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The FST is the best light Mech. 6xJJs, Ace pilot, 0t MG++ and a COIL. Or all SL++ and some arm mods. Or Flamers, but the ammo load for those is subpar.
Med - Vindicator 1R or Blackjack BJ1
Heavy- SLDF Warhammer (Jaeger 6S I love best in MW5 tho)
Assault - Annihilator
You might want to consider that modifying the weapon loadout, armor and mobility of a Mech can significantly change its combat value, especially in the hands of a skilled pilot.
The Cicada is trash indeed in vanilla. In the big mods, with some lightweight armor, XL engine and pulse MLs it is the deadly backstabber it was meant to be in the tabletop game.
It still is a squishy glasscannon.
Your assessment of the marauder is erroneous as well. The main argument to field a marauder, or four of them, is that with a tactics 10 pilot and some UAC2s++, these are the best headhunters in the game.
Headshots with an UAC of any caliber have a 38% - steve will sure correct me if I am wrong - times two chance to hit the head. I put two or three UAC2s and an ER PPC into mine and I never had problems with salvage when precision shooting.
The 10% lance-wide damage reduction is nice though and allows my beloved Firestarter or Vulcan some crazy daring stunts without risking their lives too much.
Yeah, talking about mods isn't an argument pure and simple. I also don't take head shots because my percentages are generally way too low. I could at least see steel reign with LRMs being more sensible due to the way pilot injuries work but why on earth would you try and make the argument with a Marauder of all things? It's got one ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hardpoint. If you're going to invest all the effort into sniping with souped up autocannon configurations why would you use something with only one ballistics hardpoint? There's tons of even medium range mechs that have three ballistics hardpoints if you're going that way.
As to modding it of course I do, in fact I don't think there's even one mech I ever had that I didn't reconfigure. But like I said, all that means at the end of the day is I just get a Firestarter that basically does everything a Jenner, Panther, Spider, or even Javellin on some level can do better, in fact the sole use I got out of it was a bunch of lasers which in my experience makes it slow and hot in fact now I think of it that's the one time I even ejected was in a Firestarter. I've since moved my tactical scouts from using Jenners to Phoenix Hawks, which unlike the Firestarter actually has the capability to alpha strike with lasers well and also have tons of better mobility and still manage to take quite a few hits.
Like I said FS is a one trick pony, which doesn't do anything well that any other mech can do. It's basically only there for the variety of support weapon hardpoints largely dedicated to flamethrowers. It can work okay if you use SLs but then you're right back to the heat issue which if you've got JJs on it means you basically get to fire once or twice and it's done to be fair this is also a Phoenix Hawk issue; I can pull off two shots before a full 6 chevron jumpjet uses pretty much all the heatsinking.
I just do not get the seemingly universal love people have for these things. At light range it's just okay, in that you can easily do 5-6 lasers if you under armor it and don't care it overheats. It's still damn near Javelin flimsy though and unlike a Javelin loses most of its firepower. It's substantially slower than a Jenner which can literally match its firepower (4 ML + SRM4 brings you to about 5, which 6 MLs or any other high heat weapon basically shuts it down in a couple turns), and it's massively slower than a Spider.
The problem with lights is they in particular need special roles, and I'm just not keen on the special role of FS which is to run headlong to the enemy, drive his heat up, then watch your torso get punched off. It feels like a slow glass canon that doesn't do much damage. It makes me imagine people who play lots of Elex, Oblivion, Gothic or whatever and just can't give up low damage stun locking in RPGs. Which it could actually work in a squad, were it not for how slow it is, how easy to kill, and how ultimately underwhelming to me its specialization. It's basically one of those things that works extremely well in extremely specific scenarios and only if you do it like that, like bumrushing energy blackjacks or Marauders in a desert or something, and totally suboptimal everyplace else.
>The 10% lance-wide damage reduction is nice though and allows my beloved Firestarter or Vulcan some crazy daring stunts without risking their lives too much
Ultimately pretty much what I mean. It's good for throwing Imperial Guard/Soviet recruit tiers and trying to level them up if they survive, but melee does way too much damage to be worth it to me especially since a lot of the time they'll walk behind and then torso punch you. It makes me wonder if this is part of the backstory behind that "how my Dekker/Behemoth died" meme. You're basically kamikazing your pilot to try stun locking a mech, otherwise it's just worse as both a scout and damage dealer in its class than almost everything else.
To be fair, a Panther is also not that great and in a sense worse because on top of the same heat issue they tend to cluster it on one arm, which is why Javelins tend to work better for ML damage around its class. I dunno. I just always tried using that 4th slot for scout roles with a spotter/sensor lock tier who I wasn't too worried getting shot apart. Spiders are some of the best for that role they're just not loved by anybody because they only do 2 MLs which is ♥♥♥♥. If a Spider could mount a total of 4 MLs to its center torso would make it hands down the best light mech rather than the Jenner.
