The Quasimodo is a love letter to the Swayback version of the Hunchback. It really needs variants. Especially something that mounts some long range weapons. A gauss version backed by medium or small energy weapons. A version that upgrades to large energy weapons. Even a missile carrying version that maybe takes advantage of MML technology.
Imagine a Quasimodo variant with heavy PPC + capacitor to match the firepower of AC20 but shoots further & no ammo required Or a Gauss variant that's either armed with Heavy/Improved Heavy Gauss, Silver Bullet Gauss or HAG
@@Darren_Xero this is exactly where my mind went. With a Heavy PPC + Capacitor, replacing the 3 VSPs gives you just enough weight for one additional heatsink.
If I could go back in time with this mech, it would be the Clan Invasion era. Imagine the clanners' reactions when they underestimate this humble looking medium mech only to be utterly horrified as it shrugs off their fancy ERPPCs and completely wreck their timberwolves and summoners up close.
Introducing a new battlemech on Solaris actually follows industrial precedent stretching back to ancient Terra. Back in the 20th Century AD, many groundcar manufacturers would enter enhanced versions of their latest commercial models into races. If historical accounts are to be believed, the purchases of young men in particular were greatly influenced by the results.
This was clearly made by someone who knew and loved the Hunchback enough to know its flaws and worked diligently to remedy them while still maintaining it's spirit. As much as I love that one, Thundering hammerblow... I admit having the damage potential being split over multiple die rolls is probably better for my heart.
The Quasimodo is such a fun mech, and the rare case of a Dark Age Iron Wind Metals sculpt that looks really good. I think the best case for it is the lore of it winning a one on one matchup against a Hellstar on Solaris.
I designed it and oversaw the IWM sculpt for it, so that helped control quality. A lot of Dark Age mechs/sculpts are carryovers from wizkids and were given little thought.
@@ShimmeringSword you my good man do the work that is both unappreciated and unsung your quality control is the net that saves us from both Cringe and kek. You have my respect.
@@ShimmeringSword well when they get re done (along with jihad mechs) in that signature cgl style, i feel dark age will get a huge boost in popularity. Especially since ilklan is bringing people back into the modern setting, i feel some jihad/DA refreshing will be a huge boon to a stain on battletech.
If I remember my TRO 3025 Revised correctly, one of the biggest flaws of the Hunchback was that it’s pilots would frequently attempt to punch much bigger mechs even when its mammoth gun ran dry. This would often not end well, as the venerable Hunchie relies on it’s AC/20 to deliver most of its damage. So what does the Quasimodo do? Split the mammoth gun into three high tech energy weapons that cannot run out of ammo (which has range profiles that encourages point blank combat) and give it TSM that can enable the Quasimodo to punch harder than an Atlas. Depending on the angle of attack, this mech has a good chance of punching a head off of an opposing mech of any size/weight class with its fists. Combine this with its increased speed bonus from TSM, and this mech can be a frightening sight in close quarters.
Good Video as always @Big Red 40k PS: Did you know that the Hunchback in the German Translation of Battletech was called Quasimodo 😉 Here the text from Sarna-Wiki entry of the Hunchback about this: "In German products, the unit's proper name was altered to Quasimodo, which creates a potential mix-up with the later introduced Dark Age era BattleMech Quasimodo. The model code was accordingly changed to QSM-4D."
The Quasimodo may be a successful design, but much like in real world, people will always be skeptical of new technology. Hunchback might be old, but it's a tried and tested design that has served the Inner Sphere well for a looong time. You only have to look at Rifleman to see what I mean. Manufacturers tried to replace it with Jagermech and Quickdraw yet they failed to deliver.
This is a logical progression and evolution of the swayback, AND taking advantage of the long range superiority tactics of the clans with speed and BlueShield is a bonus.
A great video! I've always been pretty leery about 'hard-counter' armors and equipment like the Blue Shield, as they automatically mean wasted space and weight when not facing their very specific counters, but something that can negate the ridiculously powerful Clan ER-PPC is definitely worth an exception there. Being a modernized speedy laser-boat that can punch out reflective armor is really an interesting take on the ancient laser-Hunchback. Between this and the Eris, I can really see the FWL fielding a quick, lethal, and technologically-advanced medium roster, moving away from the old 'mediums as the line mechs' setup.
Mediums are a interesting category when it comes to the specialization of mechs, as you can either go with better armored scouts/skirmishes compared to light mechs, or the start of long ranged roles, like snipers or missile boats. It’s also the start of troopers, like my personal favorite, the centurion.
While i like the Hunchback i have to say the Heavy Steel guys made a great job of redesigning it to make a bit more sense. Either you plop two of the massive weapon housings on the shoulders or you bring the weapons down below the level of the cockpit. If you are willing to loose that much visibility on one side that you have to use alternate sensors anyway might as well go for both sides. And this being a newer design suffers from the same flaw even if it makes for a interesting looking mech.
From playing celestials well versed on the VSP it's a weapon I'm surprised hasn't made it on to more mechs. They can be horrific to deal with and the Quasimoto maximizes them. It's was bad enough dealing with two of them on the Malak.
The latest Sagittaire does have 2 Large VSP lasers, as for why almost nobody uses them. Well Clan large and Pulse lasers are better and has range which are either being build or sold by Sea Fox.
@@Alex-pj8nz while I agree Clan pulses and X pulses are better on larger mechs I'd argue the vsp is really useful on lights and mediums. Dropped plenty of Clan lights with my Malak and Preta.
