Why do we Love the Centurion?

[@MechanicalFrog]

Adriatic Sea, not the Aegean. Apologies.

[@nexusofice9135]

Made sure to correct yourself before the Internet got ahold of that tiny detail????

[@Maezhughes]

@@MechanicalFrog I think somebody is trying to do a scam with ur name. One of my comments got a spam message

[@johndoe1.196]

How dare you! (Joke)

[@paganhorde4463]

The centurion is the workhorse, the Orion is the big brother and the Atlas is the final boss. A family of getting things done trooper style

[@voidofhope6259]

That’s a cool way to look at em

[@elchjol2777]

So what would be its light mech sibling? The panther?

[@juangalton999]

I would consider the Dragon a slightly heavier cousin.

[@thomascraiker6449]

The Centurion, you either overcome through terrible odds, or go out in a blaze of glory. There is no in between.

[@MechanicalFrog]

This is a fair appraisal.

[@marsar1775]

i recently was doing the rise of rasalhague dlc for the first time. i was on the second to last mission. all of my heavies, and a big chunk of my limited supply of assaults were out of comission. eventually, after a grueling battle, it was Kelswa in her banshee and atlas support, and my lancemate in an archer on the riverbank behind me, and me in my centurion. it was a grueling fight, easily the hardest ive had in mw5. one medium and 1 heavy vs to assaults is not a good matchup. but i had been putting a lot of love in the centurion, and archer as well. the centurion went down, but only after emptying its AC10 and SRM 6, and having both arms blasted off. final effort was to remove the now exposed Atlas head. no sooner did those medium lasers burn the pilot than the banshee cored me from behind eventually, my archer was able to take advantadge of the banshees weakened armor. combined with a lucky ammo fire and we won. barely

[@eriktarte2743]

​@@marsar1775 still counts!

[@marsar1775]

@@eriktarte2743 heck yeah brother!

[@Bomfunker91]

The Centurion is almost a pocket heavy mech, more than it is a medium mech. It's a great intro mech for new players, since its modest speed and lackluster heat sinking forces you to play to it smartly.

[@ironboy3245]

I always ripped out the LRM for an SRM6 and more cooling

[@Bomfunker91]

@@ironboy3245 very fair, I often go the other way and give it an AC5 instead of the AC10. Since it's so slow it might as well hang back.

[@robrib2682]

@@Bomfunker91 I found that I'm the opposite in that I will strip out the lrms, put in srms and add AC ammo will possibly put in pulse medium lasers

[@NateTheBald591]

Lack luster heat sinking? It's damn near impossible to over critically .

[@Shorkshire]

Swap the engine for larger one, use the CN9-A. Both arms empty to be shields. 3 srm6 and 2 medium lasers. Best zombie in the game

[@h0shidont35]

The Centurion is one of my favorite mechs ever. It's one of the first you get in Mechwarrior 5's campaign, so it was one of my first. It'll always hold a place in my heart.

[@topcatcoast2coast579]

I can relate. The Crab is one of my favorites due to how fast you can get one in MechWarrior 2 mercs😊

[@MKmaki6094]

Same! The PGI redesign is probably the best one imo, the hard edges, the stocky build, and the shielded left arm is just one hell of a look

[@MrDmitriRavenoff]

One of my favorite minor mods is to take the stock Centurion from 3025, flip the rear ML forward, drop a ton of LRM ammo and add 1 ton of armor. Easy enough. By the time you've shot 12 rounds of LRM, the battle is almost always over.

[@MechanicalFrog]

A solid field refit if I've ever heard one.

[@ursulcx299]

Citizen Yang's Yen-Lo Wang is Iconic. I am glad it got a mention.

[@MechanicalFrog]

Good times had by all.

[@Dang_Near_Fed_Up]

Any Centurion video that doesn't mention Yen Lo Wang is incomplete.

[@memph1ston]

Commenting before I watch to say: I bet the MF variant DOESN'T have a plasma rifle this time. Let's see if I'm correct...

[@MechanicalFrog]

Yes... let's see...

[@Doomer1984]

I'll take that bet!

[@topcatcoast2coast579]

One pays 25. I'll take that bet

[@memph1ston]

Y'all both owe me! 😂😂

[@krissteel4074]

I do like the Claw-energy build with some SRM's

[@afitz34]

The CN9-AL is a great variant that has served me well.

[@MechanicalFrog]

Quite solid.

