Tonnage: 80
Manufacturer: Star Factories
In the bottom of the huge category of mecha available this day and age we find the venerable Ballista mech. This workhorse has been touted as both a virtue and a mistake by many, but nevertheless, is a main staple item to every mech commander who has had to work his way through the rank and file of war machines.
In the heavily used Heavy Division, the Rook was the main rocket platform. Lots of niodes, upkeep, and incredibly slow movement rate, made this mech a bit of a problem. If it lived long enough to deliver it’s payload, it was by all means a frightening harbinger of death and destruction raining explosives down upon the heads of it’s enemies, leaving rubble, smoke, and wreckage in it’s wake. But therein lies the problem. Rockets are the slowest weapon system used at this time. Put that on a mech that moves at Glacial speed, and it’s going to be a while before you see the real firework show.
So the techs at Star decided to sit down and see what they had to work with. In the same weight class, they had one of the speedier mechs in the Bishop. Fast, great chassis features, the Bishop is able to juke and jive across the battlefield leaving enemy pilots frustrated with their efforts to draw a bead on them.
So an idea started to formulate. If they could reverse engineer the energy regulator of the Bishop, and couple it with the precision processors of the Rook, they might be able to to produce a rocket platform assault mech that had some maneuverability. As a bonus side effect, they were able to produce it with crystal engineering so that pilots could save their niodes for more heavily lauded and favored front line mechs.
Six cockpit slots, four chassis, three engine, and four shield slots make the Ballista a serious contender for survivability in it’s weight class, and allows it to lay waste to smaller mechs by the score with it’s twenty one weapon slots.
Now that you have a reliable rocket platform that delivers tons of missile damage, this allows you to free up weapon slots in your faster mechs for speedier weapons. Cut, slice, barrage. These words describe an extremely efficient way of dealing with an opponent on open ground, or behind fortifications. Send the speedy units out to stun and freeze up your enemie’s movement, then release a rain of death upon their heads. And on top of it, you have saved yourself the niodes to get some Torrents since you didn’t have to use them on the Rook.
So the next time you see a Star Factory tech down portside, be sure to buy him a drink. Through his efforts you have a very deadly machine that utilizes missiles with deadly accuracy, while keeping your credits in your pocket. Happy Hunting and see you on the battlefield.
Submitted by Kenneth Hicks#846092