BATTLETECH: The FIREBALL
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- Опубликовано: 16 ноя 2023
- The first #Battlemech to be convered consistently from #TechnicalReadout #3055, the #Fireball is a unique machine if there ever was one.
Built by the #NAIS, or #NewAvalonInstituteforScience, in #HouseDavion / The #FederatedSuns, this little wonder was built to fight against #Clan #Elementals.
Having served since the #ClanInvasion, it's still running, all the way into the #DarkAge and #Ilclan eras.
So, let's delve into the history, and specifications, of the 20-tonner that could.
One song in this video is a remix by @TSealz
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Note: I am not associated with the Battletech / Mechwarrior IP, and create this under fair-use. Ownership of the Battletech IP resides with several companies at this time. I support all official releases. 
Игры
The Fireball's rules can be found in the following places:
TRO: Clan Invasion: store.catalystgamelabs.com/products/battletech-technical-readout-clan-invasion
TRO 3055 Upgrade: store.catalystgamelabs.com/products/battletech-technical-readout-3055-upgrade-pdf-1 (Same as above, just with different mechs in the book, the Fireball is in both)
TRO: Most Wanted: store.catalystgamelabs.com/products/battletech-experimental-technical-readout-most-wanted-pdf
(Fireball XF Entry)
Record Sheets Clan Invasion has the most Fireball configurations in it:
store.catalystgamelabs.com/products/battletech-record-sheets-clan-invasion
The Fireball miniature from Iron Wind Metals:
www.ironwindmetals.com/index.php/categories/cat-battletech/cat-bt-bm/product/battletech-20-440/category_pathway-2
Love you for being a purple bird man.
One of the things I love about the Battletech universe is just how often they're be a bad mech with a whole story behind it as well as how it eventually became a respectable machine.
Just like the Banshee
Or the Charger. (Still kinda bad but when everything better gone kaboom then it gotta make do)
@@riptide1ful Its why the Banshee is one of my fav assaults, one of my favs overall if not my fav mech, period.
An absolute zero if there ever was one when first brought onto the battlefield, and then with some tweaks and some solid variants being made (or if you're like me and my buds, just make your own) and it can become this hero of a unit that can hold its own.
Im surprised zero of the variants have a TAG. It's a lightweight system, and when you are running this fast you are gonna be a crazy good artillery spotter.
I'm sure if we get a new model, we'll get more variants.
Heck, considering that there's even a lightweight version of TAG it is an even bigger failing that there isn't a variant to spot targets.
Can probably also outrun the explosion, too.
A TAG would turn this Mech into something useful. I guess this was NOT the primary motive of this design.
The XF is pretty much someone going "how fast do you want this mech to go" and its pilot going "yes". Literally a meme build and I love it.
Tbh, surprised there's no stealth armor variants here, or mechs with a Chameleon or Null-Sig system. Would be really funny to just see a blip and then it dissapears because its already back at base by the time it's spotted.
Literally outran the radar waves bouncing back
@@Kepora1 "Must have been the wind".
request to mech tech was just "I'm fast as fu*k boi"
As soon as I saw the XF, I had a terrible thought.
Remove the ER small lasers, reinforce the legs, strip as much armour off as possible... Add Jump Jets.
This is the ultimate LAM.
Also partial wings
I did this in HBS BT. No armour and the only weapon a handheld Rocket 20 launcher or Tazer.
It was very fun until mech with MRM 200 hit it a couple times (a lot of times), I consoled myself by crying into stack of MRM launchers taken as weregild
At 432 kmh and next to no armor... I can imagine this mech exploding from hitting a particularly unlucky bird mid-flight. Great video, fun little insight into another mech I had no idea existed.
Hey, 69 points of armour is a lot for 20-tons! lmao
@@BigRed40TECH It is quite the ... nice amount. 😎
One of those mechs that earns its place by making total sense in the lore but no way am I ever dropping the Cbills to toss one of my pilots into. Very neat regardless, and what a hilarious custom version.
