Fun fact - the gauss rifles used to be in those wedge shaped front torso parts, and it was the SUPER MASSIVE ER Small Laser that was the big boi gun on top. Used to have the original sculpt mini.

Mech salesman: slaps the leg armor, "this baby has so many pulse lasers. It alpha strikes itself!"

In lore, the anti-pigeon laser makes sense as a back up anti-personnel weapon as it’s 4 main weapons are probably both too unwieldy and overkill to deal with a rogue squad of infantry that find themselves under a stone rhino.

Idk why but when they were talking about how too good it's targeting sensor is with machine spirit shit gave me a mental image of a clanner just chilling in his rhino before it locks on a locus on its own and going REEEEEEEEEEEE and incinerated it to its toes with a alpha strike

meanwhile wolf dragoon stone rhino Big Z goes on a rampage and is a stable artillery platform to rival other dedicated artillery. The only way the wolf Dragoons improved it was by giving it autocannon 20s and medium ER lasers. The damn thing worked as intended with less advanced weapons.

@Science Insanity - the chassis is called the Star League Monster because this is the BattleTech Mech based on the Macross/Robotech Destroid M.A.C. II Monster. The Mk 5 Stone Rhino most closely resembles its progenitor. The Matar was not based on that Destroid, but instead was created specifically to show what the "Amaris' Folly" mentioned in the Rhino writeup was. However, the WoB Omega 150 ton superheavy is indeed from that Destroid, and it shows. Also, I just think the Destroid has one of the best names. "Monster" is just a nickname. It is properly the HWR-00 M.A.C. II or "Howitzer Mobile Artillery Cannon Mk. 2," and has 4 300cm (12") self-loading BATTLESHIP CANNONS(!!) with 3 massive lasers in each arm... and weighs in at 400 tons! Sadly outside the range of even the biggest BattleTech superheavy units. Always enjoy the shows guys!

1, XL engines are extra light engines. Shut up; we know it:s dumb, don't worry about it. 2, The anti-pigeon laser/machine gun/flamer is anti-infantry. 3, I declare a trial of possession for Steve!

fun fact. clan weapons generate the same amount of heat as their inner sphere counterparts. Large Pulse Laser: Damage IS: 9 Clan: 10 Heat IS/Clan 10 Range: IS 3/7/10 Clan 6/14/20 Tons IS 7 Clan 6 the weapons themselves aren't the problem. its how many clan mechs carry that is a problem

Stone Rhino top speed: 33 Miles Per Hour Reminds me of the agony I've had piloting an Annihilator, which ofc in MW5:Mercs, its only good for if your DZ and Evac Point are really really close by, or if the mission ends with the fade out victory at the end of a defense mission lmao

Dude said "Terminal velocity f*ck you." Tex would be proud.🤣🤣🤣

you have no idea how relieved i ws when steve said hi, i was thinking to myslef "aww another one without steve, i miss steve" and then u came through and my entire existence improved

I love your mech talks. You and Tex are the reason I got back into this setting. Steppy boi for life!

Stone Rhino is "too slow to do anything" while being just as fast as the Atlas, though the jump jets actually make it more mobile on the battlefield. It's honestly one of the best Mechs ever designed on paper (though they should strip the small laser to add another half ton of armor and swap the placement of the Gauss rifles and large pulse lasers); they just had to make up "lore" bullshit to justify the Clans not using them everywhere all the time and just shitting all over the Inner Sphere

Subbed for the following line: "Fat Ghengis Khan" Thank you.

One day, you'll have to talk about the cousin that ComStar built; the Omega. Maybe some of the other Matar derivatives from the IS as well...

Fun fact: the Marians made a mini-me of the Stone Rhino in the form of the Marauder battle armor. Look at it and tell me you don't see the "inspiration". Thanks for the video.

