Battletech Lore - Mauler Assault Battlemech

[@philips.5563]

*Mercenary Mechwarrior* I believe the formal form of address is "human garbage" in peacetime and "beloved protector and valued member of our society" in wartime.

[@GrimDarkNarrator]

That's painfully accurate :D

[@franksmedley8619]

I point to Rudyard Kipling. A man who understood the 'Warrior'. And I point to his poem: Tommy. I Served my country, and was called everything 'but' a good man for doing so. Yet who slept soundly while I was deployed overseas? It's only recently that civilians have come to care about their Soldiers. And yes, that is a good thing. But with the history of this country (USA), why only now to realize just how much those left behind owe those that 'take up the sword' in their defense? Sad, really. But that's life. And I do not doubt I'll live long enough to see the pendulum of public opinion sway back the other way again. That, is Human Nature.

[@UCSPanther20]

The Mauler is the perfect mech for those who like to sit back and pelt the enemy with barrages of light autocannon and LRM fire, and has enough armor to withstand return fire. It will be an all too familiar sight for those who have to tangle with the DCMS on a regular basis.

[@RommelTheDesertFox]

My step dad got me in into MW4 Mercs when I was young and this was the first mech he taught me how to use, still love this beast of a mech

[@GrimDarkNarrator]

Good father :)

[@gregdomenico1891]

My problem with it in MW4 Mercenaries was that the armor was nothing to write home about. If anything gets in close, you're pretty much toast. Against a IS opponent at range, the Mauler rules. A Clan opponent at range, get ready to find out how well your ejection system works.

[@Peter_Morris]

Oh I recognize this one now! In Mechwarrior 3 I’d strip everything out, and place the largest LB-X weaponry I could on the arms (I want to say 20s, but I’m not entirely sure), dump a lot of ammo in, and then give it at least two anti-missile systems. Then I’d balance out engine and armor to give me a good closing speed while being able to absorb incoming punishment. Then I’d just close as fast as I could to point blank range and unload those LB-Xs. I remember smaller mechs just disintegrating in one salvo, and even being able to blow legs off heavier mechs with one salvo as well. I had to make sure my mobile field base stayed safe, though. Because you run out of armor and ammo pretty fast in a build like that. It was fairly entertaining.

[@Vnx]

I was introduced to the Mauler and Battletech in general by the animated series. I believe the Mauler lacks torso rotation, but that is less of an issue with what is clearly a long range combat platform. As noted ammo is a concern too, in both battle and at the strategic level. Without ammo, two ER large lasers is an embarrassingly limited arsenal for a 90 ton mech. I do echo some of the other comments about the initial shortcomings helping to ground things with some realism. Some designs are lemons and even if rectified a bad reputation can be hard to shake. I do like the looks of the mech too.

[@GrimDarkNarrator]

Yes, I do think it needs to rotate the whole mech, lol.

[@ncemt]

In tabletop I drop the AC2s for Medium Lasers, and add heat sinks, and armor. Works pretty well.

[@LORDOFDORKNESS42]

Something I really enjoy about Battletech is that it's not afraid to add pieces of what's dang near junk. The sort of 'good enough' PR catastrophes that only becomes serviceable equipment instead of death traps after years & years of refits and redesign, and even THEN usually carries stigma for decades more. It adds a lot of verisimilitude that not every dang mech is some sort of Ace among Aces, but is actually allowed to outright suck, is all I'm saying.

[@franksmedley8619]

3025 Era Mechs were somewhat 'balanced' against one another. Then along comes 3050 and 3055, and even 3057... and the new Tech overturns the accepted balances. The infusion of Clan Tech into the soup only adds more 'spice' to an already spicy hot vindaloo of combat. Where will it all end? I would guesstimate sometime about 300 years beyond the most advanced timeline to date, where Proto-Mech sized combatants field more firepower than the most dangerous Assault Mech, and Infantry can deal near-insta-death to any 'old' Mech still in operation on a one-on-one basis.

