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Marauder Countdown - 1 Day To Release


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#1 InnerSphereNews

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Posted 24 November 2015 - 09:47 AM



MARAUDER COUNTDOWN: 1 day to release

Sneak Peak:"A Classic Returns"




MARAUDER COUNTDOWN: 2 days to release

"Classic" Cockpit items





MARAUDER COUNTDOWN: 3 days to release

Marauder Cockpit Preview






MARAUDER COUNTDOWN: 4 days to release

Marauder Camo Patterns














MARAUDER COUNTDOWN: 5 days to release

Marauder Scale Video




MARAUDER COUNTDOWN: 6 days to release

TITLES AND BADGES

Standard Package:

The Raider


Collectors Package:

(also receives standard badge and title)

The Money Maker






MARAUDER COUNTDOWN: 7 days to release

LORE and BLUEPRINT

Dawn River Region

Nova Roma
The Protectorate, Free Worlds League
20 June 3014

The black-sheathed Marauder fought like a demon.

While the blue-tinted sun of Nova Roma was still an hour from the horizon, deep in the ravine dusk was already here, incandescently illuminated by bursts of charged particle beams, lasers, muzzle flashes, and the explosions of devastating impacts. Outnumbered more than two to one, a heavy lance of Wolf’s Dragoons Beta Regiment, Special Recon Group, still lashed out with a fury that shocked the attacking loyalists.

From a concealed alcove at the end of the five-kilometer-long ravine—big enough to fit his Warhammer—the Bounty Hunter scratched at his unshaven face, the dried sweat of days in the cockpit flaking away. He tapped his BattleMech’s cockpit console to zoom his forward viewscreen onto the right region of the evolving battle, just as a large-bore autocannon stream of metal death savaged the internal structure of a Dragoons Phoenix Hawk. The forty-five-ton BattleMech seemed to collapse in on itself as frayed bits of what remained of its internal torso collapsed under the remaining weight, and it toppled to the ground.

Despite the growing darkness, he saw no ejection.

The Bounty Hunter stretched until ligaments and vertebrae popped. He took a sip of water while watching the trap spring. Sorry about that, Natasha, he mused. I know much you care about your misfits. But business is business, and the loyalists pay better than Anton. To ease the day’s long hunger pang, he crunched on a granola bar pulled from a small pack behind his command couch. Not to mention, doesn’t matter how many successful battles and inroads he makes. We all know Anton’s revolt is doomed. It may take a bit for the Captain-General to cow the disparate hotheads into line, but once the rest of the Free Worlds League’s might is brought to bear …

As though driven to new heights of acumen, the black Marauder raised both arm weapon pods, pointing them toward two separate targets. Azure particle beams whipped towards loyalist BattleMechs. The first shot punched through the head of a Hermes; the BattleMech felled as though poleaxed. The second seemed to embrace the right leg of a previously damaged Hunchback, tearing the weakened limb clean away. That ’Mech toppled as well.

The Bounty Hunter’s eyes widened; the battle seeming to pause as though mid-heart beat. Then the loyalist BattleMechs ignored the remaining Dragoon pilot and poured all of their firepower into the Marauder.

A whistled filled his cockpit. “Blake’s Blood, Web-Head. You are as good as you say.”

Natasha’s Marauder, already severely damaged, disappeared for a moment under the brutal onslaught, before a small but brilliant flash from within the tempest announced an ejection, and her command couch rocketed away, leaving the BattleMech crouched down, somehow managing to stay upright. The loyalists finished off the last Black Widow BattleMech in short order.

The Bounty Hunter pulled his neurohelmet back on with a smile and powered up his Warhammer.

Good … looks like you’re gonna survive, Web-Head. And to really stick this knife, I’m gonna make your Marauder my own. If we meet again, I want you frothing … and I’ll still take you down.


MARAUDER “BOUNTY HUNTER”

One of the first designs to embrace a nonhumanoid configuration, the Marauder was hailed as the pinnacle of BattleMech design when it was unveiled in 2612. As with the Warhammer, the Marauder quickly became a heavy BattleMech of choice across the Star League Defense Force. Its battlefield performance—along with its unusual, menacing outline—even gave birth to the belief that claiming a kill against a Marauder was a hallmark of personal prominence.

Any child across the Inner Sphere knows the name “Bounty Hunter.” This phenomenon arose from a convergence of several factors.

