Funny thing. It was, and that’s how people in-universe figured out the 55-ton limit on LAMs. It could fly and transform fine, but the weight put the legs under too much stress on landing, rendering the transformation systems there inoperable.
@@isaacrubin9606 that's actually hilarious, I'm just thinking that some mech jockeys have to have had some pretty awkward conversations with the bosses at start league "this never happens I swear... I don't know I just can't get it up... I reckon we should cool off and try again in 30 minutes"
One of the best light heavies for AI pilots in MW5. Drop the SRM and focus that tonnage on armour and you have a fast, well armoured, and reasonably well armed mech with no weapons in its vulnerable arms.
When checking Sarna for the "Wait isn't there a version with 2 large lasers?" I got onto sarna via a wyvern tab I had open already and then learned the 2 LL version was a clanbuster made with LLs taken off Wyverns that were being switched to pulse laser clanbusters.
To all of you new to Battletech, I want to say... welcome! This cha,nnel is bringing my favourite game and universe to others and I want to welcome everyone and say a special thank you to the. Creator. I think that you'll like it here in the Iner Sphere! 😀
When I first ran into the champion in mech 5 I thought it was a duelist mech. The arms (which have no weapons) block the torso from either side, so I thought that was so it could focus on the target in front of it and be able to ignore targets at it's sides. Great video
i'm sure putting weapons all inCT has it's charms but i prefer mine spread out like they have in MWO. If the Arms could actually melee attack or carry stuff. Then weaponless arms are good.
As a CoMSTAR player, I have always liked the Champion... it filled out my Level II units quite admirably, giving some oomph to a recon unit, and some speed to a heavier unit. A favorite of mine for sure.
Despite its stats not being insane I like how different it is from many other offerings. The lack of arm weapons lets you use then generously to soak up damage, the high speed let's you adapt to the changing battlefield much faster. I haven't tried running a champion in tabletop but in MWO I had a weird but somehow effective build. 4x Light PPCs in one side torso, and 4x Heavy MGs in the other. Easy 20 damage at range or chain fire to spray and pray. Once the armor is gone and target closes, let the MGs start landing crits as you circle brawl. It was almost a joke build but I ended up winning a lot of Solaris rounds with that thing.
One of my absolute favorite heavies in Battlemech, especially in MW5 because of its torso-focused weapons and therefore excellent protection with torso twisting. Combining this mech with rifles and lasers makes it SO ENJOYABLE :)
In the Instant-Action feature of MW3 I made a Champion for the AI that was meant to serve as a modest challenge at close and medium range. It was meant to serve as tester for my other "better" short-range builds. What I got was a short range nightmare! I stripped its original armament and loaded it with 6 ER Small Lasers, 2 Clan SRM 6s, and 2 Clan Ultra Auto-cannon 2s. Any remaining tonnage was devoted to heatsinks, and CASE. The sadistic AI pilots would chain-fire the small lasers continuously at my other mech's arm joints and cut them off. Then it used the auto-cannons to attack my legs or cockpit. All while moving and spamming me with the SRMs. Because of the extra heatsinks, the inherent accuracy of the small lasers, and their quick cycling time. It had ridiculous dps potential on whatever it targeted. Once you were in range of the devil, you were going to die, one amputation at a time. Five minutes of goofing around turned an OK mech into a true monster. I love the Champion!
I like this in Mechwarrior 5. Really good for finishing off damaged mechs and great for hunting down light mechs, especially if you drop some ammo for more armor. Only issue is the freaking wings. They greatly increase the hit box, cost c-bills to fix, and only act as extra ablative armor.
My absolute favorite 'Mech. I love it's lore, I love its design, I love its role. An underdog, a bargain bin find, an *alpha strike monster* in MW5. I find it fascinating that I gravitated towards a deulling mech then took a liking to the Clans... it's very "proto-Clan" in its function and design. Speaking of Clans, the Champion C clan refit is *a monster*. Solves (or at least helps mitigate) every major issue the original chassis has, and improves on it in many ways.
I don't typically bring up the clan-refits, if they're done by the Clans themselves, as I see them as not really being Inner Sphere mechs anymore. I do cover hybrid designs though. lol
Well ya, I understand because clan gear is fantastic fantasticly lighter than their IS counterpart, clan tech can make anything better, even the cicada.
The MWO/MW5 redesign looks like someone put legs on a squashed A-10 and replaced the wings with weird stubby arms. I'm not a fan of the loadout of the 1N and 2N, too close ranged with its low armour and few heatsinks. Makes it a one trick pony with hit and run being the one viable tactic against anything heavier than 50 tons. But the Royal 1Nb one makes for an excellent heavy mobile sniper.
There is a Blake era upgrade that solves some of the issues with the mech. By adding endo steel you can give it case. Upgrade the SRM to a streak version and add an additional .5 tons of armor. Giving it DHS and up gunning the lasers to ER variants improves the range bracket without adding more strain on the heat system. It also Maintains it’s durability by lacking an XL engine. The BV while higher isn’t crippling so and when used as a rapid support for extracting recon units or a quick strike unit it fairs quite well. Not much for critical space after endo and armor however
My fix for this mech is very simple. Drop the small lasers, replace them with one ton of armor. Double the heat sinks and walk away. You would have to work to over heat it and 9 tons of FF will keep you alive a little longer.
great video, I will say that you did miss the non royal Star League upgrade of the CHP-1N2 which swapped the single heat sinks for doubles, making it far more capable in the Star League era.
Two of the variants not discussed in the video deserve a mention. An unofficial variant that existed when the CHP-1N rolled off the assembly line was the 1N2. Many owners of the 1N immediately refitted the mech with double heat sinks. This was never an official variant because Bergan Industries would have it admit the design they were pushing was flawed. But this change elimitated any heat management concerns at medium to short range. The second variant not mentioned that I want to discuss is the 3N. Comstar refit the 1N with an XL engine, double heat sinks and added 2 large lasers. While this does nothing to shore up the light armor, it adds overwhelming firepower to the design. While this mech would of benefitted from having a few of the lighter weapons removed to add armor, it is very impressive as is. Almost the perfect mech to act as a "close" range clan ambusher for the inner sphere during the invasion. In some ways I find the 3N preferable to the 3P.
