Adder/Puma Aka My Fire Support Mech is giving supporting fire!Now I’ll say this off the bat, I’m not really a fan of the Adder, to me it’s a short, squat and square missed opportunity, but it’s a Mech with a history and saw extensive use in the build up to Operation Revival and in Revival itself as well as being a common sight afterwards. So without further adieu…the Adder/Puma.
History and developmentThe Adder is actually designed with anti-Inner Sphere tactics in mind, developed with insight from the Wolfs Dragoons the Scientists of Clan Star Adder developed the Adder based on reports of what weapons were often used in the Inner Sphere and relied on the more powerful Clan weapons to outperform them (which of course they do.)
Designed round a long range engagement paradigm the Adder is built from the ground up to engage enemy Mech’s at extreme range and simply take them apart and has a surprisingly heavy throw weight for a machine its size with weapons varying from large LRM racks to lasers and of course the feared ER PPC.
Like other Clan light Mech’s the Adder makes full use of weight saving technology with an Endo Steel skeleton as well as an XL engine and Ferro Fibrous plate protection, a meaty 6 tonnes of armour giving the Adder near full protection save a few points on its legs. Also for a Clan light it follows the Kit Fox’s example and keeps the engine rather small, this has the side effect of reducing the machine’s speed but it does save even more weight. Curiously the Adder features very very little in the way of fixed items where as many Clan Mech’s in Operation Revival often featured fixed heatsinks or other systems in some cases to their severe detriment, the most often culprit being severe over-sinking Mr Gargoyle and Executioner Prime I am talking about you here....
Although the Adder does not fully escape this as the Adder does have a single fixed weapon, buried under the chin is a flame thrower, whilst of little use against Mech’s it does give the Adder the ability to annihilate infantry that get too close as well as start fires if needed.
The 210 rated engine pushes the Adder along at a rather modest (for a light) 97kph at full sprint, and something tells me that thanks to its low slung design the Adder is a damn bumpy ride. No jump jets are fitted on any of the variants and it took a significant redesign of the Chassis to produce a new machine the Pouncer to make the Adder jump capable. This means the Mech moves at 6/9/0 in game terms which for lights is rather slow, but then you have to consider what this machine was designed to fight.
The Adder was not built to engage light Mech’s it was built with an eye to engaging the most common Mech’s in the Inner Sphere, the medium class machines and in this regard its slightly faster than them and thanks to its weapons, outguns most of them. The Adder is no scout or harasser, it’s a hunter-killer and it was this Mech’s firepower that made it a feared threat as it outgunned some machines twice its weight and did so with ease.
In terms of protection the Adder is no slouch and packs heavy protection onto its squat frame. The legs can take a pair of Clan ER Medium laser hits whilst the arms and side torso positions can withstand an AC-10 hit and single SRM before going internal. The chest can take a pair of large laser hits or withstand a gauss slug with a tiny layer of protection remaining.
VariantsPrime – The one that got people scared with a case of ‘Wait..its got WHAT guns…t-two of them!’ the Prime is the Adder poster boy. Armed with a pair of ER PPC’s which are linked into a targeting computer with the final tonnage taken up by an extra double heatsink and that’s it. Two of the most fearsome guns there is tied into a targeting computer give this little Mech a HUGE bite but its one that can be rarely used. Even if you stand still a double ER PPC shot puts you 8 heat over and movement brings that up to a solid 10 heat.
Firing a single PPC the next turn still has you at 23 heat if you didn’t move and 25 if you did, meaning you’re still overheating . This heat issue (one that blighted many 3050 Clan designs) means that in really you can’t use the other PPC that often and it turns into 6 tonnes of back up weapon if you lose the other gun.
Alfa – Copying the Prime’s simple weapons fit the Alfa is a fire support unit like the Prime but instead of direct energy weapons it features a pair of LRM-20’s, one in each arm with each launcher drinking from a 2 tonne bin of ammo giving it longer engagement capabilities than many Clan Mech’s that are armed with LRM-20’s.
For point defence and anti-infantry work a pair of small pulse lasers round out the armament, making this machine capable at long and very short ranges and thanks to the lack of a minimum range the LRM’s are still dangerous at point blank range. This is a nasty unit, it pumps out a LOT of missiles and is fast enough to avoid the usual hunter killers that go after LRM boats, its also very cool running, you need to take an engine hit before you start worrying about heat from Alpha strikes.
Bravo – More a nod to the Kit Fox Prime the Beta features a more diverse weapons fit but it is still designed to reach out and tear your throat out at long range. To this end it is armed with an LB-X 5 Autocannon and a Large Pulse Laser, supported by a pair of ER Medium Lasers. The big guns sit in opposite arms whilst the Mediums live in the side torso’s but unfortunately the autocannon only has a single tonne of ammo, forcing you to choose between slug and cluster rounds. Personally I’d take cluster rounds for their versatility whilst relying on the pulse laser to rip holes in a target.