This man: "It had a huge engine" - mentions a 300 rated fusion engine, pretty common on assault mechs including the majority of variants of the most common IS mech of its weight class, the atlas. Also fun fact, 64 kph isn't slow at all. That's strategic speed. P. much every mech built to fight in the main battleline goes 64 kph. Also just fyi, ghost heat - the exponential heat increase you mentioned - doesn't exist in any battletech media EXCEPT for mechwarrior online. In mechwarrior online however, it applies to almost every weapon system.

In MW2 . I took the design, stripped the jump jets, pumped the engine to the max, Endosteel chassis, Clan Weapons : 2 ERPPC and 2 ERL Laser, 2 LRM 15 racks, 6 ERM Lasers, 2 SRM Streak6 Racks, and 14 Double heat sinks. Overheating a bit of a problem? yes. It could move at 99 KPH and I could wipe 3 Atlas in a row with no problems. So long as I didn't overheat.

I remember being introduced to the Stone Rhino in Mechwarrior 2: Ghost Bear Legacy. Man was my little smooth brain 10 year old me, thought it was the coolest mech design.... But the developers also hated the Stone Rhino. The HIT BOXES were a Venn Diagram, where they crossed around the cockpit. So you had to drop a medium laser in the arms and up the armor, so they could be used as shields. Or pretend that your Stone Rhino had non cannon shields because the hit boxes was so huge. LOL. I still think it is a sexy design.

As my brother said, the targeting system is possessed by the ghost of Amaris, and he commands that that mech there needs to die.

@10:47 300 Fusion engine is middling for an assault mech. Annihilator is slow with its 270-rated engine. Kodiak is fast with its 400-rated engine.

I enjoy all of SCIENCE INSANITY videos

Never get tired of the Stone Rhino.

Thanks for the entertainment and info. It was fun to watch.

So what Steve was trying to say was: “It’s not the size of the weapon, it’s the POWER OUTPUT that it spuge you with!

27:00 Ehh, that's a mechanic of ghost heat in MWO. TT rules, the increase in heat is linear. Now, if you want insane heat? Look up the Hunchback IIC 2. It has four HLL, two ERML, and two MPL. Oh, and only 36 DHS. An alpha strike is guaranteed to make it shut down for two turns.

I just bolted two light railguns on the back and a Clan ER PPC in each arm. Edited to call the mk6 the super-duper-nova When it finally got there, *everything* died. I love this goofy thing.

Steve says hello, shitting on the clans, Fat Genghis Khan, Soup Stock Man. Ah, I missed this.

I do have a soft spot for the Stone Rhino. After playing around with it when I was playing around in "BattleTech pods" (which are fully enclosed cockpits simulators using a modded version of Mechwarrior 4). The people running the pods did simplify setup, which disabled heat, so picking one is cheating; however I spend most of the matches trying to use it's jump jets to kill enemies.

I need more Steve in my life. Steve, you get all of the soundboard access!

4:05 If you look closely at the Matar you'll notice that it even has an ATM cash machine built into it's torso.

Realistically, the class-300 fusion engines are actually one of the most efficient engines out there. At 19 tons, they take up a reasonable amount of weight, and more powerful engines become disproportionally heavier as they get bigger.

Aside from the firepower and capable close quarters defensive measures, the best thing is being able to take config 5, paint it golden, and laugh .

love the Stone Rhino its defiantly my favorite mech and has won me a few battles in both Table Top and MWO

In this instance, the smoke in the jaguar was from weed.

Anti pigeon lazer...omfg that's gold

id love to hear you guys do an episode on the annihilator,is it fast? no. is it good? no! but it does go dakka dakka dakka very good.

Watch Sci's head explode: a missile boat version of the Stone Rhino exists, at least on paper.