[@taylorcooper9845]

I love the AL. I had one that I upgraded the laser to the pulse varient, and then pulled the LRM racks for SRMs instead. I had to upgrade to double-heatsinks to save weight and keep it cool. Brutal in close range, but if caught out of position it always got hammered.

[@h.a.9880]

The ACs in classic Battletech have somewhat underwhelming performance, so taking a tiny reduction in damage in exchange for less ammo-dependency, more armor and more heatsinks is a welcome trade. CN9-AL is life. CN9-AL is love.

[@CSSstravag]

The 9AL was always a thorn to me in the HBS Battletech Campaign, it showed up very frequently and slapped me with some pain every time. Usually because I had a much bigger threat to hammer down before I got to its line item entry on the list.

[@trevorstein4603]

@@taylorcooper9845 that's how I ran my AL's XL engine, double heatsinks, clan ferro and med pulse and SRM6's. If you manage your shots and your heat build up, you will absolutely core most things in front of you, that are surprisingly significantly heavier tonnage than you. Don't get me wrong, I like the cannons, but my Hunchback Orthodoxy makes me go "BiG CaNnOn Go On HuNcHiE" so I'll strip the Centurion, slap four medium Pulses and set those to Ripple fire, for normal and do a 3 keyset for "Ruh Roh I messed up" moments where a straight Alpha is required. And hitting that 3 key, has never, ever let me down. I may overheat, I may shutdown. But whatever was in front of me, will forever be referred to in the past tense.

[@marshall104]

The first thing I do with most Centurion configurations is drop the LRM10 in favor of 2 LRM5s, as this frees up 1 ton (or 1/2 ton if you're using the clan variety) , that you can then use to add armor, ammo or cooling, as your build requires.

[@Khealos]

one of my absolute favorite Medium 'Mechs. So versatile, so many variants, and it all comes back to a solid design. Kudos good sir, keep up the great work!

[@MechanicalFrog]

Thank you!

[@lexington476]

Does it say that I'm a bad fan that I didn't even realize you never did a video on the Centurion? Another good one Frog, a solid four out of five.

[@MechanicalFrog]

Thank ya.

[@Geeko170]

I do love how so many of the IlClan variants of “classic” mechs are very much “modernized classics”.

[@riptors9777]

The centurion is the archetypical grunt medium mech. A hefty right hook, a backup medium laser and a LRM10 for support fire (incidantly to support its sister chasses the trebutchet). The backfacing medium laser however is in my eyes a massive design flaw. No medium laser in the back has in the history of ever, deterred a light mech or destroyed anything. Infact reinstalling the medium laser to face forward is highly adviced to increase the mechs overall firepower. Cause if you have to rely on a backfacing medium laser... you have allready lost the battle. Anything that gets in your back is either to fast to hit, or to heavily armored to be impressed by a single medium laser. The non standard parts can be tricky if you dont have inventive techmechs, otherwise though you get a reliable workhorse grunt suit in the medium bracket that has slight above weight punching capabilities.

[@brianhenry152]

I couldn't agree more! Rear-firing weapons are a waste of tonnage if you're doing things right, and strong rear armor and smart positioning of your lancemates are far better deterrents for those sneaky little backstabbers (yes, Capellans, I'm looking at you).

[@strcmdrbookwyrm]

@@brianhenry152 While I agree that in general rear-facing weapons are a bad idea, I don't think the goal was ever to deter backstabbers. If you look at mechs with rear-facing weaponry (The first four I think of are Centerion, Atlas, Quickdraw, and Zeus), most are expected to end up in a brawl. It seems to me that the point of rear-arc weapons was to allow brawlers to take extra shots on weakened targets while they used their bigger guns on the greater threat, with the hope of a lucky crit or a kill shot. However, I think this only really works in introtech. Once 3050 hits it becomes a evolutionary dead end. The thing that made rear-firing weapons viable (in my opinion) was that mechs tended to be on the slower and/or lighter-armored side during intro-tech, and that mechs seem to survive long enough to loose a lot of their firepower (that might be just my experience though). I think the thing that killed them was the advent of the XL engine. XL's made it easier to bring a lot of firepower while paradoxically making it harder for a mech to be stripped of it's firepower. Mainly by being destroyed before losing a significant portion of it's guns. These conditions rendered turning away from an enemy a non-option, effectivly killing the one niche rear-firing weapons had. In short, I think that rear-firing weapons had a place in introtech, but thats about it. In most cases I think you'd get more mileage out of your mech being able to arm-flip anyway.