Phoenix is one of the better scouts in the whole game particularly getting its own special module usually you don't see until heavy/assaults making it unparalleled damage dealer and hard to hit to boot, its only problem really being that it overheats immediately when you use full jumpjet and when you finally need walking to cover to cool off it gets disarmed (literally) easily.
Problem is higher weight normally = better, so basically anything 55 tons can rip apart a 40-45 ton, and Griffins and Centurions basically feel like mini-assaults or heavies. Griffins and Kintaros can easily destroy anything at close range with Centurion LRM boats in the background (Cents are too damn slow to do much else honestly, other than maybe also sniping with an AC/10 or something just that LRMs in torso is better than a single gun in arm usually).
Kintaro really needs a special mention. It's indeed hotter than Hell's saunas doing this, but there's very little that comes anywhere near a Kintaro SRM boat. It's so ridiculously you'll start laughing in real life the first time you try it. It can mount 5 SRM6's across its body. It also has hardpoints for 2 MLs but the SRMs alone are going to overheat it quickly, but if you want the definition of glass cannon it's 5 SRM6/2 ML Kintaro.
I suspect some people just haven't tried certain things because they're often rarer, like Phoenix Hawks, Vulcans, and Kintaros don't seem to show up a lot, whereas Shadowhawks and Centurions are super common. Griffins and Kintaro are hands down some of the best full frontal assault mechs in the game imo.
Having a Trebuchet and Centurion LRM boat with a Kintaro SRM boat and Griffin SRM boat with 3-4 MLs actually feels like cheating. You can straight up take on heavies with that kind of setup.
At some point I want to try the Grasshopper as a punching scout. Seems making use of the S laser hardpoints on top of PPC/LL/ML would make it one of the most useful.
Maybe cause there are 3 MAD variants in the vanilla game and one does have 3 Ballistics hardpoints. Also the top headhunter builds have ridiculous headcap chances.
(assuming 9+ tactics pilot)
Since heads have 61hp and those do 35x2 or 65 damage...
Called shot increases the weight of the target section by x2, then by x2.4 if 6+ tactics, then by x3.75 if 9+ tactics; Marauder is another x2.4, so:
x2x2.4x3.75x2.4 = x43.2
Base front headshot is 1 / 81, so with Marauder & 9+ tactics it is 43.2 / 123.2 per shot.
(side is 1 / 89 --> 43.2 / 131.2) (prone is 1 / 97 --> 43.2 / 139.2)
Multi-shot weapons reduce the bonus by 50% for each shot after the 1st.
LRMs are different and can't hit the head unless the first shot/rack does, and due to clustering few of the extra shots will hit the head even then.
I was speaking of changing loadouts and then with the Cicada I mentioned the big mods, that might have confused you.
With these I mean Battletech Advanced, BEX, Roguetech and the like, and the fact that you do not know what these are or that there are three MAD variants in vanilla alone is a disclosure and, to be honest, still no harm intended, acknowledges your ignorance.
You might want to take a look at these:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/637090/guides/?browsefilter=trend&filetype=11&requiredtags[]=English
on how to use terrain to your advantage, etc.
Thanks to @Doombringer for the Marauder-math!
I never thought about adding MLs to up my headshot chances, but on the other hand I try to stay out of 9 hexes from the enemy for a reason.
This is a five skull Ambush Convoy in a Lunar biome:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2059952506
And a five skull Assassination mission, with all foes headcapped:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1974772104
That loadout is specialized at one single range and it excels at one task (headcapping) but it is from decent to quite good at several other roles/actions like support, finisher, capturing and defending objectives, keeping pace with allied vehicles for defending them, pursuing fleeing units, switching targets on the go and attacking targets of opportunity, as support, as finisher, capturing/defending map objectives...
The Marauder has the lethality of a high tier assault with the mobility and initiative of a heavy. That's what makes the Marauder the best mech of the game. Sure, not as lethal as a full fledged ANH, but it is comparable and much more agile and has better initiative and way better survivability (due to the previous factors).
Basically, a mech specialized at a single range (not just the MAD) can be extremely flexible, way more than setups with mixed ranges.
That said, the Warhammer-7A is better rounded up, better at those side roles than the Marauder due to higher firepower potential, but it is a lot worse at headcapping and the Marauder is still (like I've said) fairly competent at many things other than just headcapping, if packed with good equipment.
SL/MG/ERSL are on a whole different level regarding damage/weight/heat efficiency compared to any non support weapon, and it has six hardpoints. That allows it to keep heat from the long jumps under control while attacking, because the weapons won't generate much but still packing enough firepower to easily deal with assaults.
