Howdy techno-wizards and welcome back to Mech Overview. This week we have a rare example of an inner sphere mech with two names, either the Crockett or the Katana depending on which set of variants you are looking at. With a slightly convoluted in-universe history, the Crockett is an overgrown training mech canonically, sort of an assault weight chameleon. This should make it simple and usable, but we will see!

The Crockpot has never been a particularly noteworthy mech aside from being one of the weird mechs that Comstar gave over to the Draconis Combine, leading to the Combine produced Katana sub-type. Some sources categorize them as different mechs with the same variant codes, others see them as the same mech, and I personally come down on the side that they are functionally just a series of variants of the exact same thing. I’ll be putting them in order, and I’ll point out whether a given variant is a Katana or a Crockett, even though there really is not a huge difference and the model is intended to represent both

While the Crockatana isn’t an omni mech, there are still a few overall trends. The Crockett/Katana is an 85 ton assault mech, and I suspect the mech it was a trainer for was the Highlander, with most variants jumping. Its a bit neat to be able to read in to this, and it is very funny to me that the in-universe reason that it didn’t stay as a trainer is that the company that built it overbuilt it to such a degree that it was better than a lot of frontline assault mechs in use at the time, which is just very funny. BattleTech has some great stories of procurement buried around various TRO entries, and I adore that part of the setting.

Variants

These mechs have all been reviewed based on a standard F through S scale, which you can find described on our landing page here (along with all of our other ‘Mech reviews, the name of the box you can buy to get any of the mechs we have covered, and our general methodology).

5003-0

While this is technically the third variant of the mech, it is the lowest tech and has the first name going in order, so we are starting here. The Crockett -0 moves 3/5/3, the standard profile for Crocketts, and has a good armor load, with particularly thick back armor for some reason. 19 points of rear CT armor is a lot of rear CT armor. For weapons, we have two large lasers, an AC/10, a pair of SRM-6s, and a couple of small lasers that could have been a medium laser. The mech also has appalling heat management and quite a lot of un-CASE’d ammo in its right torso, which really takes the wind out of its sails. It does have a standard engine, but at current the right torso has a better than even chance of taking you out of the game instantly.

For 1704 BV it certainly is a poorly made intro-tech assault mech. It has all the problems they usually do with ammo and poor heat management, and doesn’t really give you anything you can’t get from an intro-tech Highlander.

Peri’s Rating: D+. You at least have an okay firing pattern with one laser and the AC/10 at long, and decent up close damage with the SRMs and AC, but it is just not standing out from comparable options.

5003-1

The actual standard, the actual Crockett is a fair bit pricier at 1923 BV. This is for a range of reasons. First off, the heat sinks have been upgraded to doubles, and almost all the guns have been upgraded to match. The large lasers have become ER, and the AC/10 is now an LB-10. This is a much better heat profile and generally a more capable mech, but the thing has even more ammo packed in now, with both side torsos having at least a bit of ammo. While it is very well padded and not completely crippling, you are still not going to get the full value out of the Crinklecrackle’s standard engine in most games. CASE exists, and I am really confused about this mech not bothering with it. I guess those trainees can go straight to hell if they manage to cook off the ammo.

It’s a better mech than the -0 for sure, but it isn’t incredible, even at that price.

Peri’s Rating: C. It’s a big boy with some decent movement, but it doesn’t really do anything exceptionally well. Always love an LB-10 though.

5003-1b

The Royal Crockett, the 1b is hilariously better. 2307 BV is a pretty steep price, but the 1b approximates a Flashman 9M in output while being a fair bit more durable. The 1b retains the standard engine, armor load, and movement profile of the -1, but swaps the weapon load out for a far better one. It carries a gauss rifle, two ER large lasers, and a pretty great secondary array of four medium pulse lasers and two regular medium lasers. This is a hell of a laser show, and means that the only explosive in this mech is the gauss, which won’t instantly kill it under normal conditions. Heat management is decent, damage is good, durability is good, this is overall just a really solid assault mech. It is pretty comparable to a Highlander 732b, trading long range damage potential out for stronger firepower up close and fewer things to go boom on the inside. The one issue here is just price; it is expensive for an IS assault mech and it is very middle of the pack compared to other assaults in the 2300 range. Still good, but not unprecedented.

Peri’s Rating: B

5003-2 (Katana)

Our first Katana variant, the 2 is a fascinating mech. At the bargain bin price of 1629, there is a lot to like here and a lot to dislike. For starters, armor is down on all locations, but it only just dips below 20 on the arms with every other location remaining AC/20 resistant. This is suboptimal, but if you compare it to heavy mechs in this price range, it really isn’t that bad. Still at 3/5/3, the 2 does some mixing and matching, with an LB-10, two large lasers, two SRM-6s, and that annoying pair of small lasers. At the price this is fantastic, even with the single heat sinks, as the mech is neutral firing off all the big guns, and can drop one of the large lasers to chuck in the SRMs up close. This compares really well to the 1 and is a much better way to get an LB-10 on the table.

