In this issue, I plan to explore the Mad Cat. The Mad Cat is a legend among legends. At one time, this was a ‘do all’ mech. No job was too big or too small for the Maddy. Lets face it, this mech, in its day, was probably the most versatile mech in existence. Lots of varied slots, plenty of speed, well armoured, some electronics and the Mad Cat was tough as nails. It was the ‘Go To’ mech of the Clans.

Let me begin with the offensive side of this mech. Each arm can hold 2 ERLLs or 1 ERPPC or 1 Linked CapPPC or 2 Light PPCs, not to mention 4 ERMLs. Just as well, a pilot could substitute ERLPulse Lasers for ERLLs as well as ERMPL. Does it get hot? Sure, but this baby has lots of tonnage to go around. If you max the Ferro Armour, and leave the speed at 80kph, you have 38 tons to work with. That is more than some assault mechs. So pile on those lasers and add heat sinks. The Mad Cat handles it very well.

You like missiles? The King of the Hill can take missiles. Two missile racks on top can hold a wide variety of missiles, LRMs, ATMs, MRMs, and Cstreaks. Best of all, you can load up a couple of ATM12Es and still load in LRM10s, or ATM6Es or LRM5s. Not only that, but the amazing Maddy has a couple of Omni Slots in the torsos. These nice slots allow you to pack up any 2 slot weapon of your choice.

The one thing lacking at first glance is the ballistic slots. Vettie here is a fan of ballistics and I like a mech that can pile on the bullets. Thank the Clans for Omni Slots. As mentioned above, the Mad Cat has 2 of these dual omni slots. You wont be able to put a gauss rifle or LBX20 on this mech, but you can put CUAC10s or LBX10s. Another thing I like to put on this mech is CUAC2s and or CUAC5s and even LBX5s, and on the Maddy you can put 4 of any or a mix.

A favourite config of mine is 2 Lt PPC, 2 LBX5s and 2 LRM15s. Adding BAP and LAMS, this config manages 80kph with 3 heat sinks and near full armour. This is a well rounded battle machine. The LRMs allow you to reach out and say hello to your enemy. Once you have their attention and they begin to close on you, let lose a round or two of those PPCs. The ‘splooge’ from the PPCs makes it tough for them to see momentarily as you unload another volley of LRMs on them. Once they reach that 700 meter range, surprise them with a shotgun blast of LBX5s. At 700 the damage is not so great but it knocks the target around enough for them to be unable to acquire you. By now your PPCs have recharged and you can fire away at their cockpit further obscuring their vision. Those LBXs have a very quick recycle and come with 72 rounds. Let em rip. The knock and damage will keep an opponent bouncing and frustrated. One or 2 volleys of missiles should do the trick and you are off hunting another victim while the last one curses you over comms and calls you a haXXor in the chat screen.

The Mad Cat allows you to put BAP, LAMS and enhanced optics. For you long rangers out there, I highly recommend the EO option. Its like watching the bad guys move around on a big screen TV. It also allows you to get real specific about where you target your enemy from a long way off. Another thing I have noticed, and there is no data to back it up, but it seems like if you run BAP and EO, the lock time on your missiles is reduced allowing you a very quick lock. Nothing is more frustrating than being on the receiving end of shower after shower of missiles pounding your mech, even knocking you down, and you 'just' saw the guy pop over a hill and point at you. Before you had time to pull the trigger, missiles are leaving his mech and headed your way.

The Mad Cat is a 75 ton jack of all trades. It has very good speed, 80kph with no modification, and if you need an extra ton or two, you can drop the speed one notch. This frees up 3 tons!! And keeps your speed at 75kph. Not too shabby.

Now lets look at the defense of this mech. You can pack LAMS. I suggest this. The Timberwolf (as it is known to the Clans) does not have ECM. It presents itself as a large signature on radar, especially if you add BAP into your arsenal. LAMS are an iffy thing, but well worth the cost if you are heading into a possible missile fest. The Mad Cat holds just over 14 tons of ferro armour when full. The Torso of the mech is a bit squatty and compact. The nose is huge, and of course, those ears, or missile racks immediately become targets. The Mad Cat has long legs, don’t skimp on leg armour. At one time, the nose of the mech was like glass. Clan engineers went back to the drawing board and tightened up a few bolts and rivets and re-issued this battle beast. It holds up much better now than the early years.

Shots fired on the Maddy seem to hit the side torsos unless you are directly in front of it. This mech can take a good amount of punishment before it gives under constant fire. The speed of the mech is deceptive and gets you out of some sticky situations.

For years the Mad Cat was King of Clans. A command mech. A Mech that could bring a lot of firepower on an opponent and live to fight another and another. More or less, that is still true. You have to be careful with your heat management, but this thing is an energy platform. It is still capable of taking down several mechs, or even much bigger mechs. I find the best use for this battle mech is to use it at range. With BAP and EO, packed full of ERLL or PPCs or even Missiles, the Mad Cat can make the other team miserable and quickly become the number one target on your own team. The speed of the mech allows you to move with many smaller mechs and be the surprise as you sneak up on your enemy. Running in passive mode, turning on the radar long enough to get a lock, fire and move to a new position or report your finds to the team, this mech can be a real dangerous foe.

The mad Cat handles well and turns quickly too. Perch yourself on a little rise and check out the battlefield in front of you, fire away and roll back behind the rise. Do it again. Again. Oh killed that one did you, well roll up there and find another. That is what this mech is best at. I don’t recommend brawling with a Maddy, try to keep about 400 meters or more away. This keeps you in control of the fur ball and keeps little mechs from getting in behind you. My opinion is the best use for this one is long range.

