BATTLETECH: The Rifleman 

Ah, Kallon Industries. Their company motto being “If it flies, it dies.” Truly their loathing of anything airborne knows no bounds.

The way you say Rifle Man like it's a super hero tickles me deeply

I think the Rifleman’s heat problems are exaggerated. The solution is to park it in some light woods, and fire away with the 2x AC/5s and ONE Large Laser. That’s 10 heat, to saturate your 10 heat sinks, and completely heat neutral. Think of the second LL as just insurance/redundancy if you lose an arm. I wouldn’t bother to fire the second LL unless you have a great shot lined up and an opportunity to finish off an enemy.

The Rifleman is just plain cool and made cooler in the lore by some of the pilots that use them. Gray Noton, Justin Xiang-Allard and my personal favorite Davis McCall.

I put FOUR standard LB-2Xs on one of my Riflemans (I think it was a 3C; I'll have to check again) as a funsie. Had jump jets because I like the maneuverability (and so it can get to ideal sniping locations) and a bit more armor. And it was, indeed, a fun mech to run. You could slot new recruits and have them just go alpha on ANYTHING and it would be useful. In the hands of more veteran mechwarriors, it was such an extreme-range sandpaper and a danger to any OpFor that was already savaged by the Rifleman's lancemates. It also did well as an anti-turret unit. I named it the Mr. Flak Ker :D

I've always had a interest in the Rifleman III. 90 tons of Gauss, cloaking, and armor. It serves as a neat counterpoint to Ameris's Folly - the half-built prototype did quite the number on the lance that found it, so I think it might deserve the title Ameris's Triumph.

The Rifleman ... Good TV show, even better mech 👍

One of my favorite combat ovens

Most importantly, it is beautiful! Also probably THE mech where a switch from single to double heatsinks has the biggest impact.

Riffleman is a mech that improves when you remove things. Take out the AC5's, replace with heat sinks and armor. Boom, now you can reliably use the lasers. Remove the lasers and upscale the AC's, the heat problem is gone. Admittedly so is most of the reason you wanted a Riffleman. Remove all common sense and just learn to embrace the burn... honestly the AC ammo is an explosion waiting to happen. Remove the ACs, slap on 2 more large lasers and a few heat sinks. Maybe remove the medium lasers in a desperate bid to reduce heat? This is a bad design, but when the pilot sees a good opportunity the damage is there. Honestly the best upgrade package for the Riffleman would of been to just install double heatsinks in the engine. Solves the heat problem at a very low cost. That should of been the number 1 upgrade package since it is cheap and 100% improves the base model. Adding upgraded weapons tends to make the Riffleman's problems worse, to the point you need an XL engine and Endo steel to free up enough weight to fix the problems the new weapons introduced. And even later, drop the large lasers, upgrade to RAC/5's and up the ammo and armor. Still has a slight heat problem but that is due to operator error.

a very terrifying combination; 2x Blackjack, 1x Rifleman, and 1x Jeagermech

So glad the Unseen debacle is settled and the Rifleman can return to prominence! It just looks good. Much of the flak (no pun intended) this 'Mech gets is due to being forced into roles it was never designed to fill. It is NOT a frontline combat 'Mech, it's an anti-air and long-range direct fire support 'Mech. It's not meant to be in the thick of combat. Using it well involves it being supported by tankier 'Mechs to get close and take hits while the Rifleman helps wear down enemies from far away, using it's jump jets to stay away from anything big enough to threaten it. The heat is a problem, but it's partly intentional. An 11 to dial the 'Mech up to if something gets in your face, risking the overheat for the chance to land a knockout blow before it can rip through your thin armor.

Unlike the Grasshopper, technology can do so much for the Rifleman. I think the C3 and 7N are my favourite listed variants, just slap some double heat sinks and advanced AC5's in there and it's a great mech without having to resort to dangerous engines or advanced construction materials.

My mistake, l meant Davis McCall. Badicus O’Shea was from the Rose’s Black Thorns.