The Stone Rhino is a solid mech. Its heavily armored, close to being heat-neutral, average speed, has jump jets, and has 4 long range cannons. Its surprisingly cheap because it doesnt have an expensive Light, Extralight, or Extra-Extra Light engine. It has a standard fusion engine making it not significantly more costly than an Atlas assault mech/ Lore sometimes is very bad. Its only been exaggerated by this video. Jump Jets on any mechs are not new. The classic 90ton Highlander has Jump Jets and its from before 2600 AD. The Pillager 100ton jump mech is from the same period. 20-100ton mechs are nothing new as the first battlemech ever was the 100ton Mackie assault mech. The Stone Rhino 5 is apparently designed to make the Stone Rhino more like the Monster mech from Macross/Robotech, with 4 cannons on its back. It looks cool idea, but It would be better if it has Hyper-Assault Gauss Rifles. A single 10ton HAG-20 would be better than 4 LBX AC-5s

Seems to be a super Marauder. The Yamato might be the analogy you are looking for.

SCI:This thing sucks Me: What? SCI: Think of the King Tiger Me: Ah.

Man if one day these two make a colab with Adeptus Ridiculous, in wich they trade stories with each others... I'm gonna loose my mind.

Dunno if it's in other media but the Monster! 150t of derp and fun. Found in BTA3062, most armor, has slots for every type of weapon. Also looks like a scaled up stone rhino and seems to be what the clans originally where going for.

Stone Rino 7 is like B33f's Dire Wolf GIGA DRILL.

It's called infantry, that's why you pack a small laser. Battletech is combined arms, which includes infantry. They can literally cripple 'mechs in the rules with attacks to joints. People don't usually play Battletech full tilt with everything going. Easy to miss.

"20 .50 cal..." So you're gonna make a Mitchell out of a warthog? They had variants of that that had something like eighteen fifty cal MGs, fourteen of which were forward firing... but my personal favorite gave up four of the forward firing fifties for a 3" M5 antitank gun. It could still carry bombs

@18:59 "Shiitting on a Clan 'mech is dishonorable" Geez, borrow from Tex much?

Clan small laser can be capable of headshotting a mech cockpit that was softened up prior lol

... can you do a video on the Ares, my beloved tri-leg megamech boy?

The game designers definitely over quirked this thing, but if you dont play with advanced rules its one of the greatest mech's. At least in the standard config the Mk2 is horrible with its dozen heavy lasers but the Mk7 ain't too bad.

This is a awesome mech. Loved it the first time I saw it on the 3055. Oh the picture has three gauss rifle. Or at least it looks that way. The third gauss rifle is distributed in the RT LT with the barrel in the CT. Kind've like how the Marauders AC5 looks like it was distributed.

and in the tabletop, The Gauss Guns don't generate any noticeable heat.

"I don't know, look it up yourself because I can't be bothered" is the correct answer when someone wants to know what something is in Caveman Measurements.

Did they ever fix the minature to add the 2nd top mounted gun???

Correction...Clan Widowmaker was the worst.

It is a beautiful beast.

Every clan mech needs an emotional support small laser

........MACROSS MONSTER!!!. Or would that be a behemoth?.

What was the music at 4:41?

The machine spirits...all hail the Omnissiah.

9:31 - Am I the only one seeing a head of a guy with mustache wearing WWI or II era helmet instead of cockpit? Like its a character from Thomas the Engine, but with mechs instead?

my fav mech in mwo

Sixth! also i love dumb projects like these. theyre funny and kinda anchor the universe a bit in a way, by setting boundaries on what authors can get away with

What did birds do that made the clans have costem weapons to burn them?

Smoke Jaguars, biggest a-holes among an entire empire of them.

Would a swapout from two ER Lasers, to 1 ER Laser, 1 ER PPC, 2 Gauss rifles, SRM/AC5 for infantry defense, or even drop to SRM/MG?

Ali Express Destroid Monster

I'm just glad that Soup Stock wasn't alive to see this.

Yet the model I deploy on the board has two gauss rifles and two large clan pulse laz with AES, it murders mechs better than most Atlas load outs.