Hey, sometimes you find these things on sale and they're fairly useful for training academies and the like
The fireball is what you take to battle if you want to troll your opponents. Cool lil’ guy.
The Trollball.
It just occurred to me that the 9D is basically a faster Wasp that can't jump.
And that's much faster.
When you expect a mech to earn its name by what it does to others only to find out it got its name from what happens to you.
It's a crazy little design hobbled by its weapon package. I made a variant with 10 double heat sinks, 3 ER Medium lasers, and an ER small laser. I found this variant kept my opponents off balance and pinned down.
There's just something appealing about a 'Mech that pushes speed to the absolute limit of practicality.
Random dnd wizard main in a dimentional rift scenario: I Cast Fireball! (Rolls nat20)
Cast Fireball: I am Fireball Mech!
You either move like a fireball or die as a FIREBALL
GOTTA GO FAST!
@@BigRed40TECH mee mee
Comparing this thing to the true Elemental hunter of 3055, the Komodo, is always funny to me.
The Komodo is amazing, I can't wait to cover it.
Looking at it as my sarna google of the hour, needs a pulse variant, but looks very fun.
They named it the Fireball because that’s what Elementals turned it into.
The Fireball would be easy to modify into a better version of itself if you get rid of all the ammo based systems.
7E(nergy) variant: -streak srm2, -mg, -ammo for both, +double heat sinks, +2 ERML (IS or Clan as available), +2 SPL (IS or Clan). With a full energy package including ER medium lasers, this Fireball needs the double heat sinks because it can generate 16 heat a turn if the pilot choses to run up to something and do an alpha strike. Hopefully an isolated infantry unit or other light target.
7T(ag) variant: Same as the 7E, but drop 1 SPL for a Tag system. This gives the Fireball less reason to engage infantry, which is probably better for its survival. With artillery support this Fireball can finally perform its original intended purpose: fighting elementals. The 7T doesn't need the double heat sinks as badly as the 7E does, especially if a ERML is replaced instead of a SPL to accommodate the tag.
I am just wondering why it doesn't use flamers or a plasma weapon.
@@RibusPQR Flamer is very short range. It could use one, but using it for anything other than anti-infantry and setting fires is risking the mech. And the Fireball doesn't have the tonnage available to mount a plasma weapon. You could mount inferno rounds in the SRM-2, but that realistically is the mechs only weapon.
because some crazy bastard would point them backwards to see if they could go faster :)
A great entrant to the Solaris cannonball run!
Imagine modifying this little bugger to have Chameleon and/or Null-sig.... it'd LITERALLY be a blur scorching across the battlefield and all but impossible to hit
That'd be amazing.
A spread of LRM mines or plain old mines make that a very expensive NO...
@@Einwetok losing a leg at 170+ KM/H... how long of a skid would that leave?
@@jasonstandlea1784 All those top shelf components, turning into scrap. You can hear his techs wailing in the distance....
@@jasonstandlea1784there would be probably be like half a kilometer of wreckage.
I don't understand all the hate this thing gets it lives up to it's name quite well and does so quite well almost every time it is put on the battlefield. I mean who can't help but enjoy the show and Laugh when you're enemy provides such an expensive fireworks show as a bunch of Fireballs becoming their namesake?
in my head cannon its an advanced spider. It needs a TAG.
It's mostly because the original variant was designed to hunt toadies and then proceeded to not have a weapon loadout good for that. Honestly giving it a standard SRM 2 with inferno ammo and another machine gun using that saved half ton, and another on top of it if you give it a half ton of MG ammo would be the way to go for fucking over Elementals/BA.
_Doin' the Fireball shuffle_
With those SRMs, this mech is one expensive fireworks display. The variant without the SRMs (just MLs & extra armor), though [chef's kiss].
