Bad ‘Mechs – Dasher II

Courtesy of Eldoniousrex

“Welcome to Throttle Stop, I’m Haremy Darkson. For centuries, the fastest thing on two legs was this,” the camera pans up to the Locust he was standing beside. “You can have some variety with a Spider or a Cicada, but then you’d be paying twice as much for a ‘Mech that only has a quarter more firepower. In other words: you’d be stupid.

“And then the Clans came and redefined our entire concept of speed.” The camera smash cuts to an equally small ‘Mech but one with wildly different aesthetics. “The Dasher (or Fire Moth, if you prefer) left the Locust in the proverbial dust with a top speed of over 200 kilometers per hour. Admittedly, it couldn’t keep running that fast without shearing its own legs off, but one cannot become velocity without taking on a few risks.” 

The camera cuts to the same Dasher now in rapid motion, weaving around artificial stalagmites on a ‘Mech agility course. It then moves inside the cockpit where Darkson is wearing a neurohelmet with purple flames adorning the sides. 

“This thing is unbelievably quick,” he nearly shouts, “but the problem is you can’t really buy one. The factories that produce the Dasher are all in the Ghost Bear Dominion, and they’re not really interested in distributing it beyond their borders.” 

The shot changes again back to Harkson wearing a button down and jeans beside another mechanical leg in a ‘Mech hangar. “Clan Diamond Shark, on the other hand, loves the free market even more than a Lyran baron. They’ve been selling to customers from across the Inner Sphere ever since Tukayyid, and they’ve developed a reputation for quality.” 

Darkson raises a hand upward as the camera pans out. “This is the Dasher II. It’s larger, has more barrels on its arms, and those arms aren’t permanently raised upward like it’s trying to scare away a bear. Compared to the original, the Dasher II is the refined younger brother looking for love while the older sibling is still a dedicated bachelor.”

Another shot change. Darkson is now in the cockpit of the Dasher II, sweat beading on his forehead. “But you shouldn’t put a ring on this ‘Mech without taking her out a few times and maybe seeing the folks.”

A drone target explodes as the Dasher II runs through the flames while dramatic music plays. Darkson chuckles at his own skill and then turns to the camera mounted inside the Dasher II’s cockpit. 

“It still runs fast, which is what you’d expect from something defined by speed if you then put a ‘2’ after the name. But it doesn’t have the utterly insane speed of the original. That’s because the Diamond Sharks took out the MASC. They replaced it with the biggest possible engine a ‘Mech could ever have, but because they ‘Made the Dasher II twice as heavy as the Fire Moth, it actually has the same running speed.” 

The shot changes to outside the standing Dasher II. It starts to move into a trot, but slowly, with Darkson shouting “c’mon!” to little effect. 

“The other problem is that while the original Dasher would run until its legs fell off, the Dasher II has to be gently coaxed to top speed. Once you get the throttle up it’ll run all day, but,” Darkson strains against the throttle, a bulging vein visible past his neurohelmet’s visor. “It won’t run before it crawls.

“But that’s not the worst part.” The camera pulls out, showing the Dasher II some distance from a simple paper target. It raises its arm and fires an array of three lasers. The target is unscathed.

“Those barrels aren’t even ‘Mech-grade lasers. They’re basically infantry rifles strapped to your fists, and you’d be better off just using those fists to brain your target. But good luck getting close enough because you have so little armor you might as well be running at your opponent stark naked.” 

The camera slowly pans around a gleaming Dasher II in a black void while Darkson’s voice narrates. “You’d expect something with a bigger number to be better than the original, but the Dasher II just isn’t. It’s slower, weaker, and stumbles over itself at every opportunity. And for the price of one Dasher II you could have this many,” the camera pans to a row of five Locusts, “of these.” 

During the Clan Invasion, several Clan-designed ‘Mechs achieved near-legendary status among Inner Sphere MechWarriors. Chief among them was the Mad Cat, a powerful 75-ton design that struck fear into the hearts of any who’d ever fought one. Clan Diamond Shark, ever prepared to exploit branding opportunities, used this design as the basis for the Mad Cat Mk II in the mid-3060s. Originally intended to sell to its fellow Clans, the Sharks instead found a far more eager market in the Great Houses of the Inner Sphere. 

