Normalcy, that’s all I ever wanted- or asked- of them.

Normal weapons.

Normal ‘Mechs.

Normal developments.

Normal anything.

Instead what they gave me was a tide of some of the most unhinged, half-baked, barely functional, over-cost junk I’d ever seen come out of an arms department. Some of it had promise, the inkling start to an idea that could someday revolutionize war in the sphere and put the Republic on the cutting edge of military procurement and advancement. Something to stave off the wolves at the door. Some of it was nearly there, improvements on old systems that would help augment already fielded machines to go that one step forward, bringing tried and true designs into the modern age, even if in somewhat concerning packages.

And some of it…

Some of it was just waste.

“Colonel, please, if you just give us a few more months of time to de-”

“MONTHS?” I growled, pounding a balled fist on the desk as I turned and gestured to the spindle legged tripod that hung in the bay. “You’ve had YEARS already, Orson. Years that have come and went while the Republic has been nibbled at by her foes and you and your scientists sit here and prattle on trying to perfect a machine that has yet to even make way. I am tired of your indecisiveness, Son. Scout? Battle line? Support? Whatever half of it is I don’t care at this point, pick a damned course of action and stick with it.”

“W-Well, Sir it’s more than that!” The man stammered, motioning to his piles of design sheets, pad upon pad filled with testing data and procurement orders. “We’ve been working to pin down the best use for the system but every avenue we go down reveals new possibilities! We can’t just pick one without exploring our options! It’s just not that sim-”

“I assure you it is, Orson.” I interrupted, raising a hand to cut him off, far from interested in reviewing the same data and designs he’d shown me dozens of times by now. “The Exarch wants results. I want results. The Republic needs results. Pick a path and do it. No more games, no more fiddling with new routes or whatever flight of fancy comes your way. Bring me functional ‘Mechs, prototype or not, or don’t bring me anything at all. Get me results or I assure you your company won’t have a contract to fill.”

“I- Yes Sir, we’ll notify you when we have the prototypes completed.”

“Good, you’ve got a year, Orson. I expect results.”

Colonel Devin Ambrose, Republic of the Sphere Armed Forces, Experimental ‘Mech and Technology Procurement. Devil’s Rock June 10th, 3131.

—

Howdy Mechwarriors and welcome back to Mech Overview! This week we’ve got something special! With April first come and gone we’ve got some real funny toys to look into from the new Experimental Technical Readout: RISC! This TRO is chock full of real oddball machines from the Republic Institute of Strategic Combat, essentially the Republic’s equivalent to the Federated Suns’ NAIS.

Told through the lens of Clan Sea Fox Merchants sifting through recovered design documents, there’s quite a few interesting machines up for grabs here. From three new oddball tripods to overhauls of long venerable designs, and a real whacky war crime in a box there’s a lot to love, and laugh at, in this one!

So, let’s get on into it!

Variants

These mechs have all been reviewed based on a standard F through S scale, which you can find described on our landing page here (along with all of our other ‘mech reviews, the name of the box you can buy to get any of the mechs we have covered, and our general methodology).

R/H3L-1X ‘Scout Tripod’

Who’s this ‘W. Orson’ guy? He sounds familiar…

The brainchild of one ‘W. Orson’ the scout tripod comes to us in 3132 from Rhodes Foundry. Yes, you read that right, this is a tripod! Meaning it’s got three legs, unlike the usual bipedal, or quadrupedal, ‘mechs we’re used to! There’s three tripods in this TRO all part of the ‘Helix series’ of designs so let’s get into them first!

Meant to be the faster of the Helix series of thought experiment the 30 ton scout goes 7/11, carries ten double heat sinks stowed within a light engine, is clad in incredibly little Ferro-Lamellor armor and a Clan spec ERPPC with an attached PPC Capacitor all kept, relatively, safe by a Guardian ECM suite.

