During WWII, homemade tractors called "Doodlebugs" were frequently built by American farmers, often out of truck parts as factory-built tractors were in short supply. In this vein, the Cataphract is the doodlebug of Capellan battlemechs.
As a man on a quest to outfit a urban with a guass rifle I salute you, I fear after this is done I’ll try to fit something even more silly on something like a flee.
Man I could imagine a Franken-mech being a nightmare for service techs. Like imagine if the gyro firmware would reset for the set if legs or arms for which it was originally designed, or if an arm kept sending specific codes to a torso that didn’t exist (whole also sending codes for the torso to which it was attached), slowing down reaction time. Or say there were open wireless ports that were forgotten which an enemy could use to cause problems.
I agree. The only feasible way to prepare for servicing it is to keep a whole stock of parts specifically for that single mech. Might end up being considerably more expensive to keep.
Honestly the internal electronics were probably completely re-worked in your more professionally made Frankenstein mechs. I’d imagine a CCAF Cataphract might not have these issues, but some deep periphery pirate units probably face the problem constantly.
This guy is a little bit of everything crammed into one mech. And still somehow its a work doing machine. I have run one regularly for over 20 years. Love this guy, it is a Swiss army knife that just keeps getting shit done. Its hell to your quarter master with all the weapons and expendables though. Its hell feeding this guy when supplies are short. You dont want this guy out in the deep periphery unless you want to make sure something on the mech is shooting form the sheer volume of options available to it. But it needs supply to run full effect.
In the BattleTech PC game, I've played the CTF-0X with the Guardian ECM Stealth suite that prevents targeting of friendly mechs by the enemy. I replaced the standard weapons with an Ultra Auto-Cannon AC-20 that shoots twice per round. Then I added heat banks and heatsinks plus extra ammo to keep on shooting for at least 10 rounds of combat. I added two medium lasers for additional close-range firepower as well as arm mods to enable it to melee-punch any foolhardy enemy mechs who recklessly try penetrate the ECM umbrella. Its role is to provide ECM stealth to a lance of heavy and assault mechs with long range weapons (Gauss Riffles, AC-10s, LRMs, and PPCs). I also have a second CTF-0X with a UAC-10 plus a large laser to provide additional ECM Stealth support for convoy escort missions so there are two mechs in the same lance giving an ECM umbrella.
I used a captured one to replace a destroyed Warhammer. It wasn't bad. It was better then the Orin in the lance. Interestingly enough the Ceasar is basically a ungraded Cataphrac
In the flavor text the Cataphract was produced first. The Ceasar was just developed as a smoke screen to cover the development of the Axeman. @@WolfHreda
@@GrimDarkNarrator With the new Battletech Urban warfare DLC they have added the Cataphract X0 complete with ECM which makes this mech even more deadly
One of my favorites except I have a mod that replaces the AC 10 with an LRM 20 with 2 tons of ammo. The two rear firing Medium Lasers are removed along with 1 Heat Sink and 4 Jump Jets are installed making it a heavier counter part to the Vindicator. The only problem in 3025 is the lack of LRM 20 producers in Confederation space but one bridge at a time.
Had one with my Lance in mechwarrior 5 mercenaries, keep it up to a warzone mission where I fried the pilots out of 30 cataphrates with my hunchback 4P's 6 shoulder mounted M laser array
Obligatory Video Game only guy note. I find the standard config of the Cataphract to be quite fragile for a heavy. It's less maneuverable than a Grasshopper with fewer hard points and it's not as tough as a Warhammer. It is reasonably cool as long as you don't face roll the weapons. All things considered there are worse places to be in the Capellan Confederation than in a Cataphract.
How about thr Cesar.I might be mistaken but I thought this was a stolen redesign of that Mac or maybe it's the other way around. love your vids keep it up.
@@GrimDarkNarrator Oh it's pretty cool alright, in kind of a "Yeah, that's my sister" sort of a way! I remember when Ral Partha came out with the mini...some people were surprised they made it...I think I had 2 or 3 Cataphracts.
During WWII, homemade tractors called "Doodlebugs" were frequently built by American farmers, often out of truck parts as factory-built tractors were in short supply. In this vein, the Cataphract is the doodlebug of Capellan battlemechs.
As a Capellan. Yes, yes it is among my favorite mechs.
Took the factory a few days ago and used one until the end if the lancers DLC .
The cataphract is a personal fav of mine though i personally swap out the AC 10 of the original 1X with another PPC and heat sinks
Sounds like a good choice.
Solid, and bloody annoying.
Nice. One of my characters in the RPG once had a 3D that removed the Autocannons for an ER PPC and ER Large Laser, and add extra heat sinks.
@@roguerifter9724 That's an excellent combo too! I think I'm going to try that the next time I play table top.
As a man on a quest to outfit a urban with a guass rifle I salute you, I fear after this is done I’ll try to fit something even more silly on something like a flee.