This seems like a mech built for me. I love pulse lasers. I love 5/8/5 movement. I love hunchbacks. The only thing I don't like about this is the XL engine, but that can be forgiven. This makes me want to pick up a dark age lance even more, a Quasimodo, Eris, and two other dark age mechs
Really dig your vids. Been a long time since I roamed the Inner Sphere and they really help to get back into the lore, hardware, and ordinance that is Battletech.
Another amazing video, very interesting design an all round improvement of the hunchback. Love that the mech works at almost ever range and with the tsm + pulse makes this a threat to even bigger mechs as it can close and tear parts off of and the minus -2 from the pulse makes running/jumping nearly free. Big fan of the no ammo weapons as that makes the mech much more durable and improves supply lines for major campaigns. I think that given time this mech could augment the hunchback but actually outright replacing the hunchback is unlikely simply due to lack of numbers and costs to produce (that blue screen technology in particular) Hope to see variants one day as that platform would be a great option for them...example a ppc version being able to trade/kick out the enemy ppc snipers to allow regular forces to advance, or a more close combat version (tsm+mace?) for urban fighting units.
"Now here is a riddle to guess if you can!" sing the bells of Kali Yama "Who is the monster to take down the Clans?" sing the bells of Kali Yama With the varying speeds of pulse lasers, and its myomer triple-strength strong! And some say the soul of House Marik is sold by the bells- The bells of Kali Yama!
Love the Hunchback so this being a successor is super cool. Even better it makes its debut in Solaris. Solaris combat and stories are some of the best stories.
Huh, neat! I love me the Hunchback and the Hunchback IIC. Mechs as single weapons platforms, yes please! But the spirit lives on with the mighty ZAP power of this thing at close range. Dig it.
I’ve admired the look of the Quasimodo since I noticed it while browsing MUL for FWL mechs, but this vid told me a lot about it. Thank you. I’m very tempted to get one in the future. More glory to Marik!
Given all the dick moves Kali-Yama did to the Komoyaba Hunchback, it's great to see they eventually learned their lesson and really invested into innovating it. Early on it seemed their first moves were to make sure every trace of the original Komoyaba Type VII hunchbacks were obsoleted out of existence by not supporting them and instead forcefully rolling out their incompatible Crucis Type V chassis hunchbacks, ensuring that all bootleg variation refit kits were incompatible, and forcing groups to buy the off the factory line models of those refits as a big FU to a specific Periphery nation well known for refit kits.. The only merit I saw was the ammo rack appeared smaller against it's taller frame, in part due to one of it's tons of ammo fitted inside the left torso rather than in the drum, but because of this field reloads were also slower.
I love the fact that the Blue Shield system is still considered to be extremely rare despite that fact that it is approaching a century in age. (As far as I know it was introduced in the Unbound module for Mechwarrior 2nd edition which occurred shortly after the Clan invasion.)
The Solaris demo really was perfect for this. If your skill is to pick an enemy and rush them for increasing damage, a crowded battlefield could be a death sentence. I was picturing the melee Hunch from DC Bruins during the TSM explanation. As someone who struggled to maintain patience until the brawling phase of an MWO match, this sounds like a ton of fun for the "kmdd or die tryin" bum rush at the end of a game. Light the fuse and finish with a bang.
Oh hell yeah! I love anything Hunchie. I just had my first escalation league game Saturday. I scored two kills with my 4G against a high tech Griphon and a Rifleman that killed our wolverine. I know the GM was pulling his punches but nailing shots with an AC 20 is still very satisfying.
Having not played anything beyond the clan invasion and mostly succession wars, I loved the 4p so much so that our lgs dubbed it the discoqueen. I would love to play a game using some dark age mechs and this one especially!
Solid mech to build around, and tune to your preference. Only thing is 15 million and some change you can buy older mechs and retrofit it and still have cash left over. All and all get what you pay for.
Hello Red. Another excellent Video. And about a design that I can appreciate and 'get behind'. I really like this updated version of the venerable Hunchback, and 'party back' Mech. My only question is this: I usually use the MechLab from the Mech Headquarters program. But it seems that the program does not have the Quasimodo as a listed design. Where can I obtain a .pdf of this Mech? As for the model itself... well, yeah, I plan to order a couple from Iron Wind Metals, to add to my growing 'stable' of Mech models for game play. Keep on, keeping on, my friend. I do enjoy your videos.
On one hand, I love me a hunchback, and this is a great interpertation of the Swayback. On the other hand, Man I feel like this would be amazing if there was some big ole shotgun-like cannon on it
Wraith's getting reviewed when we hit TRO:3055. These are getting reviewed because I tend to review a handful of Dark Age designs, who are voted on by RUclips members, inbetween TRO segments.
Interestingly, I just had a quick look at Mega Mek Lab, I don't remember how I got onto it, but it is a Mech design program, and had a quick look at making an assault version. 80 tons max, for 5/8/5 movement, XL engine, of course, and as close to everything else that I could get. it is plausible, but not quite the full setup. couldn't find the blue particle shield thing and couldn't fit all of the lasers, but 3 VSP medium lasers and 2 ER Medium lasers with that speed and full armour for an 80 ton mech. sort of a charger upgrade in a way, but i thought of it as a quasimodo II with a similar appearance but bigger. also, has the full head ejection and triple myomer, 14 double heat sinks. it has been so long since I have played I am not even sure what all of the new stuff does and industrial mechs and such, so much that is new to me and not explained in the mech designer as it is just for putting a mech together, no details. time enough, maybe, to find out. don't anyone to play so I don't really have any need to find out, other than curiosity and I am rambling now, so I will leave this comment alone. just a thought I had and the ability to throw together a quick design.