I always felt like the Champion was a tad underwhelming for it's tonnage. Obviously, if you downgrade the engine so it runs at a flat 64kph, the additional weight savings allows it to shine like nothing else in its weight class. Basically becomes something akin to a lighter Victor. Love this stuff dude, keep it coming! So happy with youtube recommendations for pointing you out. :D Also congrats on 10k!
I like how the modern designs look like they strapped legs onto an A10. Because of this, I saw the Champion as a heavy Skirmisher, darting in and out of combat in “strafing runs.”
The LAM variant I believe was the champions original scheme, hence its fighter jet on legs shape. But that fell out quickly. Alot of star league designs didn't need or use hands as much because they really didn't need them most of the time as they were a well funded and well supplied fighting force. The succession wars caused mechs with hands particularly popular because they needed them for practically everything, from grabbing supplies from a raid, assisting in fortification, to even being improvised mech gantry holding a broken mech up for repairs. Mechs with hands in the succession wars Era had to make up for whatever a military unit in that period simply did not have.
Honestly, it gets shown up by the marauder, but both occupy very similar roles of general purpose heavy mechs that move at an excellent pace. Marauder is more about long range, though, and champion is more about CQB.
The XL engine really opens up the playground with the champion. My mercenary company tends to use the one we recently aquired as a head hunter. We striped all the weapons for a complete refit of an AC20, 4small pulse lasers and MASC. Its not as fast as the Stellito its supposed to evetually replace, but it packs a mean punch
I had never heard of this 'mech until I got one in MW5. I fell in love immediately. I don't even remember the model, but it was durable and had some serious teeth. I feel like it should be a LAM
I am just repeating, but the LAM was the original vision but it wasn't working out, the wasp/stinger LAMs were developed decades later. But instead of throwing the design away they retooled it with endo steel, which is incompatible with LAM tech. The big issue with LAMs is that lore wise it's a golden age technology that died in its infancy due to the mother doctrine, which was the Terran hegemony way of holding high technology from the houses to maintain their primacy. Since it's a budding technology alot of the sweet sweet tech like XL engines and such were not compatible at the time. Because hegemony worlds got totally destroyed and the houses were willing to blast each other to the stone age, there was only one known factory left that later gets destroyed by the clans because they are jerks.
This baby is my favorite thing to run in MW5. Mine rocks a heavy rifle, three medium sb lasers, and plenty of ammo to blast arms off from afar. I use it like a mobile sniper that puts the hurt on anything of any size, and if something closes range, the three mediums are typically enough to brawl if the closed enemy is small or damaged. It rarely overheats, and has enough armor to win every long range slapfight and the armor/speed to escape close range fights that it can't win. And just about anything fast enough to run it down likely can't outgun it. It isn't perfect, but the champion has clutched so many missions and I giggle a bit when I put components into the red with a single shot.
This was one of my first minis. It's such a goofy looking thing, but I love it. The speed, the weapons, even with its goofy appearance, it needs to be taken seriously.
Its a mech I could never make up my mind about. A lot more dangerous than most strikers can get in hit hard and get out. Just wish it had actual arms or they went a head with the LAM variant because reasons.
Ran one of these in my mercenary campaign, XL engine and stuffed a tag into the CT Sure its under gunned on its own, but it's heavier than most spotter mechs and you won't be laughing when it calls in a Catapult and an Archer to dump ALL the LRMs onto your face!
This was the most surprising chassis to me in MW 5. This speed in a heavy mech is outstanding, especially when outrunning enemy artillery barrages. In the 2N replace the AC 10 with an LBX and in the 1N drop the SRM 6 plus ART for a standard SRM6(I prefer the ST version) to add a ton of armor and this is an awesome mech, capable of outmaneuvering and dominating even heavier designs so long as its speed is exploited properly. Another variant I use drops the small lasers and the SRM 6 for an LRM 10 to give it some longer range power. For the 1NB I use the base chassis or replace the Gauss with an LBX and add armor and/or heat sinks. Both of those variants work great. I run a fast strike lance of all Champions or Champions paired with Phoenix Hawks as lighter scouts in one of my game saves and that is always a blast. In my opinion the Champion plays tactically like a Clan Cauldron Born, a favorite of mine from Mechwarrior 3 and Mechwarrior 4. A surprise choice, but now my favorite Heavy mech to pilot.
Big Red: Talks about how rare the Champion was during the succession wars. Also Big Red: Shows a whole lance of Champions being deployed in a succession war-era game.
I remember alpha striking this beast of a monster and immediately overhearted. If you don't finish your opponent off in one or two strikes, you can kiss your reactor core goodbye. The armor is pretty much plastic but all these faults can be rectified by downgrading your weapons. Overall a decent fire support mech with some jump capability. Recommended for rookie pilots if it was possible.
Ah the tin can sprinting to the scrap heap. Those arms look they are ment to magnetically carry cargo crates. It seems like someone made an industrial mech out of battlemech parts. I find it to be the cannon fodder of the heavy mech class.
I fell into liking this thing in MWO when I was trying to make a poor man's Viper, and I liked it so much I made a 1N version in MW5 with four M Lasers split into two firing groups, a Heavy Rifle and an SRM 4 with extra armor. Super heat efficient in this configuration, good damage at short to medium range, and quick enough to do most things in a lot of missions. Highly recommended, especially since the Champion is a pretty early heavy mech that you can get pretty cheap, relatively speaking.
The Royal variant was my introduction to the Champion, and I loved it. It's still my favorite variant, because I prefer the Flashman for the original role.
LAM version was the original vision but it got dropped off. It maintains that profile because it's either that or start over, and starting over costs time and money.
