Folks, don't post custom designs in here. Those go in Fan Designs and nowhere else.
I... Sorry. I let my enthusiasm for Hardened go to my head.
So if one's not using all those specialty ammo types, its not really worth it to worry about taking hardened armor..
Lights. Lights and Hardened go together like peanut butter and bananas. They can easily buy the added Piloting skill to compensate for the Hardened problem, while carrying an adequate - for a light - warload and becoming much tougher in the bargain.
A 20-ton 'Mech with 3 ERMLs that moves 10/14 and can take a Gauss Rifle hit anywhere but its arms -
including its head - is easily done. A 35-tonner that moves 7/10, has 168 effective points of armor and totes 12 tons of weaponry is within reach with lots of XL tech - and who cares about the extra crits, because they're behind armor that protects from crits! At 5/7, the same design drops 8 effective armor and one ton of weaponry, but with an SFE it's a serous zombie with
30 points of armor on its front center torso. A 35-ton scout that moves 9/13, has a 'mere' 128 effective points of armor, and carries a Bloodhound, Angel ECM, and TAG with four more tons for weaponry is also available.
Basically, light 'Mech movement and weaponry with medium/heavy 'Mech armor. This is a good thing.