Time for the rating. Let me say that Vettie used the Maddy many times in the Vengeance days but has since seen a drastic drop in the usage of this machine. I think it is because of 2 things. The change in heat management (the heat scale) and the glass nose. As mentioned before, the nose has seen a surgeon and is no longer a fragile thing that has to be handled with extreme care. Sure, the CT on this mech is BIG, but the mech holds up well. It can pack some serious firepower. Don’t be afraid to pile on those single slot ballistic weapons either. I think driving the Mad Cat is a lost art form. I never was that good in one, but I have seen pilots handle that thing like it was a 50 ton mech, blazing weapons all the while. It is still a very dangerous machine, and in the right hands can be the last man standing.
Vettie’s rating: 3 ½ minutes. Average to above average for a Heavy Class Battle Mech.


The Mad Cat revisited.

MP3 has been out for sometime now. Many have had the chance to look over the new mechs and the changes made to the old ones.

My second article was all about the King of the Clans, the Legend of Legends, the Mad Cat or Timberwolf if you are a Clanner. Well, its time for me to follow up with a revised view of the Mad Cat.

Recently, I spent some time in the Mech Lab with this so-called legend and I took it for a few trial runs. I hooked up a few bot-driven pilots and turned it loose on several different terrain types to see what the ‘new’ Mad Cat could do.

Some of you out there are big Fans of this battlemech. I know that one of our own pilots has recently adopted the Mad Cat as his current ‘signature’ mech. That is not surprising to me because the Maddy is a versatile mech. It can be very dangerous as well. It all depends on how you use it and the load out you give it.

MP3 brought some changes to the Mad Cat. The slots have been changed and the center torso again received a bit more tweaking to make it a bit stronger. The torso omni slots were not changed and remain as 2 slot omnis. The missile racks are 3 slot racks. I am almost sure these are the same as prior to MP3. The Arms were changed, however.

The Right Arm is now a ballistic or energy 4 slot capable and the left arm is a 4 slot energy arm. This allows for some interesting configurations when it comes to loading up the weaponry. The Left arm can hold 2 ERLL or 2 ERLPL or 2 LtPPCs or 2 Heavy Medium Lasers or up to 4 Medium or Small Class Lasers. As well, you can add an ERPPC or a Heavy Large Laser. The left arm can duplicate this or you can use it as a ballistic arm. Having 4 slots, you can select just about any Clan Ballistic Weapon except the new Rail Gun. The Clan Gauss is the most obvious choice, but LBXs or UACs fit as well as the new Clan RACs (both the 10 and 20 version).

A very strong and workable configuration is to load a Clan Gauss rifle in the right arm and an ERPPC in the left with the torso slots being filled with ERLLs or CUAC5s. Those that have figured out how to work the new Clan RACs without instantly jamming them may opt to load 1 in each torso and load the arms with ERLLs. Another possible config that I like a lot is to load a Clan Gauss in the Right arm and in the left arm load 2 ERLLs and 1 in each torso, using the left over tonnage for heatsinks. Ouch!

The Mad Cat can take a host of offensive weaponry and can dish out the punishment. The problem for the Maddy since the Vengeance days has always been receiving shots. The nose has seemed to be made of glass, very fragile and weak. The Body is wide and presents itself as a very big target. The missile racks and arms always seemed to get blown off very fast. Some of that has changed.

The crew at MekTek went back through the hitboxes on the Mad Cat and again tightened them up a bit. The Mad Cat is tougher now and able to withstand lots of hits to the center torso before it dies. The Missile Racks were changed sometime ago from being part of the right and left torsos to being special slots. More so, as specials, they don’t always transfer damage to the torsos if they are destroyed. The arms are a bit more stout, but not much more.

The Mad Cat still has a big CT, but it is much harder to kill than before MP3. The overall size of the mech was not changed, so it still presents itself as a wide target. The best defensive assets this machine has are the use of LAMs and its speed and maneuverability. The Mad Cat handles like a much smaller mech and with a standard speed of 80kph, it can get around quickly.

We already talked a bit about the offensive changes to the slots but we didn’t talk much about the offensive use for it. I still think the Mad Cat is best suited for ranged fights. Put this machine at 700 to 800 meters and let it rip. The Mad Cat has good vision from its cockpit and the controls respond very well to forward to backward shifts. This makes it a good candidate for hill humping and picking your opponent to pieces. Those missile racks can carry a deadly load of ATMs or LRMs as well as loading Arrow Thunderbolts.

It is time to give the Mad Cat a new rating. The Maddy is a good offensive choice for your arsenal, but the life span seems a bit short if this mech is not handled correctly. I am not a good pilot for a Mad Cat because I don’t have the patience for a hit and fade kind of battle. I tend to be more reckless and put lots of pressure on the enemy by closing in on their location and forcing them to move or shoot or both. The Mad Cat is tougher now and can take a good amount of damage before folding up shop but it is not a ‘brawler’. Used correctly, this thing is capable of killing several mechs before becoming a victim. It packs lots of power and with the addition of a ballistic arm this traditional energy and missile mech now enters the arena with a new toy.
The changes to the torso didn’t help much. I am not sure if I like the Mad Cat with a ‘gauss’ arm, but I am sure there are many that will. Having that extra punch and a bit tougher ct still do not buy the Mad Cat any more time in my rating. I still rate the mech at 3 ½ minutes.