[@LORDOFDORKNESS42]

@@franksmedley8619 To be fair, the devs did try that 'Dark Age' stuff to set back a lot of the power creep. Considering that a lot of said power creep was from the galaxy FINALLY dragging itself out of the post Star League dark age, and tech marching on... Yeah, an even grimmer collapse to where old farm mechs was now force multipliers wasn't a very popular idea with the fans, to put it mildly. Honestly? I'm OK with the power creep. A light mech being able to, say, wield two light PPCs with a lot of drawbacks is WAY more interesting to me, then seeing the same mech with the same medium lasers again & again. Just my two cents, though.

[@shawnm1902]

It isn't just power creep, it's design philosophy employed. There's some streamlined builds that just hold up better regardless of the tech base employed and this typically is tied to the engine weight to chassis output ratio. The clans get to skirt this issue in most cases due to the compact nature of their equipment, but there are still break points and certain equipment that pulls ahead routinely regardless and when combined intelligently always outperforms.

[@tank.9393]

GrimDark Narrator De: du hast "Todesbote" bis auf die Betonung richtig ausgesprochen Eng: you pronounced "Todesbote" correctly except for the emphasis De: gut gemacht Eng: well done

[@GrimDarkNarrator]

Thank you!

[@franksmedley8619]

Todesbote: 'Death Messenger'... or perhaps 'Messenger of Death', in English. Death's Herald.

[@tank.9393]

@@franksmedley8619 genau

[@marcz462]

I literally just thought yesterday I wish there was a video of the Mauler 😁Thanks for the great video ( as always).

[@GrimDarkNarrator]

You're welcome!

[@georgesulea]

That is a big freaking mountain of nasty. I'd hate to come up against that on a battlefield.

[@jamesricker3997]

It is seriously under armored short on heat sinks has an XL engine and carries a lot of ammunition Any halfway decent Heavy Mech is going to kill it

[@franksmedley8619]

Hello Grim. Ah, the Mauler. Other than it's origins as a House Kurita Mech design, I have few problems with the Mauler overall. I have played many of the variants listed, as well as some specially constructed ones that make the most use of the available tech post 3055. Maulers are very good at long ranged fire support and suppression. They are heavily enough armored to weather most incoming enemy fire, and mobile enough even without jump jets to stay in battle for long enough to deal massive amounts of damage to one's foes. Of all the variants, my preferred unit is the 'reversed' Mauler... The one with twin LRM-20's, ACs in each arm, and beam weapons in the torsos. The reason for this is both about game play, AND about game universe usage. Any Mech Commander knows that ACs are far easier to obtain than the more 'delicate' beam weaponry. LRMs are also pretty easily obtainable, and thus the ammo for both weapons are both 'cheap' and readily available almost anywhere in the Sphere. Also, it is fairly 'normal' that arm mounted weapons stand the highest chance of being destroyed when the Mech's arm is reduced to scrap metal, or totally blown off the Mech. This is why I prefer the ACs on the arms, since they can be easily replaced when one rebuilds the arm. Arms are the most often destroyed portions of a Mech in general combat, especially when targeted from the sides. Since this is true, placing expensive and harder to replace weapons in the arms is kind of 'contra-indicated', and thus why I prefer my Maulers to have ACs in the arms. Since Torsos are harder to penetrate, and less likely to be 'blown off' in combat, the energy weapons mounted there are more likely to survive combat, in a general sense. And with the LRMs being far larger and taking up more of the torso internal structure 'slots', they are more likely to be damaged or destroyed than the energy weapons by a small, but significant percentage chance. Overall, Maulers are generally good Mechs to field, but they do even better if supported by other heavy and Assault class Mechs... Like the Awesome (and yes, I am referring to the Four PPC version!). I remember a battle where I fielded a Mauler, supported by a Marauder, Awesome, and Warhammer. My foe was more concerned with the other Mechs and concentrated upon them, especially the Awesome. Thisi allowed my Mauler to cripple most of the Enemy's Mechs at long ranges, to where the others could get 'mission kills' on the opposing Mechs. If I remember correctly, the Mauler survived the battle with nearly no combat damage, and 'killed' the Enemy Commander's Mech by the simple expedient of 'sandpapering' off most of it's armor with it's twin LRM-20's, and judicious use of it's ACs. When the range closed, the ACs and the Large Lasers finished it off with pin point damage strikes that penetrated the now paper thin, or non existent armor. Keep on going Grim. Your videos bring back good memories of decades of battles I played with hundreds of other players on innumerable battlefields. Frank-ly spoken.

