Was trying to come up with four for Primitive Tech level, and keep as much synergy as possible, but it'd a lot harder to do. So, I ended up with this:
MSK-5S Mackie (9,238,000 C-Bills)
ON1-C Orion (6,364,750 C-Bills)
This gives you a reasonable assault 'Mech and a general-purpose trooper, which both share a 360-rating engine, and between them require the PPC, large laser, medium laser and AC/5. Importantly, they also open the door to this:
HMR-HA Hammerhead ASF (3,972,031 C-Bills)
Twin large lasers may not be an AC/20, but they're nothing to sneeze at, and at 6/9 thrust it's fast enough to act as a dogfighter or a bomb truck. It's not ideal as an interceptor, but can work in the role in a pinch.
From here, I really wanted to do the SHD-1R and RFL-1N, but there's not much point to the Shadow Hawk if you have the ON1-C, other than jumping, so I skipped that. The twin LLs of the Rifleman are nice, too, but I wanted to bring additional capabilities to the table, so instead I went with this:
ARC-1A Archer (5,965,640 C-Bills)
This requires the LRM-20, sure, but it gives you a solid indirect-fire 'Mech to support your Orions and Mackies. It uses the 255-rating engine, which, sure, not much else uses, but instead, you take the engines that don't pass QC and use them as 250-rating engines, which gets you:
KRV-2 Korvin (741,375 C-Bills)
At least, that's how MegaMek lab treats the engine, even though it's technically a support vehicle, so we're just going to go with it, OK? Yes, you need an LRM-10 and machine gun now, too, in addition to the large laser, but...this is fine.
OK, last up, we need a scout/raider type unit, preferably something that won't break the bank, right? Nothing we have so far jumps, either, so it'd be nice to have something that can do that. Fair enough, how about:
WSP-1 Wasp (1,172,520 C-Bills)
So, that's dirt cheap. It's still 5/8/5 and jumping in an era where that's not easy to do. It only uses a medium laser and some armor. And, hey, bonus, it's a classic.
So, putting it all together, you get:
MSK-5S Mackie
ON1-C Orion
ARC-1A Archer
WSP-1 Wasp
KRV-2 Korvin tank
HMR-HA Hammerhead aerospace fighter
Engines needed:
360 fusion
255/250 fusion
120 fusion
Weapons needed:
PPC, large laser, medium laser, LRM-20, LRM-10, AC/5, machine gun
And there you go, a complete fighting force, minus APCs, but those use ICE engines usually, anyway, right?
