Crossover Non-Battletech Mechs In Battletech

[Husky_Khan]

So a simple concept... I'll just list ten "mechs" or at least close enough facsimiles of ones from non-Battletech settings.

Questions:
1. How Would These Mechs, If They Exist in Battletech, Perform in that Setting If They Were Available in Number.
2. What in universe classification would each of these mechs get, if any are applicable.
3. Rank the Mechs in How Useful They'd Be in Battletech if They Could Be Practically Fielded?
4. There are ten caches of different Mechs, Dispense Them How You See Fit, and Ponder the Potential Ramifications of Your Charity.

1. All Terrain Scout Transport/AT-ST (Star Wars): Light chicken walker with a two person crew with room for one passenger. Nine meters tall. Equipped with two chin mounted blaster cannons, a side mounted twin light blaster cannon and a side mounted concussion grenade launcher.
> Cache: A Large Asteroid With a Near Limitless Supply of Tibanna Gas for the blaster cannons as well as one hundred AT-ST's and a dedicated autofabricator for use, replenishment and maintenance.

2. XV8 Crisis Battlesuit (WH40K): A Tau Battlesuit (which will be modified for giant gue'vasa bodies) twice the height of a Tau (and thusly twice the height of a normal human male) equipped with a jumpjet, advanced optics and fire tracking systems, augmented physical strength and three weapon hard points for selections such as plasma burst cannons, flamers, anti-armor fusion blasters, missile pods, or a plasma rifle.
> Cache: One Hundred Gue'vasa Sized XV8 Battlesuits with 60 plasma burst cannons, flamers, fusion blasters, missile pods and plasma rifles each found and a dedicated autofabricator for use, replenishment and maintenance.

3. OZ-O6MS Leo Mass Production General Purpose Mobile Suit (Gundam Wing): Sixteen meters tall and only seven tons in weight (when empty) this mass produced mobile suit is equipped with a circular shoulder mounted shield, beam saber and a 105mm Rifle.
> Cache: One Hundred Leo Mobile Suits Found equipped identically. Twenty Flight Units Also Found and a dedicated autofabricator for use, replenishment and maintenance.

4. Titan MK I (Command & Conquer): Twenty five meters tall. Well armored and equipped with a long range side mounted laser guided 120mm cannon capable of firing over obstacles.
> Cache: One Hundred Titan MK I's Found and instructions and a dedicated autofabricator for use, replenishment and maintenance.

5. Atlas Mech (Mass Effect): Small piloted mech equipped with a powerful inciendiary rocket launcher and a magnetic accelerator cannon while its other arm ends in a claw. It's capable of rushing attacks and has a smoke grenade dispenser. Covered in armored plating.
Cache: One Hundred Atlas Mechs Found and instructions and a dedicated autofabricator for use, replenishment and maintenance.

6. Goliath Combat Walker (Starcraft): A 3.7 meter tall walker with a neosteel frame for light armor. It's main armament are twin 30mm smoothbore anti-armor explosive autocannons as well as two missile racks of Hellfire Anti-Air/Armor Missiles.
Cache: One Hundred Goliath Combat Walkers Found and a dedicated autofabricator for use, replenishment and maintenance.

7. Tone Atlas-Class Titan (Titanfall 2): Roughly twenty feet tall and equipped with a 40mm Tracker Cannon, Lock On Tracker Rockets, a deployable particle wall barrier and a guided barrage of salvo core missiles.
Cache: One Hundred Tone Titans Found and a dedicated autofabricator for use, replenishment and maintenance.

8. Metal Gear RAY (Metal Gear Solid): Amphibious Gear Hunter. Over twenty one meters tall, it is equipped with a power water cutter, wing mounted gatling guns, a rear mounted guided missile and cluster bomb pod and more missile pods located in the knees. It's design makes it move more organically like natural muscle with a streamlined shape to make it more maneuverable.
Cache: One Hundred Metal Gear Rays Found and a dedicated autofabricator for use, replenishment and maintenance.

