The first Clan mech ever glimpsed by an Inner Sphere warrior packs quite the wallop. In
this design we have the third-best ratio of available tonnage to mech tonnage in the game
(exceeded only barely by the Shadow Cat; the crown in this category is held by the Mad
Cat's big brother, the Mad Cat MkII). Weapons
slots are the strong point here. Its total of eighteen is the highest of any non-assault
mech (and higher than two of them!). The breakdown is eight beam, zero ballistic, six
missiles, and four omni. The omni slots are grouped in twos, and that coupled with the
lack of any native ballistic slots rules out using ballistic weapons as the primary punch
on this mech. Dual LBX-10 ACs are possible, but you really should be packing more punch
than that in a mech of this size. Up to two of any beam weapon or missile weapon are
possible. Ideally, the Mad Cat delivers a strong beam weapon punch with missiles to help
drive the point home.
It's possible to squeeze six large lasers on board, enough
to fell an assault mech in three well-placed volleys. But don't do this unless you like it
hot. Even backing those lasers up with twenty heat sinks will have you riding rapidly into
the land of automatic shutdown unless you either find a nice, friendly pool of water or
are playing on a particularly cool map (read: lunacy).
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Thor
