Listen along, as I read, and Rant about, my first Favorite Battlemech, Defiance Industries' FNR-5 Fafnir! This video is also a bit of an experiment, combining "Scripted" with unscripted. The first few minutes is a typical SARNA reading, but most of it afterwards is an unscripted rant about my love of the Fafnir. I hope you enjoy it!
Music Used: https://ironsmith.bandcamp.com/track/city-in-the-stars
Reading Source: https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Fafnir
Image by me, that's my IronWinds Metals model of the Fafnir
Music site, for those who want to check out more of my music: https://ironsmith.bandcamp.com/
Note: NO GENERATIVE AI WAS USED IN THE MAKING OF THIS VIDEO
00:00Hello and welcome to the Voice of Iron, and in this session, we'll be reading about the Fafnir Assault Mech.
00:08Description
00:08The Fafnir can be considered Defiance Industries of Hesperus' flagship battle mech.
00:16Originally, the Defiance was intended to be the flagship mech, but its actions tainted its reputation.
00:22So it was overshadowed in this role by the Fafnir.
00:25The Fafnir is built on a lightweight Foundation Type 220 endo-steel chassis that's capable of supporting the Fafnir's massive weapons payload and armor while weighing half as much as a standard chassis.
00:40The slow assault design serves as a platform for a pair of Thor's Hammer's heavy gauss rifles.
00:46To power this massive mech, a Velar 300 fusion engine gives the Fafnir a top speed of 54 kilometers per hour.
00:56The Fafnir is protected by 19 and a half tons of Duralex Special Heavy V2 Armor, giving it as much armor as the entire mass of some light mechs.
01:07The Fafnir has case in both of its side torsos to protect it from secondary damage if one of the heavy gauss rifles are damaged.
01:16Finally, for protection from enemy electronic warfare systems, the Fafnir has a Guardian ECM suite.
01:25Weapons and Equipment
01:26Based on the heaviest chassis available, the Fafnir sports two of what was the Lyran Alliance's newest weapon in the early 3060s, the heavy gauss rifle.
01:37The largest non-artillery weapon in existence, the Hammer Fists can deal an immense amount of heavy damage very quickly.
01:46Four tons of ammunition for each keep the weapons in good supply.
01:50The Fafnir cannot operate far from supply lines, however, as it only has two ER medium lasers and a medium pulse laser as backup.
02:01Variants
02:01The FNR-5B
02:04A lack of Thor's hammers during the Fedcom Civil War forced engineers to come up with a field modification that could be useful without the heavy gauss rifles.
02:13The solution was to replace them with paired standard gauss rifles, ER medium lasers, and an ER large laser.
02:22The added energy weapons reduce the 5B's ammo dependency compared to the original, but even with extra heatsinks installed, it can still run quite hot, so mech warriors must be mindful of their heat levels.
02:35The FNR-5WB
02:38This Word of Blake variant replaces the torso weapons with an improved C-3 computer and four plasma rifles.
02:47The arms retain the ER medium laser of the original Fafnir.
02:51It also carries 22 double heatsinks.
02:55The FNR-5X
02:57This variant makes use of a pair of massive experimental improved heavy gauss rifles, and removes the pulse laser to provide 6 tons of ammunition for the two guns.
03:09The ER medium lasers are left untouched.
03:12These models were used by the Sky Guards during the Coalition attack on Terra.
03:18The FNR-6U
03:20This variant removes all the standard weaponry.
03:24It carries an Ultra Auto Cannon 20 in each arm, while the side torsos each mount a pair of light PPCs.
03:31A light fusion engine is used to provide power, and light ferrofibrous armor provides protection.
03:3712 double heatsinks are hardly enough to keep this variant's heat under control.
03:42And the custom variant, FNR-4A
03:46This was a salvaged command mech, piloted by Archon Peter Steiner-Dabian, during the occupation of Tharkad from 3067 to early 3072.
03:57This customization removes the left torso heavy gauss rifle, half the ammo for the HGRs, and left torso case and ER medium lasers.
04:07It has been fitted with 10 Rocket Launcher 10s.
