The Trenchbucket holds a special place for me as it was the first Mech I tried that I did well in. As time has gone on and I have improved with other Mechs it has kind have gotten shelved. Then I began tinkering with my TBT-J. This was my least favorite Trenchbucket because I just wasn't sure what to do with it. I made it a jump capable brawler and while it was adequate, there were far more capable platforms. Tried a sniper but the arms are slung a bit low for some situations (though poptarting is an option). So what could I do with this damn thing.
Then a random thought hit me. Trebuchets are missile support mechs so why not make a spotter version. Now there are a few inherent problems with the TBT-J in this role. The first one that jumped out at me was the fact that a TBT is a bit of a larger target then the light mechs that traditionally fill these roles. The next glaring issue is that almost all the hardpoints are in the arms making shielding pretty hard. These are some pretty big problems but there are some pretty good upsides too.
You can make this mech quite mobile between the decent speed and JJ. The armor along with this speed and mobility can make for a surprisingly survivable mech if one understands it's primary role is to support artillery and fighting comes second. That being said you can still pack some solid firepower to keep this mech viable in a fight if need be as well as defend itself long enough to disengage.
The primary armament of this mech is twin ERLL allowing to engage in long range direct fire support when spotting is not a good idea at that time. Backing this up is two medium lasers to add a little close up punch. Now to the main part of this mech's loadout.
The single missile hardpoint is located in the right torso and here I put a NARC launcher with two tons of reloads. On the left arm is placed a TAG and finally a BAP is in the left torso. I wish I had ECM on this thing but hey, got to work with what you have. Loadout is as follows.
2 ERLL (1 each arm)
2 ML (1 each arm)
1 NARC with 2 tons ammo (RT)
1 TAG (RA)
1 BAP (LT)
Armor 336/338
Speed 99.3
XL285
5 JJ
I will be trying this in a few days and wouldn't mind some thoughts about this. Thanks guys
Edited by Darkhorse13Golf, 19 June 2016 - 11:54 PM.