The Devastator was originally designed by General Aleksandr Kerensky, but the Amaris Civil War prevented the design from entering production. Only a handful of prototypes were built before the SLDF left the Inner Sphere. Centuries later in 3023, the Federated Suns recovered the plans and began to attempt to recreate the design. They were forced to initially produce a modified variant, the DVS-1D, that lacked advanced components. Then in 3048, NAIS finally had the recovered Star League technology available to begin production of the DVS-2.
Since its introduction, the Devastator has been a staple of Federated Suns military. It was shared with the allied Lyran Commonwealth and mercenaries who have both made use of consistently since the Clan Invasion. The Capellan Confederation and Republic of the Sphere have also fielded the design at times.
Read This First
- When defending, take up a position with cover and work as a sniper. When attacking, walk towards your objective and fire away.
- You don’t need to worry about either overheating or ammunition in most battles.
- Be careful about taking internal damage to your arms and side torsos. Gauss rifles can fry a MechWarrior’s brain even if they don’t explode quite as violently as ammo, and your XL engine limits its ability to stay in the fight.
Devastator DVS-2
- Role: Juggernaut
- Tech Base: Inner Sphere (3048)
- Chassis: 100 tons
- Movement: 3 / 5, XL
- Armor: 296
- Heat Sinks: 14 (28)
- Weapons:
- Gauss Rifle × 2 (ammo: 32)
- PPC × 2
- Medium Laser × 4
- Design Quirks:
- Hyper-Extending Actuators
- Searchlight
- Cost: 22,398,000 C-Bills
- Battle Value: 2,481
Mobility
The Devastator is exactly as mobile as expected for a 100-ton juggernaut. It has 3 walking MP and 5 running MP with no jump jets. That means that it can at best achieve a +2 target movement modifier, but most turns will only be at +1 when running and +0 when walking due to needing to turn or deal with terrain. In a defensive role, it will do better standing still in a protected location than trying to use evasive maneuvering.
Durability
The DVS-2 has good armor protection, but it suffers from some internal drawbacks. Its 296 points of armor put it at 96% of what its chassis can carry and the average for a ’Mech of its tonnage. If that thick armor is breached though, its XL engine means that it is incapable of surviving the loss of either side torso. The gauss rifles in its arms also mean that a critical hit in either arm has a 64% chance of resulting in an internal explosion. While such a blast won’t usually be enough to destroy the Devastator, it will spread into the adjacent torso where it will have a chance to damage its vulnerable engine.
Weaponry
The Devastator DVS-2 has a powerful long-range arsenal. Its two gauss rifles can fire out to 22 hexes and then they are supported by two PPCs that can fire out to 18 hexes. Those four weapons give it the ability to deal 50 damage at long ranges. Then up close, it has three forward-firing medium lasers and one to cover its rear arc. With all four of its primary weapons suffering from minimum ranges, a MechWarrior in a DVS-2 will want to stay at least 3 hexes away from their targets.
With three medium lasers and its two PPCs fixed in its forward arc, the DVS-2 wants to ensure its main targets stay in that arc. Its arm-mounted gauss rifles can fire on targets in any direction though thanks to its Hyper-Extending Actuators quirk. Combined with its rear-firing medium laser, they can be a nasty surprise to an enemy flanking it, but the minimum range means that they can still have a hard time hitting a short-range backstabber.
Only the gauss rifles on the DVS-2 require ammunition. They each have 16 shots available though, which means that a MechWarrior generally doesn’t need to worry about conserving shots in a single engagement.
Heat Management
Thanks to the low heat generation of its gauss rifles, the DVS-2’s MechWarrior doesn’t usually need to worry about heat management. Its four primary weapons generate 22 heat and its 14 double heat sinks can dissipate 28 each turn. The only time that it will overheat is when it fires its medium lasers too. Firing all three forward-facing lasers in addition to its other weapons will overheat it by at least 3 and as much as 5 heat depending on its movement. Since the Devastator isn’t dependent on movement, that amount of overheating can be okay for a couple of turns in order to destroy or chase away an opponent who has gotten too close.
Brawling
The DVS-2 isn’t built for brawling, but it can still throw around its weight. Its arms lack hand actuators, and punching with them requires giving up on shooting its gauss rifles. At point-blank, a punch will generally be about as accurate as a gauss slug, have a more focused damage zone, and still deal a respectable 10 damage. A kick for 20 damage can also be a solid choice especially against lighter targets that will lose a leg to such a hit. Choosing to kick is also a good choice if the DVS-2 has another target to shoot its guns at that isn’t so close.
Miniature
A new plastic miniature for the Devastator is coming in both the Mercenaries box set and the Legendary MechWarriors II force pack.
Scott's Game Room 
One reply on “’Mech Manual: Devastator DVS-2”
The Devastator is a daunting opponent, not only for other assault ‘Mechs but for almost anything it can shoot at. Heavy armament and armor make it a ‘hard target’ for anything except orbital bombardment. However, it has the potential, I believe, to be more. After tinkering about with it in MegaMekLab, there are things that haven’t been done with it designwise (which I will not narratively divulge here) that could ‘bring it into the 31st Century’ despite its already-impressive firepower. I happen to think that rear-facing weaponry is unnecessary when its main weapons can be flipped and fired in a single turn, despite the limitation of a minimum range.
All the same, a design such as this is a great asset to have in the vanguard, especially when supported by ‘Mechs with more diverse firepower, such as the battle-proven Battlemaster, Warhammer, Atlas, and Stalker, or the more modern editions of the Sunder, Banshee (5S, 7S, and 9S particularly), Orion, and Archer.