There’s a few chunks of interesting tech here, namely the fact that it’s a tripod which means it requires a second pilot for standard sized ‘mechs and a third for super heavies! Naturally this also requires a specialty cockpit, as taken into account on the sheet, and the weight tax must be paid for that third leg. That said it is more stable and the separate pilots can control separate portions of operation with one focusing on piloting and the other being dedicated to just shooting to their heart’s content while providing insurance against knockouts! Tripods also have the fun quirk of being able to traverse and move in all directions having no limitations about where it can bring the gun to bear!

Additionally we’ve got a PPC capacitor mounted up to the Clan ERPPC meaning you can juice up the weapon’s damage, and the heat generation, by five points! That in mind this does impose a ‘cool down’ where you can’t fire your PPC as it takes a full turn to charge the capacitor back up. This all sounds good, a long ranged twenty damage beat stick strapped to a 7/11 ‘mech is quite funny after all, but it does come with a few drawbacks. Firstly, snake eyes will burn out the capacitor, taking it offline, while also dealing a critical hit to the first location of the attached weapon. On top of that, if it takes a critical hit from damage then it, and its associated weapon, will be taken offline until they can be repaired.

With ten double heat sinks and a total possible heat buildup, without damage, of twenty-two at a run the Scout has some pretty good heat work! With the cool down imposed by the capacitor you’ll dissipate any heat you built the round before and still be at full movement. If you elect to turn the Capacitor off you’ll be at negative three on the heat scale and thus have no care in the world about it!

This is a very funny machine that comes in at 1,534 BV which is quite a lot for something so squishy, even with Ferro-Lam, but I can see some fun uses here in the Little Bastard zone!

Liberty’s Rating: D+. Expensive but quite funny and very skittery, it’s hard to argue with a capacitor equipped cERPPC that doesn’t care about facing which is helping this thing quite a bit in my eyes. Very funny machine.

Jack’s Rating: C-. Even just a hair more armor would probably turn this into a C or C+, it’s a fast 20 damage hit, but as is it’s just too thin to survive – only one point of armor in the arms means you’ll lose them sooner than later, and then you’ve got more shots hitting the lightly armored sides.

Insanity Rating: C+. Go fast and blast mass. The enemy can’t hurt you if you bore a hole clean through their CTs and keep going.

R/H3L-2X ‘Battle Tripod’

I can hear the big spiders in my walls… They have guns and I’m scared.

The next in the Helix series the Battle Tripod comes in at 60 tons and packs in a few of the same toys. Essentially just a scout that’s doubled in weight and slowed down to 5/8, the Battle retains all of the same fun quirks of construction the scout had while packing on five more double heat sinks and a few other toys.

The capacitor equipped cERPPC is gone, replaced by a pair of clan SRM 6s with one ton of ammo each out in the arms and a RISC Hyper Laser in the right torso! The RISC Hyper Laser is an odd toy, the zenith of Heavy laser technology it has a monstrous twenty-four heat generation, great range and a chest caving punch of twenty damage.

Unfortunately all good things must cost and the RISC Hyper Laser is no exception.

These things explode. A lot. They’re essentially just clan Improved Heavy Lasers with more explosives in them, use at your own risk. When crit it explodes for ten damage, if you roll a 2 or a 3 it crits itself… and explodes… also it doesn’t hit because fuck you.

The armor here is weird with four on the arms, seventeen on the torsos, twenty five on the CT and fifteen a piece on each leg. It’s still Ferro-Lamellor which is very nice but it feels quite thin on a ‘mech that costs 1,972 BV.

Liberty’s Rating: C-. I have deep, unhealthy cravings for the RISC Hyper Laser, something about that twenty damage hit is calling out to me like a siren on the sea… Probably for the best that they went extinct so fast.

Jack’s Rating: D-. I want to like this. I really do. But it’s built on an Inner Sphere base, which means no free CASE, and each arm has a ton of SRM ammo in a location with 4 armor and only 4 crit slots. One of those bins gets crit and you lose the entire mech.

Insanity Rating: B+. The RISC Hyper Laser is a gift from god, use it and rejoice for you are God’s favorite Mechwarrior and nothing bad could ever happen to you.

R/H3L-3X ‘Harvester Tripod’

What the fuck is that horn in the distance?

