Mechbuster

The 'Mechbuster, in all its cheesy perfectly-balanced glory.

"Haha AC/20 go BRRRRRRRRRRRR"

– Every 'Mechbuster player. Ever.

The 'Mechbuster is A-10 Warthog of BattleTech, and in BattleTech terms can be thought of as the UrbanMech UM-R60L of the skies. The 50-tonner is the most well-known conventional fighter by fans, and the only conventional fighter to ever get any love and respect from any of BattleTech's many owners.

On Tabletop

As a conventional fighter, the 'Mechbuster is laughably flimsy, concerningly slow, and unable to enter space compared to an aerospace fighter. VSTOL capability is a luxury that the 'Mechbuster cannot afford, forcing the fighter to rely on full-length runways to operate in a campaign setting. For all these downsides, being a conventional fighter only grants the 'Mechbuster a small, circumstantial edge in maneuverability when operating in-atmosphere, and a significantly lower price tag compared to an aerospace fighter of the same tonnage.

However, the 'Mechbuster can seldom make use of its full mobility advantage, and its low price tag is only worth so much on its own. What makes the 'Mechbuster notorious is its singular weapon: a Zeus-75 Mark IX Autocannon/20, one of the single most hard-hitting weapons available on tabletop well, assuming you're not packing packing WarShips or nukes. Slap that on a unit that, while slow in terms of fighters, can still move orders of magnitude faster than any ground unit, and you've got a recipe for endless frustration.

What's more, the fact that the fighter is so crap in just about every other possible way means that it's not just cheap in C-Bills (the go-to in-universe currency), it's also incredibly cheap in terms of Battle Value (BattleTech's points/unit cost system). At 368 BV (384 BV by modern calculations), the 'Mechbuster is as cheap as some of the cheapest light 'Mechs (even with modern calculations, it matches the Wasp WSP-1A) while carrying enough firepower to down medium 'Mechs and put serious pressure on heavy and even assault 'Mechs. Combine that with some fucking stupid questionable rules that allow it to always get at least one shot off no matter how much return fire it's facing, and it quickly becomes one of the most infuriating units on the battlefield. Just send in your own fighters and shoot it down, you say? Sure, but unless you're sending other conventional fighters, you're going to be paying quite a lot more for the privilege of trying to shoot down one of these before they reach your forces. And in the process, while their balsa-wood armor means they die mercifully-quickly, every turn you spend engaging with them is a turn that you're probably eating several AC/20 shots.

Furthermore, much like the real A-10 the 'Mechbuster's AC/20 is only part of the package. The 'Mechbuster has ten external ordinance hardpoints, the most a single conventional fighter can carry (and exactly enough to carry a goddamn nuke). This gives it a great deal of tactical flexibility... that you're probably going to ignore in order to bring a load of 10 Small FABs so you can snipe the enemy's assault 'Mechs with a plane that costs less than 800 BV all total.

After all of this talking about how the 'Mechbuster is "tEh m0st OP evar!" you'd think it would be one of the most reviled, hated units in BattleTech. Surprisingly though, it's regarded fairly fondly by those who know of it. The fighter is one of the few well-known by ground-pounders (who regard it, surprisingly, with as much respect as they do disdain), and many aerofags look at it similarly to the Urbie, the two both enjoying lovably quirky designs that shouldn't work as well as they do. All the hate for it tends to go instead to the busted-ass rules that make it basically a guaranteed trade that That Guy will endlessly abuse. It also holds the distinction of being the only conventional fighter to have a mini.

Fluff

The 'Mechbuster was first produced thrown together in 3023 by the Draconis Combine, known producer of a number of great aerospace fighters. However, being massive weebs, the Combine tends to forget to train its pilots how to land, preferring that pilots who have exhausted their ammo or fuel should be the bullet. As is expected when returning alive and intact is a shamefur dispray, the Combine is also known for losing a number of great aerospace fighters.

Enter: the 'Mechbuster. A budget second-line conventional fighter built by Gorton, Kingsley & Thorpe Enterprises meant to fill the gaps while the Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery tried to figure out a strategy more complex than "charge straight ahead". Well over four times cheaper than the 50-ton Shilone aerospace fighter, the 'Mechbuster was never supposed to be good. Some disliked it for its lack of VSTOL capability then just buy an aerospace fighter- oh wait, and the fighter suffered from record-low staying power thanks to its lack of armor and ammunition (beaten only by the Boeing Jump Bomber not quite a decade and a half later). However, the low-cost spammability of the fighter, combined with the oh-shit factor of a flying AC/20 meant that the 'Mechbuster was surprising success, particularly in a defensive role (or in one case, an offensive role where the attackers tricked the enemy into rearming, repairing, and refueling their fighters mid-battle).

However, the 'Mechbuster's time with the Combine was doomed to not last forever, as House Kurita only honors the most fancy, expensive, and above all wasteful kamikaze strikes. After the Ronin Wars, the Combine would allow the newly-formed Free Rasalhague Republic to keep the fighter's factories, where it continued to serve with distinction until Clan Ghost Bear happened.

The design would be toyed with in later eras, most notably with the development of the Seabuster variants in the Periphery. Regardless, the 'Mechbuster and its variants was, from its inception to modern times, always far, far rarer anywhere else than it would be within the Draconis Combine and the Rasalhague Republic/Dominion.

Variants

Because some people just can't settle for perfection, the 'Mechbuster has been produced in a number of variants.

Regular Variants

Variants have been produced that keep the ICE engine, but swap the AC/20 for groups of Medium Lasers or SRM-6s. These are objectively inferior, and any aerofag who says otherwise deserves to have their wings clipped. There's also the upgraded variant that packs an LB-20X... well, "upgraded", considering the current rules screw LBX ACs over hard in aerospace.

Seabuster Variants

The SeaBuster, because throwing money at the problem will make it go away.

Sacrificing the 'Mechbuster's trademark low price tag, the Seabuster variants are often outfitted with fusion engines and advanced weaponry that come with a luxury cost... while still having about as much armor as a Fisher-Price car and retaining below-average top speed for a fighter of its tonnage. The most noticeable feature of the Seabuster is also what gives it the name; Seabusters can float on water, solving the problem of being tied to airstrips by turning the majority of any Terra-like world into a landing strip. The early Outworlds Alliance prototype Seabuster was equipped with an Improved Heavy Gauss Rifle, turning the short-ranged ground-attack fighter into a terrifying high-impact air-to-air sniper, wheras the production model made by the Taurian Concordat embraces the fighter's original role, upgrading the AC/20 to an Ultra model with double the rate of fire.

Special Variants

The 'Mechbuster Mary swaps the AC/20 for a Light Gauss rifle, trading raw damage for unparalleled range. Unfortunately, as it only appears in Record Sheets: Unique Fighters, a fan contest from a defunct BattleTech magazine, it will likely never appear again.

External Links

The 'Mechbuster's article on SARNA