Modern rumors traced to a “bounty hunter in a green BattleMech” first appeared in the 2920s, then grew in dark corners as the Bounty Hunter began to appear over the decades, always with a splash in a spectacular battle.

In 3014, a personal feud began between the Bounty Hunter and the femme fatale of the Inner Sphere, Natasha Kerensky, which saw his star rise further.

In 3047, a bombastic action holovid series, The Bounty Hunters, exploded into high ratings across the Inner Sphere. While it only lasted three seasons before the reality of the Clan Invasion soured most audiences on its gratuitous violence, the holovid had left its mark. While only loosely based on reports of the real Bounty Hunter, myth and reality were forever merged until most can’t tell the difference.

No one is sure who the Bounty Hunter is or whether it’s a title handed down through the years. Only those that have faced him and managed to come out the other side alive know the reality may even exceed the wildest conjecture.


Written by Randall Neil Bills
Catalyst Game Labs


MARAUDER BLUEPRINT




#2 Bud Crue

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Posted 24 November 2015 - 09:49 AM

1) review your work (A whistled... etc.)
2 Phoenix Hawk and Hermes...hmm. Intriguing.

#3 Twilight Fenrir

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Posted 24 November 2015 - 09:53 AM

Posted Image

But... Damnit! I wanna see the mech already XD You are so cruel PGI... I think I'm gonna eat my keyboard in anticipation!

Edited by Twilight Fenrir, 24 November 2015 - 10:05 AM.


#4 Gas Guzzler

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Posted 24 November 2015 - 10:18 AM

View PostTwilight Fenrir, on 24 November 2015 - 09:53 AM, said:

Posted Image

But... Damnit! I wanna see the mech already XD You are so cruel PGI... I think I'm gonna eat my keyboard in anticipation!


I wouldn't get hopes up until Thursday. Tomorrow will probably be title and badge.

#5 martian

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Posted 24 November 2015 - 10:32 AM

In BattleTech canon, the Bounty Hunter piloted the Griffin.

#6 Twilight Fenrir

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Posted 24 November 2015 - 10:36 AM

View Postmartian, on 24 November 2015 - 10:32 AM, said:

In BattleTech canon, the Bounty Hunter piloted the Griffin.

He piloted several mechs... A Griffin, Warhammer, Marauder, Marauder with clan tech, and a Marauder II.

#7 Bregor Edain

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Posted 24 November 2015 - 10:38 AM

View Postmartian, on 24 November 2015 - 10:32 AM, said:

In BattleTech canon, the Bounty Hunter piloted the Griffin.


Yes, until he got his hands on Natasha Kerensky's Marauder in 3014.

#8 Cyrilis

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Posted 24 November 2015 - 10:39 AM

View PostBud Crue, on 24 November 2015 - 09:49 AM, said:

1) review your work (A whistled... etc.)


Wow, I never saw that kind of complaining...
There is only one solution to this miracle: The game is perfect and there is nothing else to complain about.

Sorry, but I just had to...

Edited by Cyrilis, 24 November 2015 - 10:41 AM.


#9 Bluttrunken

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Posted 24 November 2015 - 10:42 AM

Can't wait... best thing to happen to IS since.. well the KGC. But then some.

#10 Gianky

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Posted 24 November 2015 - 10:51 AM

View PostTwilight Fenrir, on 24 November 2015 - 10:36 AM, said:

He piloted several mechs... A Griffin, Warhammer, Marauder, Marauder with clan tech, and a Marauder II.


What he meant is that in Battletech canon the Bounty Hunter was piloting a Griffin during the ambush against Kerensky. All the rumors about a swapping of 'Mechs between the two are considered unsubstantiated.

http://www.sarna.net...i/Bounty_Hunter

Also, if we want to nitpick, Kerensky was given command of what would become the Black Widow company only after the incident on Nova Roma, so I would assume she didn't have any "misfists" to care about at that time.

Edited by Gianky, 24 November 2015 - 11:02 AM.


#11 Arkhangel

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Posted 24 November 2015 - 10:54 AM

View PostTwilight Fenrir, on 24 November 2015 - 10:36 AM, said:

He piloted several mechs... A Griffin, Warhammer, Marauder, Marauder with clan tech, and a Marauder II.

AND a Timberwolf.

#12 Bud Crue

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Posted 24 November 2015 - 10:54 AM

View PostCyrilis, on 24 November 2015 - 10:39 AM, said:


Wow, I never saw that kind of complaining...
There is only one solution to this miracle: The game is perfect and there is nothing else to complain about.

