The Warthog

Every once in a while, you find something you didn’t expect to find. Sometimes this is good; sometimes it’s not so good. Today was one of those days and it turned out to be a good find.
Enter the Warthog. 95 tons of Clan Assault mech.
At first, this thing just seemed like another big mech, but I was pleasantly surprised while putting this Battlemech through its paces. The Warthog can pack ECM, LAMs and Enhanced Optics. It is built on a squatty frame and is not given much speed. It looks like an overgrown Cougar, a Cougar that has spent way too much time in the gym.
I got some news for you, it is much more than a Cougar. It is much more than many other battlemechs.
The Warthog can pack lots of firepower at all ranges. The Warthog can brawl or it can stand off and beat you to death at range.
I again built several configs, using all ranges of weapons and I tried using specialty armour. One of the long-range configs I tried was using 2 Gauss Rifles and 2 ERLL. With full ferro armour, I was able to get the speed of this monster up to 77kph. ECM adds to the stealth, and Enhanced Optics allows you to zoom in on target from the 800-meter range. The 77kph speed is deceptive on this mech allowing you to quickly close on your target and pound away.
I tried a semi-brawling config that I found to be very effective. I loaded 2 LBX20s, 4 ERMLs and 2 ATM12Es. This may seem as a weird mix, but the ATMs allow you to pick off targets at a 1000 or more meters. Again the EO option gives you a very quick lock time with ATMs. Many of you already know that ATMs do quite a bit of damage and recycle fast enough to continue to hit your opponent while he scrambles to get out of line of sight, break the missile lock or get into cover. Keep firing as you close and you soon find out why the LBX20s are one of the most devastating weapons in the game. Coupled with the laser blast of 4 ERMLs, the enemy doesn’t last very long. Even once you get in range of the LBXs, you can still use the ATMs. Now 2 ATM12Es will not knock most enemies down, they do a lot of damage and make it hard for the opponent to return fire at you. They run a little hot, so pack on some heat sinks.
I tried this Assault with reactive armour. It does make it somewhat tougher in those close brawls, but I found that it is not necessary on the Warthog. Built on what I think is a Longbow center chassis, the Warthog is a very hard mech to kill. As with any mech, it takes damage, but it holds it own. Once you get the speed above 60kph, it handles like a much smaller mech. It turns easy enough and has a clear view of the battlefield.
The weapons slot are well placed. I don’t recommend putting all your weapons in the arms, but the arms give you very good slots, 3 ballistic and 3 energy slots on each. Two more energy slots as well as 2 missile slots fill out the torsos.
As mentioned before the profile for the Warthog is a bit squatty and compact. It won’t be the first target an enemy finds, if you apply the ECM option, unless you just wander around in the open, or knock over trees or other dumb things.
I set up a few battle rounds in the Coliseum using equal level 8 bots to observe this beast in action. I pitted the Warthog against several different opponents in one on one battles. In each round, the Warthog came out on top. I decided to pilot this thing against a Mauler.
The Mauler was loaded with Gauss rifles and Large Lasers as well as reactive armour. For the Warthog, I first went with the Gauss / ERLL combo. I set the Bot at level 9. I won 5 in a row. I switched configs and tried the LBX20/ERML/ATM12e against the same Mauler. Again I won 5 in a row.
I loaded the server with a couple other Bots and went back to the long-range config. I set the Warthog as a Bot and let them fight. The Warthog won 6 of 10 against 2 assault class mechs.
Yes, I am impressed. No, I don’t think this is the best mech in the game, but it is tougher than I thought and better than I thought. It can fit many roles, except that of scout. Sure it has some weak spots, but nothing that a good pilot can’t overcome.
Time for the rating. I praise this mech and I gave it a pretty good write up. I suggest you try one yourself. It handles well, takes a good load to the battle and holds up when it gets there. It’s a big mech, but doesn’t have a huge profile. I like this one.
Vettie’s rating 3 to 3 ½ minutes, average to above average. It is a 95-ton mech, making it one of the biggest in the game. If it were 80 to 85 tons, the rating would have been up to the next notch.

Warthog for the Win!

Well MP3 was kind to the Warthog. There are a few changes that are not very noticeable, but they do make a difference in the mech.

One of the lesser things that changed is the speeds. If you remember from my 1st review, I was running the mech at 77kph. That setting is now 75kph. Not much but still different.

Another thing that changed is that the Warthog missile racks are now special slots. This makes the mech a bit tougher in the torso area, which is where I thought it to be the weakest. How you ask? Since the missile racks are now ‘specials’, they are their own hit box with their own amount of armour. This also means they can be blow out with very little affect on the rest of the mech. This is good and bad. Its good because if you take several hits to the missile racks and they are destroyed, the damage may not transfer to the torso of the mech. Its bad because the armour factor of the slot is unknown to me (and probably to you too) so you don’t know how many shots it can take before you lose your missiles if you take any.

One more change is that the Warthog was given the option to take advanced gyro. This option used to be reserved for Inner Sphere mechs, but has now made its way into the Clans. I like this electronic option, but I don’t always use it. It provides you some stability that you notice the most when you are the target of a hail storm of missile fire. A Mech equipped with AG, will rarely fall down.

