Mad dog can hit like a truck if built correctly, bit of a glass cannon though.
Not really. I've survived some brutal beatdowns that I didn't think I was going to.live through. I don't fight like the metatryhards say I should, though. Never much cared for Spreadsheet Rangers telling me how to play.
Just to throw in another bit of advice that tends to slip by the wayside - actuators. If you can find a mech with lower arm and/or hand actuators and decent hardpoints in the arms, those make for better brawlers since you have a greater firing radius when you're circling someone. Surprisingly, this actually makes the Cataphract 4X a surprisingly capable ballistic brawler (just not very good at anything and everything else)
Hello fellow mechwarriors!
I have a free mech bay and would like to buy a heavy for it... I would like something brawly for close combat, preferentially with ballistic so that it does not get too hot...
Do you guys have any suggestions? I was thinking maybe a Jägermech... But [color=#000000]their armour seems lower than other heavy?[/color]
I am a total noob regarding heavy so any advice would be much appreciated...
First, I should mention that Jagermech's starting armor is indicative of its battletech role, in which it is an anti-air mech designed to shoot down both conventional aircraft and aerotech craft like bombers, fighters, etc. Its armor is on par with an Urbanmech (35 tons) and brawling lights, which for a heavy is pretty skimpy.
Through the use of an XL engine...
Spoiler
(which is very rare and hard to get in Battletech, thus why its use is so uncommon and unlike in MWO, an XL 300 for one mech cannot work in another mech of a different weight class, even if that weight class can equip an XL 300; explaining why XL 300 for a Jenner is barely 5 million when an XL 300 for an Atlas is over 12 million.)
...you can cram on the heavy ballistics, the ammo, and the armor necessary to be a heavy hitting brawler.
Screenshot: Koniving in Jagermech JM6-DD. By: Lordred. Equipment: LB-10X, twin MG, three AC/2s. Prey: Atlas.
Screenshot: Koniving's JM6-DD. By: Wolfmech. Equipment: Same as above (two AC/2s may have been upgraded to AC/5s at the cost of some ammo by this point but not certain).
This particular setup is designed for both ranged support (the smaller ACs) and heavy hitting blitzkrieg on softened targets (the LB-10x, twin MGs to shred internal equipment with almost unnoticeable thermal cost, and the ACs to keep shredding the structure).
The reasoning for explaining the weapon choice is simple yet complex: There are many kinds of brawling. It isn't as simple as two dudes charging at each other with fists... though even that isn't simple either.
For example, in this instance if throwing fists was all that was required, the big guy would always win.
Many things play into it, and so there are many kinds of brawling.
The Jagermech works best as a hard-hitter, a hammering brawler. Great at delivering large amounts of damage very quickly, though its simple rectangular frame and requirement of an XL engine means that it cannot take abuse as readily as it can dish it even with maxed armor. To counter this, you need either a medium range punch (medium ACs) or a one-two punch (lighter-medium ACs backed with a heavy AC and some spray power). The Jagermech, due to its reliance on ballistic weaponry is also good for thermal endurance brawling, where you fight with the opponent until they overheat and then slaughter them.
A 90 ton thermal endurance brawler/charger.. Skip to 7 minutes for the demonstration.
This is entirely unlike the Stalker, which can handle "tank" endurance brawling by absorbing craploads of punishment and still truck on. Stalkers can take insane amounts of abuse due to the shape of their hitbox and endure far longer than most mechs -- so long as they do not have XL engines. Give it an XL engine, and it'll die faster than most mechs. This is because the damaged sides when destroyed will protect the CT and cut damage by 60% before it goes to the center torso, provided you keep taking the damage into the sides. And its phallic shape, when you close into point blank range, forces all enemy firepower to exclusively hit the sides (especially their arm weapons). Quite literally, ram that thing in there like a proper Stalker...creepy as that sounds, and you'll be tank-endurance brawling with the best of them.
In the heavy category on the IS side, the Marauder fits tank endurance. For the Clans, it is the Ebon Jaguar.
In general, 75 tonners always make good brawlers that are fairly even with only some outlier traits. This is one of the reasons the Timber Wolves are so popular.
Orions function almost literally like 75 ton Atlases, built well and kept to a standard engine you can basically do almost anything an Atlas can do, with proportionally less ammo and tank endurance considering you're 25 tons lighter and in turn, you're quite significantly more maneuverable.
Warhammers, I'll be honest I don't own one yet. But I'm getting one today.