Mech Spotlight: Kintaro

[RasaNova]

The mech of choice for Kamea herself, this one is fun. An absolute short range powerhouse, out of the box it has triple SRM6 racks plus a couple lasers to act as a middle finger poking through the gaping hole you just made. In my own game, my stock KTO-18 was the clear hero of the Smithon liberation as well as destruction of the Newgrange.

So lets give this brawler the spotlight it deserves! It was clearly designed with brawling in mind, but how are others using theirs? Up close and personal? LRM boat? I suppose if you wanted to you could even throw a couple PPCs on it and call it a sniper. Let's talk Kintaro builds & strategies.

All Mech Spotlights:

Centurion
BlackJack
Thunderbolt
Quickdraw
Shadow Hawk
JagerMech
Highlander
Grasshopper
Vindicator
Wolverine
Locust
Catapult
Orion
Zeus
Kintaro

[Twelvefield]

Certainly, the Arano mark colours my view of the Kintaro. It's "stock" configuration (or if you will the version Kamea pilots) is one that I see heading for the edge of the map or on the shelf in the Argo as fast as possible. Brawling with Kamea at the controls increases her chances of losing the mission! The ammo in the central torso is the cherry on the sundae. So, mostly I avoid combat with the Kintaro. In certain missions, it's full throttle running from the shadow of one building-sized rock to the protective lee of another. Paint a big bull's-eye on the Kintaro's back: with Kamea Arano at the helm, most of the time the guns are pointing away from any enemy. More kills for the mercenary mechs!

[Sabi The Worst Player Ever]

I cant really imagine Kintaro as PPC mech but Draconis Combine surely would. Personally it was my mech of choice for main character, 2x M Laser, jump jets, SRM4 as much as I could load + ammo and actually lower armor and not too much heatsinks. Running hot easily but could still use all the rockets at once in most cases. Named "Shiratsuki" and still sitting in bay, among assaults.

I have to point out that Kamea variant have huge flaw in form of lacking jumpjets. In her mission this was really problematic since she couldnt, say, jump facing enemy drones and brace, she had to move short distance, turn around and then brace. Playing without JJs is awful.

[Shandor]

As i said in my own Topic i really love the Kintaro!

But sometimes it feels a bit OP and im not sure if its wanted to be this Powerful.
I had several Battles now where the Kintaro did kill 3 Heavy Mechs with 3 Attacks in 3 Turns.
I mean WTF? No other Mech i got so far can perform this.

Sprint in the middle of 3 mechs after waiting on reserve - move behind the First one and Target the Back Center - Kill the Heavy Enemy - move behind the next and do the same.

Mine dont even got 3x SRM6. I only got 2 of them because of the Leg mod. and the heat. And he still onehits Heavys.

[Mr. Mugs]

I love the Kintaro. I made a special Highlander 733 loadout that uses 4xSRM6, 1 AC20, 2xMLs, 3 JJs and full frontal armor. It's like a Kintaro + Victor combined (two of the deadliest Mechs IMO). That beast can one-shot the CT of a guarded Assault mech. Add a few DHS and its essentially unstoppable.

Back on topic: Yes, the Kintaro punches WAY past its weight class (almost 2-levels past). It really shines when deployed in cold biomes.

[Nine-ball]

Well, there's no getting around it. While not a mech I like to field, the Kintaro is a badass. It can really rack up the damage quickly, and knock enemy mechs over or strip off their armor with its punishing alpha. To think, it's named after a little Japanese boy. One with super-strength, but a little boy nonetheless.

As dedicated LRM or SRM platforms, these bad boys are the most efficient bruisers in the medium weight class. With full customization options, they aren't THAT much better than any other 55-tonner you'd care to rip apart and piece back together. Though they look like they have a tiger face, that's probably a plus for some people. Personally, I prefer the Trenchbuckets' "skull wearing a stahlhelm" look, or the Shadow Hawk's "I AM A ROBOT" vibe.

But with the hardpoints system in this game, the Kintaro really shines. The extra hardpoints afford a tonnage efficiency advantage that, curiously, I've never seen anyone mention. LRM5s and SRM2s are the most weight and heat-efficient missile systems in the 3025 BT universe. Naturally, you'll want to take thie big racks (Who doesn't like big racks?) for primary punch, but extra missile slots mean you can afford to take one or two of the small racks (Small racks need love, too.) in order to make the Kintaro a little less of a walking barbeque pit.

There are only two times when this mech sucks. The first is when you're facing the AI, because you just know that bastard is going to overheat itself firing every ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ missile every round. That damage adds up quickly, and in the rare instance where it's now enough to destroy all your armor, it's going to be enough stability damage to be a concern.

The second time is when Kamea Arano pilots it. Love her or hate her, that stupid **** tends to forget that she's piloting an ambulatory bomb, and the Directorate loves to target her first. All those SRMs are great when pointed in the right direction, not so great when Kintaro has a premature detonation. He's a little 55-ton boy, don't judge him too harshly for it.

Kamea is no better when you can tell her what to do, because she's a terrible shot. Essentially, she wastes a drop slot that could be used by real mechwarriors who aren't piloting KTOs which waste tonnage with weapon disparity. Thank Blake that at least her money is good.

But Arano is not the Kintaro's fault. Overall, it is an excellent mech, one of the best in the medium weight class, and well worth fielding.

[Atma]

Honestly, the Kintaro is the best all-around medium mech in the game. Best missile boat (short or long range), excellent brawler/skirmisher, decent speed.

Don't judge this monster by Kamea's terrible loadouts for everything she pilots, she wouldn't know how to kit out a 'mech if her entire kingdom depended on it (which, unfortunately, it often does).

The Kintaro holds its own well into late-game and can boast a ridiculous amount of firepower.

[Shandor]

This is how my Kintaro usualy Performs:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1sn6xyw3d1i717a/Kintaro.png?dl=0

4 Heavy Mechs and some scrap :)

[Strayed]

I think my dislike for this mech comes from Arano herself. It is a good mech, although I just don't like the association attached to it

I'll get to making a video shortly

[Pherdnut]

No mech has more missile slots in this game. And those missiles slots should be devoted to a mix of SRM4s and 6s to keep heat much saner than the stock build. For great SRM6es, Cruise around all the research/SLDF systems in west Cappelan territory. It's lousy with +++es. Good 4s are a pretty common drop from mechs in the mid to late game so keep an eye out and consider losing some mech salvage for really good ones when you come across them. This of course is probably too late for a medium mech but there's mods that open the map up sooner.

SRMs are particularly good at focusing parts with called shots. If you've done some damage to a head on an otherwise high-health mech, Spamming a dozen+ SRMs at a mech's head when you have called shot mastery frequently finishes the job with 16-18% to hit that part.

If there's any question, all mediums should have full JJs but this one in particular benefits from being able to rapidly reposition for a massive wall of missiles at a weaker facing.

But yeah, this is definitely one of the very best mechs you can score early in the game and I keep forgetting to save scum a disable when I run into them early (I like to start new campaigns a lot - weird like that).

[Rob'sEvilTwin]

One of my favourite Mediums, is a very nice SRM porcupine.

[Strayed]

Bump

as promised

A striker lance consisting of a Panther, Firestarter, Griffin and Kintaro

I tried to make the match last as long as I could by needlessly engaing in melee

the reason the lance is so expensive is because the Griffon is the 4N "Valhalla" variant

https://youtu.be/Gx7HSkMqj8w