9. BAWS MT (Armored Core): Boxy shaped bipedal mech that can be equipped with various detached weapons mounted in its arms or back including vehicle sized anti-armor rifles, machine guns, grenade and rocket launchers as well as physical shields and designed to fight in small squads, not alone.
Cache: One Hundred BAWS MT with 50 MT Rifles, 50 MT Machine Guns, 50 MT Bazookas, 50 MT Shotguns, 50 MT Bomblet Dispensers, and 50 Solid Shields and a dedicated autofabricator for use, replenishment and maintenance.

10. Tokki (Overwatch): Small highly maneuverable mech equipped with jump boosters, explosive micro missiles, an active defense matrix, and twin short range rotary fusion cannons whose only practical limitation is slowed maneuverability. It also has a self destruct (and ejection) system.
Cache: One Hundred Tokki Mechs Found and a dedicated autofabricator for use, replenishment and maintenance.

Reverse Engineering or Cloning the technology would likely take decades of investment and research though YMMV. If possible, weapons can probably be swapped between BTech and non-BTech weapons but the autofabs that come with the mechs won't be able to sustain more then the hundred or so mechs they came with so sadly no spam of various weapons or capabilities in the near future.

 

[Spartan303]

4.Titan MK I (Command & Conquer): Twenty five meters tall. Well armored and equipped with a long range side mounted laser guided 120mm cannon capable of firing over obstacles.
> Cache: One Hundred Titan MK I's Found and instructions and a dedicated autofabricator for use, replenishment and maintenance.

Don't know about most of these others but the Titan Mark 1 will do horribly. The thing is an absolute joke in terms of armor and weapons load out. Later models are huge improvements and some of the Mods from Tiberium Essence and Crossfilre would do...better. But the bottom line is, this Walker acting as a Mech would suck. And it would suck hard.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Don't know about most of these others but the Titan Mark 1 will do horribly. The thing is an absolute joke in terms of armor and weapons load out. Later models are huge improvements and some of the Mods from Tiberium Essence and Crossfilre would do...better. But the bottom line is, this Walker acting as a Mech would suck. And it would suck hard.

You think the Juggernaut with the THREE cannons would fit far better? Artillery Walkers just don't feel very Battletech to me... for obvious stereotypical reasons...

 

[Spartan303]

You think the Juggernaut with the THREE cannons would fit far better? Artillery Walkers just don't feel very Battletech to me... for obvious stereotypical reasons...

The Juggernaut would be a fantastic Artillery support Mech. Especially with the railgun upgrades. The only reason the Star League and the Clans never utilized one was because it likely wasnt worth designing one, especially when what they had worked so good. But...since there is one already in production? Why not take it and tinker with it to make it better? Because that's just how everyone in Battletech rolls. That things ability to reach out and touch something is quite extraordinary. And so long as it stays in the Artillery support role it'll do well. Bring it into direct fights and it'll die very quickly.

 

[Blasterbot]

I think Titan 1 would be mid range not low range for a pick up. it is still an artillery mech with the ability to make more. so while limited in role the fact that it can add that functionality to any group it gets put with is a fairly big deal. I'd have to think of what actually gives the biggest boost though. I kinda lean either the LEO because gundams or the metal gear RAY as the biggest boosts. AT-ST is probably a bit of a lemon but depending on what you can do with blaster tech and the Tibanna Gas you could get something interesting.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Yeah ironically I think the Metal Gear Ray, despite being made in fictional 2005 by the US Marine Corps, might be the most useful of the mechs.

Leos from Gundam are pretty good on paper, but they're so mookish I feel that even if the calcs say otherwise, I can't help but feel they'll explode from a barrage of LRM's or PPC blasts just because that is their purpose to exist.

I was waffling between the Juggernaut and the Titan but figuring one long range artillery cannon might be good enough for the niche, even with how poopee it looked in that one cutscene.

