56 replies to this topic

[Keeshu]

I'm mainly just asking for the 4 invading clans, but including others would be much appreciated. I'm just very curious about what weapons and equipment the clans use.




I have a general idea of what the Inner Sphere uses for weapons (though not sure about what other equipment, or if any of them like jumpjets or not).

From what I've seen from other people in a bunch of threads it seems to be like this for the Inner Sphere. I could be wrong though
Davion: Light ACs
Kurita: PPC/high energy weapons
Liao: EWAR/MInes.
Marik: Missles and lasers
Steiner: Heavy ACs and Guass
FRR: Anything cheap to use
Haven't seen anything on jumpjets though.

I basicly made this thread because I was planning on making a "If you were forced to be a clan member, what clan would you choose" thread in the Inner Sphere area (because it'd be pointless to post it in the clan area as everyone here is probably a clanner anyways). However I just didn't know anything about the Clan weapons,tactics, or equipment that they use. Other than that Jade Flacon mechs seem to love jumpjets, and ghost bear mechs seem to like missles.

[1453 R]

Clansmen are much less restricted in their choice of equipment than Spheroid pilots. What use is a touman of OmniMechs if one does not make use of their modularity and tailor their loadouts to specific mission requirements?

While certain biases do exist, to the best of my knowledge these are more tactical/doctrinal than equipment-level preferences, and also somewhat rare. The Ice Hellions are well known for their love of light, swift units and blitzkrieg strikes, as are the Falcons for their strong preference for jump-capable equipment and the advantages that brings. Other clans are less fixed on specifics; the ‘Mech is equipped for the mission and for the pilot’s personal tastes, not for a Clan-wide fixation on a single, narrow approach.

[Gyrok]

To give you an idea of some of the biases, these are what units tend to lean more toward. Not specifically a stereotype, but loadouts of most variants tend to trend in this general direction:

Smoke Jaguars: Predominantly long range energy weapons/LRMs on heavy/assault platforms (See Dire Wolf/War Hawk/Ebon Jaguar)

Nova Cats: Energy weapons of all flavors (few ballistics/LRMs) on light/medium/heavy chassis (See Nova/Shadow Cat/Nova Cat)

Clan Wolf: Heavily mixed payloads with a tendency toward more ballistic oriented mechs and medium/heavy chassis (See Ice Ferret/Timber Wolf/Gargoyle/Dire Wolf)

Jade Falcon: Jump Capable energy payloads, sometimes rigged for brawling (See Summoner/Kit Fox)

Ghost Bears: predominantly assault chassis with ballistic primary and mixed energy with heavy support mechs (See Executioner/Mad Dog)

Hells Horses: Mixed groups with lots of elemental/mechanized support in addition to mechs (See Hellbringer)

I am not as familiar with the other groups...so I cannot elaborate there so much, however, those are the trends of those clans. There are always exceptions as well...

Edited by Gyrok, 01 May 2014 - 09:23 AM.

[CCC Dober]

If memory serves right, powerful ballistics and missiles were primarily used in assaults. Their reliance on ammunition based weapons turned into a serious problem when the Clans ran into more organized resistance or protracted sieges. Clan Wolf seemed to have adapted faster than the rest of the Clans, which was evident at the Battle of Tukayyid that brought the invasion to a halt.

What this basically amounts to is that the Clans have Omni technology and one can't really predict what kinds of weapons they will bring to the field. Except that they can adapt their loadouts to meet battlefield conditions, tactics and strategies in the best possible way.

[FireSlade]

Another clue into the inner workings on Clan designs and tactics is that they tend to follow their totem animal's personality and traits. So Clan Wolf for example will tend to attack in packs, adapting to tactics that they are facing (Jade Falcons had a big issue with this while fighting the Innersphere), and they are very mobile. Jade Falcons tend to attack very hard and very fast like a bird would when hunting small animals. As others have stated the weapon designs were always changing based upon the tactics that the commanding officer favored and the enemy's tactics.

[Strum Wealh]

IMO, the Clans are less of an issue of preference among specific weapon types, and more of an issue of preferences among tactics and strategies.