You know I never liked my enemies aircraft their loud and have a tendency of destroying my stuff, that’s why you always keep some AA on hand and let me tell you the Rifle man is my favorite kind of AA

The 3C is such a good light-meduim killer no slouch against heavier mechs either. Hanse Davion is second only to general Kerensky in terms of conceptual mech design.

Too bad the Rifleman 3 was a one off. Something like that would be fucking _TERRIFYING_ if it showed up. (For the uninitiated: The Rifleman 3 was a one off super prototype developed during the Amaris civil war by Amaris. It was an assault mech with *4* gauss rifles, Null stealth system, and enough ammo to _DELETE_ a lance of mechs from existence before it had to resupply)

The Rifleman 3 is nuts! 4 gauss rifles and Null systems, I know it would be expensive as hell to buy and field but I want 3 of them!

Wow! Chuck Connors is way taller than I thought.

The Rifleman III is just... so Stupidly insane it becomes awesome. Yes, it's fragile, yes, it has no ammo for its weapons, but at the same time it's impracticality is exactly what makes it stand out. Giving it Stealth capabilities and gauss Rifles? Probably a smart idea. Giving it so many that it can't even take a light breeze without exposing it's structure? Complete overkill.

While you're destroying enemy aerospace assets, the dangerous heat means that you can cook burgers in the cockpit! I think that the Lancelot would have replaced the Rifleman had the Succession Wars not destroyed the technology base necessary to keep that line afloat. It pays to be easy to maintain, and the Rifleman does that well.

I did a basic modification, trying to keep the costs down while leaning into the AA role. 2x Med Lasers were retained but each arm mounted a RAC2 with a ton of ammo. The heatsinks were doubled and a target computer was added specifically for helping with the AA role.

The Immortal Rifleman. Because you will live on in history as yet another victim of too much heat and too little armor. In all seriousness, the Rifleman is my favorite mech ever. I truly adore it.

The first miniature I ever got, in a little blue ral partha blister pack ❤

That's a nice thumbnail my guy. Edit: Great stuff, very glad I subbed when I did to catch this series as it happens

The Rifleman is that one car your buddy has kept for over a bajillion years. When you go and catch up with him, he reveals he still has it and it WORKS; all you an do is scream "WHY and HOW?!"

Say what you want about Amaris, but the man understood Rifleman`s design practice as evidenced by Rifleman 3.

I'm enjoying your short and simple breakdowns of the game and its lore. Keep up the good work.

I know some players dislike it for having a second LL for which it has no heat support, but I still like this mech. The second LL gives you redundancy and flex firepower. You can overheat with both LL and AC, but you have to give yourself a turn to cool off afterwards. This may not be as useful as sustainable fire, but if you can do it to attack things that you have to knock out fast, or to smack a hit-and-run unit (like aircraft) it can help, or if you can use cover it's very useful. I remember one game where i was able to get my rifleman close to cover. I overheated, then next turn just ran behind cover to cool off. My target mech was well heat balanced, but this way I was able to essentially cut his firepower in half (he could only shoot me every other turn), while my "flex" firepower (2 LL+ 2 AC every other round) only effectively only reduced my firepower by 20% compared to the heat neutral baseline (1LL +2AC every round). However, it would be nice to have sustainable long range firepower. I came up with a variant last year that did that... drop the speed to 3/5 and get rid of the Med Laser, and you have enough tonnage to add heat sinks to support the remaining guns as well as get a little more armor.

Good afternoon sir. Another iconic star league mech. Awesome background story. House Davion was, or is, very fond of the Rifleman. The heavy lasers and auto cannons have a long reach. The rear armor is paper thin like tissue paper. However,a saving grace is the D2j tracking system. The most famous rifleman was owned and operated by Badicus O’Shea, one of the founding members of Grey Death Legion. Good video.