I also never really played Titanfall or Armored Core but feel they should be mentioned as they're barely mentioned as is despite being really rich franchises, Titanfall 2 especially. I've watched a lot of Titanfall 2 from my partner playing it though and it looks great.

Most of the mechs here are pretty light on the scale with some just verging above powered armor/battle armor even if the mass and size says otherwise. Even the Leo Mobile Suit which looks like it should be a heavier class apparently only ways seven tons which I find shocking and maybe I just misread the wiki.

I thought the Goliath from Starcraft would be a nice midpoint Mech but reading its Wiki, it seems to imply that it's only resilient against small arms and explosives which I found kinda surprising.

 

[JasonSanjo]

The Leo MS is... very weird, from a BattleTech perspective. It's the size of a Heavy or Assault, but has the armor and ranged weaponry of a Light mech (the closest equivalent to the 105mm Rifle would probably be an Ultra AC/2, maybe with special munitions). And yet, if it can close to melee range the beam saber allows it to solo an Assault mech without even trying. Give it the Flight Unit and a daredevil pilot and it's going to be any Assault mech pilot's worst nightmare, to the point it would likely trigger a panic response in anyone who knows what it can do.

Random Assault Mech Pilot: "Hey, what's that flying toward us? Is that... Holy shit that's a Leo! DON'T LET IT GET TO ME! KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT!"

EDIT: Oh, yeah, and Clanners would likely consider it a complete and utter abomination of a mech for the reasons listed above.

 

[PsihoKekec]

1. All Terrain Scout Transport/AT-ST (Star Wars): Light chicken walker with a two person crew with room for one passenger. Nine meters tall. Equipped with two chin mounted blaster cannons, a side mounted twin light blaster cannon and a side mounted concussion grenade launcher.
> Cache: A Large Asteroid With a Near Limitless Supply of Tibanna Gas for the blaster cannons as well as one hundred AT-ST's and a dedicated autofabricator for use, replenishment and maintenance.

They would get slaughtered, their speed is low and their armour can't withstand a log.

 

[Husky_Khan]

The Leo MS is... very weird, from a BattleTech perspective. It's the size of a Heavy or Assault, but has the armor and ranged weaponry of a Light mech (the closest equivalent to the 105mm Rifle would probably be an Ultra AC/2, maybe with special munitions). And yet, if it can close to melee range the beam saber allows it to solo an Assault mech without even trying. Give it the Flight Unit and a daredevil pilot and it's going to be any Assault mech pilot's worst nightmare, to the point it would likely trigger a panic response in anyone who knows what it can do.

Random Assault Mech Pilot: "Hey, what's that flying toward us? Is that... Holy shit that's a Leo! DON'T LET IT GET TO ME! KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT!"

EDIT: Oh, yeah, and Clanners would likely consider it a complete and utter abomination of a mech for the reasons listed above.

Oh that's interesting. Is there a "bore size" or whatever for the Ultra/Autocannons in Battletech? Obviously its more then just the bore size that causes damage but I was under the assumption the 105mm would've been more impactful at range.

Though an AC/2 on a Seven Ton Mech is still pretty solid armament by BTech standards regardless of its gargantuan size lol.

Maybe I should've picked the Command & Conquer Juggernaut.

 

[JasonSanjo]

Oh that's interesting. Is there a "bore size" or whatever for the Ultra/Autocannons in Battletech? Obviously its more then just the bore size that causes damage but I was under the assumption the 105mm would've been more impactful at range.

Though an AC/2 on a Seven Ton Mech is still pretty solid armament by BTech standards regardless of its gargantuan size lol.

Maybe I should've picked the Command & Conquer Juggernaut.

Nah, there's no standard bore sizes in BT. Weapons are classified according to their type (AC, Laser, PPC, etc) and to the "end result". So an AC/2 is an autocannon that causes 2 points of damage per hit, whereas an AC/5 is an autocannon that causes 5 points of damage per hit. Hypothetically the AC/2 could be a single-bore 150mm, while the AC/5 could be a quad-bore 30mm - only the end result determines the classification, not how it actually "gets there", so to speak.