The original TRO 3050 made mention that each of the original 16 OmniMechs was preferred among or substantially more common within one Clan moreso than the others.

• CGB: Dasher, Dragonfly, Vulture, Gladiator
  
• CJF: Uller, Loki, Thor
  
• CSJ: Koshi, Ryoken, Masakari, Daishi
  
• CW: Puma, Fenris, Black Hawk, Mad Cat, Man O' War

For example, we can see that the Jaguars seem to prefer to "run heavy" and rely more on sheer firepower (by running 'Mechs with comparatively large portions of armor & pod space vs total 'Mech weight), while the Falcons seem to prefer the middles of the weight classes (which may suggest more of a focus on the combination of speed & firepower, at the expense of armor capacity).

[Pariah Devalis]

The Clan Nova Cat holy trinity: the ERPPC, the ERLLas, and missiles.

Most Nova Cat prefered mechs tend to have multiples of and is built around at least one of those systems. The preponderance of missile systems in Nova Cat ranks decreased sharply after Tukayyid when the logistical issues became extremely evident, which is why many of the post invasion mechs and configurations shifted heavily to energy systems. Even so, a love for them still exists. For example the Nova Cat configuration with six LRM-15.

Combat style for the 'cats is also typically aggressive, blitzkrieg style, with heavy use of supplemental aerospace support.

Edited by Pariah Devalis, 01 May 2014 - 11:24 AM.

[Gyrok]

Strum Wealh, on 01 May 2014 - 11:01 AM, said:

IMO, the Clans are less of an issue of preference among specific weapon types, and more of an issue of preferences among tactics and strategies.

The original TRO 3050 made mention that each of the original 16 OmniMechs was preferred among or substantially more common within one Clan moreso than the others.

• CGB: Dasher, Dragonfly, Vulture, Gladiator
  
• CJF: Uller, Loki, Thor
  
• CSJ: Koshi, Ryoken, Masakari, Daishi
  
• CW: Puma, Fenris, Black Hawk, Mad Cat, Man O' War

For example, we can see that the Jaguars seem to prefer to "run heavy" and rely more on sheer firepower (by running 'Mechs with comparatively large portions of armor & pod space vs total 'Mech weight), while the Falcons seem to prefer the middles of the weight classes (which may suggest more of a focus on the combination of speed & firepower, at the expense of armor capacity).

Dire Wolf was pretty abundant in Clan Wolf as well...just not as numerous as the Smoke Jags used it....

[Keeshu]

Thanks for all the info guys.

[CyclonerM]

Gyrok, on 01 May 2014 - 12:16 PM, said:

Dire Wolf was pretty abundant in Clan Wolf as well...just not as numerous as the Smoke Jags used it....

Yes but the Gargoyle was qutie the most abundant Assault 'Mech in the Wolf touman

[Gyrok]

CyclonerM, on 01 May 2014 - 02:29 PM, said:

Yes but the Gargoyle was qutie the most abundant Assault 'Mech in the Wolf touman

Absolutely...who does not like an 80T mech loaded with ballistics and a big engine?

[Smedlee]

"Marik: Missles and lasers"

Since I like the lasers, I guess I should go Marik.

[FireSlade]

Smedlee, on 01 May 2014 - 04:20 PM, said:

"Marik: Missles and lasers"

Since I like the lasers, I guess I should go Marik.

Go Clans. We have cake, missiles, lasers, and LBX/UAC 20s.

[101011]

Ghost Bears tend to have heavier 'Mechs that are also quite mobile for their size (Kodiak, Gargoyle, Executioner, Kingfisher) backed up by very mobile lighter 'Mechs for support (Fire Moth, Dragonfly).

[CoffiNail]

Ghost Bear pioneered asteroid mining in the Kerensky cluster. They always had a steady source of raw materials, but also ample resources for the merchant casts to use in trade. Ghost Bear always had the pleasure of getting the machines of war they wanted. We use Firemoth as a taxi service for our elemental forces, which we use in plenty. Viper are our nicely armoured light, Mad Dog makes a good medium and the Executioner is a other house of speed including MASC, jump jets and fire power. Who needs slow assaults. Strike fast and hard.

