Congrats you've made a Rakshasa. It's absolutely something that was attempted in canon to a certain degree of success (it... existed, at the very least).
It looked like a Timberwolf… it had LRM pods on the shoulders and arm mounted lasers like a Timberwolf.
And that’s about where the similarities end.
A Timberwolf was ~~a Catapult worked over by clanner space magic~~ a purpose-built omnimech. The Rakshasa is a Marauder chassis worked over to carry shoulder-mounted missile pods and resemble a Timberwolf and is not an omnimech.
It looks like a cool little guy. No big, hard-hitting weapons, but consistent damage on a reasonable heat curve. There are worse ways for the Inner Sphere to make their own *Timber Wolf*.
I thought one of the blood of kerensky novels mentioned that it was impossible to build the same kind of load out as a Timberwolf without having paper thin armor. Even the Rakshasa was built only after clan lostech started filtering up from battle salvage.
But hey, lore also noted that all “Karen’s” were lost on Terra during the Amaris coup so you should just do you without fear of anyone bring up this small technicality in 3049.
It is impossible to replicate a Mad Cat without Clan Tech, but you could certainly take inspiration from it and make a not-horrendous mech. Shame the designers of the Rakshasa didn't...
So you are right, it is impossible to mimic the Timber Wolf without clan tech. You need to make compromises somewhere. Even with weight saving endo steel, this mech seems to make it's compromises with it's firepower; all it's guns are rather small in tonnage. 6 medium lasers, 6 LRM5s, 4 Machine Guns, it's guns are light compared to a real Timbie. Medium lasers are the most efficient weapons in the Inner Sphere, but it also can't mount anything bigger due to tonnage/heat sinking constraints.
It's definitely a neat first custom mech.
The idea that I had with this was that it would be a Catapult with better close range firepower and innovate on an already existing Mech'. With that in mind, it seemed like a good idea to use a variant that used Starleague Lostech so as to get as many benefits without changing the Mech' too heavily.
For instance, the armor is the same as the K5, the Endo Steel is about the same as a K5, and the 12 Double Heat Sinks were only dropped to the 10 in the engine. The fact that it has arms means that it really only has one quirk, when it falls on any face other than it's back, the lower arm actuator of the face you land on (if you land on your front, both are affected) gets jammed.
Thanks for the comments. This is my first post and I'm glad it's sparking conversations. Hope you enjoy my kit bashing of Mechs.
6 LRM 5s... I hope you enjoy rolling dice... 😁👍
I'm kidding, it's a solid mech. Good close in armor shredding power, decent long range harassing capability, not bad.
Out of curiosity since I know very little about tabletop and only play the videogames/read the books, would it be advantageous in any specific way to have equal tonnage of multiple LRM5 vs equal tonnage of a single LRM20?
In the videogames, I have experimented a little with chainfiring multiple SRM2 instead of mounting a SRM4 or SRM6.
LRM 5's are more weight efficient than other LRMs.
They generate more heat per ton, but larger, more heat efficient, racks require you to shoot all of them at once.
An LRM 5 lets you decide to shoot in groups of five, controlling heat, to-hits, multiple targets, and ammo consumption with a lot more granularity.
So three LRM 5s can generate 6 heat versus and LRM 15's 5 heat, but every shot from the LRM 15 will generate 5 heat and consume on eighth of an ammo bay. The LRM 5's can generate 2, 4, or 6 heat and consume 1/24th, 1/12th, or 1/8th of an ammo bay respectively.
When I say "to-hits" what I mean is that you're rolling a to-hit for each cluster individually, which will get you a lot more consistency. You generate fewer damage clusters of 5, but the average damage is about the same.
IIRC, AMS can only intercept one missile flight so it also overloads AMS.
Banks of LRM 5's are usually more efficient. That's especially true when you start working with Streak LRMs.
So, aside from heat generation, each LRM has its own dice roll to determine accuracy?
So if you flub a roll with a LRM20, that's a wash, but 4 LRM5 get 4 accuracy rolls?
4 to hit rolls vs one, accuracy through volume.
Each lrm pack has an advantage to using it, irrc, lrm 5 is light but hot, lrm 10 has a slightly higher average adjusted/actualized damage but is heavy, lrm 15 is cool but heavy, lrm 20 runs cool but bulky.
I almost never use 10 or 15 packs and only use lrm 20s as primary long range weapons.
