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jymset
Scavenger
in pursuit of LosTech
Joined: 05-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 956
Location: Germany
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 Posted: 06-Mar-2009 18:27 Post subject: For our long gone Old Dog: the Watchman! |
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I posted this over at CBT today - and it richly deserves to be here.
Of course, as part of a weekly series of articles to which I contribute sporadically (MotW = Mech of the Week), it seems strange to appear here as a stand-alone article. Yet once you see who inspired me to write this (I had set my mind on this long before making the connection to today's specific date), coupled with the fact that I actually mentioned this board, you can see that this belongs here 100%.
I really should come here more often - after all, it is us who make or break the community, right? Anyways, the following is an exact reproduction.
Oh, and Mordel? You soooooo need to get yourself a Watchmen Emoticon as an option for these messages!
And do we have a "Spoiler" option? CAREFUL!!!!! The white text below should only be read by people who know the Watchmen material. Read only if you are familiar with the graphic novel and/or the movie.
Old Dog – wherever you may be, this is for you.
Today’s MotW is actually a no-frills affair – quite the opposite of what I had planned. But with my current uni work intensifying immensely as I am in the middle of my finals, I found that I did not have the stamina to pull through with my grand plans. After all, a great piece of literature deserves a literary homage, does it not?
Nevertheless, on the eve of the release of its movie adaptation, we are still honouring the greatest graphic novel by focusing on its namesake ‘Mech, the Watchman. And there are instant parallels to be drawn between the design and the vigilante group who are nicknamed Watchmen – the design is a dedicated militia ‘Mech, meaning it is both well equipped for policing roles and a decidedly low-tech (no-frills) design (paralleling the Watchmen who are no super-humans and in most cases quite old-fashioned in their approach to crime fighting).
However, we shall now turn away from 1985 and give our full attention to the 31st century. Some of us may return to the novel at the bottom.
The Watchman’s story is one of politics. When front-line regiments were pulled away to the Clan front in the early 3050s, the Draconis March found itself bereft of many effective designs – a wholly unsatisfactory situation to the Sandovals. Intense lobbying quickly gave birth to the Watchman programme – a manufacturing line on Robinson that produced a design which was based on the Enforcer (the AFFC Department of the Quartermaster apparently had a say on this cost-cutting measure). The costs of retooling the factory were shared between the FedCom and the Sandovals themselves. Ultimately, the Watchman bore witness to the perpetual give-and-take amongst sub-factions from the moment of its inception.
Everything about the design was created with cost in mind. The weight of the Enforcer was reduced, the ammo-hungry autocannon was replaced by dual medium lasers, and everything remained low-tech. Yes, that is right – this ‘Mech could have effectively been built 100 years earlier. The lasers are even described as “older, surplus beam weapons” (TRO: 3055R, p. 34). It was only with the addition of the MGs late in the design process that CASE – an item not common in the Succession Wars – was added.
The machine guns tell the tale of a broad mission spectrum: as a militia ‘Mech, the Watchman must be able to handle threats from infantry (or, as it were, rioting civilians?). On top of that, the Watchman was intended to work as a training machine – its forgiving design intended to insure a cadet’s survival even in the face of real conflict.
While a contender to become the premier militia ‘Mech of the Federated Commonwealth, the Watchman initially proliferated slowly, only filling out the militia units of the Draconis March. It was only during the FedCom Civil War (and Sandoval’s push into the Combine) that the Watchman proved its worth many times over – simply for being so easily repaired and cheap to maintain. By the end of the War, the Watchman was truly the most sought after militia ‘Mech. Duke Sandoval has been careful to distribute production runs only to those who are allied to his cause… Yet despite that stipulation, the Watchman has become very common in the Federated Suns (and, presumably due to salvage, in some Combine units as well).
Given its role, the Watchman has a lot of things going for it. It clocks in at a low-end 40 tons and moves at a reasonable 5/8/5, possibly the bare minimum for a medium, but perfectly sufficient for any urban environment. It is armed with a single large and two medium standard lasers, as well as two MGs that are supplied with a full ton of ammunition in a CASE protected bin. 12 single heat sinks allow for easy heat management:
run + alpha strike = a forgiving +4 heat
you don’t have to be an old-schooler, trained in creating a firestorm with a Rifleman -3N on a desert planet to be able to use the Watchman.
An easy measure of attraction for the Watchman is the comparison to one of the Succession Wars’ ubiquitous medium ‘Mechs, the Phoenix Hawk. Once the obvious difference of the Watchman’s inferior speed is set aside, it carries the same armament, more heat sinks, slightly more armour despite its lower total weight and has the boon of CASE for the ammo. And its greatest strength is illustrated clearly: the Watchman costs slightly less than 3 million C-Bills – less than 75% of the Phoenix Hawk (which costs slightly more than 4 million).