The bad armor is rough though, and the mech still has just a lot of ammo in it. At 1629 BV though, it is a dirt cheap assault mech with some meaningful gun, decent utility, and some adequate mobility from jump jets. Overall a very solid piece.

Peri’s Rating: B+

5003-3

The 3 is a very simple mech. This is a 1 that has had all the ammo moved to the right side, and lost some back armor, to add CASE. This is great, even with some of the ammo hanging out in the right arm for some reason. While you still have two locations with ammo in them, at the very least neither of them is capable of instantly killing the entire mech with an ammo cookoff anymore. It is a touch more expensive, but that is a very nice upgrade.

Peri’s Rating: C+

5003-C (Katana)

Another Katana, the C trades the small lasers of the 2 out for a C3 slave. This is technically cheaper by like 10 BV, but in practice just take this one if you want C3, and the 2 if you don’t want to.

Peri’s Rating: B+

5003-CJ (Katana)

This, meanwhile, is very much not the same as a 2! For 1844 BV the CJ does some weird shit to free up tonnage compared to the C, swapping the large lasers out for two light PPCs and 2 ER medium lasers, and it upgrades to double heat sinks to help out. It needs this tonnage because the CJ is 3/5/5 using improved jump jets. 3/5/5 is a hilarious movement profile, and while the CJ doesn’t have the best loadout on earth for it with no pulse lasers and no targeting computer, it is still a decently capable mech that can reposition itself really easily. This isn’t one of the game’s better IJJ assault mechs, but it sure is funny.

Peri’s Rating: C

5003-CM (Katana)

The CM is the cheapest so far, and is another remix of the 2. This time it drops one of the SRMs and both small lasers to cram in a C3 master computer. 1554 BV is dirt, dirt cheap, so this has value even if you aren’t running C3. The 2 is technically more capable, but the CM can still fire an SRM-6, two large lasers, and an LB-10 while only building movement heat, which is really pretty good by the standards of 1500-BV range assault mechs. I really need to use this one more, its like a big, fat Warhammer.

Peri’s Rating: A-. 1554 BV is a great deal to get an 85 ton chassis with decent armor, and the fact that the guns aren’t terrible makes it even better.

5004-1

Yeah after a bit they stop incrementing the number on the right and start climbing up the 5000s. No idea why. The 5004-1 is functionally very similar to the 3, with the same armor load, but it upgrades the small lasers to ER smalls for some fucking reason, and downgrades the SRMs to SRM-4s to free up weight for a C3i. At 1955 BV this is a bit pricey, and it is basically a downgraded 3 unless you are making use of C3i. Which is a pain in the ass and frequently not worth the BV. Oh well.

Peri’s Rating: C. It’s still adequate.

5005-1

Another improved jump jet weirdo, the 5005-1 costs 1908 BV and moves 3/5/5. It has to use a light engine for this, so it no longer has that sweet, sweet standard engine durability, and the weapons have been fucked with again. It carries two ER large lasers, an LB-10, a C3i if you want to waste BV, and a pair of MML-3s for emotional support. This is a bit weedy for the price and this still is not a fantastic IJJ mech due to the lack of pulse or tcomp, but it is a funny IJJ assault mech with C3i, which can be exactly what you want sometimes.

Peri’s Rating: C+. Very funny, certainly exists.

5006-1 (Katana)

This is a Katana, but is numbered in sequence with the regular Crocketts, giving my decision to count these as the same mech even more weight. This is another improved jump jet one, and is pretty expensive at 2363 BV. For weapons, it is an oddball hybrid, with a gauss rifle, two light PPCs, two ER medium lasers, and two streak SRM-6s. It has CASE II though, and a standard engine, so it will be very durable in practice. The armor is the same as the lower Katana standard, but with 5 hexes of jump you will usually be able to either get enough TMM or a good firing position. The lack of an accuracy bonus anywhere on this mech is annoying, but again, it is very funny. The IJJ Crocketts are just a bit too expensive for what they are, and that sucks. This is competing in price with a lot of far better mechs, but a 5 hex jump assault mech with a gauss rifle really can’t be that bad unless it is 3600 BV.

Peri’s Rating: C+. Mech fine.

Final Thoughts

The Crocketana sure is a mech. It has some good, dirt cheap variants that can haul an LB-10 in for not a lot of BV on a decently tough frame, and that has quite a bit of value. I really prefer to have an LB-10 or two in every single force I build, the crit hunting utility is extremely strong and good to have. The thing that stands out most to me is how little the various variants change. Nearly all of them have the exact same plan and most of them have functionally the exact same equipment. You very rarely get this level of extreme cohesion across all variants, its neat. I have nothing else to say though, the mech is a mech and it sure does come with the Flashman.

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