BATTLETECH: The Hermes

[@devlincognito5005]

Our group used a Hermes once, and only once. City fight, and we made contact with an Assault Lance, new guy in a Hermes decided to flank to get rear shots, failed his piloting roll on the last turn, skidded into a building, critted out his back for 3 engine hits and exploded into a fireball .. we never touched the bugger again.

[@Timberjac]

Every time the mech starts there is a warning from the computer, which at the same time, is in the manufacturer's own manual: "Do not use on paved land".

[@MKmaki6094]

Unless you want to slide in style while delivering space tofu lol

[@WaywardSon-mc1vk]

@@MKmaki6094 dude! Awesome reference!

[@MKmaki6094]

@@WaywardSon-mc1vk if mech racing's canon, I'd like to think mech drifting is too lol

[@glytchd]

@@MKmaki6094 HAH~ :D Ah, yes the *Boonta* Eve Classic ;P Thx 4 the laff :)

[@ChazTheYouthful]

Ah yes, the herald of the star league Hermes : "MY NAME ISN'T HAROLD!"

[@tulsatrash]

The "royal varient" sound to me like something that came about when terran hegemony nobles with more time and money than sense aquired some old Hermes and dumped a whole lot of money and effort into them, rather than something that would exist officially.

[@AccessAccess]

"The rush to get this product to market really created most of these issues", it reminds me of some of the products I've worked on. When management has one schedule based on fantasy, and the engineers try to tell them a more realistic schedule and get shot down, this is the kind of mess that you end up with.

[@joshuamidgette4846]

Hermes, take out the legs, a good way to get standard 270 fusion engines for much better mechs and vehicles.

[@BigRed40TECH]

Hell yea!

[@44R0Ndin]

I was about to say, it's so poorly armored that one good hit from practically anything and it'll go down. Good mech to fire LRMs at, you'll probably be able to salvage most of it if an entire LRM-20 barrage hits and any two clusters roll the same location.

[@Alex-pj8nz]

@@44R0Ndin terrible light mech, wasn’t even mentioned in the ilClan technical readouts. The Valkyrie is better and even the clans use it for their 2nd line and reserve forces.

[@rmcdudmk212]

You know a mech is good when you can find version 2 of it. The Hermes 2, the Marauder 2, and more 😁

[@jefaus06]

Tough words, but true, especially for regular tabletop. I can only see the later variants being successfully used in specific scenarios. Such as: Red Rover: A single HER-3S has to run a randomized check-point route on a 6x4 map, while a more conventially armed enemy - a company of light scout mechs - tries to intercept and destroy the HER before it is able to complete the route and leave the board from the side it entered from. Protect the VIP: Played on a 4x1 map. A VIP must move from one side of the map to the other in a moderately moving vehicle, protected by a lance of mediums or heavies. Enemy lances of regular light mechs apear in waves from North and South. One wave should be a single HER-4S, starting from the starting side of the VIP. This works well, especially if the guard units are spread out, trying to defeat the regular light lances, and not marking the VIP. The later variants only become useful if you are running information blind games, where the Active Probes get house rules to improve their functionality. Being able to see player sheets of (damaged) units is a powerful tool, and improves the functionality of the hyper light scout. ECM then gets it's own importance, protecting a lance from information leakage.

[@michaelmills8205]

If the Hermes had been largely mothballed and didn't see any real action until the 1st succession war, it is possible that a large number of them got taken on the exodus and the so called "Royal" might be better thought of as an pre-clan revision. That's the only way I could the fluff working out for it. I actually surprised that there isn't a -1S variant with an advanced electronics system. I think it would be reasonable to drop the armour down to mount a BAP or GECM, or swap the flamer for a TAG. It would be a fairly simply modification, on the scale I would expect to see in the field as pilots and techs right to get the most out of the mech. Makes more sense to be than the royal.

