Конференция Библиотеки Battletech

**DeJaVu** » 03 мар 2009, 09:08

Wasp
Type/Model: Wasp WSP-7MAF
Mass: 20 tons
Chassis: Hellespont Type W Endo Steel
Power Plant: 160 Hermes Fusion
Walking Speed: 86 km/h
Maximum Speed: 129 km/h
Jump Jets: Hellespont Leapers
Jump Capacity: 240 meters
Armor Type: Jolassa 328
Armament: 1 Diverse Optics ER Medium Laser
1 Doombud Multi-Missile Launcher 5
Manufacturer: Hellespont Industries, Taurus Territorial Industries, Detroit Consolidated MechWorks
Primary Factory: Sian, Taurus and Detroit
Communications System: Hellespont Tight Beam
Targeting & Tracking System: RadCom TXXI

There are almost as many Wasps running around as there are Locusts or Stingers. While the Locust is faster and the Stinger is more plentiful, the Wasp has always been a favorite of light ’Mech pilots for its combination of speed and firepower. While a middling laser and a pair of missiles doesn’t amount to much on a larger ’Mech, on a Wasp they mean constant firing without much heat—which means the Wasp, like its namesake, keeping spinning around you and stinging when you least expect it.
The Magistracy, with some help from the Capellans and most likely using the factories on Detroit, have taken this philosophy to heart and moved the Wasp another order of magnitude more dangerous.
A one-sixty-rated extra-light fusion power makes this Wasp as fast as a Succession War-era Locust, while additional jump jets give the -7MAF the jump capacity of a Spider. The medium laser has been replaced with an ER model, increasing the Wasp’s range, while the old two-shot short-range missile system in the left leg has been stripped out and replaced with a five-battery multi-missile launcher in the left torso. Ammo bays for both long and short range missiles are fitted around it, giving the MAF Wasps capabilities that mimic the uses of several other ’Mechs. We could do well to copy this one, I think.
Consider: this ’Mech is as fast and can jump as far as a Spider. Using LRMs, it can mount a comparable barrage to a Hornet or half a Hammer. Switch it over to short range and, in concert with the Diverse Optics laser, it can almost match the short-range barrage of a classic Commando. Where the old Wasp was pretty much limited to harassment duties, this new one can fulfill many roles, some of them together at once.
Even the Periphery gets it right sometimes.