As a scout and forward observer in a combined arms game, it would be superb. Unfortunately those types of situations or scenarios don't' come up very often to justify it's deployment. Even when they do, I can think of other, more durable platforms to use-which might even be useful once the initial missions has been completed.
okay... Having "I BRAKE 4NO1" emblazoned on Eduardo Vincetto's ALM-XF is pure genius. Love it!
Its a fantastic scout with its speed & quirks, its just outside of scenario games or megamek massive map games you won't appreciate that cause all you'll remember is how fast the fireball lived up to its name. It will never not be funny how it was supposed to be an elemental hunter, kind of like how the assassin was supposed to be a light hunter but most things outside of a stinger or wasp outgun it. To be fair 20 tonners do tend to disintegrate on contact so its hard to hold it against them. They're cheap, fast, and useful, just rarely decent in direct confrontation that tabletop has outside of a little backstabbing. Although being able to buy 2 locusts for the cost of 1 ALM-7D is a black mark against it given it doesn't fill its niche of elemental hunting.
"Hunting elementals with SRM and SSRM 2s" is a relic of older rules where the ability to shoot inferno was restricted only by "is it a 2?" No 4 or 6 could fire Inferno, but a 2 always could, be it streak or standard.
Those NAIS guys are so smart even their failures are brilliant.
When the engineer asks how fast and you answer: yes.
FedCom Mage: I cast Fireball! NAT 20!
DM: That’s a critical, the entire Clan Elemental Star just burst into flames.
The Fireball - has Fireballed. The Buzzsaw now exists twice. And Dynamo has shortenend out...
Duncan Fischer: "I CAST FIREBALL!"
Ah yes, the pokéball! A classic for people whom need a battle armor taxi. If you ever want to do a joke lance/company, try sticking 3 of these and your preferred assault mech in a lance, along with your preferred inner sphere battle armor. You will become legend.
How are you putting battle armor on it?
@@samuelbaldwin2184 That's what I want to know since red didn't even mention it being able to carry them once.
@@samuelbaldwin2184magnetic clamps
@@samuelbaldwin2184 bolt on benches from ikea, redneck style mods
or they hold on very tight
Some Battle Armor have equipment which allow them to ride on vehicles or mechs which aren't omni. The requirements also vary depending on the weight class of the battle armor. Check in the Techmanual
The Fireball is cool because the US didn't understand how to fight elementals, so they built this strange machine to do it, found out that it was a failure in that role, then repurposed it as a stellar scout unit. Battletech's propensity to have these non-optimized units and then explain them in-universe is one of my favorite parts of the setting.
One thing that people usually forget is that these old TRO machines were built under different rules. Whenever you see these weird SRM-2s, streak or not, then remember that under the old rules it were these small SRM packs, that only allowed to carry infernos. Thus this thing may be rather lackluster, but it literally threw a fireball on whatever it encountered AND it was always to full inferno effects, because the infernos didn't scale and just produced random amount of heat for three rounds per missile. Quite effective against units that had to roll every round whether they just didn't burn to a crisp.
Hmmmm. Pretty sure by the time 3055 came out, you couldn't put infernos in streak launchers iirc.
@@BigRed40TECHThe old TRO 3055 came out in 1992, which places it in the old Battletech Compendium from 1990. On p. 60 you can find that they were like that back then.
Of course you couldn't target infantry, but you could make any hex burn for six rounds, so they would at least come out and play, or risk burning to death.
Ima say it this mech is a baller.
This feels like it would make a damn good Dark Age Sec-Mech, being a near unparalleled pursuit predator when put up against low life criminals
Awesome video. Can't wait for the rest in this TRO.
Funny story about the initial piece of Fireball art, it inspired me to reach out to Matt Plogg to do a MQ 1 Predator picture for my tech school class. He did a great job, well worth what I paid him.
Nice!
The underlined comments on the XF were the cherry on top of a hilarious mech.
I lost it with the comments you had in the XF model section. Well played sir, well played.