The Project Phoenix and RecGuide Rebuilds fix almost all of the Rifleman's issues, especially the 7N in 3133. Two ER Large, Two LB-5xs, 2 ER Medium Lasers, 2 tons of ammo, 11 tons of armor, 13 DHS, Endo Steel and a 240 XL engine. For 1329 BV, it does a nice job of giving you a long range strike platform with anti-air capability. The dual SB-Gauss or 6D with the dual RAC/5s and ER Mediums are also nice refits

The legendary one in MW 5 with twin gauss guns was a nasty fight,quick but nasty for all involved. The rest of Vaun's lance was also a quick and bloody fight. It was also the first mission I brought my Nightstar to, so gauss fest all around. Still screw that guy in particular.

I enjoy this Mech in MW5. Park it on a hill overlooking a base and watch the buildings come tumbling down!

I like The Rifleman I like it the art design in the game I had a enemy Rifleman kill my Warhammer by shooting the cockpit and killing the pilot I prioritize them in combat staying out of line of sight until I can get a shot on them I usually run mine as a glass Cannon very very light armor 2 AC10s with 2 long range lasers I just have to stay out of the enemy's range easily killing light-to-medium mecs or focusing on shoulders or arms crippling enemies weapons easily also viable on Heavies and assault if you're just going for a limbs this building is very mobile only weakness is that it's really weak armor so lrms are our nemesis as long and I can stay on the outskirts of the battle it does great of picking off enemies cleaning up wounded enemies or crippling enemies not perfect but in Great mec

Marauder makes a pretty decent AA ’Mech too: load autocannon with flak or LB-X Cluster

NOW THIS is a fine mech. i prefer the IIC version with Energy and missiles, When i started MWO you had little choice now its become interesting with RAC-5s in the mix. I have maybe 4 varried rifleman variants. The new skill tree just arrived it will be iinteresting to reskill it.

Unseen Rifleman IIc with the quad Lg. Pulse Lasers, and 20 Double Heat Sinks. 3/5/3 movement. Max armor. 65 tons.

This is a Mech that absolutely requires a pilot who is on point with his/her heat management. Far too often the Rifleman finds itself embroiled in combat situations that it was not built nor intended to cope with. As an AA platform, it's adequate, like a lot of designs that are good, but don't excel. Between the lack of heat sinks and subpar rear armor, I'm always forced to 'keep an eye' on any Rifleman I field. Personally, I tend to assign them to overwatch or security lances. Units used to support/protect non-mech assets. Artillery batteries, field logistics trains, field repair and recovery teams, Airfields and Dropship LZs, and HQ units. Otherwise, they'll get regulated to command lances that, by most rights, should not be taking the brunt of frontline combat. (i.e. Battalion/Regimental level CC). Just my opinion, of course.

Like the song says, "Feeling hot hot hot!!" One of the OG hot boiz, the Rifleman was always fun. In my old Mechwarrior unit the Rifleman was one of the original mechs. Then we learned how the game was actually played and changed our mechs. 😁 There's no real mystery to handling the Rifleman's heat issues though. Only fire all the arm guns when the target status merits it. Use the AC first, then switch to LL to put the hurt on AC hit regions. Use the ML only when enemies get to short range (and why did that happen?).

The most economic modification of the original 3N: strip the AC5 for 10 heat sinks and armor, making it able to use both LLs without overheating.

The Rifleman, often imitated, never replicated!

Holy shit red, this is incredible. You're worrying me bro, doing like 3 a day, keep it up

Its a team player, its got its role.

Despite it's shortcomings, the Rifleman is still one of my favorite heavy mechs-ESPECIALLY if I'm allowed to modify it. You hit the nail on the head: as long as you keep it to its intended role (in the backfield, taking long-range shots at the enemy and letting your other mechs move up and engage), it's an incredibly deadly and effective unit. My preferred modification (pre-Clan Invasion) is similar to the -4D: swap the autocannons for PPCs (my favorite weapons in the game, though I haven't tried many post-Clan Invasion weapons like the plasma cannon and stuff yet) but keep the medium lasers and swap out the large lasers for two more medium lasers. That leaves me with 11 tons to work with (if I'm working from the -3N), which I would use to add 3 tons of armor and 8 heatsinks. Obviously this doesn't solve the heat problem completely, but it reduces it enough that it isn't too difficult to manage. Plus, the extra armor and 4 medium lasers make it much more of a threat at shorter ranges.