[@GrimDarkNarrator]

Thank you for the input!

[@Stronghand-yw1lk]

Mauler, awesome, daishi, black knight, nova cat, vulture, uziel, annihilator, thor, Loki, cauldron born and mad cat are my favorites.

[@GrimDarkNarrator]

Nice!

[@AWholeLegionary]

I'd hate to fight and be in one of the Daboku mechs. Despite how COOL it looks!

[@Shadow-Kalbo1]

oh been looking forward tot his one in my battletech gamei have the mauler in as a mod its a good mech but the head says aim here

[@GrimDarkNarrator]

Haha, true :)

[@WolfHreda]

My MWO Mauler build has 3 Medium Lasers in each arm, keeps the LRM10s, and replaces the AC/2s with a pair of RAC/5s. It's disgusting. 😂

[@shawnm1902]

2 UAC/RAC always make more sense than x4 of a lighter caliber AC. It is fairly rare when you can make full and accurate use of the range of ac2s. Then again, anytime you are doubling up on cannons, the gauss starts knocking on doors due to space, weight, and heat considerations

[@Demolitiondude]

How many more of the 1st sommerset strikers are going to be covered?

[@gregdomenico1891]

I think he's already covered the Centurion, so the Bushwacker and Axeman? Plus the IS prototype Battle Armor.

[@GrimDarkNarrator]

@@gregdomenico1891 Would've done the Bushwacker a long time ago, but there's not enough lore on it for a full video.

[@SuperDanDare]

Would be interested to hear your thoughts on The Battlemaster. I loved playing this machine in mech warrior 1.

[@GrimDarkNarrator]

I'll get to it someday. The reason I didn't cover it already is because it has a ton of variants, which would make the video above average length wise. Wouldn't be an issue, but there's only so much I can narrate in a day.

[@metalmauler]

In mech warrior 4 mercs I couldnt wait to get a mauler. I would save all my clan er medium lasers and clan dbl heat sinks. First thing gut the mech then heat sink laser heat sink laser repeat this over every crit and there is a bunch.weight should be low to upgrade all armor and max engine size for speed. Clan lasers have pretty good range.this was made for medium to close range combat.yoh can slag an atlas or an anialator which i have done.you can fire the lasers one after another and never over heat and never wait for recharge unless you do a group fire.its a semi auto laser endless ammo.i could hold my team mates vack and attack a star by myself and turn them to slag.i called the mech slag.give it a shot.let me know what you think.

[@Diarmuhnd]

Rofl, premature ejection :) haha.

[@Dariushellstrome]

It's a decent mech

[@GrimDarkNarrator]

Has an intimidating look, in my opinion.

[@megamadd9220]

So how hard would it be to get in to battletech today?

[@richardoconnor8715]

It’s a little complicated but it’s not impossible. Sarna.net will be your best friend. The universe is extensive but the broad strokes are fairly understandable.

[@GrimDarkNarrator]

There's a good amount of decent novels in the setting. I can help you out with some. Just send me an email and I'll see what I can do.

[@TheStrayHALOMAN]

Can you do the Chevalier next? I play Mechwarrior: Living Legends and it my favorite tank.

[@GrimDarkNarrator]

I'll try including it in a future tanks video. I still got a couple of backup vehicle videos but whenever i do tanks next I'll try including yours.:)

[@Da5hau]

Prefer the Highlander my self ;)