The armour also deserves special mention: at 8.5, the Watchman is just one point short of its maximum. And that point is subtracted from its head – arguably a wise choice, as there is very little effective difference between 9 and 8 points on that location. Apart from that the armour is maximised (dispensing the need for a smart armour discussion), though I personally would have much preferred for the side torsos to be at 15/5 rather than their current 14/6 distribution. The arms can survive a 15-point hit and the legs won’t even go internal (just) when hit by an AC20.
The total package is definitely a major upgrade “compared to light ‘Mechs such as the Wasp and the Stinger, both plentiful in militia units.” (TRO: 3055R, p. 34) Indeed, with almost three times their armour and fire-power, at only a doubled price, the Watchman certainly presents militia units with a practically mandatory upgrade option.
Another ‘Mech has to be mentioned when the Watchman’s worth is considered: the Sentry. That ‘Mech is manufactured in the same factory, which had another wing added when the Federated Commonwealth Marches were unhappy with the Watchman’s capabilities. This is definitely an explanation for the Watchman’s slow proliferation. The Sentry must have stolen the older design’s thunder quite a bit upon its release: its 10 DHS allowed for an upgrade in main weapon (PPC) and a quadrupling (!) of anti-infantry firepower. On top of that, Victor Steiner-Davion ordered its even distribution amongst all marches.
There are various reasons why Sandoval must have remained happy with the Watchman:
it has a slight edge in firepower at medium ranges while remaining competitive in the anti-infantry role (the Sentry’s anti-PBI firepower has often been described as excessive) it cost slightly less (though the difference is less than 10%) and most importantly: he had almost exclusive rights to it
And indeed, the Watchman has the last laugh. The -4DM (don’t ask me to make sense of the Watchman nomenclature) addresses the concern that the design may not have enough firepower when faced with other ‘Mechs. Doing away with the MGs and its flexibility, this Watchman is a dedicated “hard target” combatant. Its weaponry consists of a PPC and 3 ML, while the upgraded DHS allow for a jumping alpha strike at exactly +/- 0 heat. The armour is upgraded to ferro fibrous material, meaning that the final point on the head is added despite its slightly lighter weight. Apart from that, there are no further structural changes – the cost is only increased by 10% – 3.3 million C-Bills is still an absolute bargain for a design that by all accounts can *eat* anything of equal or lower tonnage alive!!
Ultimately, the Sandovals (and the Federated Suns) can be lucky to call the Watchman their own.
The Watchman WTC-4M is a great militia ‘Mech which leaves nothing to be desired in its intended role. It is rugged, cheap as dirt and can just about hold itself in a fight against similar if more modern enemies.
Old Dog, a long-gone member of Mordel’s community who was something of an institution on militia and mercenary warfare, repeatedly called this design the best mercenary ‘Mech of all time. And he was right – it will be difficult to find a design that has a better Return Of Interest.
And to defend the Watchman’s pride on a battlefield that sees it supplanted with fancy-schmancy designs such as the Sentry, there is the Watchman WTC-4DM which offers a “brawler” performance that frankly puts the vast majority of its competitors to shame.
And this is it, the Watchman!
The movie Watchmen opens to general release today. I saw it yesterday and can recommend it. For those of you who have seen it, or even better, who have read the novel, here is a “Watchman / Watchmen” thought for you. Beware of very heavy spoilers:
Spoiler
When I first wanted to do something completely different with this article, one of the real parallels I stumbled across was this: In an Inner Sphere that faces the Word of Blake, the Watchman is about to become as obsolete as the masked vigilante in Watchmen. Not necessarily as a specific design, but in the role for which it was built.
The “Crimebusters” never form because of their own imminent futility in the face of nuclear annihilation that would be the 3rd World War.
The Watchman as a milita ‘Mech has very little function in the face of a nuclear onslaught as witnessed in the Word’s indiscriminate campaign.
Yet this parallel can be taken a step further. The Word of Blake does not only represent the nuclear destruction of humanity – it is actually its Jihad which fuses humanity together in reaction to it. Yet what is the end result of this? Once again, the Watchman as a militia class type ‘Mech becomes obsolete.
In this way, the Word of Blake becomes Ozymandias, while it is the Successor States – in their perpetual refusal to agree to a functioning Star League that are the Super States threatening the whole of humanity with mutual destruction.
Either way, the “new world demands less obvious heroism, making […] schoolboy heroics redundant.” (Watchmen, Chapter 12) ‘Mechs – such as the Watchman – are the Watchmen of the Successor states. Is their use just a great expansion and logical consequence of schoolyard thinking? Do we love or hate Ozymandias for what he has done? Do we welcome or struggle against the Word of Blake’s vision for humanity?
As it is, I play BattleTech not for a representation of humanity as I think it should be – but because I love big metal things that blow up big metal things. I’ll stick with my Watchman, thank you very much! 
_________________
"Rear armour is defeatist!" - unknown Kuritan Mechwarrior
The AC5 is a great gun!
On heat, 3025 style:
A Rifleman knows no heat.
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