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Armor Units
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DarkAdder
Clan Star Adder
Star Commander
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PostPosted: 03-Mar-2004 23:54    Post subject: Armor Units Reply to topic Reply with quote

Okay, kids, its almost a given that the Clans have the edge on the Inner Sphere when it comes to battlemech and omnimech technology. But how do they rate against each other when it comes to armor units (tanks, vtols, and such), who has the edge there? Or are they even?
What (if any) is your favorite tank or vtol, and why? When have you deployed it and what was the outcome? Got any horror stories to tell, about when someone used them against you?
I used to scoff at armor, until a guy I played against used one to blow the leg clean off my Warhammer IIC in one shot.

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Stinger
The Knights of Chaos
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PostPosted: 04-Mar-2004 00:38    Post subject: RE: Armor Units Reply to topic Reply with quote

I love armor. I have the most luck with it. I have a couple favorite Vtols. The Warrior with modifications can be very leathal. And the Yellow Jacket is just about the nastiest Vtol out there, 1 or 2 lances of thoes and any mech force should worry about its survival. For ground units Alacorns are great. So are Shrek PPC carriers. I used a mixed company to decimate a clan Trinary.

As for Vehicle superiority I think the IS has a clear advantage. Clan dont generally field vehicles and with the exception of a couple designs are really lacking in that department. (I think the one clan vtol design I have found has 5 ER small lasers, A complete wast IMO)

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js
Federated Suns
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Joined: 25-Feb-2002 00:00
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PostPosted: 04-Mar-2004 01:28    Post subject: RE: Armor Units Reply to topic Reply with quote

Clan armor still has an advantage over IS armor. The sheer lethality of the Clan weapons makes the difference. However, since Clan armor has such thin armor, the difference in performance is slightly less than for 'Mechs.

I've never actually played any Clan armor myself, but the Mars looks quite appealing. If only I could get that kind of performance profile from an IS armor unit.
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Moonlapse Vertigo
Clan Goliath Scorpion
Star Captain
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PostPosted: 04-Mar-2004 02:03    Post subject: RE: Armor Units Reply to topic Reply with quote

I haven't used armor enough to tell, but clan tank crews are generally not as good as IS crews, just as it is the other way around for mechs. I can see a case being made that Hell's Horses have better than average tank crews though.
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Rarich
Federated Suns
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PostPosted: 04-Mar-2004 04:28    Post subject: RE: Armor Units Reply to topic Reply with quote

Hell's Horses would be the only clan having vehicles and crews worth anything. Most of the rest of the clans assign freeborn to vehicles, and use them to hold the mechs in place to finish a maneuver. (throw them away to set up a checkmate)



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Nightmare
Lyran Alliance
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PostPosted: 04-Mar-2004 07:42    Post subject: RE: Armor Units Reply to topic Reply with quote

I'd have to agree with the others, clanner armor in general isn't as good as IS units. The weapons are hot, but few commanders can see any reason to use armor over mechs. And of course, morale and crew skill isn't going to be very good among suicide troops.

Favorites? I like the Scarborough series of hovertanks, Saladins, Saracens, Scimitars. They're always useful as supporting units, going top speed around the battlefield and trying to shoot at exposed backs.

If I can't use hovertanks I go the other way, slow and brutal. Hetzers, Pattons, Rommels, von Luckner tanks. Anything that can take a beating and deal out large portions of damage to nearby enemies.

The aerial support is usually left to aerospace fighters as I haven't trained much with VTOLs. And of course, if I use tanks there's going to be infantry lurking about. These forces still act as a supplement to my mechs, of course. Nothing like giving people a choice of targets. Shoot at the medium mech or the four-vehicle Hetzer lance that's rumbling my way?

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bandit
Clan Nova Cat
Star Colonel
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PostPosted: 04-Mar-2004 09:41    Post subject: RE: Armor Units Reply to topic Reply with quote

Oh yes I like use them.
I remember during a tournament I deployed
1 ontos,1demolisher,1pattom,1RFL,ect.
The counter part a standard 4 mechs.
I struggle for all the game for my low
speed to find a good cover,insted the
other was on hill firing missile.
Than I got demolisher and ontos
out of commision and in the last turn
he get close to my rfl to finish it with
the cyclop'sAC20 giving the back at my pattom.So I turn my turret and shoot
directly in the side torso and boom.
I rolled x critical a 12 hitting tha ac ammo.
I get a draw but I was satisfing.
In another occasion,I get close an ORO
with a LCT2c and finish the tank in 1 round
(he missed the lb20)
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Slythis
Federated Suns
Colonel
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PostPosted: 04-Mar-2004 12:38    Post subject: RE: Armor Units Reply to topic Reply with quote

I've ALWAYS been fond of combined arms tactics, however I can't really say I hve a favorite armor peice.

In a recent campain I was piloting a Clan equipped Awsome which got shot out from under me, I didn't have any spareparts for it so I took over a Shrek and replaced it's PPCs with the Clan ER PPCs from my Awsome... it was nice.

