Truck Thunders

Just a suggestion here - what about reintroducing R&R for Clan mechs only? And make it expensive as all holy hell, so that you can actually go broke if you play only Clan mechs and lose several matches in a row. I think WoT has something similar with its most elite tanks and people with elite tanks hate it, but hell, it's the price you pay for wanting to be superman.

As far as rendering standard AC-10s obsolete, I thought the LB-10X already rendered AC-10s when it was introduced in tabletop. I have to confess I never played TT myself (my only friends interested in TT games were 40k nerds) but aside from the expense it seems like there was no reason to have an AC-10 when you could have a lighter, smaller, cooler-firing, longer-ranged version just by using an LB-10x with slugs.

I really like Levi's idea -- go ahead and make the LB-10x badass (or way better than the AC-10 anyway), and introduce the special ammo early to make the ACs the customizable option.

"Enforcer without jump jets" is about the long and short of it; direct fire support is what I'm best at so that's what it's built around. Depending on how the GECM works I might swap it out for an AMS with one ton of reloads.

I wouldn't count the Enforcer just yet. The Centurion is basically the Hunchback with missiles and it was the second medium to make it in, so considering the only medium with jump jets so far is the Trebuchet the Centurion still has a chance. Not if the Shadow Hawk makes it in, though.

ARISE THREAD

Ever since I bought the Founder's pack I've been fiddling with new builds for the founder's mechs, mostly the Hunchback since I'm generally a medium mech pilot. All of them are obscenely expensive since they're packed to the gills with Star League technology (Ferro-Fibrous armor is a must in my designs) but it's darn fun fiddling with the potential builds of 3049. There was one Hunchback design in particular I was seriously considering making my primary mech build for the game, but I've decided against it because it relies too heavily on an XL engine. It's a solid design otherwise, at least in my opinion, that provides a ton of protection for the pilot -- it has the maximum FF armor allotment by class, a GECM suite and an upgraded 250 engine that puts the mech's speed more on par with other medium mechs -- and it takes a slight hit to its overall firepower in exchange for medium-long range primary weapons, as well as reducing ammo dependence, AND on top of all that it can fire an alpha strike and still break even heatwise. Despite being the best build I've come up with otherwise, tripling the risk of coring just made me way too nervous to use it, even with nine and a half tons of FF. The XL engine is also way too expensive for me to bother with.

So, yeah, I decided to post it just for the hell of it, for anybody who is cool with using an XL engine.

Hunchback HBK-5R

Mass: 50 tons
Tech Base: Inner Sphere
Chassis Config: Biped
Rules Level: Tournament Legal
Era: Clan Invasion
Tech Rating/Era Availability: E/X-X-E
Production Year: 3049
Cost: 8,921,000 C-Bills
Battle Value: 1,376

Chassis: Unknown Standard
Power Plant: Unknown 250 Fusion XL Engine
Walking Speed: 54.0 km/h
Maximum Speed: 86.4 km/h
Jump Jets: None
Jump Capacity: 0 meters
Armor: Unknown Ferro-Fibrous w/ CASE
Armament:
1 ER Large Laser
1 LB 10-X AC
2 Medium Lasers
1 Guardian ECM Suite
Manufacturer: Unknown
Primary Factory: Unknown
Communications System: Unknown
Targeting and Tracking System: Unknown

================================================================================
Equipment___________Type__________________________Rating___________________Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure: Standard______________________83 points________________5.00
Engine:_____________XL Fusion Engine______________250______________________6.50
____Walking MP: 5
____Running MP: 8
____Jumping MP: 0
Heat Sinks:_________Double Heat Sink_____________11(22)____________________1.00
Heat Sink Locations: 1 RT
Gyro:_______________Standard_______________________________________________3.00
Cockpit:____________Standard_______________________________________________3.00
____Actuators:______L: SH+UA+LA+H____R: SH+UA+LA+H
Armor:______________Ferro-Fibrous________________AV - 169__________________9.50
____Armor Locations: 1 HD, 2 CT, 2 RT, 2 LA, 3 RA, 2 LL, 2 RL
____CASE Locations: 1 LT___________________________________________________0.50

______________________________________________________Internal_______Armor
______________________________________________________Structure______Factor
________________________________________________Head_____3____________9
________________________________________Center Torso_____16____________24
_________________________________Center Torso (rear)_____________________8
___________________________________________L/R Torso_____12___________18
____________________________________L/R Torso (rear)____________________6
_____________________________________________L/R Arm_____8___________16
_____________________________________________L/R Leg_____12__________24

================================================================================
Equipment_________________________________Location____Heat____Critical____Mass
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Guardian ECM Suite___________________________RT________0_________2_________1.50
LB 10-X AC___________________________________LT________2_________6________11.00
ER Large Laser_______________________________RA________12________2_________5.00
2 Medium Lasers______________________________LA________6_________2_________2.00
@LB 10-X (Cluster) (20)______________________LT________-_________2_________2.00
____________________________________________Free Critical Slots: 9

BattleForce Statistics
MV S (+0) M (+2) L (+4) E (+6) Wt. Ov Armor: 6 Points: 14
5 3 3 2 0 2 0 Structure: 2
Special Abilities: ECM, CASE, SRCH, ES, SEAL, SOA, FLK 1/1/1

The formatting looks horrendous but you get the idea.

Honestly, of all the possible reseen design changes they could have made to the Warhammer, I've never understood why nobody removed the bigass flashlight and the the missile pod that looks like it could be detached with a strong kick. I'm not really sure how arbitrary Harmony Gold could make their copyright restrictions, but I'm pretty sure the missile bush growing out of the Warhammer's shoulder is a big part of it.