Lupis Volk, on 14 December 2015 - 10:19 PM, said:
They said grasshopper then went to Quickdraw then settled on Thunderbolt, which i brought the Tbolt 9SE variant.
Now i'm a light/light medium MechWarrior (mainly all i have is 3 Jenners, 3 Cicada's and 3 BlackJacks) but the Thunderbolt doesn't click with me like the Jenners and Cicada's do.
It's a slower mech, because it doesn't have the larger engine capacity nor jump (for most of them). It is going to be a different style of play for you to learn, which may not be a bad thing.
For you, I still would recommend the Grasshopper or Quickdraw, as I feel those mechs already continue to work with what skills you've already been developing. However, the Quickdraw is considered too big (it's getting resized eventually according to PGI) for it's tonnage but remains fairly nimble. The Grasshopper is considered to have too large of a CT, but this leads it to being very XL friendly which makes it rather fast. It can laser boat as well, which is considered a good point at this moment in the game.
My Grasshopper builds:
MWO:Mechlab - GHR-5J : One of my best Grasshoppers, and the one I'd recommend for you personally. Can hit hard, but you need to remain on the move and use those JJs wisely for some good hit and run.
MWO:Mechlab - GHR-5N : Slower, but still packs a good punch. I don't think I use this version anymore though, and I think I converted it to having 4 LLs instead... (I should update my mech list I think...) (
Updated, mostly...)
MWO:Mechlab - GHR-5H : A not recommended toss together to "make it work"... Still kinda fun to play with anyway...
My Quickdraw builds:
MWO:Mechlab - QKD-4H : I've also reworked this... Didn't know my mech list was this far out of date! Thankfully, my build remained very close to this one still.
MWO:Mechlab - QKD-5K : Although I've sold this one over time, it worked very well. In today's meta, it should work even better. Probably needs some JJ adjustments due to JJs being adjusted over time. Probably could use an additional JJ or two for practicality in today's game.
Each mech has served me well. It depends upon what you want from your mech. I wont say those mech builds are "competitive", but I'm not a competitive player. I also wont say that either mech is "best in game" either... But I do like them and I've gotten decent results from them. The Grasshopper is a very good mech though in my opinion.
As far as Thunberbolts, they will play slower and tankier. I didn't recommend them to you for that reason, as you seem to like mobility and agility over tankyness. With that said though, some of my Thunderbolt builds if it interested you any:
MWO:Mechlab - TDR-5S : I'll say, I like my LRMs, but normally not recommended for CW. However, when CW was still young, I took this mech onto the fields. It ran alright. Probably not recommended, but it's got a nice mix of weapons for a good support mech.
MWO:Mechlab - TDR-9S : I made this mech long before quirks, and long before it became "a thing". They have down played it, but the loadout should still work well. LPL is for anything fast and hard to hit. The ERPPCs are for ranged hill snipping.
Use as you wish, if you wish. Redistrubute armor as needed (I did not place exact armor values in Smurfy). Though the Thunderbolt is a great mech, I don't think it is fitting for you. I still recommend a Grasshopper or Quickdraw personally. You seem like you work best with mobility and jump, and those mechs have it where as the Thunderbolt does not. Only other recommendation I might present would be a
Dragon.