tell you!)
I guess your Cicada had a TAG? 😉
@@hermes7587 nope 😁
While it gets derided as an expensive substitute for a lighter mech (and rightly so in some instances), I’ve had a lot of success using the 3G. It’s fast, has a pretty good armament, and ablative arms to add on extra protection. It’s particularly nice in BTA3062, where it can still pull its weight even in the late endgame.
Depends on what you play, but while speed is life, armor keeps you alive.
The biggest problem with the Cicada is that mechs like the Jenner, Commando, Mongoose and Panther exist. Compared to those the Cicada fails in almost every role. Panthers are better snipers and even brawlers, Commandos and Jenners are better heavily armed scouts and Mongeese are better light, fast scouts.
Even when you get to Star League/Advanced tech, you can get better performance out of those lighter mechs 9 out of 10 times and they are cheaper.
I have had a love affair with the Cicada ever since MW2 mercs. Run so fast nobody can touch you.
The problem is if anything does hit you, which it will at some point.
Some of these variants are why I like producing 'mechs without the expensive XL and Light engines (XXL engines are plain foolishness). A variant of the Cicada (not in any great numbers), use Endosteel and 6 tons of Ferror fibrous armor with the lighter 280 standard Fusion Engine giving it a top speed of 109 kph. This configuration also uses 10 double Heat sinks. It mounts a Inner Sphere ER PPC, 2 standard medium lasers, and a small laser. Its far more survivable than many of the other variants that you reviewed plus its significantly cheaper for more budget minded customers.
What is the designation of this variant?
During '39 we dropped the cheapest Cicadas we could find behind enemy lines, or just let them walk into Steiner territory painted with their IFFs, even old ones. The Intel officers inside almost never got caught, because nobody paid any attention to a Cicada walking around cluelessly. If they were discovered, no one could ever catch them before they hit the border, ditched the Cicada in the ocean, or the woods. We even recovered a few, we knew where we'd left 'em.
You got lucky, but I understand the strategy there.
@@ProfessorHeyTeeEn It taught us that it takes the right strategy, but you can turn a 'mech's weaknesses into an advantage.
I am just surprised that house Marik didn't find a way to "upgrade" all their Cicada's with a single light gauss.
You'd have to lower the engine to a 280 as standard to do that I believe.
Each have their own, unique, take on scouting or harrasser, but I think I would slow down the 4A to a 280 XL, replace the FF with standard, and change all 3 Mediums to Medium Re-engineered. In place of all that cleared space and tonnage, a Beagle Active Probe and Guardian ECM are added for better scouting and 6 Jump Jets for better mobility, and one more DHS is added to try to keep it cool.
If you want to keep the high speed and armor, you could just replace the weapons, like in the example I just gave, and choose either the electronics warfare package or the Jumping package. Be warned, the jumper will get hot if handled recklessly as there is no space for another DHS.
In all factors, the Cicada is like the Locust in that it is a true 'ride or die' mech. It requires the daring or the foolish to be better than they have any right to be. Be reckless, be daring, and, most importantly, be lucky.
It has seen devastating use in my leagues c3 users
Eat ze bugs. Give me all the Locusts and Cicadas you have , love the speedy little boogers. Never seen the point of mech scouts. Vtols, light vehicles, trained infantry, all can perform the role, cheaper and with lower detection chance.
Technically more survivable than a locust.....it has more IS.
It makes sense if you have to fill a unit slot with a certain role and you dont mind paying more for it.
But you could be moving 2 locusts in the same mech bay....decisions.
Probably better of by going 7/11 with a 280 engine...those are common anyway and cheaper. That 320 could keep an 80 ton assault in the fight....
LL, 2 ML , 6 tons of armor...something like that.
Decent scout hunter/cavalry mech that way.
I think the Cicada is popular because its twice the size of a Locust.
Outside of being able to give a stronger kick, there isn't much of a difference between the two.
@ProfessorHeyTeeEn I mean I think that it's popularity is really just that it is twice the size. If it was similar to a failed scout it would have tanked.
The Cicada is a more expensive, oversized and obese Locust. If you are looking for the performance of a Locust but much more expesive - the Cicada is your Mech.
If you are looking for something useful - try someting else.
W H A T ?
I CAN'T HEAR YOU!
A much bigger loss with the HartfordCo plant in my opinion was all the Von Luckner lines on the site as compared to the cicada lines
You would be surprised what actual military advisors thought at the time.