04:10Also, in the left torso are two extended-range large lasers.
04:15In each of the arms and in the head, a medium pulse laser has been added.
04:20It makes use of a compact gyro, making room for one of the 10 launchers, a Guardian ECM suite, and a C3 slave computer.
04:30Personal Notes
04:31The Fafnir, for how little lore it has written about it, is my first favorite battle mech.
04:39The Sarna article might not have that much to say, but that doesn't stop me from loving this thing.
04:45I grew up with my first MechWarrior video game, MechWarrior 4.
04:50And this thing was, at least to me at the time, the apex of what you could get mech-wise in the game.
04:59Sure, the Atlas was cool, and I did like running assault mechs in that game, but this thing was on a whole other level.
05:04I could walk up to something, point at it, fire, and it was gone.
05:11I had a tendency to set everything to Alpha Strike back in those days because I didn't understand what heat management was when I was a kid.
05:18And I wondered why I shut down so often.
05:21But the Fafnir feels like it was built for Alpha Striking, especially at long range.
05:26So I look at something, twin heavy gosses, just make impact, and unless you are also driving an assault mech, you are dying.
05:34If I get a torso hit, or even a side torso hit, on most mechs with a Fafnir, you are dead.
05:41You are gone.
05:42And that was awesome.
05:45I absolutely love this thing.
05:47I even had a custom variant that I made.
05:49Back in MechWarrior 4, you could tune up the fusion engine to go faster.
05:53So I would strip off, I believe I stripped out the medium lasers, and stripped out a lot of the armor, admittedly.
06:02And I cranked this thing's speed up as big as the engine could go.
06:07Or rather, you know, as much as it would allow me to.
06:11And I made this thing roughly as fast as a medium mech.
06:14Sure, it was now only as well armored as, say, a lighter heavy mech.
06:18But this thing could move at the speed of a medium mech, hit with the power of the assault mech it was designed to be.
06:25And it was just insanity.
06:27I named that variant Lavos after the final boss of Chrono Trigger because I thought it was really cool.
06:33That was another game I played growing up.
06:34And ultimately, the Fafnir has just remained a real treat for me when it comes to MechWarrior.
06:42Sure, as I grew up and as I got older, I found that there were mechs that were technically better at certain things.
06:48And I found designs that, you know, I found myself gravitating towards more for lore reasons or for mechanics reasons.
06:55But I have never actually lost my love for this thing.
06:59I have a model of it.
07:00It's the only Ironwinds metal model that I currently own, although I'll probably get more.
07:05But the Fafnir is just so cool.
07:09I love this thing.
07:10It's great.
07:11It's the reason why I main Steiner.
07:13It's the reason why I have decided to primarily paint Steiner mechs.
07:19Because in that video game, in MechWarrior 4 Mercenaries, the only way to get the Fafnir, at least that I was aware of.
07:25I'm sure there's other ways, but I was a kid.
07:28I didn't exactly look at wikis on how to get stuff.
07:31Well, you would have to ally yourself with Steiner in the Fedcom Civil War in order to get one of these things.
07:37And so I would, constantly.
07:39So I grew up knowing that, well, Steiner's the guys who give you this.
07:44So I want to be on their side.
07:46And so even when I kind of learned about the tabletop game and got into MechWarrior 5,
07:51I still cannot shake that interest in Steiner.
07:55And I definitely have not shaken my interest in the Fafnir.
07:59MechWarrior 5 doesn't have it because, you know, from what I have gathered, you know,
08:04it doesn't have a lot of the Clan Invasion or Post-Clan Invasion mechs yet.
08:10But that said, I love the Fafnir.
08:13It's a fun mech. It's a cool mech.
08:16This video has become far less of a reading and far more of a rant.
08:20But that's really what I wanted to share.
08:24The Fafnir is my favorite battle mech.
08:26Or at least my first favorite battle mech.
08:28My taste may change over the years.
08:30I may have more interest in one design or another over the years.
08:32But my first favorite battle mech is the Fafnir.
08:36FNR 5.
08:39Anyway, that concludes today's reading slash rant.
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