Such a weird ‘mech. I mean, those arm wings don’t (unless I’ve missed something) even have weapons in them, so I have no idea why it looks that way. It’s just got sort of ramjet wings for no reason. The arms could’ve been used for something. Weapon mounts, most obviously. I believe the weapons are actually side-torso mounted instead. Mind you, it’s a nippy bugger. I do think that a fast ‘mech is a little bit of a redundant idea at that weight, but maybe they wanted something that could redeploy to head off enemy lances that have broken through a line of defence or something. I do think that a lightly armoured ‘mech in that weight bracket should have been armed with energy weapons and heat sinks though - mine almost always ends up with an ammo explosion going off. It’s not awful, but it’s not a favourite of mine.
I really enjoy running this mech in MW5 as a finisher mech with the SRM6 and the LB10-X. Its speed and maneuverability allow me to skirt around and disable opponents by taking out their vitals quickly once an ally cracks through the armour, plus it has enough versatility to scrap with equivalent mechs and punishment smaller mechs and still come out on top, if a bit worse for wear.
At least in MW5 I still like the Quickdraw more. Smaller target and it has the ability to jump, which can come in handy from time to time. Less effective at range but still pretty effective at closer ranges spamming M lasers and SRMs.
As somebody who's found this very difficult to pilot, when you said that the Royal Regiments decided a Gauss and PPC combo was the way to go I had to reboot. I cannot imagine that that worked great.
I think this is the first mech I have seen so far that I like the fasa(?) Design more than the cgl design. Looks like a land shark/ land plane giving it a more unique feel and it doesn't look too goofy.
"Better than the dragon and QuickDraw" Okay but to be fair just about everything is better than the dragon and the QuickDraw is a very sleepy boi. But both the champion and the QuickDraw are made perfect with double heat sinks.
Good video! I love this Mech hit hard run hit hard run away the way I play it it perfectly encapsulates a Calvary Mech. It pairs well with a pocket Assassin for protection
All of the design characteristics and give and take reminds me of the 1930s & 40s Dreadnought Era of Cruiser and Battleship development trying to keep in line with the Washington Naval Treaty and the London Naval Conference.
Turning this thing into a fast thunderbolt wouldn't be a bad idea. Having something like that backing up your scout forces would give them quite a bit of staying power.
I have 3 different version of this in MWO and do well in all of them with some assortment of lasers + MRMs on each. Though, one of them has mgs and loves hunting light mechs, too.
The more I look at the design of the thing, especially the MWO and MW5 portrayals, the more I find myself being drawn to it. IDK why, it just looks so adorable in a stompy and shooty way.
Just because I haven't left a comment on this video yet I'll say this: in MechWarrior 5 when you run around in this thing if you invite anyone else into your game it looks like an excited toddler at top speed.
I know of the Champion mostly because of Mechwarrior 3, and Sarna telling me about "Clanbuster" battlemechs. Its not a unit I would like as it has the common flaw of a Heavyweight Ballistic Weapon, which means its other details are rendered mediocre. Its not helped that its also a 60tonner "bad Heavy" unit with a heavy engine, low armor and weaponry. That said with improvements it could function well. #1 priority is usually mounting an XL Engine, maximising its armor, and upgrading weaponry mostly likely by mounting Energy Weapons. The CHP-1Nb is a mobile marksmen. The range of its weapons work well with the Champions above average speed and low armor. The CHP-3N "Clanbuster" is at least decent with improved firepower and range. The Champion C is a clan model with greatly improved energy weapons, and adds 5 Jump Jets for mobility.
I like getting in behind heavier mechs while my team takes the brunt of it's attacks. You can melt your targets with that cannon, but whatever you do, DON'T STOP MOVING:
The Champion is this very strange design that operates within that space between 'works well enough' and 'very mediocre'. The best praise I can give it is as much as it's a pretty decent striker or cavalry mech, at least it isn't a Champion LAM.
If you hate the Champion try out the Champion C or Royal variant. They will make a believer out of you. The Royal pairs well with the other mech you covered recently, the Royal Sentinel.
In my head, I just assumed that the Champion was built by some company's LAM team, then the funding got cut when everyone realized that LAM mechs don't work that well. So the team just scrambled to build a mech with their 90% finished project before the shareholders could complain to loudly.
I always remember the champion as the first heavy mech for sale the first time I played Mechwarrior 2 mercenaries. That game always seemed to give you the worst mechs of a weight class as it first became available to your budget.
Great video, the Champion looks great, apart from those damn arms, but its weapon mix is fine, honestly a simple upgrade to double heatsinks on the original would solve it and you'd have a pretty darn decent cavalry 'Mech.
When fitting a Champ with my homey online I said "wait a minute...this is just a heavier Quickdraw" Checked the weight Exactly the same Felt very stupid
I always wondered for what the "Arms" are good for. I seen it often in Mechwarrior 5 without any Weapon or Special Device Hardpoints there. They cannot used as Close Combat Weapons too. You only could put some Ammo and Heatsinks in them, but if you think how easy it is to shoot them off, it would be more useful to pin some big massive metal shields left and right of the L/R Torso, than have this stumps on them. Also, I once heard that the CHAMPION should become a FLUM, and the Arms would have some kind of Transformative Wings in them... But for me, it always looked more like some kind of heavy oversized Helicopter than a fighter jet. ^^
@@BigRed40TECH Too bad you havn't reported over it... but maybe this would be an interesting episode for the Future. All Transformable Mechs in one Episode?
I'm still trying to figure out what the arms are for. In the re-design at least we have some small features that appear to be winches. If the arms were flipped the other way around, it could be a sensible launch platform for drones and this could also serve its role as a reconnaissance vehicle. But it's not. You could maybe argue the winches are for battlefield recovery of some sort which could be very important in the battletech universe, but I see no way the champion could lift anything larger than a bug class mech and why would you risk a heavy mech to recover bugs? At least the re-design team took a crack at making them appear to be functional in some way. But what function exactly, remains a mystery to me...
You know I like the Champion. I hadn't heard of it until MW5, but I honestly really like it. I find it a fast and powerful heavy skirmisher that can punch heavier targets with its autocannon. The only thing about it I don't like is the weird arm things that don't seem to do anything beyond provide a layer of armor between incoming fire and the weapons.
