109 replies to this topic

[bobow98]

Where's the like button?

[Skylarr]

I can see that Sarna mentions the Long Tom Artillery Piece, It cannot be mounted on a BattleMech. An it shows the Long Tom Cannon. But it does not say anything about the Rolling Thunder 210mm Long Tom Artillery Rifle. In what source book is it listed?

I like the concept. You wrote a nice history.

[Bishop Steiner]

Skylarr, on 28 July 2012 - 10:01 AM, said:

I can see that Sarna mentions the Long Tom Artillery Piece, It cannot be mounted on a BattleMech. An it shows the Long Tom Cannon. But it does not say anything about the Rolling Thunder 210mm Long Tom Artillery Rifle. In what source book is it listed?

I like the concept. You wrote a nice history.

Actually, as far as the Rules Compendium goes, there is nothing stating a Long Tom cannot be mounted in a Mech. In fact, the rules do provide for multi-section crit placement of larger ballistics. I may have taken this a bit to the extreme, but I actually used this design (in the 1S guise) at tournaments in the early and mid 90s.

As for the Rolling Thunder, that is simply the make and manufacturer of that particular long tom artillery piece.

[Derek Icelord]

Bishop Steiner, on 27 July 2012 - 08:04 PM, said:

sure... if you got a mech that can hit it at 30 kilometers away?

Didn't think so.

Except that the Long Tom Cannon 'Mechs can mount only has a long range of 600 meters...

Even the Long Tom Artillery Piece only has a range of 15.3 kilometers (1 map = 17 hexes)

[Bishop Steiner]

Derek Icelord, on 28 July 2012 - 10:12 AM, said:

Except that the Long Tom Cannon 'Mechs can mount only has a long range of 600 meters...

Even the Long Tom Artillery Piece only has a range of 15.3 kilometers (1 map = 17 hexes)

actually, the long tom has a range of 20 maps (if we are being technical). According to the rules found on pg 78, paragraph 2 of the Battletech Compendium, each map represents 500 meters, hence the range of a Long Tom artillery piece is 500m x 20, equaling 10,000 meters, or 10 km.

Ever hear of hyperbole?

also, off the top of my head, the longest range non-artillery weapon available as of 3049 was the Clan's LB 2-X AC, with with a range of 27 hexes, or 810 meters. Somehow, I still feel pretty confident in my advantage.

Edited by Bishop Steiner, 28 July 2012 - 10:28 AM.

[StarfyrGuns]

CCC Dober, on 28 July 2012 - 09:24 AM, said:

Ever played a Long Tom Mech in MW4 with any success? Long Toms were awesome at digging out camping MW4 Assault Mechs.

Ya...but they were also good (in the wrong hands) at shreading your team as well if some ***** decided it was a good idea to drop one in the middle of a dog-fight...no..no Long Toms ty very much!

[Carlton1228]

nice concept and would be great in a supporting role only.with only four med lasers as back up to the Long Tom,it would be hard pressed to hold its own Vs anything that moves at the same speed and higher.also,this mech wouldn't be facing only single opponents.a lance or star of almost any combination of mechs would make short work of it since it would be the primary target over any of its lance mates.even if this mech could hit out to 30 kilometers,your forgetting one important thing....a spotter.good luck hitting a target with indirect fire.oh,and more importantly,your forgetting about shell travel time.30 kilometers= 30 turns of travel time for the board game.as each turn is 10 seconds,that would be 5 minutes.even foot soldiers could move out of position and not get hit.the cannon range of 600 meters is better but with only 1 on the mech,you'd be better off mounting 4 LRM 20's for the weight,heat and damage difference.the design does have promise though.with a lance of them and a lance for protection,they would be great for mobile,direct/indirect fire support for a battalion

[Bishop Steiner]

*Yawn* Yes, because of course, this was designed to be deployed by itself..... because everyone knows a single Long Tom has the power to shatter planets!



If you think I don't know the disadvantages of Artillery, there is no point even talking. First of all, tube artilerry is not deployed (usually) in company size or smaller engagements BECAUSE of the drawbacks of indirect fire, and such. Where it IS used is large scale engagements where the main bodies are fighting toe to toe 5 km away. So first, The "friendly team" will have spotters, 2) OpFor has to break through the front line. Then, make it unopposed those 5-10 km. And since the unit is designed to be deployed in minimums of 3s, w/ a Hunchback for close support, virtually any mech quick enough to get close will find itself facing, at minimum, a lance of mechs, around 14 medium lasers, an ac/20, and until they get danger close, 3 long toms being direct fired at them.

And since each mech mounts 14 tons of armor, they can survive quite a bit of incidental combat.

Before lecturing from a myopic point, please consider the full scope of strategy and tactics when used in combined arms warfare. At maximum range, travel time is 10 turns (pg 79) at 10 seconds per turn, or 100 seconds in flight, less than 2 minutes. And that is by the largely unrealistic TT rules, since a moder 155mm artillery round travels at (approx) 560 m/sec, or over 1 map board a second, meaning time to target is realistically, closer to 20 seconds, AT MAXIMUM range.


****as an aside, the Time to Target you mention, 5 minutes, is essentially the same Btech mentions, which translates to roughly, 328 ft/sec. That velocity would be unable to sustain non powered flight over a kilometer, let a lone 10.

I have to jet to work for a few hours, but i'll happily return to lock horns after I get off!