On the one hand, this makes no sense - like a lot of things regarding BT physics. On the other, it makes it a little easier to convert weapons from other franchises, as all you need is to compare the end result rather than things like bore size.

Which is why I compared the 105mm Rifle to an Ultra AC/2. It's faster firing than most comparable BT weapons - hence the "Ultra" classification (2 hits/round instead of just 1), has pretty good range but comparatively little actual firepower based on its performance in the Gundam Wing universe. You could perhaps argue it would instead be an AC/5 without the Ultra, but I feel Ultra AC/2 hits closer to the mark.

Oh, and range... That's another weird aspect of BT physics. Generally speaking, the higher the number classification (and thus damage) of a weapon, the lower its actual range within that weapon type, so an AC/2 has greater range than an AC/5, which has greater range than an AC/10, etc. Which of course makes no fucking sense whatsoever in the case of kinetic weapons, but that's what happens when game balance takes precedence over physics.

If you want to change up the Leo's hypothetical role, do away with the 105mm and the beam saber and instead give it the Dobergun (By BT standards it's basically an AC/20 with an effective range closer to an AC/2). Combine that with the Flight Unit and the Leo is suddenly a high-mobile sniper/glass cannon mech that can outmaneuver all but the fastest Light mechs (Well, for as long as the FU's fuel lasts, anyway). A single such Leo could conceivably tie down (or even take down) an entire lance all on its own through constantly shifting firing positions.

And yeah, MS weights in Gundam Wing make no sense (though in a different way compared to BT). The MS weights given in the UC timeline are more realistic, but do trend on the high end relative to the actual on-screen performance of the MS. Truly "realistic" weights visavi performance and size would be somewhere in-between the two extremes, but definitely trending closer to the UC weights.

 

[Battlegrinder]

1. All Terrain Scout Transport/AT-ST (Star Wars): Light chicken walker with a two person crew with room for one passenger. Nine meters tall. Equipped with two chin mounted blaster cannons, a side mounted twin light blaster cannon and a side mounted concussion grenade launcher.
> Cache: A Large Asteroid With a Near Limitless Supply of Tibanna Gas for the blaster cannons as well as one hundred AT-ST's and a dedicated autofabricator for use, replenishment and maintenance.

As a frontline combat unit, it'd get trashed by just about anything, but it could be entirely viable as a police mech, a dedicated infantry support unit, or similar second line function.

In BT terms....I actually don't know what it would be, it's too big to be a protomech, but I don't know if it's big enough to actually match an ultralight mech in size. Though given it doesn't have the same combat systems as a conventional battlemech, it would probably be classified as some sort of armed industrialmech.

2. XV8 Crisis Battlesuit (WH40K): A Tau Battlesuit (which will be modified for giant gue'vasa bodies) twice the height of a Tau (and thusly twice the height of a normal human male) equipped with a jumpjet, advanced optics and fire tracking systems, augmented physical strength and three weapon hard points for selections such as plasma burst cannons, flamers, anti-armor fusion blasters, missile pods, or a plasma rifle.
> Cache: One Hundred Gue'vasa Sized XV8 Battlesuits with 60 plasma burst cannons, flamers, fusion blasters, missile pods and plasma rifles each found and a dedicated autofabricator for use, replenishment and maintenance.

Crisis suits seem like a very close match to elementals, or perhaps protomechs depending one the size. IIRC they're piloted via a neural interface, which would put them more in line with protomechs. Firepower wise I don't think they bring anything game changing to the table, most of will probably be analogous to or a side grade of existing weapon systems.

As for how effective it would be, that depends heavily on when it's introduced. If it's the first protomech or BA the IS finds, it's going to be huge, if it hits the scene around the time the Standard does, it's probably going to be the premier IS power armor, and as PA designs continue to evolve it will become less and less special.