[@rotwang2000]

If you have the space for it, it's a good flanker, or it has to stay in cover until there is an opening and it can start mugging damaged mechs and free up your better mechs for the actual fighting. It's not a good hunter-killed and the flamer can be fun in a city or woods, but it lacks the firepower a 30+ ton can take into a fight like the Javelin or the Jenner.

[@sharlin648]

I think one way of explaining a Royal Hermes is that it wasn't a production run or anything. It was basically a one off or VERY limited modification of a bare handful of them. Otherwise, it could be safely ignored. Great video as always!

[@BigRed40TECH]

Sadly, it's pretty available in Operation Klondike, and it ain't because they made them :(

[@DIEGhostfish]

Maybe the SLDF grabbed a cache of CL Engines and while on the way out they found a warehouse full of them and decided the more mechs they could take out of the hands of the Carrion Lords the better.

[@DIEGhostfish]

Oh I got it. The 2740 thing was a mostly on paper design but the Exodus fleet just happened to also loot a mothball facility on the way out and upgraded them to thosse paper specs because they had some spare XLs.

[@sharlin648]

@@DIEGhostfish Yeah you could also go that yes, these things were in storage and pretty crap. But the SLDF needed every 'Mech it could get its hands on, and initiated a crash field upgrade for them during the Civil War. Sure you'd have to change the in service date etc. but you could make it work that way.

[@DIEGhostfish]

@@sharlin648 Not a field upgrade needs at least some sort of factory to fit an XL Engine and change to DHS.

[@omegavulture8379]

I do like the facts you brought up, namely that the royal variant was just a page filler. Really enjoying these go-overs, they make a nice, short listen to before hitting the hay. Keep on keeping on.

[@BigRed40TECH]

Glad you like them!

[@gregdomenico1891]

Pretty sad when a 30 tonner is outgunned by a Commando. I think the only real way they could have made this thing work would be to make it an Arty spotter. Drop a medium, slap in a TAG, get in fast, lase the target for a ARROW, and get the hell out of there fast.

[@DIEGhostfish]

Drop the medium or the flamer but the flamer smoke may be more useful.

[@Lunarice98]

​@@DIEGhostfishit needs to kill infantry

[@ogrehaslayers605]

I always liked the Hermes. A very distictive design, if not a great one.

[@AaronV1972]

Started this Friday and and then the chills started and i stopped and went for a hot shower , feeling better to give it another go.

[@sim.frischh9781]

This mech needs new artwork. SOON. Hermes has not one good image, which is a shame, it has quite the good background fluff and potential. Kinda ironic, the Hermes II has SEVERAL good depictions IMO.

[@jollyjohnthepirate3168]

The answer to your question is simple and sad. President Eisenhower said "Beware the Military Industrial Complex." Or Tex "Military contracts are made of graft, bullshit, more graft. All baked into a pie" Or Dick Jones from Robocop " We had a 20 year contract.....and that included parts and spares. Not to mention exports. Who cares if it didn't work."

[@Bee_Tea_Sea]

Yeah man I always think of the sldf when I see it. Its a nice design

[@andresmarrero8666]

I can only imagine that royal variant was more proof of concept and that someone really wanted to make it work. It really doesn't make much sense otherwise.

[@BigRed40TECH]

It's more that variants like this, and whole mech models like the Pillager, make the Star League era mechs seem out of place in their own setting, which is really just confusing.

[@DIEGhostfish]

@@BigRed40TECH Yeah, though the royal seems not as bad as the Pillager, Devastator(?) Nightstar, and Emperor.

[@matthewneuendorf5763]

I wonder if the royal might have been intended as a retroactive inspiration for the dasher.

[@frankb3347]

I still think it would be fun to make a Company representing the 12 Olympians.

[@lightningchegg4823]

The royal variant do be looking thicc tho. Thought it was a fan art.

[@BigRed40TECH]

That's card art from the 90's.

