’Mech of the Week: ZPH-** Tarantula
Tarantula. The largest spider on Earth. Not actually dangerous to humans. Also the name of a 25-ton quadruped BattleMech. Something very dangerous to humans. One of the first four-legged designs to reach widespread acceptance, and perhaps made the greatest contribution to redeeming the quad concept in the BattleTech universe.
Heck, even the Clans took the design and refined it (though their result, the
Stalking Spider, is twice as heavy). Unless you also count the
Tarantula IIC from the
Mechwarrior 2 video game.
Developed by Corean Enterprises based on the success of the GOL-3M
Goliath upgrade (which amusingly is near the top on most lists of worst upgrades in the FoundTech era), the
Tarantula was designed as a light recon ’Mech. Apparently, they tried to combine the squat look of the
Scorpion, the sleek lines of the
Mercury], and the jump capability of the
Spider. (Noting the comment of its clear superiority over the
Spider, I must concur on all save the minor issue of not being able to torso-twist.)
Entering service around 3055, the ZPH-1 uses a standard chassis, mounts a Nissan 200-rated extralight engine and eight leg-mounted Rawlings 75 jump jets, giving it a similar movement profile as the
Spider. Four and a half tons of standard plate armor grants the design 74% of maximum protection. This works out to being able to take an Inner Sphere medium pulse to the head and center rear, a Clan medium pulse to the legs and front side torsos, a PPC to the center torso front, and two SRM missiles to the rear side torsos. Armament consists of a medium laser in each side torso, and a Streak 2-rack SRM in the center, with accompanying ammo. Ten double heat sinks keep the machine cool running.
During the early 3060’s, the ZPH-2A swapped the standard mediums for the new extended models. By the mid-3060’s, the ZPH-3A entered service, swapping the entire weapon compliment and one jump jet for twin medium pulse lasers, and maximum armor protection. Endo-steel was also used. The next variant, the ZPH-4A is the most radical. Mounting an additional half-ton of armor from the base variant (one point to each leg and side torso, two to the head), the weapons have been replaced by an ER PPC in the left torso and a centerline C3 Slave unit. The jump jets have all been removed and replaced by a MASC system. An endo-steel skeleton was also added.
Sometime in the Dark Ages, the ZPH-5A was introduced. This swapped the -4A’s PPC for an extended-model large laser, and the C3 unit for a Boosted Slave. As the number of Boosted Masters are fairly limited (I think I’ve seen one so far), this may be a work in progress.
Use of this design is fairly simple. Remember that you are supposed to be a light recon unit. That means go out, find the enemy, report back. Above all else, try not to get killed. The best way to do that is keep your movement up. Since all but the last model can generate a +4 mod by jumping full, this is best. In more open terrain, running is also viable, but I have seldom seen such straight paths. Try not to get isolated. With the -4A, tying into a network with something big and mean is a good start. Hard for them to shoot at you if your buddy the
Berserker is keeping pace. (Something about that ax draws fire.)
Fighting one is also simple on paper. Knock him down and pound him into scrap. In may be just my experience but those legs sometimes act like they have homing beacons in them for every big gun my opponent has. Use precision ammo when suitable (see
JagerMech). If you have a targeting computer, choose any torso for focusing, though the center is my preference, because of the ammo in the first two variants, and the Slave in the fourth. And if you can somehow get to shadow him with something larger that jumps as far, go for it (see
Cicada and
Preta A).
One more thing. Can someone tell me what the ZPH stands for? Most designations have some relationship to the name of the design…