Charlie – Possibly a field refit of an Alfa that was seen as successful the Charlie is another missile support unit with a slightly different twist to it. A pair of LRM-15’s provide the main punch, arm mounted like the Alfa the weight saved with the downgrade of the launchers is put into a NARC launcher nestled in the right torso with a single tonne of ammo. The two defensive Small pulse lasers were removed and a single Medium Pulse put into the left torso in their place.
The Narc beacon of course greatly increases the number of missiles hitting but the launchers short range and limited ammo mean you have to get close in your fire support unit, probably not the best idea really. Could it be the NARC was installed more as a deterrent a ‘come close and I get more accurate, keep away!’ it’s a theory I know but it does make sense in a weird Clan way.
Delta – This will feel familiar…the Delta is an alteration of the Bravo or again, a nod to the Kit Fox Prime in its weapons choice. An ER Large Laser and Ultra AC-5 make the machines primary armament with the AC drawing from a rather limited 1 tonne ammo bin. The secondary armament is a pair of SSRM-2 launchers, each with their own tonne of ammo giving them massive amounts of ammo. Now this could be a holdover from the day when SSRM-2’s could fire inferno missiles but the extra tonne of ammo is better served as UAC ammo as 20 shots is not really enough for a double rate of fire.
Echo – New toy time! The Adder E is again part of the Alfa/Charlie brotherhood in that it’s a missile boat, except this time the missiles are a pair of ATM-9’s with 2 tonnes of ammo per launcher. The defensive armament is once again changed and is changed to a quartet of Micro-Pulse lasers for anti-infantry mulching. The Echo’s ATM’s give it a dangerous close in punch but it lacks the mobility to fully use the HE rounds so ammo choice is up to you, but I’d possibly only take a single tonne of HE and ER ammo and 2 tonnes of standard rounds.
Hotel – It’s a Clan Omni H version, you know what that means…Heavy Laser time! This is probably the only variant that is purpose built for getting in close and for this the designers took a Prime and ripped out the ER PPC’s and in their place went two Heavy Large Lasers. The weight difference is then made up with an extra six double heatsinks to try and control the brutal heat of the lasers. Oh and the targeting computer and flamer are still there. Whilst a full alpha strike’s heat is a brutal 36 heat you can then vent 32 of it without moving, so if you are willing to get close to use the lasers, feel free to use both without too much risk. Unless you’re on the receiving end of those guns…then Kerensky help you!
Juliet – The latest and most current version of the Adder to me screamed loudly that it was a Jade Falcon creation, but despite this it’s actually a Hells Horses machine and is a big change from the other Puma variants. The Juliet features a single heavy weapon in the form of a HAG-20 with a generous three tonnes of ammo whilst its supporting weapons come in the form of a quartet of AP Gauss Rifles with a tonne of ammo shared between the four guns. Whilst lacking a solid direct punch the J is more akin to the missile boat variants that dot the Adder’s variant history, it’s a sandblaster and the APGR’s can make a mess of Mech’s and infantry alike and the HAG does horrific things to tanks as well as acting as a long range flak gun.
ThoughtsThe Adder is a bit of an odd design that seems to have been designed to take the most of the technical advantages that Clan weapons offer over their Inner Sphere counterparts. It’s not really a gunboat design and is almost always a fire support/barrage unit that would work well as part of a fire support star. The Prime is a hunter/killer able to disable Mech’s far larger than itself especially with a good gunner at the helm. Unlike many Revival Era machines the Adder is for the most part a fairly cool running Mech save the Prime and they can make the most of their firepower where as other Clan Mech’s tended to have more guns than heatsinks and common sense. In this way with its firepower and rather low speed (for its weight class) the Puma to me at least feels like it is a medium Mech that was trimmed down and put on the Slim Fast Plan. Whilst it could draw its inspiration for its design from old SLDF Mech’s like the Night Hawk or Talon the Adder is still very much a Clan machine.
Fighting one can be tricky, most Mech’s capable of outrunning it are outgunned and those that out gun it are often out run. Still it is only a light Mech and a few good solid hits will see it disabled. The Adder still packs a heavy punch though and whilst its not overly fast, its punch and habit of long range weapons maximises the advantages of Clan weapons over their Inner Sphere counterparts.
My dislike of the Puma comes really that its basically a Kit Fox that’s piled on a few pounds and got a more rational armament fix…well..kinda…well there’s not one dripping with AMS’s so that’s a plus! It’s a slow Light with a lot of firepower . It could have been more interesting if they’d made it a 7/11 or a jumper or something. Instead its an over gunned light that simply can’t withstand the fire that gets directed at it due to the risk of its guns.
Oh and save the latest versions with new toys, the configs are INCREDIBLY samey.
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/images/b/bc/3050U_Adder.jpghttp://orig13.deviantart.net/c00b/f/2009/112/a/a/mechwarrior_4_puma_front_view_by_mecha_master.jpgAs always thoughts, comments and fruit throwing is most welcome.