Man I could imagine a Franken-mech being a nightmare for service techs. Like imagine if the gyro firmware would reset for the set if legs or arms for which it was originally designed, or if an arm kept sending specific codes to a torso that didn’t exist (whole also sending codes for the torso to which it was attached), slowing down reaction time.
Or say there were open wireless ports that were forgotten which an enemy could use to cause problems.
I agree. The only feasible way to prepare for servicing it is to keep a whole stock of parts specifically for that single mech. Might end up being considerably more expensive to keep.
Honestly the internal electronics were probably completely re-worked in your more professionally made Frankenstein mechs. I’d imagine a CCAF Cataphract might not have these issues, but some deep periphery pirate units probably face the problem constantly.
This guy is a little bit of everything crammed into one mech. And still somehow its a work doing machine. I have run one regularly for over 20 years. Love this guy, it is a Swiss army knife that just keeps getting shit done. Its hell to your quarter master with all the weapons and expendables though. Its hell feeding this guy when supplies are short. You dont want this guy out in the deep periphery unless you want to make sure something on the mech is shooting form the sheer volume of options available to it. But it needs supply to run full effect.
I remember using a Cataphract in past games of BT, I like the mech, it got the job done!
In the BattleTech PC game, I've played the CTF-0X with the Guardian ECM Stealth suite that prevents targeting of friendly mechs by the enemy. I replaced the standard weapons with an Ultra Auto-Cannon AC-20 that shoots twice per round. Then I added heat banks and heatsinks plus extra ammo to keep on shooting for at least 10 rounds of combat. I added two medium lasers for additional close-range firepower as well as arm mods to enable it to melee-punch any foolhardy enemy mechs who recklessly try penetrate the ECM umbrella. Its role is to provide ECM stealth to a lance of heavy and assault mechs with long range weapons (Gauss Riffles, AC-10s, LRMs, and PPCs).
I also have a second CTF-0X with a UAC-10 plus a large laser to provide additional ECM Stealth support for convoy escort missions so there are two mechs in the same lance giving an ECM umbrella.
Thanks for the share.
My first salvage box after restarting my collection was this little guy!
That's awesome!
I used a captured one to replace a destroyed Warhammer. It wasn't bad. It was better then the Orin in the lance. Interestingly enough the Ceasar is basically a ungraded Cataphrac
Or the Cataphract is a bastardized Caesar. They both look pretty weird, though.
In the flavor text the Cataphract was produced first. The Ceasar was just developed as a smoke screen to cover the development of the Axeman. @@WolfHreda
The Cataphract/Caeser combo makes for a good fighting pair....
Whooo Hoo its mech tuesday thanks for another great video the cataphract is a pretty good mech
Thanks.
@@GrimDarkNarrator With the new Battletech Urban warfare DLC they have added the Cataphract X0 complete with ECM which makes this mech even more deadly
One of my favorites except I have a mod that replaces the AC 10 with an LRM 20 with 2 tons of ammo. The two rear firing Medium Lasers are removed along with 1 Heat Sink and 4 Jump Jets are installed making it a heavier counter part to the Vindicator. The only problem in 3025 is the lack of LRM 20 producers in Confederation space but one bridge at a time.
Had one with my Lance in mechwarrior 5 mercenaries, keep it up to a warzone mission where I fried the pilots out of 30 cataphrates with my hunchback 4P's 6 shoulder mounted M laser array
Thanks for the share.
Thanks for the vid sir.👍🏼👍🏼
You're welcome.
any chance do lore for any Aerospace Fighter Combat Vehicles DropShip JumpShip Small Craft WarShip form Battletech
I'll cover them at some point :)
One of the VERY few things about the Cappies that I actually use.
‘It’s ALIVE’
thanks!
You're welcome :)
Love Miguel Johnson. 🥰
Lol, fighting against this thing goes two ways... a quick demise or a Hound versus Mountain situation... it just never goes down...
Nice analogy.
Obligatory Video Game only guy note. I find the standard config of the Cataphract to be quite fragile for a heavy. It's less maneuverable than a Grasshopper with fewer hard points and it's not as tough as a Warhammer. It is reasonably cool as long as you don't face roll the weapons. All things considered there are worse places to be in the Capellan Confederation than in a Cataphract.
Its Frankentime!
I don’t care what anyone say’s I like this mech.
Go with your heart :)
How about thr Cesar.I might be mistaken but I thought this was a stolen redesign of that Mac or maybe it's the other way around. love your vids keep it up.
I'll add the Caesar to a future poll :)
Cataphract-ii pattern terminator armor
If this was actual terminator armour, all first company marines would actually be imperial knights, lol.
Ugly ugly ugly....but I love it!!!
I think it looks pretty cool.
@@GrimDarkNarrator Oh it's pretty cool alright, in kind of a "Yeah, that's my sister" sort of a way! I remember when Ral Partha came out with the mini...some people were surprised they made it...I think I had 2 or 3 Cataphracts.
So ugly it's beautiful