[@lightningchegg4823]

@@BigRed40TECH most humanoid mechs that I’ve seen are either masculine or androgynous in appearance, are there any mechs that are meant to appear feminine? I feel that it wouldn’t fit in the series and I’ve never seen any but I’m also not an expert in this field.

[@BigRed40TECH]

@@lightningchegg4823 I don't think so. The closest might be the Wyvern?

[@lightningchegg4823]

@@BigRed40TECH thanks.

[@Qardo]

Hermes, the Mech that drank a lot of Red Bulls.

[@metalmadness5851]

I see the "royal" Hermes most likely as a desperate attempt to make a useful machine during the heavy losses of the Periphery Uprising and the Amaris Civil War. They didn't really have many options for reinforcements in those days, but definitely would have tried to make the Hermes a more palatable unit for their pilots.

[@BigRed40TECH]

A lot of these variants honestly undermine a ton of the lore behind other machines, and create a weird, out of place arms race in an era which was long gone. The Hermes b is just an extreme example of how ridiculous this gets.

[@metalmadness5851]

@@BigRed40TECH Yeah, my personal pet peeves are the Enfield and Firefly. Neither mech's lore matches up with their proposed timelines. At least machines like the Jenner IIC have had some attempt to fix the oversights.

[@theapostatejack8648]

I really do not like the Hermes. The only thing it has is speed. The armour and armaments are inadequate for its weight. Which makes its general dislike by Mechwarriors understandable. Clan Diamond Shark looked at speed scouts in the 3060s and came up with a beastie that out-performs the 1S in nearly every capacity, while being 5 tons lighter. They called it the Solitaire.😎

[@ChaosTicket]

The Hermes isnt a terrible idea but poorly designed for the tabletop. In 3025 its too lightly armored and unfavorably compared to the Spider, which is slower but has a lot of jump jets. The big issue is that because of its very heavy engine it practically requires an Extralight Engine. That would make something more effective that say a Locust, but you could have a Lance of Locusts for the price of one XL-Hermes. Clan-tech could help the issue as something like the Fire Moth is very effective with improvements to the Endo-Steel, Ferro-Fibrous, XL-Engine, and stronger low-weight weapons. For the Inner Sphere its difficult to get the sensor technology as it weights a lot. C3s, Active Probes, ECM, oh and Stealth Armor or the Chameleon LPS or Null-Signature System.

[@TheStraycat74]

3050 full clan tech rebuild of the hermes HER-3A, 10/15 (20) movement, max armor, MASC, TAG, AP, and ECM permanently installed. Prime config: 2 ERML, 2 ERSL, and 2 Flamers. Alt Config: 8 ERSL because all the pigeons have to DIE. just sayin

[@haroldcarfrey4206]

@@TheStraycat74 Blaine Lee Pardoe designed this one and the Hussar. He told me the whole list once, but I just remember those two and vulcan, and I asked him why they suck and he said it made sense in terms of mission, but did not translate to the rules that well

[@TheStraycat74]

@@haroldcarfrey4206 Mister Pardoe is on my FB list. Good Guy

[@stormcrow28]

Still better then a Falcon or most bugs. The flamer is easily swapped with a TAG for use with guided munitions, which makes the Hermes a valued fast spotter for Marik or other missile heavy factions.

[@TroySeward]

Another great mech video.

[@BigRed40TECH]

Thank you! :D

[@lexington476]

You gave me a much better opinion of the Hermes, prior to now I really did not think much of it.

[@thestabbybrit4798]

Did someone mix up the orders and send a racing Mech to the SLDF?

[@tomfennesy9105]

I think royal are tournament builds. They sometimes work in the role of one v one matches.

[@AWholeLegionary]

I dont know whats sadder, this mech itself or that the Hermes II got new art.

[@RyeFields]

All I'm hearing is Racecar on legs

[@stephenknizek2651]

Not a mech for my Davion space merc unit, but if my older Marik space command could get a hold on one of these elder Hermes, it might even replace my current Hermes II. Not certainly, just might…more likely it would become the CO’s battle rig.