I do find it amusing that while it does have a tool to stop clan ER PPCs from hammering into next week the clans have come out with so so many more scary weapons like the HAGs that honestly the ER PPC is the least of your worries
HAG is great in theory, but you're never gonna land all the damage in one place. It's for crit-seeking, not sand-blasting. For opening up the armor in the first place, you need high damage to a single location. If you have a Blue Field system in the mix on the enemy, you need look no further than Clan large pulse lasers. Heat? No big deal, less than a Clan ERPPC. Damage? It's got it, not as much as a clan ERPPC but if you divide that by two (and don't divide the laser damage by two) you come out on top with the pulse lasers at all ranges. Oh and like all pulse lasers, clan large pulse lasers are easier to hit with. Clan large pulse lasers have always been "maximum cheese". And until the Clans figure out a VSPL type thing of their own, that's how clan energy weapons are gonna stay, more or less. ... That is, unless you can figure out how to bring the Improved Heavy Gauss Rifle back from the grave of Clan Coyote.
@@44R0Ndin I have found it to be an effective enough buck shot style sand blaster more so on mediums or lighter hell I had one game where my Scylla managed to pull apart three other lances using it's HAGs which remains the most hilarious and one sided beating I have ever dished out in battletech
Clan ER PPCs and Heavy PPCs are so overpowered and common that anything that can reduce their effectiveness, is worth it's weight in gold.The Quasimodo does however need to be careful against pulse boats though or even the Warlord. Yeah the Warlord main power comes from 2 heavy PPCs... But it also has 6 er medium lasers as secondaries. So creative piloting to get behind it should be the key and try not to melee it too often from the front because an assault kicking for 17 points HURTs.
The Quasimodo sounds like the Russian T90: it stated as an upgraded T72 (addition of soft kill APS, new armor, etc) but was rebranded, some say to escapr the bad publicity of the T72 being creamed in Desert Storm by Abrams and Bradley's.
I kind of want to crack one open and stuff the Blue Shield into a Hellstar (with armor reduction to fit it) to truly be king of the ERPPC. As for the Quasimodo itself, I'd rather load 6 clan MPL instead of the 3 VSPL.
I do a couple Dark Age / Ilclan mechs inbetween TRO blocks. The channel members vote for them. They voted for the Quasimodo and Eris. Gun and Lament are coming up next before we move back into the Clan 3050 mechs. :)
@@BigRed40TECH That's what I thought as well. The VE is a very dangerous mech. The combination of speed, maneuverability, and firepower makes it quite capable in the hands of the right pilot.
The Quasimodo is the exact case i predicted a long time ago. You see, the german version of BattleTech got all the Mech names translated, something i am strictly against. Because Hunchback cannot be properly translated to a decend sounding name, they named the mech Quasimodo in german, however now there is a mech that is actually named Quasimodo officially in english. So, what to call the german version? Since i long since have stopped consuming BT in german, i can only guess they called it Quasimodo MkII or such. Fools.
I used this twice I think and while I love TSM mechs I really wish this one had a different loadout, and weapon placement, as the TSM requires at least one ER Med to fire to keep the heat at 9. The range disadvantage this mech has means that against nearly everything other than a Hellstar, or an Awesome it will take a lot of damage trying to move in and has to stay exceptionally close to be most effective and with the XL engine it is still fragile for a brawler. In a team match up it can be a good mech to confuse the situation if there are some real heavy hitters in support but oddly enough mechs similar to the Hunchback are very good counters to this as to make the best use of the mech you will always be at a targeting penalty with everything but the VSPL's due to keeping the heat at 9 for TSM. Overall it is a fun reimagining of the Hunchback but could use some variants.
Can always deactivate a heatsink or two on the way into battle to be fair. That really solves that problem, as you shouldn't need your TSM until you get into melee range anyway.
@@BigRed40TECH Heat sink Deactivation is not always allowed on a sink by sink basis in most games I have been in, but even that does not address the real problem of having no one heat weapons to balance heat on a walk. So it is going to be run or jump for movement options. Part two is Melee is actually not the biggest reason for running the TSM. Getting into and out of range is. At no point of time should this mech try and play around at even medium ranges with enemy weapons and that means trying to go from somewhere around the late teens to 9 hexes and under. To do that you will need every bit of speed and you will have to get there the turn before you have the chance to move in and fire. Part three is its weapons are not fearsome like the original Hunchbacks were. Where the AC 20 versions all could kill nearly any mech in existence with a single shot, this cannot. Compounding that the Swayback had far more firepower with many more opportunities for crit seeking and head hits, even the Hunchback models with AC 10's or piles of SRM's were more frightening because you didn't have to be in arms reach to actually cause your best damage. Overall I like the design. Definitely love fast brawlers with TSM that can punch off heads. It is a monster against smaller mechs as it is able to keep pace with them and absolutely devastate them. It is a bit light as a brawler though and several other TSM Heavies move just as fast, or faster and hit as hard or harder. But it is a flawed design that hopefully will see a few versions that work better, in my opinion of course.
Interesting Mech. However the XL engine makes it way too fragile for my taste. Given the TSM a standard or light engine with 4/6 movement enhanced to 5/8 by heat would make it more appealing to me.