:P
This is what happens when mechwarriors, like puppies, get the zoomies.
And just like a zoomie puppy, it's most dangerous to itself.
@bthsr7113 as someone who works as a doggy daycare attendant, oh yeah.
A dog getting the zoomies has a pretty good chance of stepping on another dog and that dog getting mad or some other dog wanting to join in and it ends up just being "chaos ensues".
The XF's mentality: They can't kill you if they fly off your windshield every time you hit the giggle switch.
This thing would be pretty good at Infiltration mission in MW5 though.
I've always kinda liked this little guy even though I've never used one. Be a truly fun replacement mech for a player in the RPG while they tried to get a "real" mech.
I’ve always loved light mechs and the lighter armaments they have: makes each one feel more unique than heavier chassis in my opinion. And the Fireball is a fave lol I think it’s a charming little design
Give me a 35-tonner with a good engine, heavy armor, and some pulse lasers. The enemy no longer has battle armor.
The fireball xf is the mech you can’t shoot not because it’s outmaneuvering you, but instead because it’s outrunning your bullets
A machine truly full of character!
"I just wanna go fast.."
-Vincente
Reinventing the LAM by finding a way to squeeze a partial wing onto the XF and get it airborne under its own power
I like this mech, move over commando. This thing equipped with flamers would be terrifying to infantry.
Fireball in blue paintjob running at 180 kph: I AM SPEEEEEEEEEED!!!!
Eduardo Vincetto: He's all about family. And speed. Hot, nasty, badass speed
I did a doubletake when I heard the final quote. Then laughed, well done.
I think mechs like this get double heat sinks to increase the total production of DHSs and thus reduce the overall price.
You know, mass production reducing cost on the individual piece. This could make implementing DHS on mechs that don´t REALLY need them indeed sensible.
And it leaves open the possibility to swap weapons for an energy loadout with a heavy heat load while avoiding overheating the machine.
Three ER medium lasers would be no problem with a full set of DHS even when running full speed.
Que the Boss.
"Baby, we were born to ruuuuuuuuuuuuuun"
Always love learning about mechs ive never heard of
I love the Fireball! So much so I did a campaign with a lance of them trying to hunt Elementals and it was tough! Fun though
Got it, pulse laser the area around the Fireball, we're bound to hit something.
*Cackles in XL pulse boat Hunchie 4P*
Mines and area bombardment are also valid options.
Me and a friend of mine did a 1 on 1 fight with an urbanmech and a fireball. The fireball lost, but it should be noted not by alot. Instead of firing of ranged attacks it made several desperate charge moves that tore the urbanmech down to its jump jets before a lucky cockpit hit killed it.
I'll be getting an official model as soon as one comes out. I feel it has more merit than some give it.
It's got a metal model atm. Found in the pinned comment in the comments section :)
But I'd like to see this one in plastic.
I would say that the only sensible field refit, at least for the 7D around the time of its introduction, would be to swap out all the stock weapons, upgrade to double heat sinks, and add in either 4 medium lasers (for 'mechs or vehicles) or 4 small pulse lasers (for battle armor or infantry).
Though I suppose that'd just make it too much like another light in TRO 3055 :P
4 SPL would be best to maintain accuracy at speed and fulfill the original objective... but you might want to swap a couple out for utility features if you favor scouting.
have an Atlas yank up the anchor chain in the path of that XF thing for the maximiun comedy kill.
You wanna see me run to that mountain and back? … You wanna see me do it again?
I only knew the Fireball for it’s terrible original configuration.
The 8D & 10D are surprisingly effective and the XF is absolutely hilarious.
Also you’re font is displaying 0 as 8.
I fucking love the Fireball, and I love shit light mechs.
For some reason I was hoping the XF was Painted Blue
Fantastic video. I can't wait for Catalyst to bring us a fireball in plastic. My Fedcom Gaurds could use one... Ot maybr two.
