Fafnir

The Fafnir. Also known as the walking anti-BattleMech emplacement.

Not to be confused with Fafnir Rann from Warhammer 40k

The Fafnir is an Inner Sphere Assault BattleMech known for essentially being two fuckoff huge guns on legs (or a Hunchback on steroids). Woe betide any smaller BattleMech in the BattleTech galaxy that gets into range of this thing.

Overview

The flagship BattleMech of Defiance Industries after their self-named Defiance project got associated with Operation EXCALIBUR, aka Brandal Gareth's failed Free Star Republic coup, the 100-ton Fafnir was designed to have the biggest guns around without going into artillery territory. To this end it was built mainly to support two "Thor's Hammers"/"Hammerfists" Heavy Gauss Rifles - weapons that were a recent innovation of the Lyran Commonwealth at its time of creation in 3063. Just to haul and power these things requires a special Foundation Type 220 Endo Steel chassis capable of supporting both the guns and the mech's 19 and a half tons of Durallex Special Heavy V2 armor while still being lightweight, as well as a Vlar 300 fusion engine that also lets it reach a top speed of 54 kilometers an hour. In addition to these, it features two CASE units so the Gauss ammo doesn't blow up the mech if the Heavy Gauss Rifles are damaged, as well as a Guardian ECM Suite to protect its Angst Discom and Angst Accuracy units against pesky electronic warfare. And for heat management, 10 Double Heat Sinks keep things from getting too toasty.

A Mechwarrior that pilots one of these things can expect to commit ungodly amounts of rape at range, since those Hammerfists are the largest non-artillery guns period and thus can do an XBAWKSHUEG amount of damage in a short timeframe. This makes the 'Mech more suited for long-range engagements, though if you underestimate it at close range you deserve what you get. It also really benefits from being near a supply line, since without one to keep its 4 tons of Thor's Hammers ammo stocked it'll only have two ER Medium Lasers and a Medium Pulse Laser once the Gausses are dry. Another downside is that the entire upper body needs to be angled and rotated in order to aim the big guns, meaning a lot of tipped Fafnirs if Mechwarriors are not careful. The overall system costs 11,470,000 C-bills.

Armament

While no OmniMech, the Fafnir does feature a few configurations:

• FNR-5 - the basic loadout, featuring the 2 Heavy Gauss Rifles, 2 ER Medium Lasers and Medium Pulse Laser.
• FNR-5B - the budget Fafnir that doesn't have the fuckhueg guns, using instead 2 sets of paired Gauss Rifles in addition to ER Medium Lasers and a ER Large Laser. Doesn't rely as much on expensive ammo, but has a different issue in heat management. Was made during the FedCom Civil War when Thor's Hammers were in short supply.
• FNR-5WB - the Blakist version of the Fafnir, which skips the torso weapons entirely and opts for 4 plasma guns (therefore requiring 22 Double Heat Sinks) and an Improved C3 Computer. It still has the ER Medium Laser arms of the original.
• FNR-5X - an experimental verison mounting two Improved Heavy Gauss Rifles, and exchanging the Medium Pulse Laser for an increased ammo capacity of 6 tons. Still has the ER Medium Lasers.
• FNR-6U - the poor man's version that's even worse than the 5B. It retains none of the original's weapons, instead utilizing Light Particle Projector Cannons for its main guns while mounting Ultra Autocannon/20s on each arm. Even with a Light Fusion Engine being used instead, 12 double heat sinks barely keep heat generation under control, and an inexperienced Mechwarrior can easily break that fragile balance and cook themselves. The only saving grace is that its armor is now Light Ferro-Fibrous, meaning it's much easier to lug around at the cost of some protection. tl;dr: It might be no Banshee but it still kinda sucks.

Design Quirks

Reflecting the construction of the Fafnir in crunch, the 'Mech has the Design Quirks of No/Minimal Arms (since how are you gonna do arm stuff with just guns attached to your shoulders) and Stabilized Weapon for the Thor's Hammers it was intended to utilize.