[@Dang_Near_Fed_Up]

Originally slow and less maneuverable mechs carried rear facing armaments for anti-infantry purposes. The design idea was that while you were facing an enemy mech, you fight be forced to turn your spine towards infantry, who could then take pot shots with man portable anti-mech weapons like SRM packs or small lasers. So the rear facing weapon was to make sure that the infantry kept their heads down, or got them shot off. Infantry became less of a concern as warfare changed with the introduction of Elementals, and as mechs became less ponderous and slow with the reintroduction of XL engines (Helm memory core).

[@riptors9777]

@@Dang_Near_Fed_Up The medium laser is a horrible anti infantry weapon though, it will only kill 1 to 2 infantry per shot out of a unit that is usual about 30 soldiers strong. And that is if you even manage to hit them since is more likely then not that that infantry unit is your secondary target while your primary is infront of you. Its still far more beneficial to replace that rear facing medium laser with a forward facing one and have allies with actual anti infantry weapons to cover your back ... (or not get into situations where infantry gets into your back to begin with) Its dead weight thats not going to prevent anyone be they infantry, vehicles or other mechs, from trying to backstab you

[@Dang_Near_Fed_Up]

@@riptors9777 I agree it is not a good anti-infantry weapon, but that was the explanation for the rear facing weapon in the original tabletop game. An extra ton of armor would be more useful. Or turning that weapon facing forward as you said. Even just an extra heatsink would be more useful in many cases.

[@Vulpine407]

Since our BT group allowed basic parts swaps (nothing complicated, just simple trades) -we often replaced the LRM 10 with two LRM 5s, added a heat-sink, then moved the rear laser to the Centurion's left arm. While still sensitive to heat buildup, our Centurions became much better close and medium range brawlers.

[@Dreadwolf3155]

CN-9D was my first exposure to this mech. Along with the Crab it became a medium against which all others would be judged

[@BoisegangGaming]

I really love the modern reimagining of the centurion. It just looks badass while still being grounded/practical (for a mech).

[@saigancat]

I really appreciate that you take era in to mind when talking about the design of mechs.

[@MechanicalFrog]

Thank you. I think it's important to consider.

[@JohnDoe-oh7gf]

Whats there not to love? Its a great chassi for mechwarrior players. The redesign from piranha is sick. On the tabletop its a stellar design, especially for rookie pilots in campaign thanks to the Short Range buff to accuracy. Also it defied the odds and didnt go down even when pummeled by 3 enemy mechs. Love it. It is a medium that fights for a spot in my heart next to the hunchback. Cheers, nice vid

[@brianhenry152]

A solid workhorse design with good weapons (aside from the wrong-facing laser) across all range brackets and good heat control. It's an affordable mech to fit into your list, and it'll be an excellent bodyguard for your lance Commander. If it dies doing its job, that's worth it to protect your other lancemates, and easily replaced. Definitely one to keep in mind when building a list.

[@miles5962]

Will we be getting more painting videos? They are my favorite.

[@MechanicalFrog]

Not going to say never but, my painting skills have been eclipsed by many others in the community who have really stepped up their games.

[@MichaelJCaboose013]

@MechanicalFrog not a competition, my dude. We just want to see ya paint, and paint right along with ya :) Those MF variants aren't gonna paint themselves!

[@UmberSkies]

Its no Crab, but its right behind it on my favorite mechs list, with a spot in every lance.

[@MechanicalFrog]

The Crab does set a high bar.

[@davidboothe9620]

Uninspired but rock steady workhorse of a medium. One of my favorite lance filler mechs

[@layne9027]

Special mech. I was playing a mission in Mech warrior 5 where you had to protect a city from raiders. The city was protected by a near closed crescent moon of mountains. I was able to peak over the rise to lay down ac fire and acquire targets for lrm barrages. I think I took down 7 mechs and a bunch of tanks/copters this way. On the tabletop it's always seemed to punch up. I love long range harassment weapons so this guy is one of my faves

[@v13r3r]

The centurion just works. Take the rear laser on the 3025 version and put it out front gives you a medium mech that can output potential 20 damage at almost any range while being relatively cool. Though I wish that the PGI version is the official art because it looks badass

[@MechanicalFrog]

The PGI version is pretty cool. Maybe a bit bulky for 50 tons but... it looks cool.

[@madcat3525]

Great video! Thank you for making the Centurion video. The Centurion is one of my favorite IS mechs. Looking forward to more videos.

[@MechanicalFrog]

More to come!

