Fire Ant Mech

Designed in YE 43 and completed later in YE 44, the Fire Ant is a specialized mech built by Shasta No Sekai corporation for use during the conflict on the frozen world of Svodog for use in urban environments against soft targets and has little to no anti-vehicular capabilities to speak of.

🔥Fire Ant🔥
Class:	Light
Role:	Anti-infantry, area denial, arson
Faction:
Tier:	Light Mecha
Nomenclature:	Sw-Tw-2L
Price:	Not For Sale1)
Contract Price:	5,000 DA2) per week3)

The Fire Ant is one of the many battle-oriented mechs fielded by the Shasta's World corporation operating out of the freehold factory system. Built on a similar frame as its sister mech the Pathfinder Class Mech, the fire ant is designed to be a light and mobile platform for mechanized operations.

Sporting two massive reinforced tanks full of a combination of Star Paint and volatile substances from failed distilleries on freehold and the flush of destroyed deathcrawlers the fire ant is a walking dispenser of one of the sectors most radioactive and cancer-inducing substances that could even make the hair fall off of the head of a neko.

Spewing star paint through a powerful vacuum from the thrusters taken off of crashed spacer starfighters the fire ant can spray streams of star paint like a nozzle for hundreds of meters and coat and ignite anything it is applied to like radioactive napalm that glows in the dark.

The fire ant is not an especially powerful weapons platform for its size. At close to thirty tonnes it is heavier than a dedicated IFV or light tank but is slower and has more glaring weaknesses. What it is, is a highly maneuverable urban weapons platform for an inexpensive cost to build and maintain and suffers few of the issues a tracked or wheeled vehicle might have while lacking the same crew requirements.

• Agile and maneuverable weapons platform.
• Arson.
• Light, low-cost alternative to conventional mechanized warfare.
• Arson.

A simple if not effective design the fire ant is visibly armored and armed with the exception of its inner leggings where hydraulics are visible but still well-armored enough to survive small arms fire. Two fuselage-mounted cannons are visible under the cockpit and a massive cannon jet nozzel is mounted on the side of the fuselage. Two mounted 300-gallon tanks of armored Transparent Durandium are mounted on the back of the mech for no other reason than the sensors to detect the fullness of the tanks are often unreliable due to radiation and a clear preference for aesthetic over safety. The mech itself is painted in shades of white, blue, black, and gray camouflage for arctic operations.

The fire ant is manufactured by Shastas' World corporation and is explicitly manufactured for use by the Terror Wolves of Freehold. Any actual purchase requests should be made via correspondence with the corporation.

• Organization: Shasta No Sekai
• Type: Urban skirmisher
• Class: Light
• Designer: Terror Wolf Project
• Manufacturer: Shasta No Sekai
• Contract Price: 5,000 DA per week.⁴⁾

• Crew: One pilot
• Maximum Capacity: One
• Passenger Capacity: Zero

• Width: 2.9m (9 feet at its widest point)
• Height: 6.2m (20 feet tall)

The fire ant is a ground-based bipedal platform. It can walk, stride, and even jog to a degree and is culpable in most uneven terrains. The frame has several jump-jet style thrusters that allow it to momentarily boost itself over obstacles or terrain.

• Ground speed: 103.4 km/h.
• Airspeed: 10m/s

• Range: 404 km
• Lifespan: One deployment before refit/repair.

See Damage Rating (Version 3)

• Body: T-7 Light Mecha⁵⁾
• Shields: Zero, no Shields.

The fire ant contains a standard Shastas' World Mech Cockpit with everything it entails from terminals to the in-house Fairy AI assistant. The rest of the interior of the mech is practically non-existent for its size. Because of this the entry and exit of the mech are fairly simple.

Like a fighter cockpit the armored Transparent Durandium can be opened from either side of the mech after first scaling the mechs default crouch when inactive through readily available steps and handholds built into the armored legs and fuselage. From there the process simply involves sealing the usually airtight seals of the cockpit and securing oneself into the pilot's seat. Exiting is just as simple with the added option of an ejection system that blows the transparent durrandium away from the fuselage with exploding bolts before ejecting the seat skyward.

The startup process is also fairly simple requiring only the company-issued Fairy to be inserted into the electronics of the cockpit much like a simple key-fob where it will then manually startup the mech remotely and begin diagnostic procedures and simulated testing before she gives the all-clear or advising of any detected issues. In which case the mechs navigation, controls, and weapons will unlock and be released to the pilot.

Shutting down is just the same as requiring the mech to be in a stationary position where the AI can safely stop all systems and cut power from the battery banks and weapons until the mech is safely inset and will usually not allow the remote unlocking of the fuselage until the AI has been removed to ensure the mech can not be too easily stolen.

The fire ant is built around a massive vacuum-nozzled starfighter thruster to propel volatile star paint that takes up most of its offensive capabilities. Additionally, two Macro Lasers are built into the fuselage for sustained fire against lightly armored vehicles and infantry. The mech, finally, has two hives containing a total of two dozen wasp drones.

The fire ant boasts a standard Durandium Alloy armored frame that protects the mechs main armor in its entirety with the exception of the cockpits Transparent Durandium which is significantly more vulnerable than the rest of the armor and the interior joins semi-exposed under the thigh and shin armor. The exposed joint, however, is still reinforced to significant small arms damage and fire and is complemented by not only these segments of armor but the entire mech being coated in an anti-beam coating to give it limited defense under fire against beam, laser, energy, and even aetheric damage until the coating is worn off by damage in those areas.