@@ProfessorHeyTeeEn what can i say i mourn the loss of production of a near perfect partner for the demolisher
I enjoy all of Professor HeyTeeEn videos
great info on the Cicada
Glad you liked it!
Love your work
Thank you so much 😀
Though i'm not a fan of the base Cicada model, the 3C with its PPC and downgraded engine is a very decent mobile sniper for its weight-class.
Also, i always imagined the leg-mounted machine guns to be in its knees (like on the Viking)
Hip-swivel mounts are more practical, at least in my opinion.
@@ProfessorHeyTeeEn Practical sure.
But when i'm buying a Cicada, i'm not looking for practicality.
The good old reserve 'mech. Too expensive to use, too flimsy to be in long operations. Not enough spare parts but easy to repair with lots of room to use alternative scavenged parts.
After Helm, having a bit more structural integrity is a major advantage and the FWL starts a new factory line.
Those are all major issues which I would attribute to the Cicada, yes.
Poor Cicada. I've always wanted to like this mech, but it just never floated my ducky
In place of a Cicada I'd rather have two Warrior VTOLs for scouting or a Sabre Aerospace Fighter with as many clusterbombs it can fit while not dropping out of the sky for creating havok.
Like a lot of the 40 tonners, it's just... not good enough.
I have a Strider in my Battletech PC 2nd lance, it is the fastest thing there with 2 SRM 6 with Artemis 4 and a small laser with Beagle Probe.
Striders are pretty cool, it is just a weird machine if it really was meant to replace the Cicada.
If BT has one major flaw, it's that scouting does not exist in the game. 99% of people don't bother with hidden deployment therefore the main bread and butter of a light mech is not present in most games, therefore light mechs are a liability and that shifts the balance of the game towards the heavier machines.
You can always play double blind and such, but its really not for everyone. It's not that people "don't bother", but that it adds a layer of difficulty which a lot of people don't want to deal with.
@@ProfessorHeyTeeEn It's complex, it feels arbitrary and most classic mechanisms suck. You have the classic "draw a map and note exactly where you put your units" there is the "Have preferably three sets of terrain and every mini and then you can plot double blind games".
Flames of War does have units that can be teleported at any spot within a certain range of friendlies to represent hidden troops ambushing.
Chain of Command uses deployment points which represent the closest areas troops can march to the field before being in combat.
The FoW rule is a mix of genius and insane because it solves many problems, but many would accuse the other players of being arbitrary. CoC's deployment points add method to the madness and you deploy scouts to force the enemy to reveal themselves. For more info check relevant videos on UA-cam by Flames of War or Too Fat Lardies.
It is possible to create scenarios that include scouting but honestly speaking scouting becomes boring very fast. Most of the time nothing happens and finding minefields, Mech traps or ambushes isn´t much fun either.
You could combine the BT board game with the MechWarrior RPG and play a scouting mission as a RPG mission and the result of the RPG mission will have an impact on the next battle.
Ill stick with my wolfhound
Almost made me not hate it anymore... Almost.
So few variants that are even remotely usable lol...
Putting long range weapons on a fast mech is not a good idea. They are heavy and have minimum ranges. It's fast enough to get into close ranges quickly. This mech has room to spare. How about 10 medium lasers instead of an ultra 5. You can put 12 heat sinks on before you take up slots. How about 30 small lasers.
Medium laser SPAM works to some degree (e.g. on the HBK-4P) but unless you have double heat sinks, you run into heat issues very fast.
Small lasers are generally useless even in large numbers.
Marge everybody knows you don't win friends with cicadas
I have won fights with them, but generally not willingly.
Nope, don't like it. Except the PPC variant. I like that one because it's a decent harasser and has machine guns for dealing with infantry.
The one with armor and jump jets is OKAY at best, at least it can tank shots and scout fairly well.
@@ProfessorHeyTeeEn jump jets are a big positive, especially with lighter machines like the Cicada.
@@ProfessorHeyTeeEnfor its bv, jumping 8 in cover rear arch short range ERPPC on the rear arch on *anything* reliably. It absolutely clowns on anything less mobile than it
@@mrwhatshisname The Cicada 3F is a very powerful 40 ton Mech but also very expensive. In terms of BV it costs as much a many heavy Mechs and the sustained damage output is not very impressive if you consider movement modifiers and heat management.