A FS can have up to 97% to backstab any bulwarked + braced + cover assault in the game with two PS salvos and then jump after the second attack (with AP).
Not many mechs can do that from the distance the FS can, not many can jump that long while retaining significant firepower. It's not a one trick pony. At a minimum it is a two trick-pony: the flamers disabling trick and the backstabbing trick. The second one can carry a four Firestarter lance over a full Campaign/Career run for the whole time, and with ease.
I think the issue is having tunnel vision from the role paradigm derived from role playing games. What matters are results, and there are full campaigns in youtube showing how a lance of FS can be used to easily beat a Campaign.
The PHX I mention is the lostech variant, not the regular one. And that's a whole different beast. No other medium can compete with it, nor it can most heavies and assaults.
This can cheese most five skull missions alone with no other mechs in the lance:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2485126358
And for a full lance you can have some backstabbing fun:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2485126400
I imagine you'd probably think the second is better, and if so I'd agree for a full lance, because you don't need a lot of survivability there. But under heavy pressure the first one is better. You really want as much heatsinking as you can get and you don't want to ever get close to the enemy.
Also there you can see my tool for optimizing TEX/HS/DHS and the chances to headcap and ct core an Atlas from the front. For backstabbing (the Atlas) they are quite different, they would be 41% and 97% respectively.
I agree with that, but there are exceptions, which lostech mechs tend to be, not only for medium mechs but in general. No other medium mech is in the same league as the PHX-1B. The closest ones would be the lostech Griffin and the lostech Crab, the others are like little kids playing in the NBA compared to these.
The PHX-1B has the jump range of a Cicada, more available weight than a Shadow Hawk, double internal heatsinking and a bonus to damage when jumping with fairly good hardpoints. That is sick, and very few mechs in the game can compete with that.
With the game having more than three years I think it should be reasonable to assume many people have played with most mechs, at least a bit.
So sure Centurions are very good, actually most 50-55t mechs are quite good... as long as you ignore the lostech mediums. Those are on a whole different level.
Chance for that is higher, 86%.
(well, unless you consider "10 good hardpoints" to be a trick)
4xML+10dmg plus 6xMG+2dmg approaches 300 damage. And that's just using unmodded, no DLC. And this is with max armor.
Until Heavy Metal came out, the Grasshopper was my standard endgame scout/backstabber. 7x ML+++, 6x MG, jump jets.
(post-HM, I'd rather use a Griffin 2N with 4xSRM6+++ & some lasers)
Anubis https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Anubis
Hollander https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Hollander
The Anubis does what a light mech is designed for - get in quick, harass, get out quick. Not the fastest of light mechs, but a royal pain to find and hit, thanks to its ECM capabilities. It's one of the hardest lights to kill.
The Hollander, however, jumps to the top of my threat board. It's a light with a Gauss gun. That is absolutely terrifying early game. Against lights, it has to hit fast moving targets with just the one weapon, but if it does, you're loosing a limb at the least. Paper mechs like the Locust are just cored. Even mediums have to be wary of this nasty little beastie.
For medium, I have to go for the Centurion. https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Centurion_(BattleMech)
There are a lot of other mediums that bring more kaboom to the field, but thinking it over, the Centurion is the Swiss army knife of the mediums, because they can be modified so readily to suit whatever you need. I've used Cents' as brawlers, as missile boats, as snipers. From the perspective of multiple play-throughs, its a solid, cheap, and effective design.
Heavy. Gotta go with my tabletop fav., the T-Bolt. https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Thunderbolt
This is a mech similar to the Cent', in that I've used it to fulfill multiple roles in a lance; I've used the T-bolt as a jump brawler, I've used them as CQB mechs, artillery, and they're usually durable enough that they're the last of my heavies to phase out when the game is just lance after lance of assault mechs.
Assault
I'm torn between the Highlander https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Highlander and the Thug https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Thug
I'm based towards both because of their performance in BT games. It really is a joy to give an enemy a Highlander burial, and vanilla Campaign, it ruled the battlefield, regardless of almost any other assault. In other words, it fulfilled the real-world requirements for a good armor design: mobility, durability and firepower.
The Thug I remember fondly from Mechwarrior Mercenaries, which I liked to modify to carry two PPCs and something stupid like 14 small lasers, all chain-linked to fire. I had made it to try out the idea that the Charger https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Charger was a valid idea. That in turn goes back to the very first Mechwarrior game where you could exploit the lack of melee and a larger mech's inability to depress their guns, and saw off their legs with the MGs on a Locust. My modified Thug was the same idea, only in assault form, and it worked so damned well. Oh noes! A Clan mech! Oh noes, you've fallen and you cant get up cause I just sawed your leg off! I do not know if this is a valid design in this game, however, as I've yet to field one in RT.