Thank you Red, for this interesting review. I didn't know the Champion was designed as a heavy recon, and was thinking of it as a meh 60 tonner. I get the whole point about it now. For the BV, I Still ask the question though : why not just investing in just another Shadow Hawk ?
Ran a champion on mw5 with a heavy rifle, 4 med chem lasers and an srm 2. And I'm not going to lie, is one of my most effective headshot mechs. Its not too bad
Great video as always, Red. Did you change something in the way you do the videos, the audio and production quality on this one seems even better than usual. Great job.
I have mine set up with a Heavy Rifle and 4 Medium SB lasers and use double heat sinks. It still runs hot if I spam the rifle with the lasers, but it feels like a baby Marauder
Since you brought up LAMs, I always wonder if there was any designs that was basically a 'pure' AirMech? Would those just be mechs with a Para Wing and max jump jets basically? Thank you for another good video.
I first discovered this mech in Mechwarrior 5, and it struck me as one of those "blah" mechs Like, ALL of it's weapons are torso-mounted (at least the variants that exist in MW5) so it has a pretty poor reputation to me. It does work as an early heavy though.
I love the champion in beachhead missions, it's fast enough to dodge artillery while having enough fire power to plow into the fray. Still have to play smart with though, but I have not lost a mission with it.
It’s also great at hunting light and medium mechs that are oop. However it is best if you maximize its alphastrike as you never want to get hit back even by smaller mechs or relatively weakly armed heavies
@@BigRed40TECH A further refinement of the full head eject system The top half ejection system. The top half becomes a fighter an flys around the battlefield. Still not as dumb as the L.A.M program
Dump the small lasers and downgrade the SRM 6 to a four and add a heat sink and more armor and you have heavy able to act as flanker or the perfect switch to a recon Lance’s bait.
The ac 10 and srm6 is enough to give the enemy the business. I say those small lasers should be replaced for armor, its not much but those torso could use more protection.
This mech suffered SEVERELY from the LosTech curse and its downgrading, mostly because the loss of a LOT of armor for its weight class. I don´t like the art works of this mech a lot, with the MechWarrior Online being my favorite iteration of this machine by now. But i hope the Champion gets some love in form of a new art work, it´s a classic and DESERVES it in my opinion.
The original design had an endo steel structure which mitigated the CASE, small pulse lasers, and Artemis weight. With the loss of that and the superior LB10X it actually got behind on tonnage.
What I don't get is what the hell are the pylons at the end of the arms supposed to even be for? In MWO it looks like it has some hooks on the underside, like something should be held on them.
if it only has 10 heat sinks, they could have gone with DHS without any problem in the sense of place in the mech. only reason could be to keep the cost down.
For those mechwarriors who want to stick out thier arms and make plane noises
I remember learning about LAM`s and then looking at Champion being: 'How a litteral jet with legs is not a LAM'
Funny thing. It was, and that’s how people in-universe figured out the 55-ton limit on LAMs.
It could fly and transform fine, but the weight put the legs under too much stress on landing, rendering the transformation systems there inoperable.
@@isaacrubin9606 that's actually hilarious, I'm just thinking that some mech jockeys have to have had some pretty awkward conversations with the bosses at start league
"this never happens I swear... I don't know I just can't get it up... I reckon we should cool off and try again in 30 minutes"
One of the best light heavies for AI pilots in MW5. Drop the SRM and focus that tonnage on armour and you have a fast, well armoured, and reasonably well armed mech with no weapons in its vulnerable arms.
People diss those arms but man do they sink damage from the side really well
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
BOLD OF YOU TO ASSUME THEY'LL STOP CRASHING INTO WALLS LONG ENOUGH TO SHOOT SOMEONE
@@SHDW-nf2kiwhy are you screaming?
Also, just direct them into attacking stuff and you wont have that "problem"
EXACTLY
When checking Sarna for the "Wait isn't there a version with 2 large lasers?" I got onto sarna via a wyvern tab I had open already and then learned the 2 LL version was a clanbuster made with LLs taken off Wyverns that were being switched to pulse laser clanbusters.
To all of you new to Battletech, I want to say... welcome! This cha,nnel is bringing my favourite game and universe to others and I want to welcome everyone and say a special thank you to the. Creator. I think that you'll like it here in the Iner Sphere! 😀
Thank You for the welcome sir!
When I first ran into the champion in mech 5 I thought it was a duelist mech.
The arms (which have no weapons) block the torso from either side, so I thought that was so it could focus on the target in front of it and be able to ignore targets at it's sides.
Great video
Thanks Drak! :)
i'm sure putting weapons all inCT has it's charms but i prefer mine spread out like they have in MWO. If the Arms could actually melee attack or carry stuff. Then weaponless arms are good.
As a CoMSTAR player, I have always liked the Champion... it filled out my Level II units quite admirably, giving some oomph to a recon unit, and some speed to a heavier unit. A favorite of mine for sure.
Despite its stats not being insane I like how different it is from many other offerings. The lack of arm weapons lets you use then generously to soak up damage, the high speed let's you adapt to the changing battlefield much faster.
I haven't tried running a champion in tabletop but in MWO I had a weird but somehow effective build. 4x Light PPCs in one side torso, and 4x Heavy MGs in the other. Easy 20 damage at range or chain fire to spray and pray. Once the armor is gone and target closes, let the MGs start landing crits as you circle brawl.
It was almost a joke build but I ended up winning a lot of Solaris rounds with that thing.
One of my absolute favorite heavies in Battlemech, especially in MW5 because of its torso-focused weapons and therefore excellent protection with torso twisting. Combining this mech with rifles and lasers makes it SO ENJOYABLE :)
Ah, the Champion, because Scouty McRunnybutt was declared to be too juvenile and not reflective of a serious mech design factory.
th-cam.com/video/ym_jVTcBxSU/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=Queen-Topic
Every Champion pilot blares this. It is fact.