[@havoc3742]

It'd be interesting to see what you could do when limiting yourself to certain Time Periods with your MF variants. For example, a Fedcom Civil war era Centurion, or a Succession wars variant. heck, even a Solaris variant of the -AL, replacing the Large Laser with a Bombast Laser, SRM-6's instead of the LRM-10, Endo-Steel Frame, Double heatsinks and jumpjets.

[@MechanicalFrog]

I've generally always set them at 3152 to be current to the timeline. It is interesting to think about.

[@havoc3742]

@@MechanicalFrog it's certainly a fun little exercise, especially when you have to consider things like what's widespread, what's advanced, and what's currently being prototype'd or on the way out. that last part's exceptionally relevant for Succession wars, as, depending on which war we're talking about, endo steel and double heat-sinks might be still around but on the way out, or perhaps MASC or hatchet's might be starting to come into existence.

[@lukedudley5030]

A great overview of a great soldier mech :-) i like the first lbx centurion it punches above its weight and is useful at all ranges :-) edited to make it clear which lbx mech i prefer :-)

[@MechanicalFrog]

Much love for the LB10X

[@scytheseven9173]

Thanks for the video!

[@MechanicalFrog]

You bet!

[@tetsatou2815]

A point of clarification, but Danai specifically was talked into retiring the Yen Lo Wang after the fighting on Hall when Republic of the Sphere forces sent a headhunting team to try and take her out, because the mech was kinda obvious marching alongside the rest of the 2nd Big MAC, and the only reason she got out in one piece was the arrival of support. Turns out being obviously the leader is a problematic thing.

[@mistformsquirrel]

Yet another of my favorites

[@thehalfrican1386]

Gause rifle, 2xER mediun lasers and a 230xl engine is my favorite sniper loadout in any of the mechwarrior or battletech games. A fantastic sniper with MANY shots. That is still pretty brutal in medium to close.

[@andyeaton1736]

A classic for a reason. Though are there any mechs with rear facing weapons where they would just be better fixed forward? 1-2 medium lasers usually are making anyone think twice about trying to shoot you in the back.

[@franksmedley8619]

Hello Frog. Another fine video, and one about a 'workhorse' Mech that's been in the game since the beginning, back in 1984. Although your MF variant is fairly good, it has serious flaws. This is true of most variants of the Centurion, as well as the original 'low-tech' version presented in the original rules. When tech changed and the 3050 and 3055 rules and TROS were released, I modified a variety of the Yen Lo Wang to fit my preferences. The CN9-YLW2-SLC (Star Lions Corps variant) sports an Inner Sphere Gauss Rifle in the right arm, an Inner Sphere ER Large Laser mounted upon the forearm of the left arm, and finally, a standard Inner Sphere Medium Laser mounted in the Center Torso front. The Mech also sports a Hatchet in the left hand, and has 16 shots for its Gauss Rifle. This is done by giving the Centurion Inner Sphere Endo-Steel Internal Structures. And just to make it more 'lethal' at short range, TSM was added to the design to make that hatchet's strikes more effective and dangerous. Those never having encountered the variant will not know of the TSM until that hatchet cleaves off whole limbs, but it is still worth the investment. At least, in my opinion. Feel free to snatch this variant and try it out.

[@xengk]

Love the AL in MWO, especially after Blazer update. Double Blazer and all the heatsink I can crammed into the chassis.

[@soapminer7099]

My favorite mech fell in love with the balance in mw5

[@sebastiang.5032]

I now have unlocked the achievement of Mr. Mechfrog naming me wrong in one of his videos. 'Rashktah' became 'Kashtkah'. 😂

[@Dang_Near_Fed_Up]

Yen Lo Wang had claws not a hatchet, the rules of the hatchet were used to keep from having to add customer rules for the only mech of the time to have functional claws. Note that I said functional claws, the claws on the Kodiak were decorative not functional. Excellent video as always, and you chose to cover a well loved personal favorite. Keep them coming Frog, and we'll hop right on them.

[@MechanicalFrog]

Aff.

[@SulliMike23]

One of my favorite Medium Mechs. It was one of the first mechs I saw, thanks to the animated series, and one of the first I used on the tabletop.

[@MechanicalFrog]

A fun classic pick.

[@kierdalemodels]

I didn’t know much about it, now I do! Thank you! I love the look of the ‘Mech. Must get one sometime. I just checked and it’s in the Inner Sphere Heavy Lance: Banshee, Grasshopper, Centurion, Hatchetman. Nice! Go-go MechFrog algorithm!✊

[@neobushidaro]

A C3 and a targeting computer. Well it's supposed to be paired with a trebuchet right? So it fights up close and could use extra accuracy to keep itself safe, while also providing the trebuchet with accuracy for danger close

[@Steiner5769]

Love your videos, hopefully you can do one on the hatchetman mech soon

[@MechanicalFrog]

It's definitely on the to-do list.

