’Mech Manual: Kodiak

The Kodiak was designed by Clan Ghost Bear to serve their second-line forces in the same role as the Executioner filled in their front-line forces. Like the Executioner, it is a fast-moving assault ’Mech that is capable of delivering a lot of damage. Compared to the Executioner, the Kodiak lacks MASC and jump jets which means it is not capable of closing at the same speed, but in exchange, it devotes more tonnage to weaponry.

As a totem ’Mech for Clan Ghost Bear, the Kodiak is most strongly associated with them (and their later era incarnation as the Rasalhague Dominion). The design spread to a few other clans, but notable concentrations were only truly found amongst a few other clans: Goliath Scorpion, Ice Hellion, and Snow Raven. As the ilClan era dawns, it remains in use by both the Rasalhague Dominion and Scorpion Empire as well as Wolf’s Dragoons. The Raven Alliance has converted all of their remaining Kodiaks to their preferred variant that mounts twin LB 20-X autocannons and so no longer field the standard Kodiak variant.

Read This First

• Use your relatively good speed to control the engagement range against other assault ’Mechs or allow you to close with lighter targets
• As tempting as it might be, do not fire everything
• Favor your large laser at distances greater than 10 hexes, but then prefer shorter range weapons as enemies get closer
• Be mindful of when you use your autocannon, its ammo supply is limited especially at its faster rate of fire and its value is gone if it jams or runs out of ammo

Kodiak

• Role: Brawler
• Tech Base: Clan (3001)
• Chassis: 100 tons (Endo Steel)
• Movement: 4 / 6, XL
• Armor: 280
• Heat Sinks: 20 (40)
• Weapons:
  • Ultra AC/20 (ammo: 10)
  • ER Large Laser
  • Streak SRM 6 × 2 (ammo: 30)
  • ER Medium Laser × 8
• Equipment:
  • CASE
• Design Quirks:
  • Distracting
  • Battlefists
• Cost: 29,791,333 C-Bills
• Battle Value: 2,927

Mobility

The Kodiak’s 400 XL fusion engine gives it above average mobility for its tonnage. It can walk with 4 MP or run with 6 MP which means it has the same mobility as many heavy ’Mechs. When walking it can achieve a +1 target movement modifier when walking and +2 when running. Because of the Kodiak’s focus on shorter range weapons, that speed can be important in order to allow it to reach its optimal fighting range.

Durability

The Kodiak is a little below average on armor for a 100-ton ’Mech, but that still means it carries thicker armor than almost any other ’Mech. Under the armor, its weak spots are the side torsos. Due to its XL engine, both side torsos contain two engine slots. Those locations also each have a sixth of their critical slots occupied by explosive ammunition. Any explosion will be contained by CASE, but still cause considerable damage to the ’Mech.

Weaponry

The standard variant of the Kodiak carries enough weapons to destroy more than 8 tons of armor in a single salvo. While its large laser can reach targets out to 25 hexes, the rest of its weapons do not come into play until roughly half that range. None of its weapons suffer from minimum ranges, so it gets more dangerous as it gets closer until it hits its peak expected damage at 4 hexes or less.

The Kodiak’s largest weapons are torso-mounted so that they can only fire to its front, but its medium lasers are split between its arms so that it can still deal a considerable amount of damage in those arm arcs.

The ultra autocannon and SRMs are both dependent on ammunition. The 30 shots for the SRMs should be enough for most battles thanks to how efficient the Streak system is. The autocannon on the other hand can chew through its 10 shots in only 5 turns of shooting, so a MechWarrior will need to be mindful about when they fire that big gun.

Heat Management

The incredible firepower of the Kodiak unfortunately outpaces the cooling capacity of its heat sinks. It can dissipate 40 heat per turn, but its weapons can generate 74 heat. An unexperienced MechWarrior who fires everything will quickly find their Kodiak shut down and vulnerable.

In order to control heat, a MechWarrior will need to pick and choose weapons to match their current range to target. At ranges more than 10 hexes, they should fire their large laser and 5 or 6 of the medium lasers. At 10 hexes and less, the large laser should generally be dropped in exchange for firing more medium lasers. Because the Streak SRMs do not generate heat unless they hit, they can be fired opportunistically once a target is in range, but a MechWarrior should be ready to hold fire with lasers the following turn in order to cool back off if they do lock and fire. The limited ammunition supply on the autocannon means that it should only be fired if it has a fairly accurate shot, but it is also a big enough gun that its mere presence will shift the tactics of anyone facing a Kodiak.

Brawling

With a hundred tons of weight to throw around, the Kodiak is a powerful brawler. It has full actuator sets in both arms as well as the Battlefists quirk, so its punches are accurate and deal 10 damage each. While each punch means giving up on 28 potential damage from its medium lasers, the Kodiak still has a lot of torso weapons to fire and punching can be a good option after a turn of building up excess heat from weapons fire. Alternatively, a kick from a Kodiak deals 20 damage so it causes any ’Mech hit to need to make two Piloting Skill Rolls.

Cost & Upkeep

Even though it is not an OmniMech, the Kodiak still has a high price tag. When using C-Bills, its cost is just over 80% of the cost of the front-line Executioner Prime. Its missiles and autocannon also require a steady supply of ammunition, but a resource-constrained commander can still get good use out of a Kodiak even if they send it into battle with its ammo bins empty thanks to its abundance of lasers.

When using the Warchest Point system, these are the expected costs for the Kodiak:

Action	Clan Cost	Inner Sphere Cost
Purchase	2,000 SP	4,000 SP
Armor Repair	100 SP	200 SP
Structure Repair	200 SP	400 SP
Reload	30 SP	60 SP

Miniature

A plastic miniature of the new Kodiak sculpt is included in the Clan Ad-Hoc Star.

Sources

• Technical Readout: Clan Invasion
• Force Packs Record Sheets: Wave Two
• Master Unit List
• Sarna

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