Firestarter (BattleMech)
Sarna News
The Firestarter was designed to perform as an incendiary 'Mech. During the Succession Wars this 'Mech sold well and it is believed there were somewhere around 3000 of them produced. The Firestarter was traditionally assigned at the company level instead of the lance level. The reason for this would seem to be that the 'Mech has such a specialized role that it is useless to assign it to lances. This changed in the later Succession Wars as it was found that the Firestarter performed well in the scout role as it could start fires to prevent an enemy from attempting to follow through the inferno it could leave in its wake and it could also clear areas for the advancement of friendly forces.
Armament
The Firestarter carries four Purity L-series Flamers for incendiary work. The Flamers can set fire to anything that can burn very quickly. For anti-personnel work the Firestarter has two Deprus RF Machine Guns which, combined with the Flamers, can make short work of infantry units. The Firestarter carries two Magna Mk II Medium Lasers for when it is forced to engage hard targets like vehicles and other BattleMechs.
Variants
- FS9-M - This variant of the Firestarter converts it from an incendiary 'Mech to a frontline role by removing the Flamers. The 'Mech carries two Medium Lasers, two Small Lasers, and two Machine Guns. In addition the armor protection has been increased by two tons.
- FS9-S - The FS9-S is an overhaul of the FS9-H. The Structure has been upgraded to use Endo Steel construction. The weapons carried are four Flamers, two Medium Lasers, and a single Small Laser. A Anti-missile system has been added to protect against missile attacks and a Beagle Active Probe has been installed to enhance the Firestarters scouting role.
- FS9-S1 - The FS9-S1 is identical to the FS9-S except that it carries a Guardian ECM suite instead of the Beagle Active Probe.
- FS9-C - The FS9-C is an upgrade of the Firestarter from the periphery. The armor has been upgraded to Ferro-Fibrous. The 'Mech carries two Flamers, three Medium Lasers, two Rocket Launcher 15s and four Rocket Launcher 10s giving it an incredible one shot kill capability against heavier 'Mechs.
- Firestarter Omni - This is an OmniMech version of the venerable Firestarter That debuted in Technical Readout 3058.