We’ve had a Light Tripod, we’ve had a Heavy Tripod, now it’s time for Assault Tripod. This 90 ton abomination is a wild looking machine, with dubious battlefield utility, that I can see being incredibly funny to field on the table.

Ostensibly a transport for drones and battle armor, or even just a very weird battlefield recovery vehicle, the Harvester would be quite at home on the front line getting into it with its, mostly, plentiful Ferro-Lamellor armor. Much like the other two the arms are under-armored which becomes an actual problem for the Harvester as the arms contain both the ‘mechs primary armaments and the Lift Hoist’s meant to allow it to ply its trade.

The armament on the Harvester rounds out two Plasma Cannons, a pair of Lift Hoists, twenty-four tons of cargo space, a Guardian ECM suite and a RISC Viral Jammer. Plasma Cannons are common, being a Clan version of Plasma rifles, they build 2d6 heat on the target and do no damage. Lift hoists and Cargo pods are odd but I see what could be gone for with something like this, War of the Worlds memes aside.

This leaves the question for most of us: What the FUCK is a RISC Viral jammer? Well, let’s ask the rule book:

A viral jammer may be activated as a free action at the beginning of the unit’s turn. It cannot be turned off for the remainder of the game unless the jammer is destroyed or the using mech is shut down/destroyed. If it is deactivated it may not be reactivated for the scenario and must be replaced. Each turn the jammer is active the controlling unit must roll 2d6 during the combat phase to determine if the jammer continues to function normally with a target number of 3 plus the number of turns it has been active, a failed roll automatically crits the unit. There are two variants, the DECOY and the HOMING JAMMER which you get to choose between. Once activated all units with 17 hexes are affected in the following ways:

DECOY: Disables all ECM systems, Angel, Nova, watchdog and EW equipment included. All stealth systems cease to function but continue to build heat until deactivated.

HOMING JAMMER: Turns off all Artemis and Streak systems within its effect zone.

Ah… interestingly convoluted game slowy down machines! How fun!

Anyhow, this all costs you 1,995 BV… for a 3/5 90 ton assault ‘mech with no real capacity to affect the battlefield.

Rough.

Liberty’s Rating: F. I mean it’s funny, it’ll take a while to beat apart and that’s cool but much like the TRO it’s coming from this machine is a joke. Don’t take it.

Jack’s Rating: F. This isn’t a combat unit. There’s no reason to actually take it in a game.

Insanity Rating: C+. Put infantry in the bays and home rule them coming out of the thing. Do it, you know you want to.

Icarus II ICR-2X

All new Microwave gun! Now in semi-automatic!

The 2X Icarus is a standard Icarus 2R with a couple changes: The eleven single heat sinks are now ten doubles, there is an extra Medium Pulse Laser, and the LB-10, along with its two tons of ammo, is gone. In the LB-10’s place is now a TSEMP Repeating Cannon and a targeting computer.

TSEMP Repeating Cannons are the same in every way that matters to a normal TSEMP except the fact that they can be fired off every turn, unlike the normal version. Also they explode for ten damage if you roll snakes.

Also it’s 2,139 BV.

Liberty’s Rating: D-. It is no more survivable than a normal Icarus- while being wildly more expensive- and it craves death to an undeniable degree… also my usual statement about TSEMPs not being great for gameplay stands, don’t do this to people you’re friends with.

Jack’s Rating: D-. You’re not getting me to spend over 2k on a 5/8/5 medium that’s only real offense is the TSEMP. It’s just so swingy and un-fun for your opponent.

Insanity Rating: B+. MICROWAVE MICROWAVE MICROWAVE MICROWAVE MICROWAVE MICROWAVE MICROWAVE MICROWAVE MICROWAVE MICROWAVE MICROWAVE MICROWAVE

Legionnaire LGN-2K-RISC

BIGGER GUNS AND BIGGER GUNS AND BIGGER GUNS AN-

This is a normal Legionnaire 2K in every way except one.

The Gun.

The 2K’s IS ERPPC has been replaced with a RISC Hyper Laser.

The targeting computer is still there. The 7/11/7 movement profile is still there. The 95% armor coverage is still there.