4. Titan MK I (Command & Conquer): Twenty five meters tall. Well armored and equipped with a long range side mounted laser guided 120mm cannon capable of firing over obstacles.
> Cache: One Hundred Titan MK I's Found and instructions and a dedicated autofabricator for use, replenishment and maintenance.

100% dependent on how it's tech stacks up to BT equipment. If it on par or worse with primitive tech, it's going to go nowhere fast. If it's on par....well a slow medium/heavy mech with solid armor and an AC-10 ish gun isn't going to be anyone's first choice, but it could find a niche if it's in the right era.

5. Atlas Mech (Mass Effect): Small piloted mech equipped with a powerful inciendiary rocket launcher and a magnetic accelerator cannon while its other arm ends in a claw. It's capable of rushing attacks and has a smoke grenade dispenser. Covered in armored plating.
Cache: One Hundred Atlas Mechs Found and instructions and a dedicated autofabricator for use, replenishment and maintenance.

I think this one might be the worse of the bunch, it's got poor armor and firepower, being vulnerable even to small arms (while at least the AT-ST and crisis suit require anti-tank weapons to engage), and unlike similarly thin skinned BT units, is also huge and not quite as agile as the competition. It would be vastly more useful stripped of weapons and used as a power loader or something.

6. Goliath Combat Walker (Starcraft): A 3.7 meter tall walker with a neosteel frame for light armor. It's main armament are twin 30mm smoothbore anti-armor explosive autocannons as well as two missile racks of Hellfire Anti-Air/Armor Missiles.
Cache: One Hundred Goliath Combat Walkers Found and a dedicated autofabricator for use, replenishment and maintenance.

Aw...it's like a little baby jagermech.

 

[The Whispering Monk]

In BT terms....I actually don't know what it would be,

Industrial Mech for an equivalent

As for Crisis Suits: those things are traditionally extremely maneuverable, and would give 'Mechs and Armor absolute fits!

"Aw...it's like a little baby jagermech." 🤣

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

1. All Terrain Scout Transport/AT-ST (Star Wars)

From TES and RotJ, AT-STs walk slowly, while battlemechs can be jogging at like 60+ MPHs. AT-STs would not be able to keep up with an advance, nor move fast enough to intercept an incoming force. They'd only be really useful for either defending settlements, policing the streets, or maybe for small operations like raiding a small base in a mountain rather than having to divert a big battlemech for use on that op.

3. OZ-O6MS Leo Mass Production General Purpose Mobile Suit (Gundam Wing)

The mobility of Gundam mechs is incredible compared to battlemechs. They're almost like jets but shaped like mechs. I would say that Gundam mechs would dominate, except IIRC battletech armor technology is developed enough that they can endure a few laser hits, so battletech mechs might be able to survive long enough to get an accurate shot off on a gundam mech, and gundam mechs can't endure laser hits like battletech mechs. So gundam mechs would be a force to be reckoned with on planets but not insurmountable. They would absolutely dominate in space combat, though. Mechs from the Gundam Iron-Blooded Orphans timeline have paint that deflects laser blasts and they are fast enough to dodge incoming ballistics, so if those were in the battletech universe they would absolutely dominate.

6. Goliath Combat Walker (Starcraft)

Again too slow compared to battlemechs, so relegated to local defense/policing/small mountain base raids like the AT-ST.

7. Tone Atlas-Class Titan (Titanfall 2)

The Titans from Titanfall are much more mobile than the Goliath and the AT-ST but I'm not sure if they could keep up with a battlemech advance. Fortunately the Titans are small compared to battlemechs and would be very good as auxiliaries in urban combat or forest fighting, could even fight inside bases and hangars.

10. Tokki (Overwatch)

Basically a jetpack that is almost as fast as a fighter jet, and has some armor and heavy weapons. It could be used by auxiliary infantry forces that could rapidly go behind enemy lines, assault the enemy's headquarters or supply depots, and then leave as quickly as they came.

 

[Battlegrinder]

As for Crisis Suits: those things are traditionally extremely maneuverable, and would give 'Mechs and Armor absolute fits!