The Warthog looks to be a brawler and you can configure it to be one. Some Heavy Lasers and a couple of LBX20s and you are all set. This mech handles very well for its size. It has a quick turn response and a good turn radius. It climbs well and one of the most important factors in brawling is that when you change from forward to reverse, the mech responds and does what you want it to if you are running at speeds over 70kph. Under 70 and it’s a little sluggish, but not as sluggish as many smaller mechs.

I still like this thing loaded with twin gauss and ERLLs. Another nice config is to load 2 ERPPCs and 2 Gauss rifles. The problem with that config is that if the arms get blown away, you loose a lot of weaponry.

You don’t see many Warthogs in the wild, I mean in the opens. Maybe its because they don’t jump. Maybe its because you can take the same weapons load on smaller mechs. I am not sure. I like the Warthog but I don’t use it much.

In my first review with the Warthog, I gave it a decent rating. I still think the rating is valid. Used correctly, this mech can be very dangerous and rack up lots of kills. The biggest problem is this mech weighs 95tons. I can buy a Wildcat and load in 2 ERLL and 2 CGauss with ECM AND jumpies, all in a 75 ton mech. That puts the range config down and forces the Warthog into brawler role. The Warty can do it, but that is not its best feature, although 2 LBX20s and a pair of heavy (any size) lasers hurts like hell.

Another Look

As with many things, the more time you spend with them, the more you find out you do or don’t like them. This is true for the Warthog. I think we see the same pilots in the same mechs on the same maps, not because they don’t want to try something different, but because they are comfortable driving something they know works for them on any given map. I guess I am saying you will see (and I am not picking on anyone, just using him as an example) Mini Me in a Canis on LOTS of maps. IF Mini is not in a Canis he is in a Wildcat or a Battlemaster, most of the time.

I think most of the Sunder regulars are like that. Sure, there are exceptions (like Prawn, always trying something new) but I think because we have so little time to play this game of ours, we want to do some good in the short time we DO have so we take something we think we can do well in.

Not too many folks have spent a lot of time with the Warthog. Too bad for them. D-Day is a convert. He has started using this mech on a map or two. This mech has some surprises for those who dare…

Now, let me state up front. My original review and follow up on this mech gave the mech a very good review and a decent rating. This is a good mech. It is a bit more fragile now than in the original review but still decent.

The problem(s) with the Warthog starts with the weight. This thing weighs 95 tons. That’s big. It should be tough, its one of the biggest mechs in the game. Another issue with the Warthog is the right and left torsos. Since the missile slots are now specials, the torsos seem much weaker than before. The Warthog is not the brawler it once was, but it is still a very strong animal in a fight.

This thing is pretty good in the field with a speed of 75kph or so. The Speed is deceptive and it can run down smaller opponents. I loaded one with 4 erLL and a few heat sinks. The speed was higher than 75. It makes a good hit and run mech except for the size. The twin gauss, twin erLL version is still a very good config. ECM and Advanced Gyro round out this mech very well.

The handling I had mentioned in early reviews seems to have stayed the same. The only issue with the Warthog is the accel / decel rates from a dead stop. If you have added engine upgrades and boosted your speed to 70kph or more, the accel / decel seems better. Below the 70kph speed and it acts like an overloaded old truck on a muddy road going uphill, it just doesn’t want too.

If you are good at spreading your damage, if you know when to twist to avoid a direct hit and if you know when to fade behind a hill, then this mech will last you a long time. IF you are a n00b like me and go rushing headlong into a brawl carrying twin LBX20s and 4 heavy med. Lasers, you will get some kills, but you will also get killed, a lot.

I am not at my gaming machine currently and these folks where I work really frown on me bringing my MW4 Mercs discs in and installing it during business hours. So I don’t have access to the mech lab right now, but I am thinking about a possible new config. It would be a brawler, much like the LBX20, Hvy Med Laser combo, but I would also add some CStreaks on it. (I have since built this version and tried it out, not too bad. The CStreaks if aimed at an opponents head will disrupt his vision enough for you to move or for your weapons to recharge and get another round in…)

I have another theory! (I am sure you guys think I am crazy, or you get tired of the ‘Vettie’s Theories on Things’, but I am gonna add it anyway.) My Theory is concerning special slots. I think that if the special slots are attached to a torso (like a left or right torso) that the ‘armour’ of the special replaces the torsos armour to a point. Lets look at the Warthog. I know the missile racks were changed from being part of the torso to ‘special slots’. MY theory is that if the slot is empty, it is easier to ‘kill’ the special and get to the (now weakened) torso than if there had been a weapon installed in the special slot. I will spend some time on the testing grounds and report back on this, but that is my theory.

Along those same lines, I have another theory about special slots as well. The second part of the theory above is if the special slot is 4 or more and you fill the slot that you lose the weapons in that slot faster. Lets say Warthog has one 2 slot missile special slot on each torso. My theory is that if you leave it empty, the slot gets destroyed quickly, or if you put a 2 slot missile weapon in there, the weapon gets blown out more quickly than if you had only put a single slot missile in the slot. Again, these are theories and I have to test them out, but most of my theories come from things I have experienced or seen in the game.

Back to the Warthog. 3 to 3 ½ minutes is still a valid rating for the mech simply because it weighs 95 tons. IF it were 90 or lower I would knock off the ½ minute. I think the extra tonnage of armour makes the difference. This is a dangerous mech at range and can be a nasty thing to run in to in a brawl. Like all mechs, it takes a bit of practice to become good with it.