Wednesday, September 28, 2016

TRO: 3087 - Ifrit

3087 is a Battletech alternate universe where The Jihad never happened. Instead, political fracturing continues in the wake of the technological and military upheavals of the 3050's. Its history is told through the pages and designs of TRO: 3087. With any luck this series will be the last anyone hears about 3087.

Ifrit (Block 4)
Overview
In just under twenty years, The Wolf Dragoons expanded from a sophisticated and successful mercenary unit to The Dragoons Pact, a proper government half the size of The Terran Hegemony. The region’s defenders morphed from ad-hoc militia and mercenaries into the only force in the Inner Sphere to rely on Clan technology for over half of their war materiel.
The Ifrit, and vehicles like it, are one of the ways those two massive shifts were made possible. Unlike many of the other ‘Mechs fielded by the Pact, it includes almost no advanced components except for its weapons, power, and targeting systems.
Its integration of simple parts have allowed new suppliers to start up in the region while older factories have received incentives to upgrade parts to higher specifications used in more sophisticated machines like the Durendal and Zemus.

Capabilities
The Ifrit pairs a gauss rifle with a large laser, allowing it to carve off large chunks of armor at great distances. As a defensive unit, this allows it to soften enemies up before closing to proximate ranges where defenders can mass up on weaker units.
Continuing the Clan tradition of assigning BattleMechs to second-line roles, the Ifrit is often assigned to militia units. It doesn’t possess the speed or overwhelming firepower of most Clan units, but it’s far more capable than standard garrison ‘Mechs most militias can claim. 
Starting with Block 3, many of the components of the Ifrit are upgraded to be compatible with OmniMech technology. While the Ifrit’s weapon mounts and armor haven’t been similarly upgraded, it’s strongly suspected that after additional testing with the Ifrit-X, subsequent blocks will have omni abilities.
The Ifrit also has adjustable gryoscopic and myomer systems which allow it to operate better in worlds with non-standard gravities. The targeting computer can be removed to minimize the effect of high gravity worlds, while the addition of armor plates as “ballast” help it adapt to low-g planets. Field implementations have shown nothing but positive results.

Battle History
Leftenant Colonel Mariana Stanza was lead Mechwarrior with the NAIS’s joint development program for the Ifrit-X when the Federated Hellfire Territories arrived to take the world in 3083. While other pilots from the program were sent to the front, Stanza and her Ifrit-X were loaded on board the project’s dropships in an attempt to evacuate to Xhosa VII. Rabid Cobra Division air wings shot down the dropship and Stanza was barely recovered and pulled out with the last of the Davion forces.
After sixteen months of recovery, she was returned to active duty as a member of the newly-minted 1st Davion Lancers. 
She finally got her chance to face down the Rabid Cobra Division late that year, when they ambushed The Suns’ Regent while she and her family were on tour on Tarkio. Stanza’s new Ifrit was found with its cockpit crushed and its ammo bins empty. After the Regent’s death, Stanza was, like many members of the Lancers, stricken from the rolls posthumously for cowardice.

Variants
Lieutenant Mohammed ElFadil was the only surviving member of the Dragoons at the Hiring Hall when it was destroyed in 3067. He died of cancer less than a year later due to exposure that day. The Ifrit was named after his Hatamoto-Chi and a limited-run of Ifrits with paired PPCs and short range missiles were produced in his memory.  
The current Ifrit-X boasts macro-scale omni-ports, dubbed type C-XR, which allow for hot-swapping in the field. When the system works, a MechWarrior can eject one weapon and another ‘Mech with hand manipulators can install a new pod. The system works, albeit with faults in ammunition feeds, targeting systems, and cooling connections. The armor covering the added weapons also suffers, as the mechanism to open and then close back over pods has several vulnerable linkages.