The mech is, however, still susceptible to high damage kinetic and explosive-based damage that penetrates its armor and still lacks any form of shielding.

The mech contains a Fairy Ai artificial intelligence assistant.

The fire ant contains a Shastas' World born and raised Fairy AI. The AI itself is housed deep within the core of the mech and draws negligible power from its batteries. The fairy itself controls many of the sub-systems of the mech while also helping its pilot with:

• minute adjustments to the aim of the weapons
• reading of digital maps
• monitoring of radio signals and communications
• monitoring the position of the mech
• communicating with other fairies in other mechs
• controlling swift drones
• deploying and controlling the mirage system

A simple, if not effective jump jet system is installed on the mech to help it move up or along difficult terrain. While not capable of true flight they are more than enough to lift the mech off the ground for a few seconds at a time and enough for them to clear obstacles or scale terrain. They are also good for clearing around the feet of the mech of hostile infantry or pesky shrubs.

The jets are activated by the pilot but flown directionally by the AI to ensure the mech does not end up landing sideways or on its own cockpit.

Deep within the mech and under the cockpit seat houses a massive battery bank of Hyper Cells that power the mech without the need of combustion-based fuels. These batteries, linked to alternators to keep them holding their charge through the movement of the mech itself only power the mech and its most basic systems by default but can be drawn from to power weaponry on-demand in an emergency at the risk of cutting operation time from the mech through their usage or by powering related energy-dependent systems.

The mech has a backup rack of hyper cells that come online and can power the mech for its final hour of operation time. But have a secondary use that they can be ejected from the mech above and behind it and detonated to create a kind of dangerous flashbang effect around it with a massive and bright explosion that can also severely damage or kill individuals or armor near the mech but risks damage to the mech as well.

Basic scanning is capable by the mech with a built-in package for discovering distant signatures of vehicles, armor, aircraft, powered armor, starships, aether signatures, etc. at a significant range and detail and can be viewed on any of the mech's cockpit screens.

An inline GPS system is also installed coupled with the radar and ladar and the mechs optics can easily mark enemies and landmarks alike and keep them tracked. But is also capable of expanding even further when paired with the mechs drones to create an incredibly detailed area map.

Likewise for electronic defense, an electronic defense system is installed that contains passive Radar Warning Receivers, Laser Warning Receivers, and infrared warning sensors to alert the pilot to incoming threats. Active defenses include two Laser Dazzlers, anti-radar chaff, thermal flares, as well as radar-jamming equipment to complement the sensor suite to allow the fairy or pilot to deploy active countermeasures on demand.

When in less-than-ideal conditions the mech has basic heating and cooling systems as well as recyclable air exceeding twelve hours of reserved oxygen. Fire extinguishing systems are included with a small personal scale Fire Extinguisher 🧯 in the cockpit that is sometimes even fully charged.

An emergency escape system is also linked to the cockpit in the form of the cockpit bolts exploding outwards and ejecting the pilot's seat much like a standard aircraft ejection seat. This system also saves the fairy which is housed in the pilot's seat but may not save the pilot from hazardous conditions such as a lack of air or extreme heat.

The fire ant contains a Shastas' world Mirage camouflage System. This system, much like the Fairy Ai's nanites that make up its avatar and clothing the Mirage is a camouflage system of the very same AI-controlled nanites in six large twenty-gallon tanks. Each tank, when deployed, ejects all of its nanites to create a cloud of optical camouflage around the mech that mimics closely to Yamatais' common volumetric capabilities. When stationary it can mimic things such as scenery, bushes, flora, debris, etc. And even more advanced projections such as fire, plasma, light, and so forth and can project from the inside of the cloud an outside perspective or holes in it to allow optics to see through.

The Mirage system can also be used semi-offensively as a faux weapon by mimicking things such as fire, projectiles, and even people like infantry or weapons. The system is controlled by the AI and can be used within 100 feet of the mech for other vehicles or actions as well. The short life of the nanites, however, means when they aren't linked together with others to create optical camouflage they will quickly die within less than a minute.

Due to the constant heat generated by two massive tanks of uninsulated and highly-radioactive substances in its tanks the mech possesses a passive coolant system of thick hoses that constantly cycle highly pressurized freon to critical areas of the mech to ensure it does not overheat; Especially on the frozen-arctic world in an early-ice age, it was designed to operate on. This has the added effect of keeping a normally very noticeable hot target on IR-sensing optics into an only slightly noticeable target that can be missed if not under scrutiny.

This does nothing for the actual radiation spewed by the mech and does not in any way protect the pilot who has been informed not to worry and that the mech is lead-lined to protect him/her regardless of the validity of such claims.

On the back of the mech are two nodes that connect to a small internal hive containing twenty-four Wasp Drones. These drones aid in anti-infantry and basic scouting operations as well as security for the mech by attacking anyone under or approaching it from a blind spot and are primarily controlled by the AI unless the pilot wants to directly control them via the interface of one of the consoles. When fully deployed and linked to the AI the wasp drones can accurately create a local map for the pilot and update it in real time.

Due to the quality of materials and labor shortages on assemblies from high fatalities, the mech is often subject to a constant need for repair and maintenance after each engagement and without such is liable to break down from minor system failure to a catastrophic machine and weapons failure. It is recommended to never run the mech past its detailed operations time and never to avoid pre-flighting the mech or performing the necessary preventative maintenance on it to avoid unnecessary loss of life.

Charmaylarg created this article on 2022/12/29 18:08.

• Approved by Andrew on 2023/01/09.⁷⁾