The Sharks’ follow-up to the Mad Cat Mk II was an equally legendary Clan design, but one that failed to live up to its forbear. The Dasher (Clan designation Fire Moth) is known for its incredible speed and firepower, surpassing most other ‘Mechs at 20 tons in the latter and nearly every other ‘Mech ever made in the former. It’s also notorious for being virtually unarmored, reliant entirely on its blistering speed to avoid enemy fire. 

Leveraging its growing Inner Sphere network, the Sharks produced the Dasher II. Advertising brochures for the ‘Mech highlighted its comparable speed (with MASC activated), its heavier chassis (twice as large as the original Dasher), and having 50% more armor than its predecessor. The brochure should have emphasized that it still had less armor than most light ‘Mechs, let alone 40-ton mediums, and it had virtually no weapons to speak of. 

It’s telling that the Diamond Sharks called this ‘Mech the Dasher II and not the Fire Moth II. Clan procurement officers would immediately have identified the Dasher II‘s glaring flaws and refused to bid for it. Stone’s Coalition, on the other hand, was desperate for materiel to persecute the final years of its war against the Word of Blake and ordered the Dasher II en mass based on name recognition alone.

What the Coalition received was a disaster of a combat machine. It was fast, sure, but without MASC it wasn’t as fast as its namesake. Its additional mass meant it was somewhat more durable than the original Dasher, but the Dasher II‘s near total lack of weapons made it useful only for urban knife-fighting where its speed advantage was nullified and its lack of armor became an enormous liability.

Widely condemned by the allied powers, the Diamond Sharks still managed to sell significant quantities of the Dasher II by offering them below cost (which was significantly more than the original Dasher). Following the Jihad, Dasher IIs could be seen in the AFFS, LCAF, DCMS, and the Ghost Bear, Nova Cat, and Snow Raven toumans. By far the greatest number would be found in the Republic Armed Forces where they served with dubious distinction.

The Dasher II‘s Type 79 400 XL engine allowed it to achieve a top speed of 162 kph at the expense of occupying nearly two-thirds of the available 40-ton chassis. This left but three tons allocated to ferro-fibrous armor and a negligent 1.5 tons for weapons. Six Extended Range Micro Lasers gave the Dasher II some offensive capabilities but only at near-adjacent range. 

With complaints mounting from customers, the Diamond Sharks returned to the Dasher II in the year 3084 with the Dasher II 2. This modernization of the maligned ‘Mech used a then-experimental Double XL 400 engine to free up enough weight to upgrade the six ER Micro Lasers to ER Medium Lasers and provide two-and-a-half more tons of ferro-fibrous armor. The Dasher II 2 also saw the MASC restored from the original Dasher, finally allowing the two designs to match speeds. This design was significantly more popular with Clans Ghost Bear and Snow Raven. 

However, the Dasher II 2 wasn’t perfect. The experimental Model 53 XXL engine had trouble providing enough power to get the Dasher II 2 up to its maximum speed from a cold start. These issues would be solved with the Model 53b engine on later production runs and other ‘Mechs produced by the Diamond Sharks, most notably the Warhammer IIC 9, 12, and Phoenix Hawk IIC 8.

Clan Sea Fox (formerly Clan Diamond Shark) would return to the Dasher II in the mid-3130s to provide designs specifically marketed at gladiator stables on the game world of Solaris 7. Both the Dasher II 3 and 4 would see their engines reduced as blistering speed can make it difficult for camera operators to maintain focus. The weight savings were then used for a variety of melee implements including claws and whips, as well as additional armor protection to ensure their pilots lived long enough to put on a good show.

Today, the name recognition of the Dasher has long since faded. Other ‘Mechs have achieved higher speeds, and more light ‘Mech pilots have come to understand that speed isn’t everything. The Rasalhague Dominion’s continued production of new OmniPod configurations for the venerable Fire Moth means that even the centuries-old design can field equipment just as modern as the Sea Fox knockoff. Should trade relations with the Bears improve, one could even imagine an Inner Sphere where the original Dasher reigns ascendant. 

And as always, MechWarriors: Stay Syrupy.