I would enjoy this mech if it was not 1. Use the OP Blue shield system. Yes, for 3 tons you'll halve the damage from the best weapon systems in Battletech. Combine it with Laser Reflective and a clan ERPPC does what, 3 damage? It should never have been added to the setting, i think. 2. Actually had something ballistic to simulate the "Big Cannon". Of all the weapons to add in 3140, they chose Medium VSPL.
@@BigRed40TECH i just dont like OP things like reflective/reactive armor/Blue Shield. 50%dmg reduction is insanely powerful and for all 3 cases, you pay next to nothing for it. Comparing to Hardened armor should give an idea, where your armor weighs double and although i think you get too many penalties regarding speed and piloting. Ferro Lamellor is how you do damage reduction, fair amount of DR and you still pay for the opportunity cost due to crits and lost weight compared to FF. Now, FR requires you to deal 25% more damage, while BS requires you to do 100% more. And you can stack it with armor. You understand where im goin mate?
@@fistan5447 I do. But the lethality of the game has also spiked, so these features are in response to that. I don't personally have the same problem with it myself.
@@BigRed40TECH not to that extent though. Personally i think tech1 games are too sluggish. Ferro Lamellor nerfs Clan tech to almost IS Lvl2 levels of threat which is why i like those in mechs. But if i were any of the clans or Great houses, every mech i field would have reflective+blueshield, which will remove most damage from board for fraction of the cost of hardened. Not every mech uses ammo based weaponry but due to how heat sinks work almost all mechs use something reflective will counter. That alone is OP, Blue shield on top of that feels like a deliberate fuck you. There you go, now you do 1/5th of the damage you originally did. That is just bad game design.
@@fistan5447 If your fighting custom mechs, sure. But most in-universe mechs aren't Ferro-Laminar / Hardened Armour / BRA / Reflective + ECM + AMS + Blue Shield battlemechs. Overwhelmingly they have 1 of these systems, and that's about it. Fighting custom mechs, sure. But custom mechs aren't something I personally deploy.
I really like the Quasimodo but I feel like it is really let down by the VSMPL they are so heavy and make a ton of heat for how much damage they really do.
Even at medium range you are forcing PSRs with them yes you do run hot, but honestly this mech doesn't care with TSM. Makes you faster and makes it easier to get to ideal range where you just don't miss.
Mechwarrior Online without melee is really a bad oversight and in my opinion its biggest flaw. This mech would be meh in that game (lights would literally go right up to you and hug you, and you cant look down enough to get em with shoulder weapon or arm lasers) when really a mech like this is a power house and would punch or kick a light mech that tried to do that and destroy it in one hit.
The name kinda sucks. The hunchback you could always say Hunchie or I gotta Hunch for nicknames. With the quasimoto you could say ... quasi for short and that sounds very weak. It isn't like Quasimodo was the god of artillery or something.
![Diggy Graves - Red Vineyard [Official Lyric Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/8Ro085T0mnQ/mqdefault.jpg)
The Quasimodo is a love letter to the Swayback version of the Hunchback. It really needs variants. Especially something that mounts some long range weapons. A gauss version backed by medium or small energy weapons. A version that upgrades to large energy weapons. Even a missile carrying version that maybe takes advantage of MML technology.
I'm sure we'll get something eventually.
Imagine a Quasimodo variant with heavy PPC + capacitor to match the firepower of AC20 but shoots further & no ammo required
Or a Gauss variant that's either armed with Heavy/Improved Heavy Gauss, Silver Bullet Gauss or HAG
Technically, "Swayback" is a term that relates to every single non-4G variant of the Hunchback instead of just the 4P.
@@Darren_Xero this is exactly where my mind went. With a Heavy PPC + Capacitor, replacing the 3 VSPs gives you just enough weight for one additional heatsink.
@@Darren_Xeroooooh! Good call on that man! Would the PPC interfere with the shield setup though? Lore wise??
If I could go back in time with this mech, it would be the Clan Invasion era. Imagine the clanners' reactions when they underestimate this humble looking medium mech only to be utterly horrified as it shrugs off their fancy ERPPCs and completely wreck their timberwolves and summoners up close.
Introducing a new battlemech on Solaris actually follows industrial precedent stretching back to ancient Terra. Back in the 20th Century AD, many groundcar manufacturers would enter enhanced versions of their latest commercial models into races. If historical accounts are to be believed, the purchases of young men in particular were greatly influenced by the results.
This was clearly made by someone who knew and loved the Hunchback enough to know its flaws and worked diligently to remedy them while still maintaining it's spirit. As much as I love that one, Thundering hammerblow... I admit having the damage potential being split over multiple die rolls is probably better for my heart.
The Quasimodo is such a fun mech, and the rare case of a Dark Age Iron Wind Metals sculpt that looks really good.
I think the best case for it is the lore of it winning a one on one matchup against a Hellstar on Solaris.
I designed it and oversaw the IWM sculpt for it, so that helped control quality. A lot of Dark Age mechs/sculpts are carryovers from wizkids and were given little thought.
@@ShimmeringSword you my good man do the work that is both unappreciated and unsung your quality control is the net that saves us from both Cringe and kek. You have my respect.
@@ShimmeringSword well when they get re done (along with jihad mechs) in that signature cgl style, i feel dark age will get a huge boost in popularity. Especially since ilklan is bringing people back into the modern setting, i feel some jihad/DA refreshing will be a huge boon to a stain on battletech.
It looks like a Hunchback made a baby with a T'au Battlesuit. 😁
Not a bad thing tbf, since tau battlesuits do look good
Hunchback if left to luxury car designers
Be proud of their son.
