The Orion is a 'Mech where I've adopted something I remember reading elsewhere during the HBS game's buildup:  "The Orion is what you field when you can't afford an Atlas."

It's a monster, armored heavily enough to shrug off AC/20 hits and return fire on anyone who can land that short-range weapon to devastating effect. Give it a Veteran (3/4) or Elite (2/3) pilot and you've got a very good command 'Mech for a brawling lance. It's not flashy, but if the enemy isn't focusing on the Orion it becomes hard to take down. The one introtech variant (ON1-V) leans a bit further into weapons at the cost of armor, and is also interesting... but more fragile because of it. Also doesn't get any more heat sinks, if I recall, so... yeah.


When being allowed to employ Special Pilot Abilities, I found the "Oblique Attacker" one to be an amazing choice to lob LRMs from behind things while closing slowly. This allows you to remain out of the line of direct-fire weapons with long ranges, and a LRM 15 is not something to laugh at. If you use "Range Master" to swap the penalties of Short Range with either Medium or Long, this thing can stand-off at a decent range and be brutal.

There's always a place for an Orion in my force, either for the force commander or the executive officer. Master riding that heat load, know exactly how much punishment it can handle, and just don't get an AC/20 to the face. (It happens WAY more than you would think.)

Thanks for looking at the Orion! Great video! This definitely shows one of the greatest strengths of the Orion, just how versatile it is. With a bunch of weapons that can do a bunch of different things, the Orion can react to almost any threat. However it also leads to a lot of ammunition, although it's torso bomb is better than the Marauder. One thing I want to mention for viewers who just play custom designs, or in later eras, is just how rare max armour is in 3025. Barely any Mechs had max armour at the time, and if I remember correctly the 1K is the only primary variant with max armour.

Approved by Gen. Kerensky...

If it's good enough for Aleksandr Kerensky it's good enough for me! Honestly in my Top three fave Heavy Mechs.
Thanks for the great review!

Would love to see the Annihilator!!!

I remember salvaging this mech in mw3

I find the math nerdery of this series extremely comforting.

Ahh the discount Atlas. Always used it as such in any game.

My favorite intro tech heavy.
But It is really is a walking ammunition bomb.
Some times I modify it dropping an lrm ammo ton for an extra heatsink.
Also, I like another custom variant removing the lrm-15 and ammo for a Ppc and 2 extra heatsinks. You lose indirect fire and a bit of range. But the 2x 10 damage hits are beautiful. Also, it's the more close you can be of the kerensky variant using intro tech.

It is like a baby Atlas.

I received the original TRO:3025 as a Christmas present decades ago and immediately loved the Orion. The Orion was ugly in all the right ways and managed to use the less desirable weapons in a useful way. In addition to that, the writers cheated on the original design by giving it 1.5 tons of SRM4 ammo. So, I deducted that and 8 points of armor to give it a SRM6. Orion should have a SRM6. It’s in the picture, those aren’t coolant hookups. Suddenly, I was customizing, which it hadn’t occurred to me you could do. The funny thing is, all of those mechs have something way suboptimal about them. But, if they were all polished, would the game have been as much fun? Tinkering with the designs is half the game.

I really enjoy these videos, have you guys thought about  doing a series based on the mechs from the AGoAC and Beginners boxes? Since those are the new entry points to the game, and by far the most likely mechs people have easy access too, breaking them down would be really helpful for people just getting into the game, as well as using it a s a resource to help people trying to get their friends into the game. Plus, not gonna lie, I love the Catapult C1 and would love to see how it stacks up.

This was never a mech I fielded or thought about much. Enter new sculpt from the kickstarter and then this analysis. There will be many more Orion's in my future.

Just had a game on Battletech HBS video game where my buddy in a Cataphract came at my Orion. Plus legendary origin story for the mech.

Wonder how would you score its VA variant. same armor, 1 ton less armor explosion chance, can take 1 ton inferno missile, etc.

Very cool review guys.

Enjoying these articles immensely.

I'd like to nominate a stack of mechs, but I'd like to see a comparison of the STG-3R and the STG-3G as I love the old Stinger and the entire unseen range.

The Rifleman and and Longbow for a ranged review.

And the Warhammer, love that big stompy bugger.

Actually can you guys just review every unseen mech for me? 😂😂😂

Actually competes with flashman in my opinion 😅 especially the lostech version although I find the NARC launcher and ammo superfluous and replace either with an ER large laser or srm6 and ammo

Great review, I'm not sure if its a good idea but this review lead me pull my Marauder from one of my lances and replace with an orion.  Lets see if that is a terrible idea... :P

At 4/6/0 and your mobility rating of 2, calling it a cavalry mech seems odd even with your caveats. I generally only call 5/8/5 and faster cavalry, and slower and it can't really tear across the battlefield.

I would enjoy seeing the classic Banshee-3S go through this.

So I've been slowly building my mech collection up. I have experience in mechwarrior but that's a whole different animal. I'd love to know what you think of a handful of mechs I've scrapped together and their best roles. I got a Hollander(personally I love the model and the straight forward role), a Cataphract, a Battlemaster and a Commando.
I took your advice in my first match and kept my commando alive. He ended up getting behind an overheated Awesome and getting a critical head shot with a SRM 6. Unlikely to happen again but very amusing