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| Zi-51 Pyre Wasp Type: Wasp Total Length: 15.4 meters Total Height: 5 meters Weight: 22 metric tons Speed: Overland 60 kilometers per hour 16.667 meters per second Airborne 440 kilometers per hour 122.222 meters per second Equipment 30mm AMD Pulse Laser x2 Core Vent Stinger Electron Mandibles AHUD Magnessor Turbines x4 Hard Points x2 Armor Description: Let’s face it. In the history of Zi, there has never been a heavily-armored bug type. Nor will there ever likely be a heavily-armored bug type. They’re agile little critters, not tough bricks. The Wasp has soft structure and a thin coat of poly-weave armor. Its most durable portions are the two round double turbine magnessors mounted on sturdy pylons in place of wings, and its biggest vulnerability is that big abdomen on the skinny wasp waist with the core inside. Mobility and Power Source While this thing may not be heavily-armored, it certainly is an aerial acrobat. Sporting four nearly-silent magnessor-turbine hybrid engines on the two wings and shorter guidance vanes behind those, with a lightweight and aerodynamic frame – the legs tuck in alongside the body and reduce drag – the Pyre Wasp makes an excellent aerial scout or transport. It can even pick things up with its legs and carry up to twice its weight around in the air. The core has a long charge but a slow power recharge rate, meaning the Wasp can last a good long time just zipping about in the air, but once it starts using energy-intensive weapons it’s going to run out fast. Equipment: 30mm AMD Pulse Lasers Mounted in between the dual bubble cockpits are a pair of antennae-like pulse lasers. Attached via ball turrets, the pulse lasers fire roughly three hundred rounds per second – on par with the pulse laser of the Gojulas Giga. The antennae are mounted inside refrigeration coils, giving them a segmented look. The lasers are best fired in short bursts, but they have small batteries independent of the core that provide them with the power to fire for eighteen seconds before drawing upon the core. Pilots generally hand over control of the AMD pulse lasers to their co-pilots. Core Vent Stinger The CP-03 of melee, the Core Vent Stinger links a pair of powerful plasma dischargers, much like those of the Integrated Plasma Torch modification, with the zoid’s core. The plasma dischargers sit to either side of a wicked little spearhead made of Magnite-ceramic composite and coated in a magnetic laminate. It charges up with something akin to a Strike Laser Claw on crack and then stabs the enemy zoid. The core lets out superheated plasma in a short burst, usually inside the enemy zoid thanks to the cutting power of the zoid’s sharp stinger. After stinging the Wasp can do little more than fire missiles and fly about – aerobatics are barely manageable, but the electron mandibles can’t be charged and the stinger can’t be used again until the zoid recovers. Electron Mandibles The wasp has powerful cutting mandibles that pack a great deal of force behind them. Charge them up with electricity and they get much sharper, able to slice through most any material south of the freakishly hard stuff. Unfortunately, the mandibles are a bit short and require the zoid getting into melee combat with the enemy. Advanced Heads-Up Display The AHUD is an old military technology rarely put into use in zoids. It allows the zoid to maintain visual, radar, and infrared locks for three seconds after the enemy zoid has passed out of sight and to keep locks after firing missiles. It also assists with targeting, improving accuracy by about ten percent. Magnessor Turbines x4 Magnessor turbines are a melding of the utility of magnessor technology with the simplistic power of rotary turbines. Mounted two to a wing, the Magnessor Turbines are a ring of magnessor emitter surrounding fanblades. The fanblades spin about, while the magnessors provide the necessary lift. All the fanblades do is move the zoid about through the air, not keep it up or down. The computer helps somewhat, but really the work lies on the pilot to maneuver the Wasp – hence why aces with this zoid are so few and far between and why this is one of the few zoids to require a co-pilot. Hard Points x2 To either side of the thorax is a useful hard point that can mount most any weapon designed for mounting on small hard points. Creative pilots can get some interesting weapons mixes on the zoids, whilst other civilians use them for medical beds, firefighting equipment, and a host of other equipment. |