That is remarkably accurate
The missile swarms such a thing would bring to the map. Ooooo.
If I remember my TRO 3025 Revised correctly, one of the biggest flaws of the Hunchback was that it’s pilots would frequently attempt to punch much bigger mechs even when its mammoth gun ran dry. This would often not end well, as the venerable Hunchie relies on it’s AC/20 to deliver most of its damage.
So what does the Quasimodo do? Split the mammoth gun into three high tech energy weapons that cannot run out of ammo (which has range profiles that encourages point blank combat) and give it TSM that can enable the Quasimodo to punch harder than an Atlas. Depending on the angle of attack, this mech has a good chance of punching a head off of an opposing mech of any size/weight class with its fists. Combine this with its increased speed bonus from TSM, and this mech can be a frightening sight in close quarters.
Good Video as always @Big Red 40k
PS: Did you know that the Hunchback in the German Translation of Battletech was called Quasimodo 😉
Here the text from Sarna-Wiki entry of the Hunchback about this:
"In German products, the unit's proper name was altered to Quasimodo, which creates a potential mix-up with the later introduced Dark Age era BattleMech Quasimodo. The model code was accordingly changed to QSM-4D."
I wasn't aware.
They should make the Quasimoto the Hunchback in German versions. Maximize confusion.
@@jtjames79 In the newest Translations they only use the English Names...
But in the End is the Quasimodo a Hunchback II 😉
The Quasimodo may be a successful design, but much like in real world, people will always be skeptical of new technology.
Hunchback might be old, but it's a tried and tested design that has served the Inner Sphere well for a looong time.
You only have to look at Rifleman to see what I mean. Manufacturers tried to replace it with Jagermech and Quickdraw yet they failed to deliver.
This is a logical progression and evolution of the swayback, AND taking advantage of the long range superiority tactics of the clans with speed and BlueShield is a bonus.
A great video! I've always been pretty leery about 'hard-counter' armors and equipment like the Blue Shield, as they automatically mean wasted space and weight when not facing their very specific counters, but something that can negate the ridiculously powerful Clan ER-PPC is definitely worth an exception there. Being a modernized speedy laser-boat that can punch out reflective armor is really an interesting take on the ancient laser-Hunchback. Between this and the Eris, I can really see the FWL fielding a quick, lethal, and technologically-advanced medium roster, moving away from the old 'mediums as the line mechs' setup.
Mediums are a interesting category when it comes to the specialization of mechs, as you can either go with better armored scouts/skirmishes compared to light mechs, or the start of long ranged roles, like snipers or missile boats. It’s also the start of troopers, like my personal favorite, the centurion.
_'... so, here is the riddle, to guess if you can, sing the bells of Notre Dame, who is the monster and who is the man?...'_
While i like the Hunchback i have to say the Heavy Steel guys made a great job of redesigning it to make a bit more sense. Either you plop two of the massive weapon housings on the shoulders or you bring the weapons down below the level of the cockpit. If you are willing to loose that much visibility on one side that you have to use alternate sensors anyway might as well go for both sides. And this being a newer design suffers from the same flaw even if it makes for a interesting looking mech.
I thought he looks like Hunchback just because of shoulder gun, but turned out he is literally his son
Thank you Red! I had never heard of the Quasimodo before now. I love playing as hunchbacks in MW5
It's a Dark Age mech :)
There's multiple while eras of mechs we don't see in mech 5 or online due to them being far more modern
From playing celestials well versed on the VSP it's a weapon I'm surprised hasn't made it on to more mechs. They can be horrific to deal with and the Quasimoto maximizes them. It's was bad enough dealing with two of them on the Malak.
The latest Sagittaire does have 2 Large VSP lasers, as for why almost nobody uses them. Well Clan large and Pulse lasers are better and has range which are either being build or sold by Sea Fox.
@@Alex-pj8nz while I agree Clan pulses and X pulses are better on larger mechs I'd argue the vsp is really useful on lights and mediums. Dropped plenty of Clan lights with my Malak and Preta.
This seems like a mech built for me. I love pulse lasers. I love 5/8/5 movement. I love hunchbacks. The only thing I don't like about this is the XL engine, but that can be forgiven. This makes me want to pick up a dark age lance even more, a Quasimodo, Eris, and two other dark age mechs
Fantastic. Your channel is one of three equal powerhouses for Battletech lore videos and I'm glad I found t.
Let's go Quasimodo!
Quasimodo power!
The 4P is one of my favourite variants of the the original Hunchback. I love that this descendant takes that same concept and puts it on steroids
Really dig your vids. Been a long time since I roamed the Inner Sphere and they really help to get back into the lore, hardware, and ordinance that is Battletech.
Another amazing video, very interesting design an all round improvement of the hunchback. Love that the mech works at almost ever range and with the tsm + pulse makes this a threat to even bigger mechs as it can close and tear parts off of and the minus -2 from the pulse makes running/jumping nearly free.
Big fan of the no ammo weapons as that makes the mech much more durable and improves supply lines for major campaigns.
I think that given time this mech could augment the hunchback but actually outright replacing the hunchback is unlikely simply due to lack of numbers and costs to produce (that blue screen technology in particular)
Hope to see variants one day as that platform would be a great option for them...example a ppc version being able to trade/kick out the enemy ppc snipers to allow regular forces to advance, or a more close combat version (tsm+mace?) for urban fighting units.
