April 19, 2008

• Locust

  I’ve decided to look at several ‘Mechs, much like “Mech of the Week” over at CBT.com, and I’ve decided to start with the first ‘Mech everyone sees when they open up the Old School 3025, the Locust. Derided as a “trash can with legs”, I’m calling BS on this one. While never going to win any durability awards, there are Locust variants that are cheap and effective, and expensive and effective.
  
  The original Locust LCT-1V wraps the spindly little ‘Mech in 4 tons of armor. I point this out first, because the supposedly “superior” Wasp and Stingers only come with 3. So even if you’re a fan of the “speed is armor” set, you still have more armor coupled with your 8/12/0 movement profile. That’s where the Locust shines. Speed. Few ‘Mechs can catch it in broken terrain, and fewer still in the open. The armament is fairly 3025 light standard fare, a medium in the CT and a pair of machineguns in the arms, which under TW rules means the Locust makes a superb anti-infantry raider.
  
  Next comes the -1E, everything is the same as on the V except the weapons package. This is your standard 3025 longrange scout. The machineguns are ripped off and a small laser is placed there instead. The CT medium laser is moved to an arm, and the ammo bin is replaced by a second medium laser balancing the machine out. This little machine is a credible threat to any light in 3025, and remains one of the few viable machines into the 3050+ era.
  
  The -1S reduces the armor by a ton, making it more like the Wasp and Stinger, but the ton is used in conjunction with machinegun removal to place a pair of SRM-2 launchers in each arm. Fifty rounds of ammo is more than ample for the launchers. While not as stellar as the above variants, under total warfare, this ‘Mech when loaded with infernos could become a conventional units nightmare.
  
  The final 3025 variant is the -1M. One wonders just how good the drugs are in the future, but they must be pretty potent to let this be a production variant. I’m not joining Davion’s Ceti Hussars, because they love this ‘Mech and therefore they must love drugs. Armor is reduced to one ton. One. Uno. Ein. If you throw an empty gun at this ‘Mech, you may cause a critical hit. This was done in an effort to keep ‘Mechwarriors away from the battle. The machineguns, coupled with the reduced armor, are removed for a pair of LRM-5s. While a good idea in concept, the fragility of this ‘Mech makes it a poor choice in any game. The LRM may be effective in 3025 games for distance strikes, after 3050, the Clans just zap these things dead with ER Large lasers.
  
  In 3050, we’re treated to more Locusts with Star League technology. One of the first ones fluffed out in the fiction is the -1L. This is simply a -1V with Triple Strength Myomer. It therefore gets a speed boost when hot to 9/14/0 which would come into play best when the engine’s been cracked and you’re bleeding heat and need to get out of Dodge yesterday.
  
  In all honesty, I think 3050 jacked the Locust giving it the reputation it did not earn in 3025. The main Locust is the -3M. Featuring endosteel and ferro fibrous, the ‘Mech saves weight to mount one medium laser, four smalls, and an anti-missile system who’s ammo is Case’d. Still, there’s a reduction of armor to 3 tons. Over all, it’s not bad, but it just feels like it’s been brought down just a touch.
  
  The -3S shows that really stupid ideas don’t stop anytime soon. Taking Coventry’s armor-killing -1S, they remove a half ton more armor, but make it ferro-fibrous. This allows the SRM’s to become Streak SRM’s. This would be good if this ‘Mech was remotely effective in killing other ‘Mechs. By removing the capability of firing off infernos, you take the ‘Mechs stellar role away. Finally, Inner Sphere missile launchers are too bulky for effective work. I’m sure this is one reason why the Falcon’s were laughing at the Lyran scouts, and one of the easiest ‘Mechs for Hellbringers to beat.
  
  The -3D is a remarkable event though, one where they took an idea and fixed the problems with it. In 3050 the Ceti Hussars became happy as all their -1D’s lost the medium laser they never should have been trying to use and gained one and a half tons of armor and CASE for the LRM rounds. While not a durable ‘Mech, it now can at least survive small arms fire or a medium laser hit or two and not fall apart faster than J.K. Rowling on the stand.
  
  In 3067 and Project Phoenix, the Locust rolls out again with more versions of everyone’s favorite bug. Out in the Marion Hegemony, the machineguns come off of old -1Vs to be replaced by four batteries of Rocket Launcher 10s. Endurance isn’t this ‘Mechs strong point, but it does give the Locust a credible longer ranged threat as it is out in the boonies of the Periphery scouting for pirates or water or lostech or a can of Pepsi or whatever. It’s got Periphery flavor and a reasonable firepower curve for a harrasser or scout, but won’t be seen on the battle line any time soon.
  
  Project Phoenix brings us the -5M, and it is the natural development of all things Locust. The -3M loses it’s antimissile system and all the lasers are uprated to ER versions. The armor returns to the four-ton level, and since it’s ferro fibrous, this is as much armor as you’re getting on a Locust. But there’s one pesky ton left, what to do? Realizing that light ‘Mechs aren’t surviving long with Gauss and ER PPC blasts removing tons of armor at a time and that any torso shot’s going to be a Bad Thing anyway, the -5M XL’s the engine and uprates it to a 240 giving the ‘Mech a 12/18/0 movement profile. It now walks as fast as it used to run. It now runs fast enough to clear a map sheet on a single turn. Did I mention, this ‘Mech is FAST! It’s only drawback is that the heatsinks have difficulty coping with the ER heat, causing the Locust pilot to eyeball the monitor for a change.
  
  The -5V is another Marion special. Going back to the base Locust, it adds ferro fibrous armor to max the armor load, twins the medium lasers and makes them ERs and mounts a pair of Rocket Launcher 10s. This is far more of a battle machine than the -1V2. It’s twin medium lasers are effective against the 3025 Periphery Pirate ‘Mechs it should face, and the RL10s provide a degree of stand-off capability. Caesar’s designers are obviously making the most of what little they have to work with.
  
  Finally, the Dark Ages give us a look at the future, the -6M. This simply takes the -5M and puts double heatsinks on it. This could quite possibly be the pinnacle of Locust evolution, as it should be.
  
  The fiction describles the Locust fairly negativly, but it’s a poor ‘Mechwarrior who believes a Comstar information packet. Trust your friendly Lyran here and respect the little bug. Be sure you know what version you’re facing as there are a lot of them. Your medium laser can blow apart a -D, but it might just make a -3D mad and it’ll cause a -6M to hunt you down and stab you in the back. The Locust still manages to be a ‘Mech for all ages.

  • 4:24 pm
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