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if you dont know what this is about:
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Flea
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Mercury
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Locust
http://www.sarna.net...orn_(BattleMech)
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Stinger
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Wasp
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Valkyrie
currently the only 20 ton mech we have is locust, which goes 120kph by default and is upgradeable with a 190xl to 170kph (add endo, ferro, double heat sinks, otherwise its rather useless). I had matches where I exceeded 800 damage on a locust, i had matches where the first LB20X stopped me dead in tracks with 0 damage. its a high stakes gamble there... using them frontally gets you killed very fast. run around, attack rear, disappear, rinse and repeat.
the MASC option brings two other superlights back into discussion and that discussion might make the thorn, wasp, stinger and valkyrie interesting too.
yes, again - at 20 tons an AC20 is a deaths knell (pun intended). just dont get seen then:
the Mercury (MCY-97, MCY-98, MCY-99)essentially is a better locust, so with 190XL as highest engine would make the locust uninteresting. but it has MASC. so one idea would be to limit it to a 175XL movementwise (half way between standard and 190XL on locust) and add ECM slot on the MCY-99 or 2 AMS Slots to make it desireable.
the Flea is another thing. its 20 tons only. its slow (90 kph). but: it is a dead cheap mech.
and the "fire ant" variant would make a cool hero mech (even though the original is 3058 only).
to leave a niche to both mercury and locust, it would be cool if this mech does get limited to e.g. 150 or 160 engines, but would receive two significant MASC buffs: it should be able to run on MASC for a longer time (MASC damage buildup -30% ?) and get a significant MASC run boost (15% ?) to make it surviveable (and reach the same speed as locusts - close to 174kph). Also - its natural small profile should be the same "tiny" chassis scale as the urban mech. A Wolf Dragoons Paintjob would also rock. Variants acceptable are FLE-4, FLE-14 and FLE-17
The Thorn is by design a light support mech, so it might work if it can get similar speed as locusts and run with S-SRMs or artemis, but i`m still wondering what to do with it. its slow, no MASC and no jump jets, but a cool design. Tiny Frame might be one thing. More slots for Modules another. THE-F, THE-N, THE-S, THE-T would offer some variants to build
It is in direct competition by design with the Valkyrie, which is 5 tons heavier and slower still, but jump capable. Moving a VAL QF e.g. to streak boating might be one idea to make them useful.
the valkyrie might be a small mech template. still no idea which buffs to put on to it. The fact it only has a QA, QD and QF variant in 3050 are a bit limiting.
Stinger (STG-3R, STG-3G, STG5M) and Wasp (WSP-1A, WSP-1D, WSP-1K, WSP-1L, WSP-1S, WSP-1W) are two old Mainstay Units of all Battletech Lore Units, so those would also Roc-k. Tiny Frame again might be an option, Wasp is more anti infantry themed, so might be fun to run with flamer or Streak SRM2. a stinger is possibly the tiniest laser vomit machine possible, or a excellent example for MGs with armour. extra slot for modules might be needed at their low speeds to e.g. mount the target deprevation. question here would be the rights to the looks from the "other mech game". the stingers old boxy head shape would be sweet, too.
another idea to make them worth having would be some e.g. 10% faster target lockon bonus or significant sensor range bonus or something like that or 2-3 AMS as a support duty mech. i remember setups with 3 Med Lasers or 4 smalls and 2 AMS on my stingers from CBT. worked well there, might not work well in here. a third consumeable slot e.g. for a second UAV might also be a nice option to make them useful as scouts.. WSP-1W should come with a wolf dragoons paint job
then again, the copyright issues on the design should be a real issue if not solved by now.
so how to finance this thing from a PGI perspective ?
the flea might have enough lovers to get a 20/40 USD urbie package on its own.
Mercury and Thorn are SLDF mechs, so might go well with a SLDF themed package as a bonus item etc.
Stinger and Wasp might also have enough old-timers as fans that they pay off on themselves...
Or - make it a package for 20 ton lovers, e.g. "ultra-lights" and add the KOTO as bonus item and motivation with a fancy solaris themed airbrush paint job.
another idea for seeding superlights would be to make them available (with mech bay) as tournament prize) and adding a raider game mode where both a time limit (prohibitive enough to make 90 kph a must as minimum speed) and the task of picking up and running with a prize make the mode interesting to use with light mechs, since their main tasks never was to participate in frontal assaults or as a fighter in a skirmish, but more of a rear arc raider, scout or other support roles. so tag range bonus or ECM range bonus would also make sense.
Ideas, Feedback ?
Edited by Fat Jack Murphy, 20 June 2015 - 11:15 AM.
