FLE-4 Flea

 

The TRP-1 Trooper was a Marik mech first built in 2475, the first light scout mech designed in the Free World’s League. Unfortunately, it was plagued with design flaws. Based on their Workmech industrial design, the Trooper lacked an ejection system and its legs could not endure heavy combat. It overheated easily and its knees and ankles tended to lock up. After Toddlette Industries spent 25 years correcting significant flaws with the lightweight design, they upgraded it with newer battlemech technology, changing the name in an effort to distance it from the Trooper’s bad reputation. The FLE-4 Flea was the result.

The Flea became increasingly rare during the Succession Wars until the appearance of Wolf’s Dragoons, who had a large number of Fleas of both the FLE-4 and FLE-15 models and made an exclusive production agreement with Earthworks. Eventually the exclusivity clause ran out and it became more widespread.

The FLE-4 was the original model of Flea developed from the Trooper in 2501. It moved at an average speed for its weight and was heavily armed for such a light mech, mounting a large laser as its primary weapon, along with twin small lasers and a rear-mounted flamer. However, it had only two tons of armor, a minuscule amount that would not protect pilots for long. Weight: Light (20 tons), Speed: fast, Armor: very light. Martell Large Laser, Large Engine, Antennas (2rd/1y/1g+d8/2w) [2rd/1y/1gd8/2w vs. Advanced Tech]

The FLE-15 is more dedicated as a scout and anti-infantry platform, dropping the large laser but carrying 50 percent more armor and adding two machine guns and twin medium lasers. Twin Martell Medium Lasers, Large Engine, Antennas (2rd/1y/1g+d8/2w) [2rd/1y/1gd8/2w vs. Advanced Tech]

The FLE-17 was updated with advanced technology after the Fourth Succession War. The designs were eventually stolen by the Capellan Confederation. Twin Pulse Lasers, Myomer Accelerator Signal Circuitry, Antennas (2rd/1y/1g+d8/2w) [Advanced Tech]

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