Some one once asked me to post my top ten maligned mechs.
after playing a few games over recent months here some of my summaries. throw your two c-bills in as needed.
The Ostol: honestly the only thing that kept me from using this mech was the orginal art. But a 5/8 heavy cav design with all torso mounted weapons, has earn a special place in my cold black heart. keep it moving at max speed, do not let it get pinned down, and when in doubt, charge. If you can keep it screen from one Axis of fire the better.
Now I've never been a fan of the loki, its just over gunned under sinked, and woefully under armored.
I finally used two in a scenario game a few months back. not as pleasantly surprised as the ostol, but not as bad as I imagined. Its now a staple in my clan ghost bear star. 2 Hellbringers, 2 arcas , and one griffin IIC.
I used the primary, and the E. To offset the rather pitiful armor, I keep them moving at max speed, and tried to get them into some type of cover from one axis of attack. The tactic seemed to work rather well. The E with the two large lasers, and LRM 10 did well opening holes, then I started using the HAG 20 to exploit the holes. took awhile with the two 10 point whacks with the Large lasers, and the average of 6 to 7 missiles from the LRM 10, but once I got into to position to use the hag things go interesting. The primary Barage firing the twin PPC's. Fire two, fire one, and two ER mediums, seemed to do ok. Using the Streak 6, and medium laser spam, proved effective. The machine guns, ate a infantry platoon, and the A-pods helped when they attempted to swarm. Between the ECM, and AMS it was difficult to bring all the really fun toys against it. The targeting computer, helped alot with the loki moving at max speed. I do have to say though managing the heat curve was not for the faint of heart. Fire supported by two Vulture primes also helped. I almost want to try the B with the guass,and LB=5 combo to see what happens. Any thoughts or tactics I didn't use, or other uses for the loki is greatly appreciated.
. the rifleman with the two AC/10s actualy did some cool things during a succession wars Game. Expended its ammo fairly quickly, but with a veteran pilot it wrecked some shop. I also tried a assassin, the assassin only really good at harassing, and being a nuisance. I do have to give credit where its due, the few times it connected with the medium laser, srm, lrm combo it plinked enough armor to allow the riflemen to breach armor. The Shadow hawk, between the AC/5 and LRM 5, also contributed to the harassment.
The standard rifleman: You have to push the heat curve quite a bit, not for the faint of heart. Also any cover is your friend considering its rather light armor. It’s a riflemen if your not pushing the red line your doing it wrong.
The Quickdraw: fast for a heavy in it era, the 5a is nice. However the bog standard quickdarw, makes for a nice platform. Keep it jumping from cover to cover, and dump it rather anemic Lrm battery until the ammo is expended, then keep to the enemy 6, and fire medium lasers, and srm 4. The variant with the 4 medium lasers in the front was rather nice. Also use cover to screen one axis of fire from enemy units.
Assassin: like anyone else I hated the assassin not a bad little harasser in all honesty. Keep jumping, use it missiles and stay out of easy fire arcs. Assassin are great against conventional forces, with the right ammo load.
The Dervish: I pretty much place this mech as the king of all team players.
Clint: 6/9/6 mover with a AC/5. Light on the armor department, but keep it moving, and fire away with the AC/5 . Putting a veteran MechWarrior in the clint was rather interesting. Not exactly the best at fighting other mechs unless it’ fighting one with equal or lesser weight. Against bigger mechs do not get into slugging matches. I use the PPC clint much the same way.
The Panther: much hated. Decent armor (more than the clint). Jump jets, plus PPC allows it to work great as a sniper, best used in teams. I fell in love with the 8Z it can jump, fire its large laser, and keep at it all day long.
The Crusader: Huge ammo bomb yes, I had a lot of fun with mech. Expended the LRMs, then go play rock’em sock’em robots with it. There a tough choice between using the Srm-6 or kick, honestly while going into close combat I say blaze away.
The Mauler: Ok I seriously got nothing on this one. Quad ac/2? The older brother Daboku? Had some interesting results using its Ac/2, and lrms to crash vtols, Aeros, and hovers. Against mechs plink away and launch lrms. When you get to large laser range, bracket fire. 2 L lasers, 1 large 3 ac/2 to keep heat manageable. It’s a assault class mech, and a rather poor one, but as a team player its ok.
Cataphract: ugly as sin and the standard 3039 model is actually respectable. I originally hated the look of the cataphract until I actually got to play one. 2 10 point whacks, and a decent heat control? This has became my go to new guy mech.
The stinger: yes I know the bugs are poor scout mechs in the current era. Slow, under armored death traps. The 5m however with it flamer, medium laser is rather interesting, throw in the ams and its not bad. on a side not rapid fire machine guns rules makes the old 1r model a little more interesting.
The hellspawn: it’s a faster dervish. 6/9/6 with 2 lrm 10s, and a Ecm. It’s a great team player, plus the 3 medium pulse lasers make it ok as discouraging battle armor. Of course it has a XL, and no CASE equipment but I honestly like it, and was plesently surprised by the hell spawn.
Thanotos: The base model I have heard bashed on numerous occasions. Its not a Thor and never will be. I like using it as intended a heavy cav mech great for exploiting gaps, it’s got just enough armor to jump in, blaze away and jump out to cool down. The guardian ECM is just icing on the cake, and I’ve had fun fighting wobbies with this mech. Jump in, mug the spotters, jump out.
The Zeus: under armored for its class yes, under gunned compared to its peers yes. What it can do is fire its 3 primary weapons All day long. Or until the lrm ammo runs out.
Centurion: Personally I love this mech. The original was about as unimaginative, but solid as it gets. Decent armor for its time, Ac/10 Lrm 10 combo has some nice overlap.
So feel free to pipe, throw your two c-bills in.
