it's a terrain-dependant evaluation. more woods and hills favor the blackjack where the hermes can't get its tmm as consistently
Granted, if the terrain is mostly contiguous woods or mountain hexes, then a jump-capable design is preferable. In scattered woods, rolling hills, or typical mixed terrain, the HER-2S will outpace the BJ-1 with ease. If the BJ-1 does jump, it's generating a +2 modifier (one for distance jumped, one for the jump itself), yet suffering a +3 penalty to its own fire for jumping, while the HER-2S will most likely still develop at least a +2 modifier for running in all but the worst situations. In MOST situations, I'd consider the BJ-1 or any other 4/6/4 design comparable in average mobility to a 5/8/0, but 6/9 is enough to run through 2 light woods per turn, or make 2 facing changes to weave between the obstacles, and STILL maintain a higher overall speed. That's not to say that there won't be circumstances where the jump capability will be more important, but not under average conditions.
As pointed out in the previous post, the LCT-1V has that extra bit of armor to withstand a hit from a Large Laser or a rack of LRMs and still keep going, and I've had them shrug off a PPC hit on more than one occasion. The alternative variants just don't have that durability, and their extra firepower is poor compensation in what should be primarily a recon/spotter role (or for finishing off immobilized, disarmed, or distracted targets). The -1M is the exception to that, where its primary role is as a light skirmisher, in which case I find it highly questionable that the design didn't drop the defensive ML in favor of an extra ton of armor, since the 'Mech should NEVER engage an enemy at ranges where the ML comes into play.
