'Mech of the Week: ST-*4G StagSome 'Mechs have names that echo on the winds throughout history, legends that stalk the battlefield forever in the hearts and minds of BattleTech fans. Then you've got the also-rans, the less prominent but well-known figures that populate the margins of history and occasionally step into the limelight. Somewhere below there you have the obscure, the ill-remembered, and the enigmatic, the footnotes of BattleTech history. Today I'm writing one of those footnotes, the
Stag, a flagship 'Mech of the Clans' favorite phantom menace published in
Jihad Secrets: The Blake Documents. Recently, the
Mercury II, a boon companion of the
Stag in the Wolverine touman was
covered for posterity and the infamous
Pulverizer's coverage by Wantec rests
in the archive.
While the
Mercury II's pedigree is obvious, the ST-14G
Stag's is more complicated. Finding themselves with a number of
Vulcans, the Wolverines looked first to modifying that Star League design but ultimately took it back to the drawing board entirely at the order of Sarah McEvedy. The result is less a modification than an apotheosis. Another 5 tons bring the chassis up to 45 total, matching the
Phoenix Hawk, and endo-steel was used to reduce the weight of the frame. A 270-rated extra-light fusion engine drives the
Stag to a respectable 97.2 kmh, about average for that weight class in modern view, but the Wolverines slipped a joker into the deck with the inclusion of MASC, giving it the ability to pace a
Mercury II or
Assassin for short distances at just under 120 kmh. 10 tons of standard armor provides 153 points. That's a trifle inefficient, given that you're spending a half-ton on a single lousy point, but it's worth asking what else are you going to do with it? It's arranged well for the threat environment and respectably even against Clan lasers. The ERLL from the
Mercury II makes another appearance here, now in the right arm, and is backed up by two medium lasers (one in the left arm and another in the head) and two SRM 4s, letting it exploit the holes punched by its own weapons or its Star mates. Both tons of ammo are in the left torso along with CASE and an active probe, making the 'Mech salvageable after an ammo explosion. A dozen heat sinks let you use your full weapons load without heat buildup, though movement will still generate heat.
Not content with their creation, the Wolverines also produced a variant, the ST-24G
Stag II. This iteration of the
Stag trades in the MASC, active probe, missiles, and large laser along with 2.5 tons of armor and the CASE module. The engine was enlarged, allowing it to match the
Mercury II's ground performance, while the main gun is now a mighty enhanced ER PPC that scores 12 points of damage, enough to blow the cockpit off an
Atlas. A medium pulse laser and small laser are mounted in each torso where the missiles once were. The heat sinks were left alone, leaving your heat balance a little off, but the power of that PPC is probably worth the occasional juggling of your heat balance and it is sinked alongside both medium lasers, so it's not as bad as it could be. As noted, the armor took a hit, but what's left is still smartly distributed, protecting well against your usual threats.
Jihad Secrets suggests a cavalry role and to be honest, I agree, especially in company of the smaller
Mercury II. Nicely armed for its size and reasonably fast, the
Stag basically functions as a heavier version of the
Mercury II without the jammer, equally at home flanking heavier units or harassing the small fry. If you're engaging larger units, exploit your speed as much as possible to get around them, while that same speed can be brought to bear countering the mobility advantage of many lights. With the 14G, pay attention to your MASC rolls, and the 24G needs to watch heat, balancing mobility and accuracy against available firepower. You generally want to get in close and knife someone. At longer ranges, reasonable quality heavier units are likely to be able to generate a lot more fire than you can, making the relative armor loss rate unpleasant, while lighter units are more likely to either evade or stretch things out. That said, there are exceptions, so pay attention to your target's capabilities. For example, any of the period
Archers are a hell of a lot less dangerous up close (as long as you stay out of reach of the kicks) but a PXH-1
Phoenix Hawk's jets may let it evade you and actually get the upper hand unless you fence with it a bit to weaken the armor before bringing the hammer down. Gyro hits are going to be murder.
Stopping a
Stag isn't the easiest thing you've ever tried. After taking an ST-14G and a
Mercury II with veteran pilots in against a pair of regular MAD-1R
Marauders a little while back, I have to rate it reasonably high for survivability as long as you can generate significant targeting modifiers and the weapons work well enough that you're going to get a few lumps in the process. Pulse lasers on something zippy enough to keep up and tough enough to keep the
Stag from returning the favor (ironically, the ST-24G suggests itself immediately, as does the unique
Stealth) aren't a bad solution for lighter counters while an LB 10-X or two and maybe a large pulse laser can be useful to larger 'Mechs given the way
Stags frequently want to get in close. Lay fire down and if it trips, try to take advantage of it by pouring fire in while the targeting modifier is down a bit. One that suffers a gyro hit should be treated like a lion pride treats a wounded antelope.
Art References: The original artwork is available at
the MUL database, as are the Battle Values of both models. (The ST-24G, technically called the
Stag II, confuses the naming system and is located
here.) There's no examples on CamoSpecs but
Iron Wind Metals does have a miniature that looks pretty good in my opinion.