@@BigRed40TECH I was expecting the Benny Hill theme song honestly
One of my favorite mechs was a franken of a Champion with Rifleman arms. Great memories playing it.
In the Instant-Action feature of MW3 I made a Champion for the AI that was meant to serve as a modest challenge at close and medium range. It was meant to serve as tester for my other "better" short-range builds. What I got was a short range nightmare!
I stripped its original armament and loaded it with 6 ER Small Lasers, 2 Clan SRM 6s, and 2 Clan Ultra Auto-cannon 2s. Any remaining tonnage was devoted to heatsinks, and CASE. The sadistic AI pilots would chain-fire the small lasers continuously at my other mech's arm joints and cut them off. Then it used the auto-cannons to attack my legs or cockpit. All while moving and spamming me with the SRMs.
Because of the extra heatsinks, the inherent accuracy of the small lasers, and their quick cycling time. It had ridiculous dps potential on whatever it targeted. Once you were in range of the devil, you were going to die, one amputation at a time.
Five minutes of goofing around turned an OK mech into a true monster. I love the Champion!
I like this in Mechwarrior 5. Really good for finishing off damaged mechs and great for hunting down light mechs, especially if you drop some ammo for more armor. Only issue is the freaking wings. They greatly increase the hit box, cost c-bills to fix, and only act as extra ablative armor.
In the background, the bang Queen gathers and starts singing, "This is the Champion, my friend! And it will keep on fighting to the end!"
Damn right.
Alright who put an aerospace asset on legs and called it a mech
My absolute favorite 'Mech. I love it's lore, I love its design, I love its role. An underdog, a bargain bin find, an *alpha strike monster* in MW5. I find it fascinating that I gravitated towards a deulling mech then took a liking to the Clans... it's very "proto-Clan" in its function and design.
Speaking of Clans, the Champion C clan refit is *a monster*. Solves (or at least helps mitigate) every major issue the original chassis has, and improves on it in many ways.
I don't typically bring up the clan-refits, if they're done by the Clans themselves, as I see them as not really being Inner Sphere mechs anymore.
I do cover hybrid designs though. lol
Well ya, I understand because clan gear is fantastic fantasticly lighter than their IS counterpart, clan tech can make anything better, even the cicada.
In MWO i have the Champion with weapons in the arms, i wish it had reverse knees like the bushwacker.
The Champion looks very top heavy almost to a concerning degree of course it is not alone in that fact
The MWO/MW5 redesign looks like someone put legs on a squashed A-10 and replaced the wings with weird stubby arms.
I'm not a fan of the loadout of the 1N and 2N, too close ranged with its low armour and few heatsinks. Makes it a one trick pony with hit and run being the one viable tactic against anything heavier than 50 tons. But the Royal 1Nb one makes for an excellent heavy mobile sniper.
Well it's also good on a pursuit Lance setup, especially if the target already has been through a fight.
That's why I ALWAYS take the AC/10 and it's ammo off and replace that with a PPC and heat-sinks instead.
i love it... Only if they reversed the legs like the bushwacker.
@@mr6johnclark I'm sure there's a aftermarket kit to that somewhere but I actually like it in its current condition
@@shadekerensky3691 I go with Rotary Autcanon 5. smaller lasers and missile packs.
There is a Blake era upgrade that solves some of the issues with the mech. By adding endo steel you can give it case. Upgrade the SRM to a streak version and add an additional .5 tons of armor. Giving it DHS and up gunning the lasers to ER variants improves the range bracket without adding more strain on the heat system.
It also Maintains it’s durability by lacking an XL engine. The BV while higher isn’t crippling so and when used as a rapid support for extracting recon units or a quick strike unit it fairs quite well.
Not much for critical space after endo and armor however
My fix for this mech is very simple. Drop the small lasers, replace them with one ton of armor. Double the heat sinks and walk away. You would have to work to over heat it and 9 tons of FF will keep you alive a little longer.
great video, I will say that you did miss the non royal Star League upgrade of the CHP-1N2 which swapped the single heat sinks for doubles, making it far more capable in the Star League era.
Two of the variants not discussed in the video deserve a mention. An unofficial variant that existed when the CHP-1N rolled off the assembly line was the 1N2. Many owners of the 1N immediately refitted the mech with double heat sinks. This was never an official variant because Bergan Industries would have it admit the design they were pushing was flawed. But this change elimitated any heat management concerns at medium to short range.
The second variant not mentioned that I want to discuss is the 3N. Comstar refit the 1N with an XL engine, double heat sinks and added 2 large lasers. While this does nothing to shore up the light armor, it adds overwhelming firepower to the design. While this mech would of benefitted from having a few of the lighter weapons removed to add armor, it is very impressive as is. Almost the perfect mech to act as a "close" range clan ambusher for the inner sphere during the invasion. In some ways I find the 3N preferable to the 3P.
I always felt like the Champion was a tad underwhelming for it's tonnage. Obviously, if you downgrade the engine so it runs at a flat 64kph, the additional weight savings allows it to shine like nothing else in its weight class. Basically becomes something akin to a lighter Victor. Love this stuff dude, keep it coming! So happy with youtube recommendations for pointing you out. :D
Also congrats on 10k!
It's a really odd looking mech, with an appearance like an airplane that decided it's a mech now, but it can and will work, if you do it right.
I love crushing this dinosaur mech every time I come across it in mw5, this and the urbie.
Thank you for making a video on this mech! I loved this mech everytime i got my hands on it! Especially in mechwarrior 3! A good ol sturdy striker!
Glad I could help!
I like how the modern designs look like they strapped legs onto an A10. Because of this, I saw the Champion as a heavy Skirmisher, darting in and out of combat in “strafing runs.”
My only real beef with the Champion is it's lack of hands/arms.
It's the Abaddon the Despoiler of Battletech.
@@BigRed40TECH Except the Champion doesn't fail as much over 10K years over a single planet.
So, a bit more successful than Abby on that front.
That is a good point, it has fisticuffs ranges for weapons but no fists to cuff. I guess it keeps you from sitting there brawling it out.