I can't find anything about poor performance for the stone rhino, supposedly the Matar (which it was based off of) had all the problems you lobbied at the rhino but smoke jaguar fixed it I guess? I dunno, correct me if I am wrong I guess although there is no way it could have been that bad with heat management, with only 2 weapons really putting out any(disregarding the gauss rifles near lack of heat and the probably never used small pulse laser) it had 10 double heat sinks

I loved the way he said oh there a light in the forest and its tcomp is like HiM THAT gUy! You see him tHaT GuY! Kill em! Get him!

Is there a variant with missile launchers on the arms?

At least its cheap compared to most mechs packing its weapons loadout

you sound like a buddy of mine i play mwo with lol

Trial of Possession

Soooo like a rifleman but holy?

On MWO it`s one of the best!

I see this video, and then I play MWO and holy sweet fuck does MWO buff the absolute fuck outta the Stone Rhino

Disclaimer: I absolutely love Battletech. And now I'm going to explain why it's completely ridiculous, which is actually part of the charm. Why go for realistic science fiction when you can completely escape the depressing mundanity of the real world while also casting aside other annoying things like actual science and even basic logic and common sense? True mental escapism! The primary reason for all the "science" in Battletech being stupidly absurd, above all else, is that the writers are trying to take tabletop board game mechanics and explain them with "real" pseudoscience. And the original game, IIRC, was more or less a reskin of previously existing rulesets designed for WWII tank battle games. The end result is stuff that makes Star Trek technobabble sound coherent, consistent, and not overly self contradictory by comparison. Not to mention how, even using modern and theorized technology that's actually superior to Battletech lore, actual weapon designers tend to agree that any humanoid mech concept becomes functionally inefficient if not simply impractical when scaled up much beyond the concept of power armor and into the realm of what would be considered an actual combat vehicle. The lore, on the other hand, is built around the romanticized ideal of a noble knight in shining armor (or a Samurai if you're from the Draconis Combine), but in a cool giant robot with lasers and missiles. Literally all of the entire universe's worldbuilding is centered on this concept. Which is why we get interstellar feudal empires, massive independent armies of mercenaries, and the "barbarian hoards" of the Clans who are also supposed to be stand-ins for technologically advanced alien invaders. The Clans themselves have their own contrived honor system that would be absolutely impractical in any civilization that is not literally built around that honor system and it's associated values. That honor system comes from taking the Inner Sphere's romanticization of the chivalrous knight and divorcing it from the pretense of being part of a larger society because the whole of clan culture, economy, and society is entirely built around the glorification of the lone, noble, and heroic warrior. This is similar to the values of many "barbarian" tribal societies throughout history from all over the world, albeit distilled and focused on to a comical extent. There are a lot of reasons that none of those warrior societies either got very big or ever lasted long as such; yes Genghis Khan's armies conquered most of the known [to them] world, but within two or three generations afterwards the remnants of that civilization were either completely changed and unrecognizable as such (ie the Manchu Dynasty) or had reverted to a previous state of some warlords fighting over scraps in their ancestral homelands complaining about how the kids these days have forgotten about all the things that once made their culture great. It is all completely ridiculous, but if you like the sort of silly romanticized chaos and are willing to embrace the insanity to get into the right mood it can make for a very entertaining franchise. Also, as to the "Wolf Empire" and such, I haven't caught up with the lore post-Bulldog/Serpent beyound what was directly involved in the clicky base Mechwarrior minis game in the early to mid 2000s. From what little I've read it seems like the original lore authors (mainly Stackpole) left and then other authors have been trying to make sense of what would rationally happen next in such a ridiculous universe. I'm not sure if they've either completely missed the mark by trying to apply actual rational thought to a setting where that never existed, or if they've just been going overboard by taking pre-existing concepts and cranking them up to eleven. Possibly both. And it might still be great, but the only real narrative options are to either contrive excuses to reset things to big feudal empires and some "barbarian hoards" on the outskirts or to completely change things around.

Steve! 😊

Look, the Stone Rhino is awesome. Just deal with it.

You guys should play WOT, if you dont already. So many things you said in this video is far more funny in WOT. Ammo racked is an actual term there where your turret goes flying after your ammo explodes. The turret can then kill another tank, if it lands on them.