It has twelve double heat sinks which means it builds movement heat when firing the gun off.

Also it costs 2,502 BV…

Oh but it’d be so funny to run.

Liberty’s Rating: D+. God it’s expensive but it’d be so funny to run. It calls to me from the distant void…

Jack’s Rating: C-. If this was 500 BV cheaper it would instantly become one of my favorite things. As is, it’s still very very funny and almost usable, with the speed to position for rear shots and the accuracy to reliably core through things.

Insanity Rating: A+. PURITY OF LIFE AND KNOWLEDGE OF ITS PURPOSE GIVEN FORM. GO FORTH AND KILL. FOR THE REPUBLIC. FOR DEVLIN STONE. IMMENSE THE ENEMY IN PAIN AND FIRE.

Wendigo-XP [Prime]

I can see you and you’re not gonna do anything about it, nerd.

This is a normal Wendigo with some slight changes. Firstly it’s slowed down from 6/9 to 5/8 and now has all kinds of new RISC goodies in it!

Weapons wise we’ve ditched most everything that was here save for the LRM and SSRMs and replaced them with a quartet of IS ER Medium Lasers equipped with RISC Laser Modules, a Recon Camera and a Proto-mech AC/2.

The RISC Laser Module is weird, turning normal lasers into pulses at the cost of building two extra heat and exploding for two damage if the module gets critted or if you roll snakes. It, much like the capacitor, gives you the choice of turning it on or off to avoid exploding.

The Recon Camera is basically just a weird Tag with some separate flavor which is interesting, I suppose! It can only be used to designate for LRM indirect fire, no other kinds of guided weapons, and as such is allowed to reach out to… Eighteen Kilometers???

Oh, this is from aerospace rules, originally. Okay, sure… I guess?

On top of all the weird guns and torso cockpit the Wendigo also makes use of a RISC Coolant System and a Super-Cooled Myomer System.

Super-Cooled Myomer negates your movement heat in all forms when using ground based movement, not applying to jumpers at all. When Crit you lose a heat sink but the system continues to function until such a point as all of its slots are destroyed.

RISC Coolant Systems are an interesting piece of equipment. Automatically triggering in the end phase of any turn where the unit’s heat passes 14 points or higher. The controlling player must roll 2d6 and compare it to the emergency coolant system failure table based on the number of consecutive turns its been active, this is the same table used by MASC and Superchargers, essentially. Upon failure the system suffers a catastrophic failure which not only destroys item but inflicts an auto crit to the engine’s first slot in the location in which it is mounted. If there are no engine slots in its location they transfer inward until they find one. Now, for that risk, on a success the system reduces your unit’s heat by 6 plus the margin of success!

Not bad, but quite risky! Not sure why it’s here though, this thing does not need it, the most it can build is +13 heat… In a reasonably bracketed ‘mech… but why? Seems a waste of equipment that’d be better served elsewhere.

All of these headaches and oddball choices will cost you 1,787 BV.

Liberty’s Rating: F. Expensive for what it is but it’s got a lot of novelty if you’re into that!

Jack’s Rating: F. It’s annoying and complicated and has some real pointless choices – like the protomech ac/2 that seemingly only exists as a way to add an extra explosive component.

Insanity Rating: F. Complexity hurt grug brain, no no wanna.

Helios HEL-6RISC

E-WAR IS THE BEST WAR

Who turned the Helios into an E-War platform? Why? To what end? Who has done this and why? Who the fuck is Tomas Marvell? What’s going on in your life buddy?

Nicknamed the ‘Squealios’ for the sounds it would make on nearby E-War interfaces the 6RISC is built out of the old HEL-6X chassis… kinda.

Everything is ripped out of the old HEL-6X’s weapon bays, retaining only its base chassis properties (a moderately armored 5/8/5 60 tonner with TSM) and replaced by all manner of odd options. First we’ve got a Plasma rifle in the right arm, a C3 Slave, another RISC Viral Jammer, a Remote Drone Command Console, a Chameleon Light Polarization Shield, a pair of Clan ER medium lasers, and a pair of Clan SRM 6s round out the build for at least some sense of normalcy.