The LAM variant I believe was the champions original scheme, hence its fighter jet on legs shape. But that fell out quickly. Alot of star league designs didn't need or use hands as much because they really didn't need them most of the time as they were a well funded and well supplied fighting force. The succession wars caused mechs with hands particularly popular because they needed them for practically everything, from grabbing supplies from a raid, assisting in fortification, to even being improvised mech gantry holding a broken mech up for repairs. Mechs with hands in the succession wars Era had to make up for whatever a military unit in that period simply did not have.
@@eddapultstab2078 Excellent points on the utility of hands outside of close combat.
Honestly, it gets shown up by the marauder, but both occupy very similar roles of general purpose heavy mechs that move at an excellent pace. Marauder is more about long range, though, and champion is more about CQB.
The XL engine really opens up the playground with the champion. My mercenary company tends to use the one we recently aquired as a head hunter. We striped all the weapons for a complete refit of an AC20, 4small pulse lasers and MASC. Its not as fast as the Stellito its supposed to evetually replace, but it packs a mean punch
I had never heard of this 'mech until I got one in MW5. I fell in love immediately. I don't even remember the model, but it was durable and had some serious teeth. I feel like it should be a LAM
There is a LAM version! :D
@@BigRed40TECH The LAMpion.
more like LAMepion.
@@akiraguy The question is, can it defeat its C Bill weight in urbanmech LAMs?
I am just repeating, but the LAM was the original vision but it wasn't working out, the wasp/stinger LAMs were developed decades later. But instead of throwing the design away they retooled it with endo steel, which is incompatible with LAM tech.
The big issue with LAMs is that lore wise it's a golden age technology that died in its infancy due to the mother doctrine, which was the Terran hegemony way of holding high technology from the houses to maintain their primacy. Since it's a budding technology alot of the sweet sweet tech like XL engines and such were not compatible at the time. Because hegemony worlds got totally destroyed and the houses were willing to blast each other to the stone age, there was only one known factory left that later gets destroyed by the clans because they are jerks.
This baby is my favorite thing to run in MW5. Mine rocks a heavy rifle, three medium sb lasers, and plenty of ammo to blast arms off from afar. I use it like a mobile sniper that puts the hurt on anything of any size, and if something closes range, the three mediums are typically enough to brawl if the closed enemy is small or damaged. It rarely overheats, and has enough armor to win every long range slapfight and the armor/speed to escape close range fights that it can't win. And just about anything fast enough to run it down likely can't outgun it. It isn't perfect, but the champion has clutched so many missions and I giggle a bit when I put components into the red with a single shot.
This was one of my first minis. It's such a goofy looking thing, but I love it. The speed, the weapons, even with its goofy appearance, it needs to be taken seriously.
Its a mech I could never make up my mind about. A lot more dangerous than most strikers can get in hit hard and get out. Just wish it had actual arms or they went a head with the LAM variant because reasons.
Ran one of these in my mercenary campaign, XL engine and stuffed a tag into the CT
Sure its under gunned on its own, but it's heavier than most spotter mechs and you won't be laughing when it calls in a Catapult and an Archer to dump ALL the LRMs onto your face!
This was the most surprising chassis to me in MW 5. This speed in a heavy mech is outstanding, especially when outrunning enemy artillery barrages. In the 2N replace the AC 10 with an LBX and in the 1N drop the SRM 6 plus ART for a standard SRM6(I prefer the ST version) to add a ton of armor and this is an awesome mech, capable of outmaneuvering and dominating even heavier designs so long as its speed is exploited properly. Another variant I use drops the small lasers and the SRM 6 for an LRM 10 to give it some longer range power. For the 1NB I use the base chassis or replace the Gauss with an LBX and add armor and/or heat sinks. Both of those variants work great. I run a fast strike lance of all Champions or Champions paired with Phoenix Hawks as lighter scouts in one of my game saves and that is always a blast. In my opinion the Champion plays tactically like a Clan Cauldron Born, a favorite of mine from Mechwarrior 3 and Mechwarrior 4. A surprise choice, but now my favorite Heavy mech to pilot.
This mech is one of my friends favorites, because those giant pontoons make for great body shields.
Big Red: Talks about how rare the Champion was during the succession wars.
Also Big Red: Shows a whole lance of Champions being deployed in a succession war-era game.
And not only that, fielding all 1N's, with a single 1NB backing them up. lol
I remember alpha striking this beast of a monster and immediately overhearted.
If you don't finish your opponent off in one or two strikes, you can kiss your reactor core goodbye.
The armor is pretty much plastic but all these faults can be rectified by downgrading your weapons.
Overall a decent fire support mech with some jump capability. Recommended for rookie pilots if it was possible.
Ah the tin can sprinting to the scrap heap. Those arms look they are ment to magnetically carry cargo crates. It seems like someone made an industrial mech out of battlemech parts. I find it to be the cannon fodder of the heavy mech class.
I fell into liking this thing in MWO when I was trying to make a poor man's Viper, and I liked it so much I made a 1N version in MW5 with four M Lasers split into two firing groups, a Heavy Rifle and an SRM 4 with extra armor. Super heat efficient in this configuration, good damage at short to medium range, and quick enough to do most things in a lot of missions. Highly recommended, especially since the Champion is a pretty early heavy mech that you can get pretty cheap, relatively speaking.
The Royal variant was my introduction to the Champion, and I loved it. It's still my favorite variant, because I prefer the Flashman for the original role.
I loved using this thing in MW 5, though it looks like the front of an Aerospace fighter that grew legs and ran away.
LAM version was the original vision but it got dropped off. It maintains that profile because it's either that or start over, and starting over costs time and money.
Such a weird ‘mech. I mean, those arm wings don’t (unless I’ve missed something) even have weapons in them, so I have no idea why it looks that way. It’s just got sort of ramjet wings for no reason. The arms could’ve been used for something. Weapon mounts, most obviously. I believe the weapons are actually side-torso mounted instead.
Mind you, it’s a nippy bugger. I do think that a fast ‘mech is a little bit of a redundant idea at that weight, but maybe they wanted something that could redeploy to head off enemy lances that have broken through a line of defence or something.
