[Mid / Late game build] Light Mech Lance viable?

[GODSPEED|seven]

So.. for some reason, I really like light mechs (and by extension the light tonnage mediums). I tend to like moving around alot.. but RNG happens.

I usually max out loot over money for most missions.. so, been getting lots of body parts :P

Should I keep light mechs stored?

Is it viable to use a Light Mech lance mid to late game?

[DNYI]

An all light mech lance is viable mid to late game under certain conditions.
1) You are not expecting to kill much on higher difficulty missions (3.5 to 5 skulls), as moving slow enough to fire back will quickly get a light mech killed. Exception to this is melee attacks against vehicles and possible turret destruction from range if no enemy mechs are nearby
2) You are planning on using it for recovery missions or destroy base missions as
A) you can with luck complete a 5 skull recovery mission with a single spider (carrying no weapons, max jumpjets, max armor for carrying max jumpjets, +3 hit defence gyro, cockpit mod +3 injury resist) jump around the map as fast as possible into the recovery zone and then out of firing range (the luck is needed for avoiding melee and loosing a leg/jumpjets)
B) using the spider from part 2A as a scout to get visual on buildings for LRM, PPC, LL, or AC/2 using units that are out of firing range of defenders.
3) Or ignore 1 and 2 if you are only taking under 3 skull missions.

[Ichthyic]

the way the AI works?

yes. even on hardest difficulty, you can pack pinpoint, hard hitting weapons on your light mechs and simply hit and run. the bigger the easier.

I've run dozens of regular 5 skull missions and 3 different 3.5 to 4 skull flashpoint missions with nothing but light mechs:

Urbie with a gauss rifle
jenner with srms/melee
firestarter melee/antiperonel (risky, but since you can usually reserve and act twice, you can easily hit and run)
firestarter LR ballistic/energy

user your close range mechs to jump around and distract enemies while weakening them, and your LR mechs to do precision strikes.

the only thing you have to watch out for is to not let any big mech get a melee strike on you. that's it. your evasion is maxed, your speed is maxed, and the ai does not do well in those situations.

so yeah... perfectly viable as the game stands.

I finally got bored of using light mechs, and worked out a new gig:

one cyclops Z and three hatchetmen. that's both fun and brutal, and the entire lance weighs 225 tons fully loaded, which comes under any of the "light lance" requirements for flashpoints (230).

put a striker in your cyclops and use it as a long range energy/lrm boat, and load the hatchets with all the melee boosting upgrades you can find. chop your enemies to pieces. use brawlers (best), or gladiators (second best). it's bloody fun. basically you have 45t light mechs with huge melee damage and even decent mid range damage, and a 90t medium mech that is an average LRM/long distance energy boat.

again, the bigger the things you are fighting against, the more likely your hatchets will effectively get two turns to one on reserving.

two turns of melee with those things can usually take down anything, even a king crab.

[GODSPEED|seven]

Thank you for your answers!

I'm keeping my light mech salvages from now on, going to try some light mech lances.

I don't have flashpoint yet; I want to finish the campaign first and then I'll get the expansion.


So far I've been fielding a Banshee as my main brawler; it's got an Arm mod for +40 Damage. 3 Small Lasers (+/++) and 3 MG's... So far, it works really well, whatever doesn't get decapitated on first strike (like a heavy or medium will full armor) uisually loses a couple limbs and gets so many crits from ammo explosions... +knockdown.

But it's painfully slow to get him into place. I NEED to keep him with maximum armor, as once he's at the front, he gets nailed by every possible side. Although, on most maps, I tend to use cover to maneuver him (naturally). But that's an Assault.. I'm going to try that with Lights! :D

[Ichthyic]

good luck! it's not that hard. just learn how to reserve and place your units so you are always running or jumping, and you'll do fine.

[Cactuskiller]

No, there is no justification to use light mechs once you got replacement mediums (IMO).
Paperthin armor, little to no dmg output, their only advantage is speed -->evasion

Problem here is, you can get the same amount of evasion/speed with most medium or even heavy chassis (Cicada,Shadowhawk,Vindicator,Wolverine,Quickdraw,Thunderbolt) while gaining much more armor and Weapons, with the right perks you can even outright outclass most normal lights in terms of movement range and evasion.

Since Evasion gets countered by the enemiy once you reach early midgame due to,
-Senso locks
-Enemy pilots having higher aim, so they dont care for evasion that much
-being outnumbered on basicaly every mission, so 4-5 evasion pips becoming useless if you are being shot 8 times, where 1 hit is basically your death)

you have to start relying more on armor/cover and Raw dmg rather than flanking via speed only.
Flanking at that point of the game gets pretty much reseved to snipers who can get around the whole enemy squad unseen or Jumpjetters or melee units who charged in last turn and can now ez get into rear armor teritorry without expsoing themselves + being covered by your other mechs

Only exeption might be flashpoints with tonnage limits, but havent got one of those yet

But then again, thats only my opinion, maybe someone has made better expereinces with lights later in the game ^^

[Ichthyic]

"No, there is no justification to use light mechs"

er... unless you want to. that's a pretty good justification frankly.

[Coyote]

This is pretty much how you use light mechs in the late game.
I wouldnt say its difficult.. Just more of a risk if you make any mistakes.
Therefor its more fun imo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhaE6GOeTkI