Ifrit (Block 4)
Type/Model:    Ifrit (Block 4)
Tech:          Mixed / 3069
Config:        Biped BattleMech
Manufactured:  Dragoons Pact
Fielded:       
 Dragoons Pact (Common)
 Federated Suns (Rare)
 Lyran Commonwealth (Rare)

Mass:          75 tons
Equipment:              Crits     Mass
Int. Struct.:               0     7.50
                 114 points
Engine:300    Fusion        6    19.00
  Walking MP:   4 (5)
  Running MP:   6 (8)
  Jumping MP:   0
Heat Sinks: 10 Double       8     0.00
Gyro:                       4     3.00
Cockpit:                    5     3.00
Actuators:                 16     0.00
 L: Sh+UA+LA+H  R: Sh+UA+LA+H
Armor Factor:               0    14.50
  231 pts

       Internal Structure  Armor Value
 Head:                  3      9      
 Center Torso:         23     36     
 Center Torso (Rear):         10
 L/R Side Torso:       16    25/25
 L/R Side Torso (Rear):       7/7
 L/R Arm:              12    24/24
 L/R Leg:              16    32/32

Weapons and Equipment Loc  Crits  Tons
---------------------------------------
2 SRM-6s               RT    2     3.00
Targeting Compu... (C) RT    4     4.00
Gauss Rifle (C)        LT    6    12.00
ER Large Laser (C)     RA    1     4.00
2 LRM-5 (iOS) (C)      LA    2     1.00
@SRM-6 (30)            RT    2     2.00
@Gauss Rifle (16)      LT    2     2.00
Triple-Strength Myo... LA    2     0.00
Triple-Strength Myo... RA    2     0.00
Triple-Strength Myo... LT    1     0.00
Triple-Strength Myo... RT    1     0.00
 Crits & Tons Left:         22     0.0

Type C-XR Omni Pods:
An OmniMech with C-XR OmniPods can only mount C-XR-compatible omni components.

Jettisoning Equipment:
Can jettison omni-pods at end step/end phase.

Adding New Equipment:
Another ‘Mech with two functioning hand actuators can add a weapon or piece of equipment which requires an equal or fewer number of tons and critical spaces as the jettisoned equipment. When you replace a weapon this way, roll 1D6 and consult the table below.

1: Component is installed successfully.
2-3: Component is installed successfully. If it’s a weapon, it has a +1 to hit, otherwise it generates 3 additional heat every turn.
4-5: As above, except if the location with the new component has more than 7 armor, mark off armor boxes until it only has 7 left.
6: The component suffers a critical hit to every critical slot. If it’s ammunition, the ‘Mech suffers an ammunition explosion to that location.

4 comments:

SkilTao said...

I like the d6 table. At first, I was thinking it should be a piloting roll, but man, doing Margins of Failure here would just be unnecessary hassle.

VanVelding said...

There were literal months of hacking that system down into something simple enough to fit into a TRO stat column. I think there used to be two tables; one for number of flaws and a more expansive flaw one. I don't know why, but I really, really like "Roll twice and keep both" results on tables.

SkilTao said...

Oh wow. If you weren't doing just the TRO entries, I guess you could separate the tables out into a generic "garage modification" ruleset? "Roll twice and keep both" (provided the list is long enough, and the players don't mind the extra record keeping) more variety and more interesting tradeoffs. Plus, I guess, the possibility of doing doubly well or doubly poorly.

I've seen tables (like the Equipment List here) which combine "number of results" and "results" into a single table, which is interesting. I've tried doing that with BattleTech's "determing critical hits" rolls; maybe I'll revisit that.

VanVelding said...

That's a pretty cool Equipment List. It's a novel concept. I wouldn't use it, but I like the idea. I didn't remember you doing an advanced critical hits table. I'd be interested if you hammer one out.

As far as building on the CX-R omni pods: They're a one-off tech and anything that requires rolls on the battlefield makes me unhappy. Maybe someone will like the idea and use it for their own campaign/AU. That's mostly my goal, to give people something to steal from.