MechWarrior 4: Vengeance Mech Showcase: Part Two

Mech Showcase: Part Two

Welcome to the second in our weekly coverage of Microsoft and FASA's upcoming MechWarrior 4: Vengeance. With each update, we'll be profiling five of the game's powerful mechs - which range from light scout units to the lumbering war machines - with exclusive screenshots, brand new gameplay information, and detailed specifications. Last week, we showcased the Awesome, Atlas, Hellspawn, Chimera, and Mad Cat Mark. II. In all, MechWarrior 4 will feature around 20 mechs, including seven brand new ones never before seen in any Battletech game or literature. Whether you choose to follow the single-player campaign or fight against your friends online, you'll have the chance to pilot every single one of these giant mechs when MechWarrior 4 is released in a few weeks. Here are this week's mechs:

Bushwacker

The Bushwacker's unorthodox design is meant to give this mech a small radar signature and a minimal target profile. In fact, its specifications were so alien to the mech's designers that the project was almost killed during initial construction because of the unconventional way in which the engine, communication devices, and sensors are packed so tightly within the chassis. The scientists eventually solved this lack-of-space problem by borrowing design ideas from the Vulture, which also initially suffered from space issues.

Tech level: Inner Sphere
Armor: Ferro-fibrous
Max tonnage: 55
Jump jet capable: No
Top speed: 85kph
Internal structure type: Normal

Catapult

Resembling a Mad Cat without any arms, the Catapult is primarily a fire-support mech. Even though it lacks the upper appendages of most mechs, it still possesses a significant amount of firepower. Its twin shoulder-mounted LRM missile packs can use either the Catapult's own targeting system or that of any other field mech equipped with suitable equipment to strike down enemy units at an incredibly long range.

Tech level: Inner Sphere
Armor: Reactive
Max tonnage: 65
Jump jet capable: Yes
Top speed: 68kph
Internal structure type: Endo steel

Cougar

For quite some time, Khan Marthe Pryde, leader of the Jade Falcon clan, wanted to bring a new mech to the field of battle. She knew that her clan had already been taxed to the limit and that designing a new mech from the ground up would be unfeasible. Instead, she opted to take an existing mech design from the Adder clan and significantly improve upon it. The end result was the light and deadly Cougar, which was developed in half the time and with half the resources it would have taken Pryde and the Jade Falcons to construct an all-new design.

Tech level: Clan OmniMech
Armor: Ferro-fibrous
Max tonnage: 35
Jump jet capable: Yes
Top speed: 90kph
Internal structure: Endo steel

Daishi

Labeled "Great Death" by a member of the Draconis Combine's criminal underground, this lumbering giant is punishment personified. The Daishi makes use of nearly every weapon used by the clans and Inner Sphere forces - including long-range missiles, autocannons, all varieties of lasers, and machine guns - making it the deadliest of all the mechs in the Battletech universe. Its one major flaw is its lack of speed, as it armor, weapons, and sheer size limit the Daishi to 51kph: a relative crawl.

Tech level: Clan OmniMech
Armor: Ferro-fibrous
Max tonnage: 100
Jump jet capable: No
Top speed: 51kph
Internal structure: Normal

Loki

The Loki uses the clans' typical mech design of combining both short- and long-range weapons as well as antimech and antipersonnel armaments onto one platform. For this reason, however, the Loki is notorious for overheating quickly, as it can't withstand the massive amount of heat generated by rapid or simultaneous use of all these weapons.

Tech level: Clan OmniMech
Armor: Ferro-fibrous
Max tonnage: 65
Jump jet capable: No
Top speed: 85kph
Internal structure: Normal

Make sure to come back to the MechWarrior 4: Vengeance gamespace next week, which is when we'll be showcasing another five of the game's mechs. In the meantime, take a look at the screenshot gallery, which we've recently updated with a number of images of the mechs featured in this showcase. And if you haven't done so already, read our 2628760preview of MechWarrior 4: Vengeance to learn more about this promising game.