We’ve covered everything here except the Remote Drone Command Console and the Chameleon so far so let’s give them an eye real quick.

The Remote Drone Command Console, as the name suggests, allows you to command Drones! Remotely! This requires a second pilot whose job it is to actually do the droning, using their skills for the job. Though they can swap in to command the ‘mech if needed, interestingly they don’t take ammo explosion damage but do need to make seatbelt checks on fall over. The operator can only command one drone at a time so be careful where you leave them if you go to switch over to something else!

The Chameleon Light Polarization Shield is quite akin to the more common Stealth Armor, giving 6 points of heat and imposing a +1 at medium and a +2 at long ranges. Interestingly the effect also applies to attacking infantry! If the unit activates the LPS it will be disconnected from the C3 net until it turns off so keep that in mind when you use it in one.

Heat generation isn’t great but it can be worked around by laying off an ERML or turning off the Chameleon system. For 2,340 BV this feels quite underwhelming, there’s a world where we got a RISC Hyper Laser variant instead for true long range E-WAR bully memes and I’m sad it isn’t this one.

Liberty’s Rating: D. Expensive and weird, It’s got use in campaign play as OpFor for having your players fight weirdo Black Ops Republic forces, or being them, but on normal table tops I don’t see a whole lot of use here if you don’t have some oddball drone mechs to pair with it.

Jack’s Rating: C-. I don’t really hate it. It’s too expensive, but not hugely so, and has a reasonable weapon loadout. Mostly I wish it had a little more armor, but the CLPS will help there. I’d honestly love to get this exact weapon load on a Helios, which would run about 2,000 BV with maxed armor, so we’re spending 300 BV for TSM, the viral jammer, and CLPS.

Insanity Rating: F-. Boring. Dumb. Stupid. This ‘mech is lame, where’s the funny big gun? Give me funny big gun.

Battleaxe BKX-RISC

Big Guns! And friends!

The BKX-RISC is built out of some old BKX-8Ds the Republic had sitting around that made their way to RISC to be toyed with!

The weapons have been upgraded to carry a pair of IS ERPPCs w/Capacitors, a pair of Clan LRM 5s and a Clan SRM 6. Supported by thirteen double heat sinks, a Targeting Computer, a Radical Heat Sink system, a RISC HS Override Kit, and a RISC Viral Jammer. This Battleaxe has a lot of funny stuff mounted up.

We’ve got two new items here so let’s go through those real quick!

The Radical Heat Sink System works like a MASC or supercharger but for your heat sinks. This makes it so that all of your heat sinks will do one extra point of cooling for the turn it is activated in at the risk of causing damage to them. Think of it like a multi-use coolant pod that might break at random.

RISC HS Override Kit applies a -2 target modifier to shutdown checks from extreme heat levels! This only applies to shutdown avoidance checks, not ammo explosions so keep that in mind. Also, if you roll snakes on the shutdown check, which means you do still need to roll it for the ‘auto success’ that would result from the first shutdown check, the system catastrophically malfunctions. This causes damage to the engine and requires a crit check with +1 crit to the check. This means on a 10+ crit check you just kill yourself with it as all crits as a result of this failure are applied to the top slots of the engine..

Now, with only thirteen doubles the Battleaxe is at risk of significant heat build up firing off both of your ERPPCs, especially with the capacitors on, going up 14 heat standing still with just the ERPPCs and Capacitors. With the RHSS activated you’re only going up one heat… Even with all the funny toys the Battleaxe’s problems can never be corrected I suppose.

For 2,415 BV this has some serious problems.

Liberty’s Rating: F. Expensive, hot as hell and craving death this thing will falter on the table top and then explode.

Jack’s Rating: F. It’s a boring, messy way to overheat and die.

Insanity Rating: C. Big guns fun, targeting computer fun… mech boring though.

Excalibur EXC-B2-RISC

Weird not Black Knights are weird.

I… Well this is dumb. Taking the normal Excalibur EXC-B2 and doing a lot of stuff and things to it the B2-RISC is real fuckin’ stupid.