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ralgith
Blighted Sun Battalion
1st Company
"Ralgith's Renegades"
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PostPosted: 04-Mar-2004 16:24    Post subject: RE: Armor Units Reply to topic Reply with quote

I love armor units. I use mostly Demolisher and Demolisher IIs, including gauss and LBX/Ultar variants. I also use the Zhukov quite heavily. My favorite VTOL would be the Yellow Jacket, that is an evil little prick, with quite a big sting. I also use a couple of custom built seaborne ships, fitted with arrow IV missile batteries and gauss rifles, and in the front turret an ultra ac/20 and lb 20-x pair.

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Ruger
Lyran Alliance
Hauptmann General
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Joined: 04-Feb-2002 00:00
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PostPosted: 04-Mar-2004 17:37    Post subject: RE: Armor Units Reply to topic Reply with quote

Quote:

On 2004-03-04 00:38, Stinger wrote:
And the Yellow Jacket is just about the nastiest Vtol out there, 1 or 2 lances of thoes and any mech force should worry about its survival.



Too slow...6/9 on a VTOL is a deathtrap...nice gun, but...

Quote:


As for Vehicle superiority I think the IS has a clear advantage. Clan dont generally field vehicles and with the exception of a couple designs are really lacking in that department. (I think the one clan vtol design I have found has 5 ER small lasers, A complete wast IMO)



Um, I think you are thinking of the Mantis, which is a FWL design...the Clan VTOL's we've seen thus far are the Donar, which mounts an ER Large laser and 2 Streak-2's and moves 9/14; the Anhur, which is a transport, but still mounts an ER Med and 2 MPL's, carries 7 tons of cargo and still moves 8/12, and in MWDA, there is the Balac, which mounts ATM's and machine guns (IIRC)...

Now, as for combat armor, the Clans have some damn fine ones in the Epona OmniHovertank, the Hepheastus OmniIFV, the Tyr IFV, the Svantovit IFV, the Athena Combat Vehicle, the Mars assault tank, the Enyo strike tank, the Shoden assault vehicle, the Morrigu fire support vehicle, the Heimdall ground monitor tank, and later in the BE701 Joust tank and the SM1 tank destroyer during MWDA...

Ruger
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Rarich
Federated Suns
Leftenant General
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PostPosted: 04-Mar-2004 18:15    Post subject: RE: Armor Units Reply to topic Reply with quote

That seems to be the way I have worked it out. Maneuver units are fast, heavy hovers. Then I have big slow heavys that generally rumble along behind the mechs to form a kind of "high water" mark for the advance.
The few times we seriously played out a fight the mechs would run out of ammo and start getting internal, and retreat. the opposing mechs advanced to chase them and ran into the heavy tracked tanks, the carnage was awesome. a mech that would normally take a tank out in seconds fresh, usually ended up dog meat after the armor and ammo are thinned down from a fight. Legs and arms were coming off all the time.
I used the fast armor to kind of swing thru and keep his few tanks from trying to support the mechs.

It was a week long affair, and the difference in combined arms showed up during that time. Mechs took the ground with help from the hover tanks. The Infantry and Heavy tanks held it. Vtols generally served to back up the scout screen or infantry, sort of a hip pocket aerospace unit.

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Havoc~Ronin
Federated Suns
Major
Major


Joined: 13-Nov-2003 00:00
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PostPosted: 05-Mar-2004 11:36    Post subject: RE: Armor Units Reply to topic Reply with quote

I too am a fan of combined arms. I have a number of stories to tell, most of them pre Clan or during the initial Clan invasion ( GM'd a number of these campaigns). I have to agree with those who favor IS armor over Clan. The Clans, for the most part, looked upon armor with disdain. Relegated to garrison duties, or occupational armies, they were crewed mostly by freebirth. As the IS used armor out of necessity for centuries, better tactics developed.

Next post will included a few armor stories as I have played some armor exclusive games where the carnage was extensive. (damn work and rush priorities...keeping me from Friday posting!)



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-Mud
ex-Jade Falcon
Bounty Hunter
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Joined: 04-Nov-2003 00:00
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PostPosted: 05-Mar-2004 11:52    Post subject: RE: Armor Units Reply to topic Reply with quote

The Yellowjacket is a funny VTOL; I think it makes a good gunship though. There are lots of units which could never catch it, and cannot match the range of the Gauss rifle.
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Stinger
The Knights of Chaos
General
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PostPosted: 05-Mar-2004 12:33    Post subject: RE: Armor Units Reply to topic Reply with quote

Woops my bad I always get thoes 2 mixed up. But even with the better weapons I dont think the Clan vehicles have an edge over IS.

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Stinger
If it's "creepy" to use the Internet, military satellites, and robot aircraft to find a house full of gorgeous young models so I can drop in on them unexpected, then FINE, I'm "creepy". Howard Wolowitz. BBT.
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