My take on it drops the movement to 10/15,(Still +4 move mod). Drop the SSRM2 & ammo for twin ML's, drop the MG & ammo for a SPL, add a Beagle Active Probe(CT) and a TAG(H),or Remote Sensor Dispenser(LT) and Recon Camera(H). Either really boosts it's new role as a scout mech,you can even upgrade it's armour to LFF if you wish, though this gains you only an extra 3 pts of armour.
Love later variants of the Fireball
It was death to Elementals when the Streak 2 could fire inferno missiles. Which also makes it's no energy weapon payload make a bit more sense.
Also the XF can mash the go fast button, but it's far smarter to alternate using the MASC and Turbo.
For an Illclan update, give the Fireball ten stock double heat sinks, a Clan medium pulse laser, and an Angel ECM Suite.
Stealth Armour too O.O
@@BigRed40TECH No, I'm trying to keep the cost down. Plus I'm using the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) method for design.
Legendary philosopher indeed!
I prefer the Newer Upgraded version of the Fireball. Not only it had more armaments than its old variant but also far more Armored.
The XF variant should have been called KT (kinetic torpedo).
Your a cruise missile harry.
Like the Rakshasa to the Timber Woof/Mad Cat, I got the feeling that the Fireball seemed to be an imitation to the dreaded Fire Moth/Dasher. Instead of being the "Elemental transport", the Fireball was to be an anti-Elemental mech that turned out to be a debacle by design. But both are being a fast recon mech.
The saying of "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, that mediocrity can pave to greatness" rings too true on Fireball. Actually, it should be named Fastball
Nah, save the "Fastball" title for an actual dedicated BA carrier that is designed to throw them into the fight.
I love your videos so much. As I kid I played mechassult and it's so cool to see battle tech make a big come back. These videos add so much life to the universe!
Hey! Thanks so much!
Good work as always. Haven't fielded a Fireball before, kinda thinking about it now lol. Zoompewpew
Froooom lol
You know. For a mech that really cannot do much but run really really fast, for a mech. Calling it the "Fireball" is too on the nose. It either moves as fast as a ball of fire or ends up becoming a ball of fire. There is no middle ground.
You either see the the paint job when it's moving fast enough to mistake it for flames or you see the flames from the ammo bins
I think taking the fireball and adding a bulldog suite to it would provide an amazing fwd recon unit for the salamander
Really cool mech, i haven't had any real expose to much past tukkyid, so i had not head of this one. Im really suprised there isnt a variant with probes or equipment and just like a single small laser for leaning futher into recon
Davion egg run fast. Have little boom but make big boom when hitting bigger Clan egg. Much vroom. Ork like 13 painted in red please to praise Gork and Mork.
It has the need. The Need for Speed.
The XF weighs about the same as a loaded tour bus, and can hit the same max speed as a Bugatti Veyron; even a 40K Ork Speedfreek would be happy with that!
cept not nuf dakka
Excellent video on a little understood mech
Well done Red, Seyla
Really good look at the Fireball :)
Thanks Daniel!
Interesting little mech
Putting a TAG or Beagle seems like a no brainer for a recon mech. Wonder why no variant has that?
I'm sure we'll get one in the future.
Because this mech's designers still fail.
Gotta Go Fast!🦔
I've been quietly waiting for your video on the Fireball so I can get your thoughts and breakdown on the ALM-10D.
Currently writing a short story featuring a 10D going up against a DOL-1A1. It will be a tough fight for the Dola, but the goal is for it, and it's MechWarrior to not come out whole in the end.
Awesome!