Nice Mech. It still feels like a Hunchback, maybe a Hunchback++ :)
"Now here is a riddle to guess if you can!" sing the bells of Kali Yama
"Who is the monster to take down the Clans?" sing the bells of Kali Yama
With the varying speeds of pulse lasers, and its myomer triple-strength strong!
And some say the soul of House Marik is sold by the bells-
The bells of Kali Yama!
Love the Hunchback so this being a successor is super cool. Even better it makes its debut in Solaris. Solaris combat and stories are some of the best stories.
Heard of this mech before only by name, great informative breakdown 👍
Blake's Blood... I might actually make a list for the Dark Age if it means I get a few of these beasts.
Thanks for the video.
Now we just need RAC20s and a Quasimodo can sprint up to an assault and mag dump them out of existence
Huh, neat! I love me the Hunchback and the Hunchback IIC. Mechs as single weapons platforms, yes please!
But the spirit lives on with the mighty ZAP power of this thing at close range. Dig it.
I’ve admired the look of the Quasimodo since I noticed it while browsing MUL for FWL mechs, but this vid told me a lot about it. Thank you. I’m very tempted to get one in the future. More glory to Marik!
Glory to Marik!
We need a HAG variant! Get the hunchie back out there and scaring big mechs again
Another great production! This mech took the best of the HBK and made it so much better. This is a damn scary machine.
Given all the dick moves Kali-Yama did to the Komoyaba Hunchback, it's great to see they eventually learned their lesson and really invested into innovating it. Early on it seemed their first moves were to make sure every trace of the original Komoyaba Type VII hunchbacks were obsoleted out of existence by not supporting them and instead forcefully rolling out their incompatible Crucis Type V chassis hunchbacks, ensuring that all bootleg variation refit kits were incompatible, and forcing groups to buy the off the factory line models of those refits as a big FU to a specific Periphery nation well known for refit kits.. The only merit I saw was the ammo rack appeared smaller against it's taller frame, in part due to one of it's tons of ammo fitted inside the left torso rather than in the drum, but because of this field reloads were also slower.
I love the fact that the Blue Shield system is still considered to be extremely rare despite that fact that it is approaching a century in age. (As far as I know it was introduced in the Unbound module for Mechwarrior 2nd edition which occurred shortly after the Clan invasion.)
The Solaris demo really was perfect for this. If your skill is to pick an enemy and rush them for increasing damage, a crowded battlefield could be a death sentence. I was picturing the melee Hunch from DC Bruins during the TSM explanation. As someone who struggled to maintain patience until the brawling phase of an MWO match, this sounds like a ton of fun for the "kmdd or die tryin" bum rush at the end of a game. Light the fuse and finish with a bang.
Oh hell yeah! I love anything Hunchie. I just had my first escalation league game Saturday. I scored two kills with my 4G against a high tech Griphon and a Rifleman that killed our wolverine. I know the GM was pulling his punches but nailing shots with an AC 20 is still very satisfying.
The Quasimodo is only a recent discovery of mine, but its an amazing machine
I sware this and a lance of eris would be a nightmare to anyone in a long running campaign
Great video as always Red!!!!
Thanks again!
Having not played anything beyond the clan invasion and mostly succession wars, I loved the 4p so much so that our lgs dubbed it the discoqueen. I would love to play a game using some dark age mechs and this one especially!
That ER Small laser might be better served as a laser ams
Solid mech to build around, and tune to your preference. Only thing is 15 million and some change you can buy older mechs and retrofit it and still have cash left over. All and all get what you pay for.
Very good, a new mech for me. Appears to be an excellent design. Will try it out soon
found a new favorite mech, totally my style
Love this mech. downside is price and bv. Also ballistic mechs and faster range unites will drag it down
The only 'Mech I'll use to take out the OP Hellstar, that PPC shield has saved me PPC head shots.
Long live the free world's league
Purple Bird is strong.
@@BigRed40TECH PURPLE BIRD BIG DONG ENERGY EXPANSION PACK!
I always liked the hunchback, 50 ton assault mech :D
any medium mech that can maul a marauder and live to tell the tale is a good mech in my book
For whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee.
Hello Red.
Another excellent Video. And about a design that I can appreciate and 'get behind'. I really like this updated version of the venerable Hunchback, and 'party back' Mech.
My only question is this: I usually use the MechLab from the Mech Headquarters program. But it seems that the program does not have the Quasimodo as a listed design. Where can I obtain a .pdf of this Mech?
As for the model itself... well, yeah, I plan to order a couple from Iron Wind Metals, to add to my growing 'stable' of Mech models for game play.
Keep on, keeping on, my friend. I do enjoy your videos.
You could say it's a. . .bellringer?
HAH!
Since when is a hunchback variant a different mech 😁.
Big fan of these, I like to listen to the shorter ones while I’m in the sauna.
On one hand, I love me a hunchback, and this is a great interpertation of the Swayback. On the other hand, Man I feel like this would be amazing if there was some big ole shotgun-like cannon on it
Well, nuts. Guess I have a new favorite medium 'mech, lol.
I enjoy your mechanics reviews specially the FWL designs have you done a review of the TR1 Wraith or do you have a review planned for the future?
Wraith's getting reviewed when we hit TRO:3055.
These are getting reviewed because I tend to review a handful of Dark Age designs, who are voted on by RUclips members, inbetween TRO segments.
Before the clans arrived my favorite mech was the hunchback. I like this.