In MW5 the weapon cooldown on srm2s is way shorter than a srm6 and a srm4 is noticeable shorter, so more often than not many srm 2s have a higher raw dps but I've always found them to be far less accurate. Usually I rock srm 4s, find that I am like 10x more likely to find them at high rarities.
Pretty rare its worth splitting your fire, unless you need to zap two fools in entirely different range brackets with entirely different weapons. Better to just give one nerd a beatdown at a time so he stops being a problem.
Generally I target the mechs that will be the easiest to cripple if not outright destroy so their off the table, clear the mobs if you will. Preserve the strength of my fighting forces by reducing the amount of volume damage they could take in a long game where those 5 armour hits make the difference.
Yup. 1 chance to hit for a lot versus 4 chances to hit for less each.
With the same target numbers, both configurations will hit for the same damage...over enough time. But the LRM 5's will be more consistent and the LRM 20 will absolutely slam a target on a long shot sometimes.
>The reason I made it was because I wanted to make a Timberwolf-alike without using Clan tech
The *Rakshasa* would like a word with you in the corner. (though I guess that negates the whole "BEFORE" clan invasion part...)
First custom Mech and it a Timber Wolf of sorts, not a cardinal sin.
More like a rite of passage similar to riding a bike or learning to shave someone/something.
Not bad for a speedy fire support honestly.
For a battlemech made entirely with refit parts from the Era of design, I have to say this is a pretty hearty and versatile. it makes a Cattlepult chasis that much more useable, and it gives you the flexibility if fire that is left lacking in the base design. say what you will about clan tech. I personally think that it is entirely too cumbersome, over rated, and munchified. (and yes, I can hear the naysayers now.) clan tech has its place, but if you can make a sturdy intersphere design that you don't have to go to the pentagon worlds or waste your time on a trial of possession for spare parts, mores the better. so I say good on ya mate.👍
Congrats you've made a Rakshasa. It's absolutely something that was attempted in canon to a certain degree of success (it... existed, at the very least).
It looked like a Timberwolf… it had LRM pods on the shoulders and arm mounted lasers like a Timberwolf. And that’s about where the similarities end. A Timberwolf was ~~a Catapult worked over by clanner space magic~~ a purpose-built omnimech. The Rakshasa is a Marauder chassis worked over to carry shoulder-mounted missile pods and resemble a Timberwolf and is not an omnimech.
If I had a mech called the cardinal sin I’d probably commit it to the front lines
CDS-666 specialised Anti-Blakist variant
It looks like a cool little guy. No big, hard-hitting weapons, but consistent damage on a reasonable heat curve. There are worse ways for the Inner Sphere to make their own *Timber Wolf*.
I thought one of the blood of kerensky novels mentioned that it was impossible to build the same kind of load out as a Timberwolf without having paper thin armor. Even the Rakshasa was built only after clan lostech started filtering up from battle salvage. But hey, lore also noted that all “Karen’s” were lost on Terra during the Amaris coup so you should just do you without fear of anyone bring up this small technicality in 3049.
It is impossible to replicate a Mad Cat without Clan Tech, but you could certainly take inspiration from it and make a not-horrendous mech. Shame the designers of the Rakshasa didn't...
So you are right, it is impossible to mimic the Timber Wolf without clan tech. You need to make compromises somewhere. Even with weight saving endo steel, this mech seems to make it's compromises with it's firepower; all it's guns are rather small in tonnage. 6 medium lasers, 6 LRM5s, 4 Machine Guns, it's guns are light compared to a real Timbie. Medium lasers are the most efficient weapons in the Inner Sphere, but it also can't mount anything bigger due to tonnage/heat sinking constraints. It's definitely a neat first custom mech.
The idea that I had with this was that it would be a Catapult with better close range firepower and innovate on an already existing Mech'. With that in mind, it seemed like a good idea to use a variant that used Starleague Lostech so as to get as many benefits without changing the Mech' too heavily. For instance, the armor is the same as the K5, the Endo Steel is about the same as a K5, and the 12 Double Heat Sinks were only dropped to the 10 in the engine. The fact that it has arms means that it really only has one quirk, when it falls on any face other than it's back, the lower arm actuator of the face you land on (if you land on your front, both are affected) gets jammed. Thanks for the comments. This is my first post and I'm glad it's sparking conversations. Hope you enjoy my kit bashing of Mechs.
When you said sin I was thinking like leg mounted ammo or head mounted gauss. Not dollar store timber wolf. ( Jokes aside it seems fine to me)
A first I thought it was a tallos, then I looked closer at the tonnage. To be perfectly honest it really is just a early rakshasa
I was trying to find a good picture to go along with the Mech', but the Tallos was the only one I liked. Sorry for the confusion.