I love the Rifleman. I hang back and pick at armor with the autocannons before a kill alpha and drawing it back to cool off for a turn or two. It's not a great duelist by any stretch but as a part of a unit it's solid.

My favorite personal 3025 variation removes the medium lasers for a single heat sink and 1 ton of AC/5 ammo.

Basically the OG sniper. Big damage at long range, kinda bad up close.

JM6-DD pilots after hearing about the long service life of the Rifleman: *stares in disgust*

An XL engine in the Rifleman to me is a perfectly reasonable upgrade. If your losing a side torso on a Rifleman either your losing the battle or doing something wrong.

Like many of the early FASA Battletech designs this one was directly taken from the anime series “Macross” (released as Robotech to western audiences) in which it is known as a “Defender”, designed for an anti-aircraft defence role. Loved these designs which is what got me hooked on the 1st edition Battletech as a kid

The RFL-6D is a decent loadout, with 4xLAC5's and 2 ML's with 6 tons of ammo.

Too slow not enough armour but a great mech :-) I love this mech it has range and a big hit...keep I secret keep it safe and you'll be winning more often than not....even the clans saw this with their IIC which is just devastating, and a mech I will steal any chance I get...I hate the clans but damn they know how to make a direct fire mech :-)

Iconic mech. But over weaponized. Too many weapons, not enough heat sinks, so-so armor. Also a side note, the arm weapons bend a lot as a mini. But I love the look and you just know that the fly boys cry when they see one.

Great video as always. I think you gave the Rifleman a fair treatment for what it is.

Great video bear

I used to run the twin rac5 varient. That mech got nicknamed flyswatter for deleting vtols.

If your ammo hasn't cooked off yet, you don't have a heat problem.

I don’t care how terrible it is I’m calling dibs on the rifleman if I’m stationed on an arctic planet.

Excellent vid of a pretty decent if pretty tricky to use 'Mech. But plan this thing in some woods, and you can blaze away with both AC-5s and a single large laser without issue. Load up some flak shells and it becomes a real case of Plane-b-gone.

Double Gauss cannon Sniper build. Pop that cockpit from the other side of the map.

My take on the Rifleman: Replace all arm-mounted weapons with four LAC-5s, plus an additional six tonnes of ammo (three tonnes per side). That's 35 rounds of combat, with a max heat of 6 when running and firing all ACs. Plus you still have those MLAS.

I would consider the kraken the only competitor to the rifleman even though it’s clan.

RFL and JM6 are probably my favourite mech

Rifleman goes BRRRRRRR! In MW5: Mercs my go-to heavy is the Rifleman. 2 x AC/2-BF with a shit-ton of ammo 4 x Medium Laser Loads of heatsinks and max armor. What's not to love. Edit: Or were they AC/5-BFs... They go BRRRRRRR, and that's the main thing

Say what you want about Rifleman, but boy it looks COOL

In the early days of Battletech [yes, I'm a dinosaur] and pre TRO 3050, it was quite easy to cook off your ammo and actually blow yourself up.

One thing I've always wondered about this mech is why is it always a light tan yellow whenever it's in any fan art that I see? Because it's getting to the point where I'm halfway liable to try and figure out how to make a banana with gun arms that I can field in tabletop alongside it

The rifleman, the blackjacks big brother.

I liked the original robo-tech based design the best

I've always thought that one of the shortcomings of the Rifleman is that since it's a Battledroids design, it only had access to the AC-5 as the AC-2/10/20 weren't in the game at that time. In fact, it was just called the Autocannon back then. Had the other autocannons been available, maybe instead of AC-5's it would have had AC-2's and the weight saved could have gone towards some more heat sinks.

You forgot to mention that all rifleman have a built in feature that starts playing "heat of the moment" on its external and internal speakers as soon as it fires anything

It would be cool to hear a section about the notable pilots for each mech.