[@fedupN]

I love it because it is half an Atlas. Though not my favorite, too much chance for internal boom, but it is a solid boom stick carrier and a lot of fun.

[@MechanicalFrog]

Fun is key.

[@danielsowa8209]

One of my all time favorites, do the Omnimech too!!

[@guitarhausdoesntknowwhatac3285]

Hard not to appreciate the Centurion; it's just an amazingly solid trooper mech that presents a daunting foe to anyone or anything that doesn't significantly outmass it.

[@michaelpfister1283]

I have a CN9-A variant upgraded with a clan UAC-20, LRM-10 and a pair of ER-Mediums. 8.5t std armor and 4/6/4 movement. The backstory is a chassis that was gradually updated with captured clan-spec weaponry during the fighting of the clan invasion. However you fluff it, though, the machine is devastating at close range, with an alpha of 67 pts... Just don't plan on moving much afterwards. LOL Makes a great bodyguard, though, especially if you have an elite-level gunner to drive it.

[@DadalorianCreates]

This is one of those mechs i have loved since it was introduced. it is one of my favorite trooper mechs. i have moded then in so many ways. SRMs over LRMS, energy builds, etc etc etc. what ever salvage that fit to replace what ever got shredded making that salvage. such a great design. Thanks for another great vide sir frog. one time we had salvaged a 9AH and what we did was make the RA/RT look damaged, Stand off and use LRMs turn off HS to make it look running hot moving slow- or appearing seriously f'd up... i mean merch unit no down time, lights would close, getting inside the LRM min range and SUPRISE AC 20 to the scout. yeah i was a sneaky sneaky boy in the campaign my friend ran for me.

[@humbleweirdo2860]

Ah yes the good ol Centurion the mech that hits hard for the weight. If the Orion is the poor man's Atlas the Centurion is the poor man's Orion. Such a timeless design.

[@derloco2035]

Just take a look at the goofy original model of the Centurion: What is not to love? On the table it is a little slow but can dish out damage at all range brackets while also being able to take a hit or two. Love that mech :)

[@DerOger]

Had some fun with the CN9-Ar in my last game. Second round of the game I got lucky and landed a headshot with the heavy ppc.

[@MechanicalFrog]

Nice! Glad to hear it performed.

[@jamesharrington001]

Love the Centurion, my second favorite IS medium, right after the Bushwacker.

[@MechanicalFrog]

The Bushwacker is hard to beat as far as cool mechs go.

[@freeranger00]

I adore the Centurion, though I miss the classic skinny barrel-chested look from Mech Commander. Here's a great mech in its bodyguard role, yes it has more LRM ammo than it needs and an extra ton of armor would go a long way on the side torsos, but even in the standard configuration it is a great generalist that can seriously inconvenience heavies, brawl with quick mediums, and obliterate lights as it covers the LRM-launching mechs in its force.

[@Selvanus]

My beloved Battlemech CN9-D ftw!!!! Twin RAC/2s!!!

[@nachoneitzscheese]

A Centurion was the first mech I ever painted, and I've gotten quite a bit of use out of it. It's the classic frontline trooper medium mech. I like the 10-series in particular for better durability and modest weapon upgrades, and omni version offers some fun republic-era options if you have a bit of extra BV.

[@ambientlight3876]

Great job as always.. Always take a bet that your variant will have a plasma rifle... I really, really enjoy this machine. My first variant was a successor wars variant that removed the autocannon, replacing the original engine with a Trebuchets (5/8), and adding a large laser with 4 additional heat sinks. I also move the rear-facing laser to the front. Its cheap, tough, and decently mobile machine.

[@iSaintSabas]

Definitely one of my go to battlemechs.

[@spectre111]

I think the Centurion is a good medium weight trooper, like the Vindicator or the Phoenix Hawk, it does whatever you need it to. You can attach one to just about any kind of lance you can think of, assault, garrison, support (maybe not raiding though) and it can work. Yes there are lots of mechs in all weight classes that can do those jobs better but if you need something to help them out you can do a lot worse than a Centurion.

[@spacewolfblackmane19]

Easily my favorite medium mech even if I don't often play the space Romans/ Brits (Fed-sons). It's versatility and flexibility is out standing and Omni tech shot this into the stars. Even if not the toughest or fastest for its weight class, it's excellent if weirdly expensive at times. A true Jad of all trades. Master of none.