Mounting a Gauss rifle, a Clan LRM 20 with Artemis V, a Clan Medium Pulse Laser, a Clan Laser AMS, Super-Cooled Myomer, fourteen double heat sinks and a null signature system the Excalibur stays quite faithful to the originals design while also adding in a few new toys… also a XXL Engine and a compact gyro… Dammit. At least the Super-Cooled Myomer eats the bonus movement heat from the XXL.

The Null Signature System is another weird stealth system which builds ten heat and does the same effects as the Chameleon system… it’s just worse Chameleon because it’s hotter, I guess?

It costs 2,222 BV… I mean, I can kinda see some use out of this but fuck could you get a lot more for the price.

Liberty’s Rating: D. Expensive and weird, it’s got use cases and can’t be fully thrown away but like… why?

Jack’s Rating: B. Going to separate myself from Liberty here and say that this is perfectly fine. There aren’t many mechs with a comparable weapon load – mostly if it has gauss and a clan LRM 20 it’s got a bunch of other weapons, and costs around 3k. There’s a Naga II with them and a grab-bag of heavy lasers in the 2200s, but it’s slower, more lightly armored, and missing the artemis on the LRMs. It’s genuinely usable as a mech to stick at 7 hexes, which 5/8 gives it the speed to do against slower opponents, and win a trade between the null sig system and the laser AMS reducing damage from the most common weapon to still have you in short range.

Insanity Rating: B-. KILL THEM WHILE THEY CANNOT HIT YOU. THROW BIG METAL WATERMELONS AT PEOPLE AND CRACK THEIR HEADS.

Mad Cat MK IV PR (Savage Wolf) RISC

Oh god… Mad Cat MK IVs are bad. Oh wait! It’s a PR, that’s better! This should be fun.

Alright, using all of their brain power the scientists at RISC decided to have fun with the MK IV PR and as such made a rather funny ‘mech here.

The available pod space has been used to mount up a pair of RISC Hyper Lasers, 4 SRM 6s, two in each side torso with one facing backwards on either side, a RISC HS Override kit and a quartet of Coolant Pods.

I see where this is going…

And I am quite intrigued.

This is a machine with a built-in oven timer. This is your walking Chernobyl. You have four rounds of going hard in the paint on both lasers without building heat. There’s something about this that speaks to my soul, despite the fact that I know it will disappoint me. It is luring me into a false sense that I could fix her with some love, care, attention, and heat management.

And brother I damn well might fall for it.

At 2,876 BV this really isn’t all that expensive for a Mad Cat, if we’re honest, and it does some funny shit for the price.

Liberty’s Rating: C+. I wanna. I know I shouldn’t. I know it will fail me. I know it’ll cook a pilot and explode gloriously… but man I wanna see it do it.

Jack’s Rating: C+. It’s not wildly more expensive than any other Mad Cat, the 4 rounds of shooting both hyper lasers is fine, the main problem here is the lasers liking to explode themselves. Once you’ve burned the coolant pods the override kit at least gives you a chance to not be a sitting duck if you need to go hard again. Good? No. Usable? Yes.

Insanity Rating: S++++. IMMENSE THE WORLD IN FIRE! COOK THE ENEMIES’ SOULS! GOUGE AWAY THEIR ARMOR AND DESTROY ALL THAT THEY LOVE. ALL HAIL DEVLIN’S GLORIOUS SHAFT OF LIGHT AND DESTRUCTION. KILL KILL KILL!!!

Templar TLR1-ORISC

Oh boy! I love Templars! Let’s see wha- DEAR GOD WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THERE?

Alright, welp, this is interesting. The guys over at RISC have decided to do weird shit with this build and I don’t know what to make of it so let’s just start with what it has. This Templar config mounts a TSEMP Repeating Cannon and an Angel ECM in the right arm, an IS ER Large Laser and regular range Large Laser in the left arm, each equipped with a RISC Laser Module, a Streak SRM 4 in the right torso with one ton of ammo, a pair of Heavy Machine guns in the CT with a half ton of ammo in the right torso for some reason, an armored supercharger, a TAG, a Targeting computer and… a singular coolant pod?