Edited by Bishop Steiner, 28 July 2012 - 11:00 AM.

[Skylarr]

Derek Icelord, on 28 July 2012 - 10:12 AM, said:

Except that the Long Tom Cannon 'Mechs can mount only has a long range of 600 meters...

Even the Long Tom Artillery Piece only has a range of 15.3 kilometers (1 map = 17 hexes)

Your a little off on your math. Each Map is 17 Hexes long. Each Hex is 30 Meters. So that is 510 Meters each Map. 20 Maps x 510 is 10200 meters. 10.2 Kilometers ( 6.34 miles).

[Azalie]

If that thing tried to jump it would go up about 15 meters and then fall forward in mid air due to the weight of the massive cannon extending out in front of it.

[wanderer]

Sadly, it's an illegal design. You can't mount a weapon across more than 2 locations, rendering a full-sized Long Tom impossible.

Best they can do is a Sniper, like the Helepolis. Optionally, it CAN mount the Long Tom Cannon, but that's more an indirect fire ballistic and lacks true artillery range- long range for those is 600m.

Edited by wanderer, 28 July 2012 - 11:15 AM.

[Carlton1228]

i am going off the stated rules of the board game.also,im going off common sense and the nature of the new MW online game.you also did not state the level of support for the mech.three Hunchbacks would be a good start for some level of security.your also assuming that your forces will never incur any loses and that you lines will remain static.with published mechs and using the tech you have,your mech would be knocked out by a lance of light to med mechs.if you want to go custom mechs,i would do it with a lance of 30 ton mechs.for the board game,TSM and a hatchet would do you in after 6 rounds of combat max.and for the board game,the Long Tom had a min range on it.i know that MW4 doesnt have a min range,but the reload time would allow me to get close enough to make your single weapon next to useless.i would stay in your six and melt you down.now,as far as the new game is concerned,i dont see a large group of people wanting to just protect you so you can use this mech.also,i did point out that the design does have merit and would be great if used properly

[Skylarr]

Since a limited number of these would be produced per year these would be assined to a theater comander to be used on planetary assualts. I do not see more than 2 being placed together. Especially since LT-MOB-25 Mobile Long Tom Artillery would only cost a fraction of the coast.

And because they are meant to be several miles away from the combat I do not see why they would spend c-bils to place TSMs on it.

Also your Right Arm has no shoulder Actuator. I am not sure about the rules, but, I thought all Mech had to have Shoulder and Upper Arm Actuators?

[Carlton1228]

i almost forgot to address the placement of your units......there is one published unit that would easily take you out.....Delta Company.and i mean the original one from 3028.i also site most fictional and RL battle accounts were forces appeared were least expected

[Skylarr]

I bvelieve there are rules for firing artillery pieces on the same map board as it is deployed.

[Carlton1228]

Skylarr, on 28 July 2012 - 11:29 AM, said:

Since a limited number of these would be produced per year these would be assined to a theater comander to be used on planetary assualts. I do not see more than 2 being placed together. Especially since LT-MOB-25 Mobile Long Tom Artillery would only cost a fraction of the coast.

And because they are meant to be several miles away from the combat I do not see why they would spend c-bils to place TSMs on it.

Also your Right Arm has no shoulder Actuator. I am not sure about the rules, but, I thought all Mech had to have Shoulder and Upper Arm Actuators?

Skylarr, on 28 July 2012 - 11:29 AM, said:

Since a limited number of these would be produced per year these would be assined to a theater comander to be used on planetary assualts. I do not see more than 2 being placed together. Especially since LT-MOB-25 Mobile Long Tom Artillery would only cost a fraction of the coast.

And because they are meant to be several miles away from the combat I do not see why they would spend c-bils to place TSMs on it.

Also your Right Arm has no shoulder Actuator. I am not sure about the rules, but, I thought all Mech had to have Shoulder and Upper Arm Actuators?

i believe you can get by with just shoulder actuators.the original rules called for a penalty but if the mech was originally made without them there was no penalty

[Reported for Inappropriate Name]

I appreciate your enthusiasm, creativity, and the time you put into your post Bishop, But I for one really hope that artillery doesn't come to world of tanks MWO. Sorry had a little freudian slip there

Edited by Battlecruiser, 28 July 2012 - 11:36 AM.

[Carlton1228]

Battlecruiser, on 28 July 2012 - 11:35 AM, said:

I appreciate your enthusiasm, creativity, and the time you put into your post Bishop, But I for one really hope that artillery doesn't come to world of tanks MWO. Sorry had a little freudian slip there

Battlecruiser, on 28 July 2012 - 11:35 AM, said:

I appreciate your enthusiasm, creativity, and the time you put into your post Bishop, But I for one really hope that artillery doesn't come to world of tanks MWO. Sorry had a little freudian slip there

Lol

[Skylarr]

Battlecruiser, on 28 July 2012 - 11:35 AM, said:

I appreciate your enthusiasm, creativity, and the time you put into your post Bishop, But I for one really hope that artillery doesn't come to world of tanks MWO. Sorry had a little freudian slip there

Artillery is going to be something a commander can call in. It was on the commander's tree at one point.

Edited by Skylarr, 28 July 2012 - 11:38 AM.

[Reported for Inappropriate Name]

Skylarr, on 28 July 2012 - 11:38 AM, said:

Artillery is going to be something a commander can call in. It was on the commander's tree at one point.

that's different from actually driving one/