Interestingly, I just had a quick look at Mega Mek Lab, I don't remember how I got onto it, but it is a Mech design program, and had a quick look at making an assault version. 80 tons max, for 5/8/5 movement, XL engine, of course, and as close to everything else that I could get. it is plausible, but not quite the full setup. couldn't find the blue particle shield thing and couldn't fit all of the lasers, but 3 VSP medium lasers and 2 ER Medium lasers with that speed and full armour for an 80 ton mech. sort of a charger upgrade in a way, but i thought of it as a quasimodo II with a similar appearance but bigger. also, has the full head ejection and triple myomer, 14 double heat sinks. it has been so long since I have played I am not even sure what all of the new stuff does and industrial mechs and such, so much that is new to me and not explained in the mech designer as it is just for putting a mech together, no details. time enough, maybe, to find out. don't anyone to play so I don't really have any need to find out, other than curiosity and I am rambling now, so I will leave this comment alone. just a thought I had and the ability to throw together a quick design.
I do find it amusing that while it does have a tool to stop clan ER PPCs from hammering into next week the clans have come out with so so many more scary weapons like the HAGs that honestly the ER PPC is the least of your worries
I honestly think the Clan ERPPC is a much more effective weapon than most HAG's tbh.
HAG is great in theory, but you're never gonna land all the damage in one place. It's for crit-seeking, not sand-blasting.
For opening up the armor in the first place, you need high damage to a single location.
If you have a Blue Field system in the mix on the enemy, you need look no further than Clan large pulse lasers.
Heat? No big deal, less than a Clan ERPPC.
Damage? It's got it, not as much as a clan ERPPC but if you divide that by two (and don't divide the laser damage by two) you come out on top with the pulse lasers at all ranges.
Oh and like all pulse lasers, clan large pulse lasers are easier to hit with.
Clan large pulse lasers have always been "maximum cheese". And until the Clans figure out a VSPL type thing of their own, that's how clan energy weapons are gonna stay, more or less.
... That is, unless you can figure out how to bring the Improved Heavy Gauss Rifle back from the grave of Clan Coyote.
@@44R0Ndin I have found it to be an effective enough buck shot style sand blaster more so on mediums or lighter hell I had one game where my Scylla managed to pull apart three other lances using it's HAGs which remains the most hilarious and one sided beating I have ever dished out in battletech
Clan ER PPCs and Heavy PPCs are so overpowered and common that anything that can reduce their effectiveness, is worth it's weight in gold.The Quasimodo does however need to be careful against pulse boats though or even the Warlord.
Yeah the Warlord main power comes from 2 heavy PPCs... But it also has 6 er medium lasers as secondaries.
So creative piloting to get behind it should be the key and try not to melee it too often from the front because an assault kicking for 17 points HURTs.
As soon as I saw the image kn this video I thought Hunchback...
Nice med mech.
The Quasimodo sounds like the Russian T90: it stated as an upgraded T72 (addition of soft kill APS, new armor, etc) but was rebranded, some say to escapr the bad publicity of the T72 being creamed in Desert Storm by Abrams and Bradley's.
Mech fu never dies
Plan- a few UAC bursts into the right torso.
Would love to see a video for the Warhawk
There will be one within the next few months.
Yesss! Keep up the good work
I kind of want to crack one open and stuff the Blue Shield into a Hellstar (with armor reduction to fit it) to truly be king of the ERPPC.
As for the Quasimodo itself, I'd rather load 6 clan MPL instead of the 3 VSPL.
I.. am unfamiliar with this Mech. I guess you aren't going in order of TRO release?
I do a couple Dark Age / Ilclan mechs inbetween TRO blocks. The channel members vote for them. They voted for the Quasimodo and Eris. Gun and Lament are coming up next before we move back into the Clan 3050 mechs. :)
@@BigRed40TECH Roger that! Thank you for your excellent work :)
Welp I bought the mini.....and a black knight.....and a Clint.......and a Goliath........
Everybody gansta till they take an AC20 to face
Hunchback Gang
Sounds like a good time. Quasimodo vs Vapor Eagle. Who wins?
Eagle probably.
@@BigRed40TECH That's what I thought as well. The VE is a very dangerous mech. The combination of speed, maneuverability, and firepower makes it quite capable in the hands of the right pilot.
Something to replace the wolverine M?
Its very WVR-6M for the Dark Age, but not exactly.
Would make a fine addition to my collection, if CGL has a mini for this mech.
IWM gas it :)
Hey am I just doing the math wrong or is this Mech only 52 tons? Loaded it up in Mechlab and it showed tonnage still available
The Quasimodo is the exact case i predicted a long time ago. You see, the german version of BattleTech got all the Mech names translated, something i am strictly against. Because Hunchback cannot be properly translated to a decend sounding name, they named the mech Quasimodo in german, however now there is a mech that is actually named Quasimodo officially in english. So, what to call the german version? Since i long since have stopped consuming BT in german, i can only guess they called it Quasimodo MkII or such. Fools.
I used this twice I think and while I love TSM mechs I really wish this one had a different loadout, and weapon placement, as the TSM requires at least one ER Med to fire to keep the heat at 9. The range disadvantage this mech has means that against nearly everything other than a Hellstar, or an Awesome it will take a lot of damage trying to move in and has to stay exceptionally close to be most effective and with the XL engine it is still fragile for a brawler. In a team match up it can be a good mech to confuse the situation if there are some real heavy hitters in support but oddly enough mechs similar to the Hunchback are very good counters to this as to make the best use of the mech you will always be at a targeting penalty with everything but the VSPL's due to keeping the heat at 9 for TSM.