The supercharger is also armored for some reason? I don’t think that makes it so a fail doesn’t hit the engine? Super chargers don’t do anything when they get Crit but break so like… Why? Also they put CASE II in both side torsos but Templars already have CASE hard mounted in the right torso and there’s nothing explosive in the left torso… What the fuck even is this thing?

With the thirteen double heat sinks aboard a running alpha strike in the ORISC will net you thirteen heat in the red which means the coolant pod perfectly neutralizes the heat load…

But why?

AND IT COSTS 2,948 BV?!?!?!

Liberty’s Rating: F. This is dumb and bad. I hate this, get it the fuck away from me, immediately.

Jack’s Rating: F. Please don’t do this to my lovely templar.

Insanity Rating: F–. This is dumb, bad, boring and annoying.

Emperor EMP-6X

I AM GOD IN THIS PLACE, BOW BEFORE MY TWIN HYPER LASERS AND BEGONE FROM MY REALM!!! OH GOD IT’S HOT IN HERE, HELP ME.

I love Emperors and this is a hilarious way to build one. Built out of an Emperor EMP-6A the 6X drops all of the guns save for the pair of torso mounted Medium Pulse Lasers and the head mounted Medium Laser, then uses the left over tonnage for some real goofy shit.

Filling out the new space we have a pair of RISC Hyper Lasers, one in each arm, Super Cooled Myomer, an ECM suite, a RISC HS Override Kit, a Void Signature system, and an additional six double heat sinks to bring the total to eighteen. Also it goes 4/6/3 now! With only the Void Signature system being new here let’s run over that real quick!

The Void signature system comes from the Wobbies and as such is strange. The to-hit penalties to hit a ‘mech with a Void signature system go up the less it moves! Standing still you have a +3 bonus, moving 1-2 hexes a +2 and 3-5 a +1, past 6 hexes there is no bonus. Additionally you have a +1 for your outbound fire and subtract one, to a minimum of 0, for infantry shooting the target.

This is very hot. Going up +12 heat at a standstill firing off both Hyper lasers, without the void sig. on. You could ripple them off at 2-1-2-1-2-1-2-1… until the target is dead and suffer no real problem. If you want the void sig on you just fire off one continuously until the target is gone or you’ve been shot to death.

At 3,114 BV this thing is horrendously expensive but also incredibly funny in the right circumstances.

Liberty’s Rating: D-. It’s got funny gimmicks but with this cost and this heat I just wouldn’t… that being said with some restraint it’d be a funny ripple fire ‘mech.

Jack’s Rating: F. If I’m going to do things with a pair of hyper lasers I want to use the Mad Cat and be able to position and fire both, rather than being a durable pillbox.

Insanity Rating: F-. Clinically insane, not funny insane, why supercooled Myomer and Void sig? This is dumb and not in the fun way. You make me sad.

Malice MAL-Y-SH-RISC

OPEN UP THE SKY, BREAK THEIR BACKS AND BRING DOWN THEIR WARSHIPS! I AM THE HAMMER OF THE GODS AND I WILL NOT BE DENIED.

This Malice is the bearer of all hate, Malice, and destruction within the hearts of man. 105 tons of mech are clad in Ferro-Lamellor armor and carrying Super-Cooled Myomer, a XXL engine, a Radical Heat Sink System, a RISC HS Override Kit and twenty seven Laser Heat Sinks you really have to wonder what it’s here to do! Before we get to that let’s explain what these funny Laser Heat sinks do first! Functionally the same as a clan double heat sink the Laser Heat sinks only do a few odd things, namely not getting benefit from water immersion, working perfectly fine in the void and giving you away at night! It’s… a thing!

So, Liberty, you ask interested in what all this cooling could be for, what is actually in this thing then?

Well I’m glad you asked, because it’s fucking hilarious.

Four RISC Hyper Lasers.

Death on legs.

