How would you allocate 3 tons of armor to a 20-ton, 9/14/0 MP "Intro" tech Mech?

[babayaga]

The subject says it all ... almost.

I've been tinkering with slight variations of the 3025 Locust. The Locust has 4 tons of armor, and 3 tons of weapons (which I'd really change into 3 medium lasers, or 2 medium lasers and a flamer). One option is to upgrade its engine from a 160 to a 180, gaining a movement of 9/14/0 at the cost of 1 ton...

... if that ton comes off armor, how would you allocate it?

One crucial thing to note is that I'd put the 3 medium lasers into the head and center torso, so arms or side torsos are really not that useful (side torsos probably want a little armor and one heat sink each so that they don't pass criticals to the center torso too easily). The Stinger and the Wasp have 3 tons of armor each, but ... I feel there are better designs out there. I was thinking of 8 Head, 10/2 CT, 5/2 L/RT, 7 Legs, 0 (ZERO) arms.

What does the collective wisdom of the forum say?

[Frabby]

Maximize leg armor. Legs are the second most important location after head, arguably on par with CT and in any case more important than side torsos.

Reduce rear armor to 1 or 0 in all locations, you won't need it. For a lightly armored 9/14 machine it's even less important than arm armor.

[Sabelkatten]

Personally I prefer to keep the "feel" of the original and just drop half the MG ammo and half a ton of armor for the bigger engine...

But if you're set on 3 tons armor I'd start with Head 8, CT 10/2 and Legs 7. That's 34 points, 14 for the other locations - Side torsos 3/1 and Arms 3? This way you can survive a PPC anywhere from the front, and even a GR to the CT. The sides can at least stand a ML.