[Strum Wealh]

Smedlee, on 01 May 2014 - 04:20 PM, said:

"Marik: Missles and lasers"

Since I like the lasers, I guess I should go Marik.

Well, as far as traditional weapon affinities go:

• FedSuns: small-to-medium autocannons (AC/2, AC/5, AC/10), backed by energy/missiles
  
• DracCom: high-energy weapons (pulse lasers, PPCs), backed by missiles
  
• CapCon: EWAR, backed by ballistics/energy
  
• FWL: missiles, backed by lasers (as the FWL is known to typically lack PPCs)
  
• Lyrans: large ballistics (AC/20, Gauss Rifle), backed by energy/missiles

The FRR doesn't really have an established affinity in terms of weaponry, but is generally thought to be mainly a combination of the DracCom and the Lyrans (e.g. high-energy weapons and/or large ballistics, backed by missiles).

If you prefer energy weapons above all else, the Draconis Combine (and maybe the FRR) would traditionally be the faction that represents that interest.

[Verkhne]

The least nerfed ones???

[KnowBuddy]

test tubes

[Kael Posavatz]

Goliath Scorpion like direct-fire energy and ballistic weapons, and also targeting computers that allow them to further refine their elite gunnery skills. They make excellent use of ground-attack fighters, but CAP is noticeably lackluster.

Clan Wolf created the Naga just to prove that they could beat anyone at their own game, including the barbarians.

Hells Horses like conventional armor so much they made Omni-Vehicles. Before that they came up with Elementals. Just because they had one good idea does not mean the rest of theirs are.

Blood Spirit still uses Tables of Organization as laid down by the Founder (3 Mech Binaries, 1 fighter trinary, 1 armor trinary per cluster) and have no use for that new-fangled 'nova' thing.

Snow Raven puts a heavy reliance on fighters and 'fleet assets and generally find gravity to be a drag on their military prowess.

Cloud Cobras stencil passages from various holy texts across their 'mechs, and their Elementals have the strength of ten because their hearts are pure (also, because they are bio-engineered, but who's keeping track?)

Clan Diamond Shark, of course, gives a whole new meaning to the term 'shark tank'.

I hope this helps

[Craig Steele]

Kael 17, on 01 May 2014 - 08:23 PM, said:

Goliath Scorpion like direct-fire energy and ballistic weapons, and also targeting computers that allow them to further refine their elite gunnery skills. They make excellent use of ground-attack fighters, but CAP is noticeably lackluster.

Clan Wolf created the Naga just to prove that they could beat anyone at their own game, including the barbarians.

Hells Horses like conventional armor so much they made Omni-Vehicles. Before that they came up with Elementals. Just because they had one good idea does not mean the rest of theirs are.

Blood Spirit still uses Tables of Organization as laid down by the Founder (3 Mech Binaries, 1 fighter trinary, 1 armor trinary per cluster) and have no use for that new-fangled 'nova' thing.

Snow Raven puts a heavy reliance on fighters and 'fleet assets and generally find gravity to be a drag on their military prowess.

Cloud Cobras stencil passages from various holy texts across their 'mechs, and their Elementals have the strength of ten because their hearts are pure (also, because they are bio-engineered, but who's keeping track?)

Clan Diamond Shark, of course, gives a whole new meaning to the term 'shark tank'.

I hope this helps

For completeness

Goliath Scorpian prefer energy weapons as their culture is "nomadic" and energy weapons reduce pressure on logistics. (pg 109 Warden Clans Source Book)

Naga has been around for some time, "more than 100 years ago" according to pg 118 Wolf Clan Source book. Given they were not planning on invading IS, unlikely it was to show the barbarians anything much.

Blood Spirit TO&E is most certainly laid down by the Founder and they are fanatical about adopting it, but it is 3 mech trinaries, 1 vehicle trinary and 1 infantry elemental. Their Aerospace Fighters are at naval commands and attached to Clusters as required for operations.