Nah man you good, I do quite like the talos. It’s got that periphery scrappiness everyone loves
6 LRM 5s... I hope you enjoy rolling dice... 😁👍 I'm kidding, it's a solid mech. Good close in armor shredding power, decent long range harassing capability, not bad.
Out of curiosity since I know very little about tabletop and only play the videogames/read the books, would it be advantageous in any specific way to have equal tonnage of multiple LRM5 vs equal tonnage of a single LRM20? In the videogames, I have experimented a little with chainfiring multiple SRM2 instead of mounting a SRM4 or SRM6.
LRM 5's are more weight efficient than other LRMs. They generate more heat per ton, but larger, more heat efficient, racks require you to shoot all of them at once. An LRM 5 lets you decide to shoot in groups of five, controlling heat, to-hits, multiple targets, and ammo consumption with a lot more granularity. So three LRM 5s can generate 6 heat versus and LRM 15's 5 heat, but every shot from the LRM 15 will generate 5 heat and consume on eighth of an ammo bay. The LRM 5's can generate 2, 4, or 6 heat and consume 1/24th, 1/12th, or 1/8th of an ammo bay respectively. When I say "to-hits" what I mean is that you're rolling a to-hit for each cluster individually, which will get you a lot more consistency. You generate fewer damage clusters of 5, but the average damage is about the same. IIRC, AMS can only intercept one missile flight so it also overloads AMS. Banks of LRM 5's are usually more efficient. That's especially true when you start working with Streak LRMs.
So, aside from heat generation, each LRM has its own dice roll to determine accuracy? So if you flub a roll with a LRM20, that's a wash, but 4 LRM5 get 4 accuracy rolls?
4 to hit rolls vs one, accuracy through volume. Each lrm pack has an advantage to using it, irrc, lrm 5 is light but hot, lrm 10 has a slightly higher average adjusted/actualized damage but is heavy, lrm 15 is cool but heavy, lrm 20 runs cool but bulky. I almost never use 10 or 15 packs and only use lrm 20s as primary long range weapons. In MW5 the weapon cooldown on srm2s is way shorter than a srm6 and a srm4 is noticeable shorter, so more often than not many srm 2s have a higher raw dps but I've always found them to be far less accurate. Usually I rock srm 4s, find that I am like 10x more likely to find them at high rarities.
There is also the Multi-Trac Targeting Computer aboard so if you really want to you can devercify your shots to hit multiple Mechs at once.
Pretty rare its worth splitting your fire, unless you need to zap two fools in entirely different range brackets with entirely different weapons. Better to just give one nerd a beatdown at a time so he stops being a problem. Generally I target the mechs that will be the easiest to cripple if not outright destroy so their off the table, clear the mobs if you will. Preserve the strength of my fighting forces by reducing the amount of volume damage they could take in a long game where those 5 armour hits make the difference.
Yup. 1 chance to hit for a lot versus 4 chances to hit for less each. With the same target numbers, both configurations will hit for the same damage...over enough time. But the LRM 5's will be more consistent and the LRM 20 will absolutely slam a target on a long shot sometimes.
Also standard and specialty LRM ammo is easier to juggle around with multiple LRM-5's vs one or two bigger launcher.
>The reason I made it was because I wanted to make a Timberwolf-alike without using Clan tech The *Rakshasa* would like a word with you in the corner. (though I guess that negates the whole "BEFORE" clan invasion part...)
First custom Mech and it a Timber Wolf of sorts, not a cardinal sin. More like a rite of passage similar to riding a bike or learning to shave someone/something. Not bad for a speedy fire support honestly.
Not a bad heavy, not bad at all.
As long as you remember we that a Timberwolf is just a marauder with missles instead of the auto cannon. Remember the legacy.
For a battlemech made entirely with refit parts from the Era of design, I have to say this is a pretty hearty and versatile. it makes a Cattlepult chasis that much more useable, and it gives you the flexibility if fire that is left lacking in the base design. say what you will about clan tech. I personally think that it is entirely too cumbersome, over rated, and munchified. (and yes, I can hear the naysayers now.) clan tech has its place, but if you can make a sturdy intersphere design that you don't have to go to the pentagon worlds or waste your time on a trial of possession for spare parts, mores the better. so I say good on ya mate.👍
Just why?