That’s 96 heat on a ‘mech that sinks 54. If you spin up the RHSS you dump 81, therefore going up 15 heat and activating the RISC HS Override Kit. This is a funny mech that wants to run a really weird firing order where you play with the RHSS to work the set down over a few rounds. Something like 4(RHSS)-2-2-4(RHSS) or 3(RHSS)-2-3(RHSS)-2 while waiting for the turn where you see a good shot to just FUCKING obliterate something with all four beams. You know, assuming none of the Hyper Lasers have blown up by that point.

Also its a Superheavy sitting at 105 tons which means it has 12 armor and four structure in the head so it won’t fall over dead from a gauss or cERPPC on a head hit.

With this thing packing laser heat sinks and therefore not worrying about the void I have the distinct feeling that this thing is built with the intent of boring holes into the side of enemy warships and that makes me happy in my heart.

Even at 3,641 BV I crave this machine in my bones.

Liberty’s Rating: C+. Has a surprising capacity to just look at something and snap it from existence without a care in the world except for the mild bbq going on in the cockpit.

Jack’s Rating: D. This is going to kill itself from hyper laser explosions sooner rather than later. It might take something with it, but that something is probably cheaper than it (most things are cheaper). Also it’s technically an illegal design, as you can’t put supercooled myomers on a superheavy.

Insanity Rating: S. KILL THEM ALL. DRAG SHIPS FROM THE SKY AND BREAK THE BACKS OF ALL WHO WOULD DARE TO OPPOSE YOU. I AM A GOD AMONGST MEN AND YOU SHALL NOT OPPOSE ME. I WILL STAND ATOP A MOUNTAIN OF YOUR CORPSES. FOR DEVLIN STONE! FOR THE REPUBLIC! FOR GLORY!!!

J-27 Ordnance Transport (RISC)

War Crimes on treads!

This is an up armored J-27 that has 3 armor at its thickest and goes 8/12, a fair clip faster than the standard 5/8. So, what’s it giving up to do that?

Being an ordnance truck mostly. The J-27 is, like many of these hell machines, a very dumb thing that is trying to do black-ops. In exchange for the three tons of cargo space, machine gun and full ton of ammo on the original the RISC variant mounts up two M-Pods and a Small Pulse Laser!

M-Pods are funny as hell, acting as an LB-15 at 1 hex, an LB-10 at 2 hexes and an LB-5 at 3 hexes. This thing wants nothing more than to blitz 12 hexes down a straight line next to one of your mechs to pull the cord on the M-Pods to shower them in one pointers while hoping for any number of TACs or Head hits!

Also it has a trailer hitch which means it can haul trailers so you can use it as an escort for your convoys while still hauling a trailer of cargo!

Also it’s only 83 BV.

Oh no… I’m in love.

Liberty’s Rating: B+. Hilarious use of 83 BV. You should do this, it’d be funny as shit.

Jack’s Rating: A. This is probably not going to do anything, because it has 7 points of armor total. But it might. And at 83 BV, if it does do anything it’s worth it. At that price even just being an initiative sink is worth it.

Insanity Rating: A+. Me likey the claymore roomba.

J-27 Ordnance Trailer (RISC)

E-WAR roombas!

This is a J27 trailer that has gotten the same treatment as the truck but instead of a Small Pulse Laser and a fuel cell this has a RISC Viral Jammer, both flavors, and a 10 rated Fusion engine to run it! Also it has five armor everywhere but the rear which is at 4.

It costs 281 BV.

For the cost I’d probably rather just have the three Transports but I will say being able to dump off a jammer in a weird spot would be very funny.

Liberty’s Rating: C. Funny but less funny than the transport itself.

Jack’s Rating: C. Why does the trailer have more armor than the tractor?

Insanity Rating: D+. Funny but boring, it no go fast and does dumb E-War things. Lame.

Conclusion

This TRO has been chock full of the weird, the idiotic and the astoundingly entertaining! Should you use them? Probably not. Could you? I mean maybe! Will I be?

Oh god yes.

The Malice and Mad Cat call to my soul with a haunting siren song I will never be able to escape and I’m in love.

This surely will not bite me in the ass sometime soon.

Until next time! Fair weather, good seas and happy experimenting!

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