[@Eulemunin]

The only royal upgrade should have been an XL but just to get more speed. No new weapons, no fancy masc, and no jump jets.

[@rbmore3]

The royal is what you get when a munchkin gets to make a default design, and it is beautiful for that. Does it fit with the flaws most other models get? no, is it a glorious mech that any royal light pilot would be happy to drive yes. So maybe a rare case of someone listened to the few people that actually drove one in combat and the royals having more money than any deity you could name Olympian or otherwise and deciding if we have to have this thing, we are going to have it just so.

[@BigRed40TECH]

I think it was just people trying to leave their "Mark" on the era, and instead making the Star League era a total mess, and screwing up the lore for dozens of Mechs. There are some cases where Royals make sense, the Highlander, sure. But a lot of these others just make the whole setting's credibility kinda tank. Hell, look at the Pillager. Why is that a Star League era Mech that outperforms every other 100-tonner by a mile? Why is it over 100 years older? It just doesn't add up. It should have been a new era mech. Instead, they threw it in the SLDF era. Because reasons.

[@rbmore3]

@@BigRed40TECH in the real world, 100%. Was trying to come up with a happy in universe coincidence.

[@BigRed40TECH]

@@rbmore3 I think it's just too far out. I accept it's there, but it's an intense series of contradictions sadly.

[@krieg4017]

Good.

[@WelcomeToDERPLAND]

Two minutes ago, damn I'm early- also I love the Greek messenger God.

[@BigRed40TECH]

It's a cursed Mech, don't wory. lol

[@lukedudley5030]

I love fast mechs but the hermes has too many issues to make its speed really useful.....in just a short time though the inner sphere develop a really deadly super fast scout in the scarabus which is one of the best light mechs a merc can get :-)

[@boxfoxscoot1614]

I think ferro fibrous means its a type of multi standed/layered ablative armor plating, does anyone know if theres already an in lore answer?

[@BigRed40TECH]

www.sarna.net/wiki/Ferro-fibrous_armor

[@DIEGhostfish]

Also its flamer uses ammo like a vehiclular flamer but it's somehow integrated ammo and I don't think follows the 1 ton minimum rule?

[@BigRed40TECH]

Most flamers in basic battletech use the engine to generate le flame thrower.

[@DIEGhostfish]

@@BigRed40TECH Yeah though Sarna and some memory I have of a TRO I read in middle school said it shoots napalm

[@kythebengzon8023]

Heh I remember this one I ended up piloting the downgraded version out of mistake and unlike most lights I survived in this despite the fuck ups in design. The only red I had was my left! And used that to help tip a pirate Atlas fighting our South wind highlander Never try to kick a mostly fresh atlas leg. I still wonder how the leg actuator wasn't crushed and how I managed to dodge that fall.

[@philjackson1294]

Cadet here is your mech.. ffs who did I piss off...

[@BigRed40TECH]

"I hope your papers are in order."

[@sardaukerlegion]

As a pure scoutmech Spider is better for it's JJs. Clans have at same tonnage and same speed the Incubus, bringing a PPC or LPL to the table.

[@MattTosto]

Hearing that the HER-3S version added a MASC immediately sent my mind to, "VTEC kicked in yo"-land

[@BigRed40TECH]

Almost 200 kph in a walking Mech XD

[@DIEGhostfish]

@@BigRed40TECH Green hill zone earrape version. I once slapped like a 360ish XXL clan masc and supercharger on a locust armed only with a clan er micro in MW5. Was avsurfspeed

[@kylebarrie2887]

Even tho it's not perfect and has flaws. I still like it and is a decent flanker or scout.

[@treevenewson]

Never been a big fan of any of the versions. The Hermes II is an adequate Medium 'Mech eclipsed by the P-Hawk as a fast medium scout.