[@theodoreschott3293]

Love these bad boys! One of the first medium mech I ever used

[@malusignatius]

It's a little known fact that for the Centurion Omni to change configurations, the pilot has to shout "POWER EXTREME" over the external vox before the hardpoint locks will disengage.

[@MechanicalFrog]

This sounds right.

[@theangryMD]

deep cut. i salute you.

[@malusignatius]

@@theangryMD *bows*

[@NateTheBald591]

Well done. I see you are a man of taste and sosphistication.

[@malusignatius]

@@NateTheBald591 Thank you, Thank you, I'll be here all week, :P

[@ALECOS44]

Since this is one of my favorite medium troopers I was super excited for this one and as always great video! The AL is probably overall my favorite and I wish there was a proper canon updated model. I also really like the D3/D3D and D4 models

[@mathewkelly9968]

The poor man's Vindicator , makes my Capellan heart smile that the best variant pre Clan invasion is the Capellan variant

[@richardnicholson3827]

I do love the Centurion it's still one of my favorite mech of all times. I spent many weekend nights playing the tabletop version of BattleTech, and for the most part, the Centurion has never let me down. I love the design of it and how easy it is to modify it. And I have a few variants of it I do love.

[@georgesulea]

Good to see this classic get covered. Thank You, Sir Mech of Frog😊

[@sharlin648]

The Centurion is a perfectly solid trooper, the AC-10 just makes everyone sit up and take notice. Great video as always Mr Frog!

[@MechanicalFrog]

Thanks a ton!

[@defiantmechwarrior2397]

I have a pretty standard upgrade off a AL. Swap to a heavy L laser. Add fero. Upgrade the small to a med. Swap to doubles add 1 and about .7 tons of armor

[@RalphyNoPants]

Love to see that Wild Cat art!

[@MechanicalFrog]

Yep. WildCat is great!

[@GrammarTron3000]

I'm surprised more variants didn't switch out the LRMs with SRMs. I've done that to every single Centurion I salvage. Just makes more sense, imo, for a brawler mech. I could see the argument for clan LRMs, though, as there's no minimum range with those.

[@MechanicalFrog]

It is odd...

[@AlexDenton0451]

MMLs are the perfect swap in later eras. Either that, or I'll sometimes swap out the LRM10 for an LRM5 and SRM6 with 1 ton of ammo each.

[@mikegould6590]

The Centurion is one of those Mechs that does things WELL but does nothing GREAT. It's a great piece that makes for a great starter for anyone beginning a Battletech career

[@TAVAAR7]

I think the take away message I got was "make emotional support small lasers illegal so everybody runs them." 🤣

[@MechanicalFrog]

Hmm...

[@Broken_But_Not_Broke]

I fell in love with it during my MWO days…

[@Bluehairedgirl89]

As always thank you for the time and effort put into making this video, it’s always appreciated! At my local game shop we do fairly regular narrative campaigns set during the succession wars we’re all the players are playing for a specific house and they run battles against each other in a tournament style to determine which house one. I did to play House Davion since they are the great house I like most, at least compared to my beloved Periphery. All that being said I’m going to betray my Davion girl roots here and say I’m not a fan of centurion because of the auto cannon. The CN9-AL is absolutely my favorite out of all the variants and when I do get to run a centurion during the succession wars that’s my go to. It’s such a good mix for an energy build.

[@MechanicalFrog]

The AL is great. A solid pick.

[@Bluehairedgirl89]

@@MechanicalFrog Yeap yeap, just a solid succession wars era front line laser boat, easy to learn and easy to use. I’ll have to check and see if it ever got the later era upgrades.

[@oliverlacota3112]

ngl I would gladly listen to a longform Mechanical Frog vid on the history of Rome and their military doctrine

[@MechanicalFrog]

I used to have a tight 50 minutes on Hannibal's invasion of Rome up through Scipio Africanus but, it's been a few years and I'm a bit rusty.

[@restitvtororbis5330]

​@@MechanicalFrogthe moment you started talking about the Romans evolving from the phalanx to the Manipular legion because of the Samnite wars, i got the feeling you actually know what you're talking about. That's not info someone would just bring up to explain why a mech is called a 'Centurion', it's the kind of thing that only comes out when know enough about something that you can't resist explaining the context around it.

[@Yacovo]

The Centurion: The more successful and well known younger brother due to putting himself out there way more than his older brother who tended to stay in his lane. Thanks for the video.

