Editing Banshee (BattleTech)

{{Disambiguation|a Mech from [[BattleTech]]|the [[Eldar]] melee unit|Howling Banshees}}
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[[File:BTbanshee.jpeg|thumb|300px|A Banshee in its natural state: [[FAIL|getting torn to shreds while doing fuck-all]].]]
The '''Banshee''' is a Assault 'Mech from [[BattleTech]] known for doing one thing, and one thing only: <u>sucking</u>. This thing is one of the worst 'Mechs ever created in its weight class, and maybe even in the fiction of BattleTech in general. If given the choice between piloting this thing or getting into Battle Armor against an Assault 'Mech, most pilots will take the Battle Armor, or even just a fucking rifle and a ladder and see if they get lucky, rather than get inside this 95-ton hunk of shit. 

Seriously, it's that bad.

== History ==
This misbegotten 'Mech was initially developed by Defiant Industries and put into service in 2445 by the Terran Hegemony as a contemporary to the ''Mackie'' and the ''Emperor'' with almost twice their top-speeds as a standard, but eventually gained a reputation as infinitely less useful than either of those designs. The Banshee still ended up seeing a full-production run though, since the Hegemony really wasn't in a position to argue, and only stopped a decade later after it turned out nobody would touch the damn things. As a result, they've mostly been passing between owners at a furious pace, with the lion's share of the original production run ending up in [[Lyran Commonwealth]] territory. It took centuries for a decent version of the ''Banshee'' to hit the battlefield, and the reputation of the original version actually allowed the improved version to sneak in and cause serious damage, because everyone was focused on the "real" threats on the battlefield.

== What makes it so bad? ==
Simply put, in trying to speed up the typically ponderous Assault class, the poindexters from Defiant Industries who put this thing together didn't leave tonnage for firepower.

See, the ''Banshee'''s fusion engine is massive; bigger than anything else its manufacturer makes, and takes up a lot of its overall mass. As a result, while it's well armored and pretty damn fast for something that big, its main armaments are pitiful. A Magna Hellstar PPC and an Autocannon/5, both built into its lower torso, with some Small Lasers added in essentially as flavor. While on the surface that seems pretty okay, they all have roughly the same range, and while the guns themselves aren't defective, the big problem is impact per C-Bill. Those two main guns would be okay on something like a Medium 'Mech or a Heavy 'Mech whose principal strength was skirmishing or shooting up other mechs of their size, but definitely not a 95-ton Assault mech whose typical job is to carry the biggest, most dangerous armaments possible and blanket the battlefield with ordnance.

For perspective, this would be like if an [[M1 Abrams]] only had an autocannon, or a [[Baneblade]] had a variant that armed with regular [[bolter]]s instead of heavy bolters and a regular battle cannon instead of the mega battle cannon. It's still ''dangerous'', sure, and the weight savings almost certainly make them faster, but they're not gonna do nearly the same kind of damage they could've if they had weapons built for their size, and that ultimately would make them a massive a waste of money. Pack all that onto a big distracting robot, and you have the ''Banshee''.

And even if you did equip it with a loadout worthy of an Atlas, there would be even less tonnage reserved for armor. Ultimately, 'Mechs have to strike some kind of balance between firepower, armor and speed. The Banshee has the speed and firepower of a Heavy 'Mech and the armor of an Assault 'Mech, meaning it focused on armor and speed at the expense of firepower. All of this with the price tag of an Assault 'Mech.

It ''is'' admittedly pretty good in close-quarters combat, due to its pretty impressive top speed and the sheer size of it making it capable of pulling an ''Atlas'' and just fucking punching its way to a kill. Unfortunately, the reality is that this thing is routinely outgunned by 'Mechs almost half its size and cost, and as if to make goddamn sure you know just how fucking bad this thing is, its main guns are [[fail|terribly inaccurate]] in Melee range... which is one place its fists can compensate for its poor armament.

Perhaps the most damning example of just how badly this thing sucks, the original ''Banshee'' has survived up to the 31st century by sheer force of reputation. That is to say, absolutely goddamn nobody wants to get stuck in this thing, to the point that anyone who has one only ever uses it to bully minor Periphery powers, or as a training Mech for an actually good Assault 'Mech, like the ''Atlas'' or the ''BattleMaster'', the latter of which is actually cheaper and very nearly just as fast. It took almost ''600'' years of human history for a variant of the ''Banshee'' to be considered even somewhat viable for any real battlefield use, and a couple hundred more for it to be considered actually viable in general.

Seriously, just buy a Battlemaster instead. It's cheaper, has comparable speed and armor and is better armed.

== The many, many, many attempts to fix the ''Banshee'' ==
Because these things appeared effectively dead on arrival, anyone who has one (and didn't scrap or mothball it) has put an embarrassing amount of C-Bills into trying to fix its crippling flaws while keeping its single advantage of being fast, with wildly varying degrees of success. However, it should be noted that its "default" variant, The BNC-3E, remains the most commom through sheer uselessness. Nobody save the absolutely desperate ever fields a Banshee if they have any alternatives. There are so many out there that not even the modernisation programs of interplanetary empires can refit them fast enough.