Overall it is a fun reimagining of the Hunchback but could use some variants.
Can always deactivate a heatsink or two on the way into battle to be fair. That really solves that problem, as you shouldn't need your TSM until you get into melee range anyway.
@@BigRed40TECH Heat sink Deactivation is not always allowed on a sink by sink basis in most games I have been in, but even that does not address the real problem of having no one heat weapons to balance heat on a walk. So it is going to be run or jump for movement options.
Part two is Melee is actually not the biggest reason for running the TSM. Getting into and out of range is. At no point of time should this mech try and play around at even medium ranges with enemy weapons and that means trying to go from somewhere around the late teens to 9 hexes and under. To do that you will need every bit of speed and you will have to get there the turn before you have the chance to move in and fire.
Part three is its weapons are not fearsome like the original Hunchbacks were. Where the AC 20 versions all could kill nearly any mech in existence with a single shot, this cannot. Compounding that the Swayback had far more firepower with many more opportunities for crit seeking and head hits, even the Hunchback models with AC 10's or piles of SRM's were more frightening because you didn't have to be in arms reach to actually cause your best damage.
Overall I like the design. Definitely love fast brawlers with TSM that can punch off heads. It is a monster against smaller mechs as it is able to keep pace with them and absolutely devastate them. It is a bit light as a brawler though and several other TSM Heavies move just as fast, or faster and hit as hard or harder.
But it is a flawed design that hopefully will see a few versions that work better, in my opinion of course.
More mechs!
An Issue with this mech is that it doesn't have long range but it does have high speed.
i'd probably drop the smol for gecm, but thats how i roll
Was that a Bob Dylan quote?
Yes lol
@@BigRed40TECH The Times They Are A-Changin is my favorite Bob Dylan song.
Interesting Mech. However the XL engine makes it way too fragile for my taste. Given the TSM a standard or light engine with 4/6 movement enhanced to 5/8 by heat would make it more appealing to me.
Without ammunition, it won't be quite as frail as one might imagine tbh.
The word is damper, not dampener.
I would enjoy this mech if it was not
1. Use the OP Blue shield system. Yes, for 3 tons you'll halve the damage from the best weapon systems in Battletech. Combine it with Laser Reflective and a clan ERPPC does what, 3 damage? It should never have been added to the setting, i think.
2. Actually had something ballistic to simulate the "Big Cannon". Of all the weapons to add in 3140, they chose Medium VSPL.
Blue Shield makes this thing the Big Game Hunter that it is.
@@BigRed40TECH i just dont like OP things like reflective/reactive armor/Blue Shield. 50%dmg reduction is insanely powerful and for all 3 cases, you pay next to nothing for it. Comparing to Hardened armor should give an idea, where your armor weighs double and although i think you get too many penalties regarding speed and piloting. Ferro Lamellor is how you do damage reduction, fair amount of DR and you still pay for the opportunity cost due to crits and lost weight compared to FF. Now, FR requires you to deal 25% more damage, while BS requires you to do 100% more. And you can stack it with armor. You understand where im goin mate?
@@fistan5447 I do. But the lethality of the game has also spiked, so these features are in response to that. I don't personally have the same problem with it myself.
@@BigRed40TECH not to that extent though. Personally i think tech1 games are too sluggish. Ferro Lamellor nerfs Clan tech to almost IS Lvl2 levels of threat which is why i like those in mechs. But if i were any of the clans or Great houses, every mech i field would have reflective+blueshield, which will remove most damage from board for fraction of the cost of hardened. Not every mech uses ammo based weaponry but due to how heat sinks work almost all mechs use something reflective will counter. That alone is OP, Blue shield on top of that feels like a deliberate fuck you. There you go, now you do 1/5th of the damage you originally did. That is just bad game design.
@@fistan5447 If your fighting custom mechs, sure. But most in-universe mechs aren't Ferro-Laminar / Hardened Armour / BRA / Reflective + ECM + AMS + Blue Shield battlemechs.
Overwhelmingly they have 1 of these systems, and that's about it. Fighting custom mechs, sure. But custom mechs aren't something I personally deploy.
I really like the Quasimodo but I feel like it is really let down by the VSMPL they are so heavy and make a ton of heat for how much damage they really do.
It's the accuracy. The QSM wants to be at 3 hexes.
Even at medium range you are forcing PSRs with them yes you do run hot, but honestly this mech doesn't care with TSM. Makes you faster and makes it easier to get to ideal range where you just don't miss.
That's what the hunchback was/is called in german battletech
Mechwarrior Online without melee is really a bad oversight and in my opinion its biggest flaw. This mech would be meh in that game (lights would literally go right up to you and hug you, and you cant look down enough to get em with shoulder weapon or arm lasers) when really a mech like this is a power house and would punch or kick a light mech that tried to do that and destroy it in one hit.
Almost 16 million C-Bills? Yeah, sure…let me just sell my vacation warship. 😅
Gооd.
now give me the cursed ac10 refit that no one wants
Endo steel internal structure, 11 tons of fero fiber armor, lose the small laser if necessary and give it a hatchet.
The name kinda sucks. The hunchback you could always say Hunchie or I gotta Hunch for nicknames. With the quasimoto you could say ... quasi for short and that sounds very weak. It isn't like Quasimodo was the god of artillery or something.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quasimodo
Unfortunately this was the timeframe of Battletech that I never got into. The game died for me after the 3060s.
Or to shoot birds or something.