Piranha – A mech that lives up to its namePrior to showing up in the Battle of Tukkayid with somewhat disastrous results Clan Diamond Shark was all but unknown in the Inner Sphere, and one has to wonder how on earth they got a ‘seat at the table’ so to speak in the biggest showdown between the Inner Sphere and Clans there ever was. For the Shark Warriors it was a disaster and really their last hurrah, with the Merchants gaining ascendance in the Clan and holding the reins of power ever since.
At Tukkayid the Sharks deployed some new and old equipment, much of which had not been seen in the Inner Sphere like the Thresher and the very new Piranha Light Mech. The Piranha was developed prior to Tukkayid and was made to counter Inner Sphere infantry forces and light vehicles and was well equipped to carry out this role. Despite the Sharks dismal performance on Tukkayid the Piranha performed well enough to catch the eye of other Clans who would go on to Trial or trade for the new design. One of these and by far the most serious user was Clan Ice Hellion where the Piranha’s aggressive battle tactics and high speed fitted like a glove with the Hellions already established love of high speed and hard hitting light Mechs. Other Clans would field the Mech, usually in PGC’s where it could do horrific things to infantry forces or, if you’re a Jaguar, rioting civilians.
At 20 tons the Piranha is a small Mech but the use of a 180 rated XL engine and endo-steel bones keeps weight down and allows it to carry a surprising amount of firepower and 4-tons of standard compound armour give it a surprisingly solid hide, although speed is its real protection as all locations but the chest are stripped bare or go internal if hit by a standard large laser blast. But hitting a Mech moving at 151kph is going to be a challenge and the Piranha can use that impressive ground speed to control the engagement against all but the fastest of Mechs, and those that can catch it, can easily find themselves outgunned. One oddity is the Mech’s cooling system, it’s one of the few Clan Mechs around that makes use of single heatsinks. Why the Shark’s made this decision is unknown, but when you see its primary battery it does kind of make sense.
Like its namesake the Piranha is small, and fast and packs a real bite.
VariantsStandard – The Piranha’s whole point of existence is to get close, at near point blank range a Warrior can unleash the Mech’s twelve, yes..you read that right, twelve machine guns. If Lady Luck and Admiral Awesome are smiling on you, that’s more firepower slamming into a target than a pair of AC-20’s. Backing the huge machine gun battery up and giving the Mech its primary long range and more focused punch is a pair of ER Medium lasers and a head mounted ER small laser. Using all three weapons can cause a heat spike, more so if you run but its nothing that’s not too extreme. The machine gun battery is fed by a single ton of ammunition, split into two half ton groups in each torso, and with so many machine guns the Piranha is also one of the few Mechs that can deplete a ton of MG ammo quite quickly.
2 – A Clan Ice Hellion design and one that makes use of ProtoMech weaponry, the 2 strips out its machine guns and replaces then with ER Micro-lasers, you get the same punch for a little bit more range and a tiny amount of heat. But the real heat comes from the heavy medium lasers that replaced the ER mediums and the heavy small that replaced its ER cousin and when fired together this can cause some SERIOUS hurt to an enemy as well as a brutal heat spike. Fortunately, the Hellions upgraded the Mech’s cooling system and replaced the old single heatsinks with doubles they also used the ton freed up by the removal of the MG ammo to fit an extra double heatsink. But this still does not counter a full alpha’s heat load and its not recommended unless you have a Piranha’s dream target, an assault Mech with its back to you at point blank range.
3 – Another Hellion design, this one dials back the heat in favour of an enhanced EW outfit and more balanced mix of firepower. Retaining the 2’s double heatsinks (just the 10 it comes with though) it strips out the heavy lasers and four of the ER Micro lasers. In their place go a pair of ER Mediums for some longer ranged firepower, a pair of Micro-Pulse lasers for infantry shredding needs, a light Active Probe for your scouting needs and a targeting computer tying all the lasers together. Still hard hitting without the scary heat spike of the 2 the 3 is far more flexible than the 2 which seems to embody the Clans life fast, die young, leave a good looking corpse mindset that the Hellions really tried to embody.
4 – A refinement of the Standard the 4 fits machine gun arrays to improve the firepower it can deliver, but does so in a somewhat weird way. ‘Only’ carrying 8 Machine guns, in two arrays, half of them are replaced with Light Machine guns, reducing firepower for increased range. The ER Medium lasers are still there though for some ammo independent firepower, whilst the MG’s each draw from their own half-ton ammo hopper, and the Hellions also retained the targeting computer for added accuracy. But they did downgrade the cooling system back to the standard heatsinks of the Standard, but with so many machine guns the only heat you make is from movement and the lasers and any heat build-up is easily managed.
ThoughtsVery specialized and bitey the Piranha lives and dies on being able to get close and gnaw on your opponent. Whilst it lacks a solid knock down punch, being sand blasted by so many light weapons will quickly punch through armour on most Mechs, especially if you can get behind them. And, with its movement profile the Piranha certainly has the capability to do that. Whilst the 2 has the heaviest punch of the lot, it also produces a massive heat spike that mean it’s very much a do-or-die Mech, you’ll either rip your opponent apart or hurt them so bad they won’t want to do that again, or you’ll fire the lot, miss loads and then overheat massively and be easy meat a moment later. The Standard, 3 and 4 are a bit more balanced and all of them can still do horrid things to someone if you are able to use your speed and get close and preferably, behind your opponent. Even a Dire Wolf pilot could well break out into a cold sweat if he or she saw a Piranha come barrelling out of a treeline, hooting, braying and flailing like a lunatic before letting rip at point blank range into its butt.
But, it’s only a 20-ton Mech, its armour ain’t great and pulse lasers are your friend, at short range he can hit you, but you can hit him or your Star/Lancemates can. And because of the number of guns, its easy to flub the shots and do very little, and then you’re at point blank range with someone you just tried to do unpleasant things to, and all you did was tickle one arm. And then they get to shoot back. Not a Mech for the timid, the Piranha is a very high risk/reward kind of design, do well and you’ll do amazing. Do poorly and you’ll get your leg kicked off.
A Piranha fighting against ComStar forces of the 85th Division on Tukkayid (Colourized)
The original art
The MWO version, a far superior bit of work compared to the original artwork
As always, thoughts and comments are most welcome!