* '''BNC-1E''' - The original model introduced in 2445, which ironically that had the opposite problem as the BNC-3E; it was exceptionally well-armored and had slightly more firepower, with a pair of medium lasers in addition to the PPC, Small Laser and Autocannon. However, its top speed was mediocre at best, which the Terran Hegemony sought to fix. As has already been thoroughly detailed, this came at the cost of turning the 'Mech into a headache for anybody who had one for the next 800 years. In the bitterest of ironies, given how the Assault-class would turn out throughout the years, if it'd stayed like this it might've actually gotten a better rep simply by virtue of raw resilience.

* '''BNC-3M''' - The [[Free Worlds League]]'s first attempt at fixing it. It rips out the Autocannon and replaces it with a second PPC, as well as two Medium Lasers. While it does fix the problem of damage, it also failed to equip the heatsinks necessary to make it worth it, and as a result the thing may as well be a massive pizza oven with a gun attached.

* '''BNC-3MC''' - The [[Magistracy of Canopus]]' attempt at fixing it. They simply ripped the Autocannon/5 out and replaced it with an Autocannon/10, and pulled five of the heatsinks out to add extra ammo, while keeping everything else the same. Meaning that it has better range, but heats up quicker if it uses its PPC too frequently. Hey, you do what you can in the Periphery.

* '''BNC-3Mr''' - A Jihad-Era refit that upgrades the single heatsinks to double heat sinks and puts in ER PPCs and ER Medium Lasers while ditching the Small Laser, doubling its range without turning it into the aforementioned pizza oven.

* '''BNC-3Q''' - The other Free Worlds League attempt, commissioned by House Marik itself due to a lack of PPC technology available to them. It the Autocannon/5 and PPC off the 'Mech in order to replace it with an enormous Autocannon/20. While it solves the firepower problem, it also makes it extremely short-range, and anything that can pop it before it gets into Autocannon range probably will. So basically a bigger, faster and more durable Hunchback, but ironically with less firepower.

* '''BNC-3S''' - Defiant Industries, fed up with its creation sucking so hard, finally decided to scale back its engine to turn it into a normal Assault Mech... and wouldn't you know it, it suddenly freed up all this space for weapons to exist! This variant mounts two PPCs, an Imperator-B Autocannon/10, four Medium Lasers, a Short-Range Missile launcher and two Small Lasers just because they had room to put them there. While unquestionably better equipped for combat, especially at range, it's much slower and heats up like crazy, even with its new heatsinks. Still, this is the first model in what was almost half a millenia that you'd actually consider using on a battlefield if you wanted to survive.

* '''BNC-5S''' - At long last, a hard upgrade, thanks to re-discovered [[LosTech]] from the Star League. It once again rips out the giant engine for an Extra-Light Fusion engine and double Heatsinks, being faster than the 3S model and generally quicker than most Assault-Mechs. It mounts a Gauss Rifle and a pair of ER PPCs as its main guns, and has four Medium Lasers, an SRM-6 and two Small Lasers.

* '''BNC-6S''' - The first variant that actually takes real advantage of its ability to be a brawler, using an Endo-Steel Chassis, an LB 10-X Autocannon (basically a 'Mech-sized shotgun) and a Heavy Gauss Rifle.

* '''BNC-7S''' - The 5S' bigger, angrier brother, and arguably the best Non-Jihad version of the ''Banshee'' there could've been. It mounts an ER-PPC, a Gauss Rifle, Four Medium Lasers and an SRM-6. 

* '''BNC-8S''' - The [[Word of Blake]]'s attempt during the Jihad, which, given it was based on the 5S series, meant it already had a better starting place than the 5S did. Built with a stronger frame and internals and a fucking [[battleaxe]] to make sure its place as a brawler was truly cemented. In addition, they put the old engine back in, replaced the PPC with a snub PPC, used an XL Gyro to save weight, moved the Autocannon to the other arm, and then crammed an ER Large Laser and four Medium Lasers anywhere with space left. It's real ace in the hole however, was it's Guardian-ECM system, allowing it to screw up long-range targeting and get up close as fast as possible.

* '''BNC-9S''' - The ''Banshee''s final form, built by Defiance Industries after the Word of Blake took over their home manufacturing stations and decided that they could do an upgrade on this thing too. While the Blakists opted for its brawling potential, Defiance decided to try and actually make good on their promises of a fast Assault Mech that could hit hard from close and long range. They accomplished this by using a light fusion engine that could reliably target the earliest models' speed, and stuffed it to the gills with weapons: a Heavy PPC, a Light PPC, A Gauss Rifle, three ER Medium Lasers, one regular Medium Laser, and an SRM-6 missile system, just in case whatever it was firing at managed to survive the opening salvo. All wrapped up with a targeting computer that made sure that its energy-based weaponry melted its target into slag.

[[category:BattleTech]]
[[category:BattleMech]]