Behemoth? I think it was in mekpack

“What’s that in American “? 😂😂😂

Are you sure Steel Viper isn’t the worst?

What about the Orka stupidity on an even bigger scale?

Hi Steve

this has got to be one of the most off-mark breakdowns i've seen. essentially none of the stated problems apply (the stone rhino was an excellent design with none of the matar's problems held back mainly by the clans' reluctance to actually commit it to a fight, the base stone rhino variant doesn't have heat issues at all and easily vents, 64 kph is very fast for an assault 'mech), most of the stuff said ranges from "apocryphal or implied at best" to "outright made up" and there's a clear disregard for doing the slightest bit of research on many elements of canon leading to a bunch of basic mistakes that a single visit to the battletech wiki would have cleared up (the "pigeon laser" is there for a reason, namely it's anti-infantry, the gauss rifles are coilguns and not railguns, lbx autocannons aren't inherently shotguns but can fire both cluster and solid rounds, exponential heat generation is a MWO thing and not canon, the stone rhino 6 literally CANNOT strip heat sinks from the base variant since 10 is the minimum and quite the opposite it carries eighteen doubles which is almost TWICE the heatsinks of the base model, i could go on) - judging by this video, noone involved in this video has any clue about battletech beyond, generously, a few dozen hours in mechwarrior online, and it really, really shows, and it's ironic too considering the stone rhino isn't even actually in that game yet. at least the comments regarding its logistical problems and the reluctance of clanners to commit it to battle were sort of on point, though

More dakka more better

Feed Steve

Hatchet man?

it is the behemoth. only the inferior clans call it the stone rhino.

33.554 miles per hour

it has kankels

The exponential overheat is an artificial balancing measure introduced into Mechwarrior Online to prevent disco death alpha strikes... which didn't so they just nerfed how much damage an alpha strike can do by introducing a damage cap when firing all weapons... which is still stupid. The tabletop version does not have an exponential heat increase when firing multiple weapons of the same type. The Stone Rhino is still an example of pride and hubris combined with military procurement.

No honestly better comparison with the tiger would be some of the definitve omni mechs like the thor or mad cat. Good design, reliable but hell to maintain (the german reliability trope is often wrong((i.e. porche tiger engine cuz that wasn't the issue there)) and ppl just don't use it on stuff that actually was significantly unreliable , similar for soviet WW2 and cold war era stuff) and stupidly expensive in situation where you could better spend resources elsewhere. No seriously the tiger isn't bad especially for when it is designed, problem that people don't mention is something the soviets and american designers of the period and that was justifying a heavy tank that doesn't have that much benefits over the medium counterpart which when it was deployed was quickly the issue with the tiger, it quickly wasn't much better then its medium counterparts while being more resource straining. Soviets solved it by prioritizing resources into their mediums as they were cheaper and easier to produce but still keeping some heavies for use in breaktrough. Americans solved it by just not making them and keeping on trying to make a design that would justify the expenditure especially with their long ass logistics train not being able to support a design that wasn't worth it with their other ad hoc solution being to just locally heavily field upgrade existing mediums .

Second

The mech that is “so good” it kinda becomes bad

BT has the BEST copyright theft from the last 37years! Virtually every design was ripped outta 70's-80's anime (or Star Wars in design) not that I fault them for it. 😏 The Stone Rhino comes from the Macross Franchise. Specifically 2 early designs: HWR-00-Mk II Monster & the Glaug. The first was a SLOW artillery type mecha (which is reflected in bt lore) and the second was a unit command mecha with aerodynamic styling (it's thought of as the base design for the Madcat). Both had 'arm'' mounted weapons, a set of thrusters (which were slow), a top mounted weapons (or multi barrel system) and overall similar body styling. Love the fact that BT is still around even though it's just a European Mecha Sim with some 'grim dark' thrown in.

fourth(fifth?)