Stinging Wasp STW-1A
Mass: 20 tons
Chassis: GM-1D
Power Plant: GM 120
Cruising Speed: 64.8 kph
Maximum Speed: 97.2 kph
Jump Jets: Rawlings-L
Jump Capacity: 180 meters
Armor: Duralex Lewiston Light
Armament:
1 Medium Laser
1 SRM 2
Manufacturer: Lewis Arms
Primary Factory: Lewiston
Communication System: Duotech 65
Targeting & Tracking System: Radcomm TXX
Introduction Year: 2650
Tech Rating/Availability: D/D-E-D-D
Cost: 1,644,720 C-bills
One of the oldest examples of a Deep Periphery built battlemech and a signature machine of Lewis County, the Stinging Wasp has always caused some degree of confusion to outside observers due to its visual similarity to the primitive first generation of the Wasp battlemech. Indeed, the Stinging Wasp belongs to that same curious set of early modern battlemechs, often built by third parties, which adopted modern components into the design but retained the outline and some of the design features of the original primitive models to save development costs, and it is the only example of this brief design movement to still be in production in present day.
The Stinging Wasp in particular was born from fear. The colony of Lewiston had only been established four years before the surrender of the Magistracy of Canopus during the Reunification War, and its own declared independence from the now subjugated Magistracy was on shaky ground at best. It was painfully easy to imagine the SLDF moving on to subdue Lewiston as well whenever they got the inclination, so the colony was compelled to gather together what arms and equipment they could, including piecing together military industries from equipment and industrial tooling smuggled out of the Magistracy. Despite this pressing need for arms, actually developing the capacity for mech production would take time, and it would be over sixty years since the surrender of the Magistracy before Lewiston's first Stinging Wasps would walk off the production lines. Even so, the mechs and the new battlemech corps they helped to found would become a major symbol of prestige for the small but growing deep periphery state. So much so, in fact, that the battlemech forces and the mechwarriors that man them would become deeply entangled with the byzantine politics of county nobility, resulting in the state's mechwarriors being exclusively members of the rapidly dominating noble class and bound by labyrinthine rules of social and political primacy that determined the pecking order in the highest halls of power in the County.
The battlemech itself, while sharing most of the outline of the original WSP-1 (including lacking a right hand), has closer ties to the modern 1A, sharing the same basic level of armor protection and the same weapon systems, though the twin tube missile launcher has been moved to a mount on the left arm, necessitating a much more complicated ammunition feed system but also vastly improving the launcher's arc of fire and flexibility in combat. Other differences are harder to see at first glance. The Stinging Wasp lacks the superior range of motion of the more current Wasp, and shares its cousin's weak legs. However, pilots and technicians alike praise the machine's reliability and ease of maintenance.
Though it has been produced for hundreds of years by the factories on Lewiston, limited production capacity and shortages of critical components and resources have resulted in several shortfalls in production over the generations, and at present only a little more than a hundred Stinging Wasps are in active service with the state's military forces, making up half of their battlemech strength. A few hundred more mechs are in storage, two thirds of that number divided among Lewis County's major noble houses for use as trade assets, rewards for service, or even just as tangible symbols of wealth and prestige. Possibly as many as two hundred more have found their way onto the open market beyond the borders of Lewis County, by fair means or foul.
Variants:
As befits its name, fully half of the Stinging Wasps produced are equipped with paired machine guns instead of the missile launcher to create an anti-infantry variant akin to the more familiar Stinger. The variant is fairly simple in execution, requiring a straight swap of the ammunition bay, a new ammo feed system, and mounting the twin machine guns in the same housing used by the missiles, and on the battlefield the 1B model is all but indistinguishable from the 1A until the shooting starts. Standard practice has 1As and 1Bs working side by side in the same lances, in order to complement each other's strengths and weaknesses, though in the confusing drama filled catfight of County officer culture, the personal preferences of a pilot or commander can often override tactical concerns.
In a similar vein, some Stinging Wasp pilots ditch the secondary weapons entirely in favor of mounting a pair of bolt-on single shot rocket launchers mounted to the torso and the arm. This certainly gives an impressive looking opening salvoe, and can theoretically inflict considerable damage against a light opponent, but it definitely cuts into the sustained firepower of the mech if it can't put the enemy down in the first strike.
Type: Stinging Wasp
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Introductory)
Tonnage: 20
Battle Value: 384
Equipment Mass
Internal Structure 2
Engine 120 Fusion 4
Walking MP: 6
Running MP: 9
Jumping MP: 6
Heat Sink 10 0
Gyro 2
Cockpit 3
Armor Factor 48 3
Internal Armor
Structure Value
Head 3 4
Center Torso 6 6
Center Torso (rear) 4
R/L Torso 5 6
R/L Torso (rear) 2
R/L Arm 3 4
R/L Leg 4 5
Right Arm Actuators: Shoulder, Upper Arm, Lower Arm
Left Arm Actuators: Shoulder, Upper Arm, Lower Arm, Hand
Weapons
and Ammo Location Critical Heat Tonnage
Jump Jet LL 1 - 0.5
2 Jump Jet CT 2 - 1.0
3 Heat Sink RT 3 - 3.0
Jump Jet RT 1 - 0.5
SRM 2 LA 1 2 1.0
3 Heat Sink LT 3 - 3.0
Jump Jet LT 1 - 0.5
SRM 2 Ammo (50) LT 1 - 1.0
Jump Jet RL 1 - 0.5
Medium Laser RA 1 3 1.0
Features the following design quirks: Easy to Maintain, Rugged (1 Point), Weak Legs