I do think that a lightly armoured ‘mech in that weight bracket should have been armed with energy weapons and heat sinks though - mine almost always ends up with an ammo explosion going off.
It’s not awful, but it’s not a favourite of mine.
I really enjoy running this mech in MW5 as a finisher mech with the SRM6 and the LB10-X. Its speed and maneuverability allow me to skirt around and disable opponents by taking out their vitals quickly once an ally cracks through the armour, plus it has enough versatility to scrap with equivalent mechs and punishment smaller mechs and still come out on top, if a bit worse for wear.
At least in MW5 I still like the Quickdraw more. Smaller target and it has the ability to jump, which can come in handy from time to time. Less effective at range but still pretty effective at closer ranges spamming M lasers and SRMs.
Is that some MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries soundtrack in the background? haha miss that game. Love the videos lately, keep it up
As somebody who's found this very difficult to pilot, when you said that the Royal Regiments decided a Gauss and PPC combo was the way to go I had to reboot. I cannot imagine that that worked great.
I think this is the first mech I have seen so far that I like the fasa(?) Design more than the cgl design. Looks like a land shark/ land plane giving it a more unique feel and it doesn't look too goofy.
I don't think there is a CGL design yet to be fair. That's the PGI design.
@@BigRed40TECH oh, ok, ty
"Better than the dragon and QuickDraw"
Okay but to be fair just about everything is better than the dragon and the QuickDraw is a very sleepy boi. But both the champion and the QuickDraw are made perfect with double heat sinks.
Good video! I love this Mech hit hard run hit hard run away the way I play it it perfectly encapsulates a Calvary Mech. It pairs well with a pocket Assassin for protection
All of the design characteristics and give and take reminds me of the 1930s & 40s Dreadnought Era of Cruiser and Battleship development trying to keep in line with the Washington Naval Treaty and the London Naval Conference.
Turning this thing into a fast thunderbolt wouldn't be a bad idea. Having something like that backing up your scout forces would give them quite a bit of staying power.
I have 3 different version of this in MWO and do well in all of them with some assortment of lasers + MRMs on each. Though, one of them has mgs and loves hunting light mechs, too.
Loved the champion ever since MW3. I need a mini of this 'mech.
The more I look at the design of the thing, especially the MWO and MW5 portrayals, the more I find myself being drawn to it.
IDK why, it just looks so adorable in a stompy and shooty way.
Just because I haven't left a comment on this video yet I'll say this: in MechWarrior 5 when you run around in this thing if you invite anyone else into your game it looks like an excited toddler at top speed.
The MWO/MW5 re-imagining did a lot for this design, imo. The pewter always left me feeling a bit wanting.
Absolutely. I can't wait until we get a CGL one.
I know of the Champion mostly because of Mechwarrior 3, and Sarna telling me about "Clanbuster" battlemechs.
Its not a unit I would like as it has the common flaw of a Heavyweight Ballistic Weapon, which means its other details are rendered mediocre.
Its not helped that its also a 60tonner "bad Heavy" unit with a heavy engine, low armor and weaponry.
That said with improvements it could function well. #1 priority is usually mounting an XL Engine, maximising its armor, and upgrading weaponry mostly likely by mounting Energy Weapons.
The CHP-1Nb is a mobile marksmen. The range of its weapons work well with the Champions above average speed and low armor.
The CHP-3N "Clanbuster" is at least decent with improved firepower and range.
The Champion C is a clan model with greatly improved energy weapons, and adds 5 Jump Jets for mobility.
Dammit Red you're giving me MW3 flashbacks!
I like getting in behind heavier mechs while my team takes the brunt of it's attacks. You can melt your targets with that cannon, but whatever you do, DON'T STOP MOVING:
The Champion is this very strange design that operates within that space between 'works well enough' and 'very mediocre'. The best praise I can give it is as much as it's a pretty decent striker or cavalry mech, at least it isn't a Champion LAM.
If you hate the Champion try out the Champion C or Royal variant. They will make a believer out of you. The Royal pairs well with the other mech you covered recently, the Royal Sentinel.
In my head, I just assumed that the Champion was built by some company's LAM team, then the funding got cut when everyone realized that LAM mechs don't work that well. So the team just scrambled to build a mech with their 90% finished project before the shareholders could complain to loudly.
I always remember the champion as the first heavy mech for sale the first time I played Mechwarrior 2 mercenaries. That game always seemed to give you the worst mechs of a weight class as it first became available to your budget.
What if I told you... you could pilot a Zeus by the 2nd mission? ;)
Great video, the Champion looks great, apart from those damn arms, but its weapon mix is fine, honestly a simple upgrade to double heatsinks on the original would solve it and you'd have a pretty darn decent cavalry 'Mech.
When fitting a Champ with my homey online I said "wait a minute...this is just a heavier Quickdraw"
Checked the weight
Exactly the same
Felt very stupid
I mean, it's a good mech and all, it's just nobody is able to explain what those winches are or why it looks like a bird
I always wondered for what the "Arms" are good for. I seen it often in Mechwarrior 5 without any Weapon or Special Device Hardpoints there.
They cannot used as Close Combat Weapons too.
You only could put some Ammo and Heatsinks in them, but if you think how easy it is to shoot them off, it would be more useful to pin some big massive metal shields left and right of the L/R Torso, than have this stumps on them.
Also, I once heard that the CHAMPION should become a FLUM, and the Arms would have some kind of Transformative Wings in them...
But for me, it always looked more like some kind of heavy oversized Helicopter than a fighter jet. ^^
There is a LAM version. That does turn it into a fat, oversized fighterjet :)
@@BigRed40TECH Too bad you havn't reported over it... but maybe this would be an interesting episode for the Future.
All Transformable Mechs in one Episode?
@@Dokdiamant If I cover LAMs, it will be all at once I suspect. I did mention it in the video though, I just didn't cover it :)
@@BigRed40TECH Oh, must miss that part. No Problem. ^^
I was hoping to see this and the Hussar in the merc kickstarter. I need all my 2750 TRO mechs.