Little bastard probably outruns some LRMs
This was one of those designs in the Clan Invasion Sourcebook that I glance over and dismissed as not being useful. thanks to this review I have taken a longer look at the Fireball, and I'm still inclined to dismiss it! 😆 It's amazing that NAIS and Corean signed off on this Humpty-Dumpty scout 'mech. I'll give it a pass in period lore, since the 3053 date indicates this was a rush job design made to counter Elementals, but with incomplete and incorrect data to work from. GIGO can be fatal when lives are on the line... I didn't know an egg-shaped 'mech form so popular in the Sixties and Seventies could be aerodynamic enough to generate such speed! Based on the illustration the Low Profile perk seems merited, since I think it has less height and less width than a Locust. 🤔 Lordy, an 11/17 move, even the Dasher pilots are amazed. However, the armament is pathetic, equal to a low-grade APC. The standard Elemental point outguns it at range. 😑 Gotta say, even the variants don't improve on it, especially for the cost. A 3050-era bug 'mech will do more, and possibly last longer. Oh well, you live, you learn, and here's hoping the next attempt works better!
I mean, I'd not take the standard 7D ever, but I think the 8D and 10D offer some real value personally.
@@BigRed40TECH Upon review the -10D is a superior Locust-E type.
Always wanted to like the Fireball. But the Dart just works out better across the board being almost as fast with a standard engine. You just need to ditch the three stock IS Small Pulse Laser's is all.
An Egg-man design for chasing down Sonic! lol
This time that cursed Hedgehog won't get away!
@@BigRed40TECH Except Sonic _can_ break the sound barrier, and the XF fireball can't even get halfway there.
Stop making Dr. Robotnik sad! @@liljenborg2517
A superb study in why speed isn't everything.
I’d disagree. The secret to high velocity is the ability to move far scarier BA at ridiculous speeds, and using it to buy time for heavier assets to dominate the field in the process.
I was not aware this possessed any BA carrying capacity, and quite frankly, there are better carrier options that aren't as entirely reliant upon a manned payload, or can do a better delivery. The Fireball itself is an extremely lackluster design for its inability to actually hurt targets appreciably. I forget how much armor was sacrificed, but speed is useless if you can't do the job when you get into position. You're just failing earlier.
@@bthsr7113 look, part of the reason I suggest it is as a shitpost lance, because you can comedically just dress them up as pokemon balls, as you know some solaris jock fucking would do that if that series survived that long.
I think this thing's main problem is that it would have been a great mech for succession wars, but the clans had better light mechs when they invaded (you know... The era before this was introduced). So this is legitimately just the equivalent of the Old guard in a military industrial complex designing and producing military equipment for the new war without fundamentally understanding the needs of the war in question
@@robrib2682 Except it really wouldn't have. This thing would have limited striking power even by those standards, and if you want speedy infantry deleting, the stock Locust was a more effective platform that could also put out more general hurt for longer.
Interesting how every failed striker is apparently a "great scout".
Interesting how every failed scout is apparently a "damned coffin".
I created a custom fireball with a clan large pulse laser and light tag. Barring a stupidly lucky shot or mass bombardment, it is basically impossible to hit.
You say it was adapted to be a good scout, but you did not list any variant that installed an active probe, Target Acquisition Gear, or the cut down NARC launcher designed for Fed Suns battle Armor.
Instead of giving it tools to work smarter, they gave it new weapons to fight harder.
Yeah, we might see some new variants if it ever gets any new mentions but at least there's always the "build it yourself" option.
@@BoisegangGaming Yeah, that's always an option. If the mech failed, mod it until it works or is functionally a new mech.
I wish I kept my metal models... I had a fireball :(
They still make them! Link in the top pinned comment XD
did i read that right, the XF has a 320 XL engine, MASC and a supercharger... Isn't the maximum engine for a 20T a 220?
That is the sort of insane engineering that I approve of
XXL reduces weight. The 320's tonnage falls by a lot in XXL format.
ZOOOOOOOOOM
BRRRRRRR BRRRR BRRRRRRR VROOOOM!
@@BigRed40TECH Inevitably followed by BOOM. Usually you.
I have always thought the bad versions where made to be sold to the combine
I CAST FIREBALL!!!