Yes, but that's the case for nearly all battle armor and protos. Crisis suits would be competitive, but I don't think they'd be particularly outstanding in that niche.

 

[The Whispering Monk]

Yes, but that's the case for nearly all battle armor and protos. Crisis suits would be competitive, but I don't think they'd be particularly outstanding in that niche.

Considering they are capable of flight (both atmospheric and zero-g), mount more weapons than a heavy elemental suit, employ Trek style shielding, AND still be as strong and MORE resilient than a Space Marine in power armor...it's a quanitfiable difference.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Considering they are capable of flight (both atmospheric and zero-g), mount more weapons than a heavy elemental suit, employ Trek style shielding, AND still be as strong and MORE resilient than a Space Marine in power armor...it's a quanitfiable difference.

I didn't give them the Tau Drones (Shield and Gun or whatever) because I didn't want to open that can of worms. Do they typically got shields independent of that though?

 

[The Whispering Monk]

I didn't give them the Tau Drones (Shield and Gun or whatever) because I didn't want to open that can of worms. Do they typically got shields independent of that though?

Yes

 

[Husky_Khan]

Also glad you brought up the whole mobility thing.

Again too slow compared to battlemechs, so relegated to local defense/policing/small mountain base raids like the AT-ST.

That's interesting. I was actually looking it up and the Goliath is barely faster than the Terran Marine in the first game (surpassed when the Marine is on stims) and actually slower than the Terran Marine in the second. So yeah I guess so.

The Titans from Titanfall are much more mobile than the Goliath and the AT-ST but I'm not sure if they could keep up with a battlemech advance. Fortunately the Titans are small compared to battlemechs and would be very good as auxiliaries in urban combat or forest fighting, could even fight inside bases and hangars.

I think the Titans should be able to keep up though. Maybe not for their size but they seem to trot along at a good pace. I don't know the exact speed and I'm not going to bother with calcs.... but when you see the gameplay... seems comparable to my experiences. The Titans have more personality as well... could start a trend. People are already pretty attached to their mechs in Battletech in many cases...

 

[Battlegrinder]

Considering they are capable of flight (both atmospheric and zero-g), mount more weapons than a heavy elemental suit, employ Trek style shielding, AND still be as strong and MORE resilient than a Space Marine in power armor...it's a quanitfiable difference.

I don't know if I'd say they can fly anymore than anything else with a jump jet can fly, and I don't think they get shields stock, that requires an add on upgrade, yes?

As for firepower, Crisis battleauits mount, IIRC, two weapons, which ties elementals (which have a modular weapon and a SRM). And I wouldn't be sure all those weapons will stack up will in BT, simply due to differences in how combat works and what people expect to run into.

And being tougher than space marines is, in this context, not impressive. An elemental can get shot with a large laser and shrug it off. If we are crazy generous to 40k, a lascannon might be on par with a medium laser, and a lascannon is borderline overkill against space marines and a very hard counter to crisis suits. So in BT terms crisis suits would very likely be quite thin skinned.

 

[The Whispering Monk]

I don't know if I'd say they can fly anymore than anything else with a jump jet can fly, and I don't think they get shields stock, that requires an add on upgrade, yes?

As for firepower, Crisis battleauits mount, IIRC, two weapons, which ties elementals (which have a modular weapon and a SRM). And I wouldn't be sure all those weapons will stack up will in BT, simply due to differences in how combat works and what people expect to run into.

And being tougher than space marines is, in this context, not impressive. An elemental can get shot with a large laser and shrug it off. If we are crazy generous to 40k, a lascannon might be on par with a medium laser, and a lascannon is borderline overkill against space marines and a very hard counter to crisis suits. So in BT terms crisis suits would very likely be quite thin skinned.

Crisis get three weapon mounts and the shield generator.

As for weapon equivalents...that's really hard as BT is purely ablative, and WH40K is penetrative. I mean a single crisis suit is capable of offing Leman Russes, a heavy tank, in a single round of shooting.