[@ortoacademy1019]

I liked that you start the main story mode of Mechwarrior 5 with a centurion. In Battletech 2018 I also had a centurion in my lance quite often

[@krishonk7754]

It's the Good Shield Boy; I loved the AC-20 variant in MechWarrior 5.

[@anja2792]

I used the standard Centurion at a lostech era event recently and it was nice and reliable for the bv.

[@TheStraycat74]

3050 full clan tech rebuild of the Centurion. 50 tons, 6/9/6 movement, 2.5t endo-steel, 9.5t XL + DHS, 6t standard cockpit+gyro, 8.5t fero-fiberous, 3t JumpJets, 20.5t podspace. PRIME Config: LB-10X with 2t ammo (ra), LRM-10 with 2t ammo (lt), Streak SRM-4 with 1t ammo (rt), ERML (la). AltConfig: Large Pulse Laser (ra), 2 MPL (lt), MPL (la), LRM-15 with 1t ammo (lt), Targeting Computer (rt)

[@Arvyn992]

I like the Centurion Mech it has a very simple weapon loadouts and with said simple weapon loadout it can fairly swap out the weapons for different weapons so it can operate in a wide range engagements and roles it can be found in but the Standard loadout of AC/10 Twin Medium Laser's and LRM 10 so it can operate in any range brackets

[@kathilmechworks4895]

Its a favorite medium mech to be sure. Definition of line mech. Often put it at the lead of medium lances or have it in heavier lances backing up mechs like the thunderbolt, Marauder, and Warhammer. Firepower often the enemy can't ignore. I often thought time wasn't exactly kind to it. The XL engine really changes how its played going from trooper to striker. I never could get used to that change really looses that ability to hang in there with the heavies.

[@Wayofswords]

I love my centurion it's a heavily modified with max armor and a rac5 and pulse art 5

[@Kpiozero]

One of these days I’d like you to hear what Battletech-Country-Hip Hop Fusion sounds like.

[@MechanicalFrog]

No one actually wants to hear that.

[@vmonk722]

​@@MechanicalFrogThat's where you're wrong. C'mon, we're not expecting a full album, just a single excerpt for the channel intro would elevate it from an inside joke to a legitimate claim to fame. Or infamy, who knows. Either would be worth a laugh.

[@pablofiasco2]

*le sigh* ive got a Yen-Lo-Wang from the "essentials" box set, and ive got to get around to figuring out how to paint it proper like

[@BryansVideoDump]

The Centurion has always been one of my favorites. I almost always find my merc companies using one for at least a little while. They're just super solid.

[@SLDFMechWarrior]

It's a good mech to start out with.

[@MechanicalFrog]

Yep. Solid.

[@marsar1775]

Centurion AL was the basis for my own custom refit of the centurion. large pulse laser and a flamer in the arm, 2 medium lasers and an SRM6. replaced the heatsinks with half the total of doubles, and used all the saved mass for extra armor, except for one single heatsink in the head to try and make it less toasty for the mechwarrior. it serves me well as a solid close range brawler, with the range on the lp laser letting me give vehicles a reason to go bother somebody else so theyre not nipping my heels its a great refit in my biased opinion, and good for any mechwarrior with more agression than sense(hi) or prone to noble rear guard holding actions as im writing this comment it occurs to me a plasma rifle or cannon would fulfill the same role as the flamer but probably better overall

[@hurnn1543]

Do we love the centurion? I always thought it was a 50 ton death trap waiting to give your enemy a victory fire works display. 2 tons of ac 10 ammo in the right arm and 2 tons of lrm 10 ammo in the left torso is just bad news. A crit in either location either neuters your offence or turns you into a roman candle. The 9L is a huge improvement though even that variant has a huge weakness with 24 shots of LRM10 ammo onboard in a torso location protected by a mighty 12 armor. Which is it's other flaw as a trooper/brawer its under armored, barely more armor than a Phoenix Hawk that at least has speed for added protection is pretty unimpressive. It really needs 1-1.5 tons more armor.

[@RalphyNoPants]

Rear facing medium lasers are almost always a disappointment. I think I have only used one effectively once in 4 years of play and that was in some type of grand battle as part of a MekHQ campaign where we had to let it have more RAM as otherwise the game would crash when it tried to calculate how much of the city was on fire or covered in smoke.

[@egaroadkill8701]

The AL is one of my favorite mechs. It has always served me well. I later upgraded it into something like the CN9-D9 but with a non XL engine and slower. Still, the Centurion suffers the arm mounted primary weapon issue. I lose arms so fast.