We'll see them eventually! Kintaro as well!
I'm still trying to figure out what the arms are for. In the re-design at least we have some small features that appear to be winches. If the arms were flipped the other way around, it could be a sensible launch platform for drones and this could also serve its role as a reconnaissance vehicle. But it's not.
You could maybe argue the winches are for battlefield recovery of some sort which could be very important in the battletech universe, but I see no way the champion could lift anything larger than a bug class mech and why would you risk a heavy mech to recover bugs?
At least the re-design team took a crack at making them appear to be functional in some way. But what function exactly, remains a mystery to me...
You know I like the Champion.
I hadn't heard of it until MW5, but I honestly really like it. I find it a fast and powerful heavy skirmisher that can punch heavier targets with its autocannon.
The only thing about it I don't like is the weird arm things that don't seem to do anything beyond provide a layer of armor between incoming fire and the weapons.
the champion was a hidden gem in mw3
@@perry92964 I didn't know it was in MW3. I never encountered it.
@@GraniteGhost778 it was only in one area just a bit off the path right before you get to the underground base, you also could use it for multi player
@@perry92964 I never played mp in MW3 I admit. Didn't do that until MW4.
Hail to the Champion 🏆 🥇
It seems good for drawing mechs out of the line or away from lighter mechs.
Thank you Red, for this interesting review. I didn't know the Champion was designed as a heavy recon, and was thinking of it as a meh 60 tonner. I get the whole point about it now. For the BV, I Still ask the question though : why not just investing in just another Shadow Hawk ?
I think it'd beat the tar out of a SHD to be fair. lol
@@BigRed40TECH True, but SHD 2N coûts 1.5 M less than the Champion 1N and... I'm on a budget :)
@@julienseitz1350 Those with no budget, are those with no army! :P
Anything mounting an AC10 is useful
Ran a champion on mw5 with a heavy rifle, 4 med chem lasers and an srm 2. And I'm not going to lie, is one of my most effective headshot mechs. Its not too bad
the chamion is one of my favorite mechs in mwo and in mw5 but in mw5 you need the one that comes with the lbx 10
Honestly you don't need the Artemis small pulse lasers as well. By going with a standard srm6 and small lasers you have 2 more tons to work with.
Great video as always, Red. Did you change something in the way you do the videos, the audio and production quality on this one seems even better than usual. Great job.
Yes I did :)
I like the Champion, but I like most of the TRO 2750 'Mechs. Champion is a cool machine.
It's the Champion, how could you dislike it even?
@@BigRed40TECH You just have to use it correctly.
AHEM.
The only armour issues I know of, is the issues of the armour of the poor fool who just got hit by 2 Gauss Rifles, SIR. :P
I have mine set up with a Heavy Rifle and 4 Medium SB lasers and use double heat sinks. It still runs hot if I spam the rifle with the lasers, but it feels like a baby Marauder
Since you brought up LAMs, I always wonder if there was any designs that was basically a 'pure' AirMech? Would those just be mechs with a Para Wing and max jump jets basically?
Thank you for another good video.
Yea, Jade Falcon and the FWL have a few mechs like that.
I first discovered this mech in Mechwarrior 5, and it struck me as one of those "blah" mechs
Like, ALL of it's weapons are torso-mounted (at least the variants that exist in MW5) so it has a pretty poor reputation to me.
It does work as an early heavy though.
I love the champion in beachhead missions, it's fast enough to dodge artillery while having enough fire power to plow into the fray. Still have to play smart with though, but I have not lost a mission with it.
It’s also great at hunting light and medium mechs that are oop. However it is best if you maximize its alphastrike as you never want to get hit back even by smaller mechs or relatively weakly armed heavies
Looks like someone stapled a aerospace fighter to a pair of legs
And thank goodness for that!
@@BigRed40TECH
A further refinement of the full head eject system
The top half ejection system. The top half becomes a fighter an flys around the battlefield.
Still not as dumb as the L.A.M program
The one Mech where you always have to do jet engine noises when moving it on the table...
Very rare mech I hardy ever see it being used in any Battletech video game.
oh hell yeah CHAMPION!
Paper armor but it's the nighstar's lil brudder
I love the mech's aesthetics almost as much as this video's backing music.
Frank Klepacki of CnC soundtracks?
Aaaaaaah such a good surprise. Ty BigRed
Thanks!
No problem!
torso twist champion
It twists like no one's business!
What lighting and effects mod are you running in these videos? It looks great!
Just War_FX
Dump the small lasers and downgrade the SRM 6 to a four and add a heat sink and more armor and you have heavy able to act as flanker or the perfect switch to a recon Lance’s bait.
The ac 10 and srm6 is enough to give the enemy the business. I say those small lasers should be replaced for armor, its not much but those torso could use more protection.
This mech suffered SEVERELY from the LosTech curse and its downgrading, mostly because the loss of a LOT of armor for its weight class.
I don´t like the art works of this mech a lot, with the MechWarrior Online being my favorite iteration of this machine by now.
But i hope the Champion gets some love in form of a new art work, it´s a classic and DESERVES it in my opinion.
The original design had an endo steel structure which mitigated the CASE, small pulse lasers, and Artemis weight. With the loss of that and the superior LB10X it actually got behind on tonnage.
What I don't get is what the hell are the pylons at the end of the arms supposed to even be for? In MWO it looks like it has some hooks on the underside, like something should be held on them.
Champion is ok mech
And why 60t battletechs are do interesting and good
Cool mech great video.
Thanks!
if it only has 10 heat sinks, they could have gone with DHS without any problem in the sense of place in the mech. only reason could be to keep the cost down.
There is an upgrade package for that, yep! But it's not the mainline production model, but a field refit kit. :)
If ….If. It gets a lucky shot… champ is grunt……. I’m always prepared, I can’t be blindsided and my gunnery is -1 … eat it noobs.
Мне подарили такой, сначала даже не понял что это и чей, в принципе пойдет, мех на все времена