Sorry, but I just had to...


Sorry. Old tech writer's habit.

#13 Desintegrator

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Posted 24 November 2015 - 10:56 AM

Great blueprint ! Great Mech !

Just 1 week to go !

#14 Arkhangel

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Posted 24 November 2015 - 10:59 AM

View PostDesintegrator, on 24 November 2015 - 10:56 AM, said:

Great blueprint ! Great Mech !

Just 1 week to go !

already has a place in my CW Drop deck :) (i love my Black Knight, but... it's a Marauder. nuff said)

#15 Polkastein

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Posted 24 November 2015 - 11:03 AM

If this game is all about selling mechs to keep the lights on, why are we able to modify the mechs? Wouldn't it have been a better business model to make all mechs stock so you HAVE to get the latest greatest to keep up? Just saying...

#16 cSand

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Posted 24 November 2015 - 11:14 AM

lookin forward to getting this next week

yeehaw :D

#17 Fractis Zero

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Posted 24 November 2015 - 11:31 AM

View PostPolkastein, on 24 November 2015 - 11:03 AM, said:

If this game is all about selling mechs to keep the lights on, why are we able to modify the mechs? Wouldn't it have been a better business model to make all mechs stock so you HAVE to get the latest greatest to keep up? Just saying...


If you couldn't modify your mech then it wouldn't be Battletech.

#18 Reno Blade

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Posted 24 November 2015 - 11:37 AM

Wait...first I was confused that the Bounty hunter would be in a Warhammer and Natasha in the Marauder, as we read in the previous Warhammer Lore:
http://mwomercs.com/...he-black-widow/
Quote:

Quote

Her ’Mech. The double-damned Bounty Hunter had defeated her twelve years ago … stole her Marauder … and now he was using it against her!



Then I double checked the planet and Date and actually finished reading :) and it makes sense now, as she ejected and he got The Marauder from her that day.

Now I can't wait to get the patch... but I will have to wait until I get back home to actually play :P

Edited by Reno Blade, 24 November 2015 - 11:38 AM.


#19 Sereglach

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Posted 24 November 2015 - 11:37 AM

Great stuff. I hope that these lore drops continue for all future battlemechs, whether in an individual pack (like the rest of the Classics) or during the countdown for mechs in packs. Also, maybe we'll eventually see a website overhaul where all of these lore snippets will have their own section? That'd be a wonderful way to keep them in one place and have them as easy reference and lore material.

View PostBud Crue, on 24 November 2015 - 09:49 AM, said:

Phoenix Hawk and Hermes...hmm. Intriguing.


Intriguing, indeed.

The Hermes would make another good medium mech for a resistance pack (although I'd personally prefer to see a Clint, first), but the Phoenix Hawk has been in extremely high demand as the next Classic. Personally, though, I think they'll wait on the Phoenix Hawk until they've done enough single-classics-releases to do a "Phoenix II" or "Classics" pack in proper form; and the Phoenix Hawk is the only medium available to put into such a pack. Even if you have a pair of reinforcements mechs akin to the original Phoenix Pack, they've still got several mechs to release in the heavy and/or light category before they could do a full-fledged pack.

I could certainly be proven wrong, though, and I wouldn't complain if I was. I just want Flamers fixed, first, so I can throw money at PGI for some of these classics mechs.

#20 Bud Crue

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Posted 24 November 2015 - 12:05 PM

Sereglach,

Thinking resistance 3? Maybe. PGI seems to like this one at a time routine with the unseens. I am thinking they will just keep doing that for everything from here on out. I hope, you are right though, I like the value of the multi-paks.

On its own I too think the Phoenix Hawk will be a huge sales driver unless they really miss the mark on the appearance (IMHO most classically robo-techy of the unseens except for maybe the Wasp and Stinger, and it might not translate so well to the look and feel of the current game). So I agree that they will probably make a big deal out of it and/or mate its release around an event or two. We shall see.

The Hermes though...that is really interesting to me as it might have a MASC variant and perhaps might signal new weapons such as the Arrow IV. Might also signal a real push in the info-tech aspect of the game since I can't imagine big sales for a mech having 2 ML and a flamer regardless of its speed. If they include that build, I gotta think it will have other attributes to encourage purchase, and I expect that will be some unique info-tech or scouting type quirks.

In any case dropping these names is a great way to tease us and get us wondering. Well played PGI.





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