It's iconic that's all you can say about it

Not sure i agree with the upgrades to add firepower, the Rifleman has decent firepower for its weight, what it needed was double heatsinks and heaver armor with another ton of ac5 ammo if it could be squezed in.

this thing is basically the shilka in that it simply refuses to die and is used in much the same ways. also: could you do a video about industrial mechs and their combat MODs? or a more in depth video of the Rifleman fitting your newer style?

Holy shit. You are prolific.

As one of the Unseen, the Rifleman has survived for no other reason than how good it looks. Offensive and defensively, the -3N performance is abyssal. I've seen people talk about the 2 AC-5 & 1 LL firing pattern, but that ignores the issue of having only 1 tonne of ammo for the AC-5s. It's really a mech you can't use effectively without changing the base design. Even just swapping in double heat sinks makes it perform decently, though not great.

Ah! The immortal rifleman . . . at least it's immortal until you fire both lasers a couple of turns in a row and the AC5 ammo pops from the heat . . . It actually does have decent damage output if you only ever fire off one of those large lasers. It's worth it just to pull one of the lasers off and replace it with a medium for things that get under the range of the AC-5s and couple of heat sinks and extra ammo and armor. Or, you pull off one of those autocannon and replace it with heat sinks and armor or some jump jets.

as much as its outclassed by other mechs its a good mech when you get the right model.

This and the Warhammer iic are among the best looking mechs in battletech, at least in my opinion.

It's alright in its intended role. Try using it outside of its intended role and you're going to have problems.

On the 3025 model drop one AC5 and add 6 heatsinks and three tons of armor. It's pretty decent after that.

Ah the rifleman better known as what if we stuck legs on a world war 2 flak battery

"When the answer to airborne is NO" - Kallon Industries

Just keep an eye out for a body of water.

I remember one my better build I'm MWO was a Rifleman that armed with two light guass rifles and and light PPC I think it been wail sence I play that game. Though my best build I would say was the Marauder with LBX-5 two larger laser and two medium and then I add jump jets to It. So it bit of a skirmisher mech.

It's heat problems seem sane compared to the Nova = 12 medium lasers? Why the hell not? One shot, one kill!

Switch out the AC5s to AC2s. Makes it a bit more useful.

I HATE fighting these things! They just sit in the back and pummel you with laser and AC fire!! ARGH!!!😵 In two versions of the 3M I did the following: in A I removed the ACs and maxed the armor and heat sinks, kept the LLs and MLs: turns it into a very potent laserboat. In B I traded the LLs for MLs, maxed the armor and added three more tons of ammo and three heat sinks. Sure it's technically a big Blackjack, but it's a beast.

Like AeroTech was ever a thing.

Wierdly enough there are a bunch of dedicated anti-air mechs, even thou worse than the rifleman, like the Blackjack or the dreaded jagermech... But lore-wise planes are extremly rare and often there's only a Lance of fighters (Up to 6 Planes) attached to a regiment sized force, If at all... But the rifleman is still cool 😍

Ahh the quad C-ER Large laser with double heatsinks, and no other weapons. Retaining the std engine but gaining endo steel, keeping std armour (although a bit more). Keeps repair cost low, mech cost under control and by having only arm mounted weapons it give flexibility for modification of weapon packages for different customers.

i once threw dual uac 5 on a rifleman. i was not disappointed in the dakka i could unleash. no heat issues but prolonged engagements could drain ammo reserves. lasers ensured i could still fight after ammunition expendature. not a bad mech though not my preferance.

I'd imagine there are plenty of mechs that could be just as competent as sky brooms, but none with the same value proposition. Though I wonder why nobody just tried retrofitting the 3-n with just 10 engine double heatsinks which would 90% solve the heat problem.

THIS IS ME WHEN NO PAY TAX LESSSS GOOOOOOO

The 5 d sounds like a crappy mad.

I personal use a 3N and just put on four er med lasers instead

Runs hot, too slow to evade attackers, and the armor is thin. The Rilfeman isn't a line battlemech it's an AA support unit requiring protection from lance mates. An eggshell armed with sledgehammers it fulfills its AA role, especially when using flak rounds, but is IMO a suicide ride.

Way better in combined arms w some flak : )

The Rifleman 2s hat is better though.