[@BigRed40TECH]

It's much cheaper tahn the Phoenix Hawk tho :P

[@treevenewson]

@@BigRed40TECH Fair enough, but it's not a Berserker vs. Atlas scenario. Though I also don't think the Free Worlds League has a P-Hawk manufacturing plant.

[@Aceman52]

I've always liked the Hermes. That being said I was never a fan of flamer's. On this particular mech, I feel as though That tonnage could have been better spent on a 3rd medium laser or more armor.

[@faithmcclosky4528]

Great video as always, Red. Oh, the Hermes....What did the Hermes ever do to you? This is a scathing take on the mech, and I quite like your calling out of the silliness of the Royal variant.

[@louiskemner3216]

Nice video as usual, but seriously, I can’t stand the Hermes and Hermes II. If I want a fast raider unit, I’ll take a Jenner for IS or a Crimson Langur for Clan

[@lightningchegg4823]

Will you ever address the catalyst drama?

[@BigRed40TECH]

I did in a community post. It's my only and final statement on it.

[@TheStraycat74]

3050 full clan tech rebuild of the hermes HER-3A, 10/15 (20) movement, max armor, MASC, TAG, AP, and ECM permanently installed. Prime config: 2 ERML, 2 ERSL, and 2 Flamers. Alt Config: 8 ERSL because all of the pigeons have to DIE. just sayin

[@Demolitiondude]

Why bring back the Hermes royal units? Succession wars. There.

[@BigRed40TECH]

Royal units weren't in the Succession Wars.

[@Demolitiondude]

Don't think it's the taurians going DO NOT TOUCH THE TRIM!

[@DIEGhostfish]

@@BigRed40TECH Well they may have been, hard to tell one pile of radioactive ash from another

[@dreammirrorbrony1240]

Morning

[@BigRed40TECH]

Good morning. if only it was a good morning to cover the Hermes. XD

[@MrDmitriRavenoff]

Nice day for fishin' ain't it?

[@JosephMitchell-zw3db]

I loved it it is fragile tho

[@Chris_Sizemore]

So lets talk about "Scout" mechs. The primary use of scout mech isn't scouting. The primary use of scout mechs is to destroy scouts. What scouts? Surprisingly Scout mechs aren't the best scouts. Sure Mechs have all of the electronics and sensors that a good scout should have, plus the speed and the ability to traverse any terrain. Now compare that to a Warrior Helicopter. The Warrior travels at the same speed as a Hermes, and doesn't care what the terrain its passing over is. While the Warrior is pitifully armed and armored, that doesn't impair its ability to scout. There are lots of similar helicopters, hover tanks, and even wheeled tanks that can perform scouting duties the Hermes would be called upon to do. They perform equally well, and even possibly better than a Hermes. The thing all of these scout vehicles share is that they pay for the speed by skimping on armor and weapons. Scout mechs are expected to be able to chase and bring down these vehicles. Mechs are inherently tougher to destroy than other combat vehicles. The scout mechs are also expected to engage in direct conflict with heavier mechs. Commanders can't afford to not deploy a scout lance into heavy combat. Scouts need more than speed, they need to be able to mount a credible offense. Not just to defend themselves, but to be able to attack and defend objectives like any other mech. Vehicles are cheap. The Warrior costs about 500k. A Locust is very close to it in performance and costs 3 times as much. If they fight, the Warrior has a decent chance of winning, but the Locust only needs one lucky hit to take out a helicopter, the Warrior needs a dozen lucky hits. Mechs are just better at taking damage.

[@777dragonborn]

This is a racing mech not for combat .

[@apierion]

I enjoy your videos but they sound like they’re narrated by Kermit the frog.

[@BigRed40TECH]

You should watch the Urbanmech video.

[@Arron-S]

Man.... It's ugly

[@BigRed40TECH]

Ugly and bad. What could go wrong? XD