Battletech's Howler, a Mandrill Light Totem!
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- Опубліковано 2 жов 2024
- #Battletech #BattletechLore #Mechwarrior
The Howler is one of those machines you end up seeing when you're on the battlefield and start wondering who made it, and why. It packs a lot of missiles, but all on one side. It is not super fast, not super tough, not super capable...
Let's talk about this rather mediocre battlemech, and try to figure it out!
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I'm glad you hit on it during your Final Thoughts: it is a cheap, easy to produce design that can perform numerous roles. Not great, but not bad. And I love a funky mech design.
It's pretty bad, mind you, unless it's the 6 ER Medium variant. If the LRMs were spread out, it would be quirky and weird, now it's quirky and bad.
Still, it's a thing you can build? Build it, sell it.
@@ProfessorHeyTeeEn And sell it for roughly the price of a Thorn. Also, with good speed, a standard engine, and a long range (perhaps indirect) mission profile, this is likely a very survivable 20t mech.
From a fiction perspective, my big guess as to why the Howler has all its weapons and ammo in the RT is for the ease of ammo feed to the Launchers.
That makes a lot of sense from an engineering perspective, the problem is that as a weapon system it becomes much too fragile.
I don't know, that sounds like it also protects 1) the pilot, and 2) the mech over all.
With everything focused in 1 location and protected by CASE. An enemy could focus down that RT and pop it, that would leave the Howler with a fully functional engine (no XL) and arm, either leaving the mech as stick (no weapons) to run away, or as a punch 'bot (very unclanlike).
Glad to see the howler done justice. Along with the beloved Kodiak, you represent the technology well. I guess we will have to salvage some of these for Phi, soon.
I wouldn't recommend it, outside of the 6 ER Med version of them, or if you need a light smoke / mine platform.
Oh my Kerensky that design
I know you can chop it down to some gyro or AMBAC system but that thing its like they took the long bow and tried to turn it into a humanoid design that looks like its more prone to slipping on a beer bottle then a BJ-1X prototype blackjack in a banana farm from the size of the torso alone
At least the redisgn looks proper
One of the Shimmy designs that is not awful, even though it is still samey.
I find Fire Mandrill to be an interesting enigma. On the one hand, they are talked of in a way that suggests they epitomized some of the inherent flaws of Nicholas' vision of a warrior led society where communal and familial bonds are deliberately severed and stunted, and where combat is the de facto conflict resolution tool for the warrior elite expected to constantly prove themselves worthy to even maintain status.
And yet, their mech designs seem out of step with Clan Dueling, suited more to coordinated teams of relatively numerous artillery mechs.
Maybe we have not seen EVERY mech the Mandrill built.
@@ProfessorHeyTeeEn Perhaps.
they were somehow the claniest of clans, the whole ilclan dynamics in just one clan( sans inne sphere), sad that their story ended
Had great success with this little guy on Btech 3062 mod. Run around getting flank shots or rear shots, never worrying about minimum range.
The fact clan LRM have no minimum range makes them usable as a primary weapon on most mechs, at least. In HBS Battletech, since each missile hit is rolled independently, it is a bit more viable than in tabletop as well.
I dont hate it for any reason other than I generally loathe lighter mechs with LRMs. Ill take the Puma/Adder and Mandrill because they bring LOTS of missles and commit to the bit.
It's an odd choice as support roles generally are meant for heavier mecha.
The howler really felt like a second line ´mech and it’s a rear echelon unit.
It is finally a clan second line mech that isn't rather fantastic, just a thing you would use to backup better machines or defend rear positions.
Didn't this tech readout also have an aquatic mech or was that a fever dream?
3060 had a lot of REALLY weird designs, I'd have to reread the whole thing.
I love the variant that runs 6 medium lasers, instant over heat with an alpha lol😊
Yes, but a huge hole in the guy's back armor as well.
Liking the new intros and mech coverage… that looks very vulnerable to lucky hits
No, actually it looks vulnerable, period. It's not fast enough to really be "super dodgy", it needs to position itself well for shots and is not well suited to anything coming up the left side. Not the greatest feat of Clan engin... Fire Mandrill. Carry on then.
3:39 It looks the the pack is swappable quickly if ther'es malfunctions or damage. Almost an omnimech pod really.. THing is, it's a light mech in clan space, meaning the whole thing'll be diced by clan pulselasers or lucky hits from ERLLs and ERPPCs anyway.
Those are hard mounted, unfortunately, nothing easily swappable on there. The ammo feed going in a single direction is about the only good thing the stack has going for it.
@@ProfessorHeyTeeEn Not even quirked for easier maintenance? Silly.
While I prefer the Mandril for bold aesthetics, better symmetry, and heavier firepower.... I do still have a reliable soft spot for cheeky LRM lights. Though the more modern art definitely helps the Howler look less unbalanced.
It did benefit a bit from the redesign, but really, it should have a launcher in each torso rather than all on the one shoulder.
@@ProfessorHeyTeeEn For sure.
The first picture looks like the mech has two radiators strapped to the side torsos. Thanks for the video.
I mean... That's basically a Howler.
might look like an old mazda but does it´s job like an old suzuki: cheap, small and fragile but it´s there and it works 😎
If you need to bring 15 LRM to the table with speciality ammo, there are worse options.
@@ProfessorHeyTeeEn true! i like the devil variant the most though, it´s lika a jackal but better in every way( except BV of course)