Epona
| Epona | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
| Class: | Hovercraft | |
| Faction | Clan | |
| Ticket cost: | 8 upon destruction | |
| Tier: | 6 | |
| Speed: |
99 km/h | |
| Turret rotation: | 360° | |
| Turret pitch: | -10° to +70° | |
| Variant Armament | ||
| Variant | Weapons | Equipment |
| Prime: Price: 64 400 CBills Total armor: 22 997 |
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| A: Price: 61 800 CBills Total armor: 22 997 |
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| B: Price: 67 600 CBills Total armor: 22 997 |
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| C: Price: 64 600 CBills Total armor: 22 997 |
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| D: Price: 65 100 CBills Total armor: 22 997 |
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| E: Price: 69 500 CBills Total armor: 22 997 |
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| F: Price: 67 300 CBills Total armor: 22 997 |
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| G: Price: 58 100 CBills Total armor: 22 997 |
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All stats current as of release 0.15.3
The Epona is a Clan Hovercraft released with the Beta 0.5.6 update. It is a very agile hovercraft that sports heavy weaponry and good armor for a vehicle of its size. Like the other hovercraft it has a '6th gear' that raises its maximum speed to impressive 150km/h, at the cost of turning rate.
Contents
Roles and Gameplay Hints
The Epona features extreme mobility, even more so then the other Hovercraft, and relatively good armor for a vehicle of its size, giving a good pilot immense staying power. All variants have a high damage output, usually consisting of many small sized weapons combined. As the name "pursuit tank" suggests, it is near impossible to flee from an Epona that is set to destroy a wounded target. By the same token, this unit can easily flee a target if the battle seems to be turning south in favor of the enemy being attacked. Care must be taken when driving over uneven hilly ground to ensure that the craft stay upright. Unlike the Hephaestus, its turret is largely compact, without any of the weapons sticking significantly far enough out of it to provide a good tool for flipping oneself upright.
Its main disadvantages include the rather weak turret armor that gives a good marksman the possibility to destroy the Epona through a component that it can't really protect or hide, and the bad performance in a direct stand-up firefight with similar priced assets, where it lacks the raw burst damage most other assets have. The Epona thrives in being able to circle around an enemy, disallowing any return fire unless the unit can get turned around to face the unit; because of this, this can be exploited by destroying the turret, hampering the typical tactic used.
Prime
The Epona prime is a classic hit and run hover craft that mounts enough firepower and ammo to the already well armored chassis to allow it hunt down and kill any already wounded enemy or inflict enough damage before it has to retreat that the enemy unit can be killed easily or force them to go back to base. In order to do its job as a hunter the Epona mounts 4 CMPLs backed up by a CSSRM4 as a secondary weapon fed by 3 tons of ammo which is more then enough for the Epona (You will run out of HP way before you run out of ammo). The hovercraft mounts 8 double heat sinks which allow the tank to keep its heat levels in check while its attacking. This Epona also gets the pleasure of having the most armor out of any other Epona variant (A side from the E variant).
Variant A
The Epona A is a mobile LRM platform allowing it to easily sit on a hill, fire a volley, and slip behind cover before an enemy barrage hits it. Additionally, its TAG laser allows it to guide in friendly munitions. This variant is a good harasser to sit on the edge of a battle, firing on those that are weak and wounded.
Variant B
The Epona B is a bit of a odd load out. Mainly meant for long range it mounts a CERPPC twin CUAC2s and twin MGs. Using its CERPPC to strike at long range and dashing behind cover to cool down or hide from return fire is able to strike quick and carefully while its CUAC2s and mgs spell death for any battle armor that chooses to pick on this variant(Or any allied unit that is near it). It is also good at doubling as a AA unit when it needs to. If the driver can aim his CERPPC along with its projectile weaponry it can a large amount of damage to any unaware aircraft. It also comes with two free tons of ammo for its auto cannons.
Variant C
The Epona C is similar to the prime variant as it is a great hunter and chaser. Unlike the prime, this variant has a single ATM6, backed up with four Clan ER Medium Beam Lasers. To help dissipate heat, it includes six Dual Heat Sinks. It also chooses to do away with any extra electronics. This variant can quickly move into ATM range, and unload on a target. Its two free tons allow it to store plenty of ammunition, helping to fix a common problem with the Hephaestus C's lack of extra ammunition.
This variant is a solid middle-range asset that can help pull AA duty against VTOLs. The ATM's speed are very useful in this regard.
Thanks to its four CERMBLs it can comfortably sit at medium range and deal pin point damage to enemy units before moving into for the kill or flee due to return fire.
Variant D
The Epona D appears to be a hover equivalent to the Puma D, trading a Heavy Small Laser for a Heavy Medium Laser. When combining the maneuverability with the 360° turret rotation, the job of landing a Heavy Laser on the same spot repeatedly is made that much easier. The usual problem surrounding the short range of the lasers is somewhat dampened due to the speed of the Epona chassis that they are mounted to.
Variant E
The cheapest of all the Epona variants by far, it is very similar to the Epona Prime, but trades 2 CMPLs and a CSSRM4 for a CLBX10. This affords plenty of free tons for spare ammo, in fact, you'll most likely run out of armor before you run out of ammo with this variant of the Epona. It makes for a quick, decently armored harassment tool if you can pay for it, and rivals the Hephaestus Prime in terms of firepower. It should be chosen over the Hephaestus if lighter-armored mechs are on the field, and speed, agility, and armor-shredding capacity are favored over brute force and stealthiness. However, it is outclassed by the other Epona variants, and should not be chosen for any reasons over the other close-range Eponas if you can pay for them, as it is directly out-gunned by pretty much all the other variants, and some have notably superior range.
Variant F
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Variant G
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Canon
The Epona Pursuit Tank is a 50 ton Omni Hovercraft very unique to Clans, build on heaviest chassis possible for combat hover. It's prime configuration is build around very strong attack potential - 4 Medium Pulse Lasers supported by SSRM4 launcher and 6 heat sinks give it massive hitting power for it's weight, though the armor is relatively weak for a 50 ton vehicle - barely 5 tons of protection. Still though as an hovercraft Epona rarely has to relay on every single ton of it's armor - cursing speed of 97km/h with flanking speed of 150km/h allow it to outrun almost any opponent. Epona was used by most elite warriors as a frontline unit deployed exclusively by the Clan Hell's Horses.
Battletech Reference