[@HDKG-SiF]

Please do a video on the omni version!

[@scytheseven9173]

Big fan of the Centurion, shame it's bad for maintenance with those non-standard parts, that kinda hurts it as a trooper-a role the design is otherwise well-suited for between the Enforcer and the Centurion, the Federated Suns are quite good for troopers

[@MechanicalFrog]

Just raid FedSun depots. Problem solved.

[@scytheseven9173]

@@MechanicalFrog that doesn't really work for the AFFS itself except during the FedSuns Civil War, and at that point they're not doing so great

[@Darren_Xero]

Space Roman Marian legionnaires, rise up! One may admire how those Space Roman LARPers came up with the Centurion militiamechs

[@MechanicalFrog]

"We can't get any from this far away, so we'll just make our own."

[@lucindalockhart]

Cento is a classic. I didnt appreciate starting with one in MW5 until I had to face one.

[@meining-mech4378]

I like the Centurion. Its base loadout is what I think of as a trooper design, and In my opinion future mechs like the Bushwacker emulated the mix of weapons to be tactically useful in most engagements. I’ve ran the CN9-D, and had fun with its speed and punch. I did modify the Yen Lo Wang CGL mini into a CN9-AH (since it had the big gun arm already, just had to sculpt the launcher and remove the claws), but I have yet to use that variant.

[@thomasrobson6370]

I'm mostly familiar with the centurion from the BattleTech cartoon I never played it. Clarification, I've played BattleTech, MechWarrior, etcetera, just that I was never interested in running the centurion

[@MechanicalFrog]

There are plenty of good options in that 50 ton weight point.

[@WolfHreda]

The Centurion is always a solid starting point for a medium trooper. 50-tonners don't often get as much love as the 45ers or 55s, but they're plenty flexible. I almost always keep the spirit of the Centurion when customizing, leaving the left arm empty, or at best adding short range, single shot, or melee weapons. Maybe even an actual shield. As much as I like the ballistic gun arm, the CN9-AL is my starting platform of choice. For a nice 3025 refit, I drop the wasteful half ton of armor, one ton of LRM ammo, and the Small Laser, and replace the Large Laser with a PPC, giving it back the punch of the CN9-A with less ammo to worry about.

[@chriscrane1482]

I love the Centurion. Whenever I use it I typically put it in a lance with a Trebuchet. Surprise surprise, they work great together. I usually take the good old 9A since I just like the 3025 or prior mechs.

[@chagear]

O' a great fallow up video I hope. Good vid.

[@JonathanSirico]

My favorite Mech. Anytime I can get a game in, no matter the era of play, I'm always happy to pilot a Centurion. I don't care what build it is either.

[@atmosdwagon4656]

I have a long history with the Centurion. The main thing is that I'm still kind of sad that it doesn't have a proper mech shield for its right arm outside of specific custom-fit examples. (that, and the combination of Auto-Cannons being overweight for their effect with mech weaponry/shields having the same problem creates yet more missed opportunities) The early CN9 models (the A, AL, and AH) are solid performers, with the AL in particular being astoundingly good value in BT. (Laser spam is safe and effective during the Succession Wars) My Mechwarrior, experience with the Centurion is a bit of a mixed bag. In MechWarrior 4, it's an obnoxiously durable brick due to its exceptionally high (hidden) armor/structure bonuses and bizarrely shaped hit boxes for its torso locations; though the mech is generally slow by its Fed-Com Civil War era counterparts, its actually fairly difficult to consistently land shots on the center torso if the mech isn't facing you directly. (Again, MW4 is a weird game where your knowledge of the Battletech tabletop game is of little use. Lots of things are different, especially performance values for mechs) In Mechwarrior 5, the classic CN9 is Commander Mason's (read: YOU) personal ride at the start of the game. Funnily enough, I find it to be almost as much of a liability during the DeBerry tutorial missions as it is an asset; at least until I'm able to do some field refits of its weaponry to strap on more armor and even out its offense profit. (Swap the AC/10 out for an AC/5, and the LRM-10 for a pair of SRM4s. Upgrade the armor. That's a much better mech for the early MW5 campaign.) Most variants of the Centurion are decent, but its bulky frame and lack of speed makes it an easy punching bag and prime backstab candidate for light mechs during the 3025 era. The upgraded models generally fare far better due to the proliferation of that XL 300 engine, but there are much better medium mechs available by the 3040s when they're making their debut. It's not as good as a Hunchback, Dervish or Shadow-Hawk IMO (again, in Mechwarrior, not Battletech) but its not bad.