I have the standard pack (4s, 4p, 5p). I can't comment on the other variants.
I've played a few matches with them, and I've shot a bunch of them.
Overall...
Pros: Seems maneuverable for a 75 tonner; nice high engine max so you can go crazy with it if you want; all of them have ecm; all of them have jj.
Either: most have hardpoints in both arms, so you can lose a side and keep fighting. handy, since....
Cons: Huge ST hit boxes, not XL safe unless you are playing with blind people using spread weapons only; relatively low hardpoint counts, split between all three types, no serious boating possible (it's of the fewer, bigger guns school); structure quirks, not armor; (edit) too tall (allows small mechs to leg hump you).
Edit 3: General impressions: The firepower, overall, is underwhelming. I've tried numerous builds, some quirk-centric, some not. None of my variants have quite enough hard points to really gun up on smaller stuff (4s and 4p have 4 energy, that's the highest). Each variant has about 30 sp at present. ~Half (12-14) has gone into getting the ecm viable, about 10 or so in survival, the remainder now in ops for heat. Still seems insanely squishy, esp for a 75 tonner. Torso speed is slow, hampering twist efforts, but it still seems not bad on overall agility (will probably be acceptable with some sp in mobility).
I do have an XL in one variant. I'm finding that I need to twist like a madman to survive even a few seconds. If I can figure out a way to keep most of the firepower (hah!) I will switch it to lfe soon. (the XL is now gone)
4p: Quirks for ballistic (+ AC20 cd) and missile cd. 1 missile R arm, 2 ballistic L arm, 2 energy each ST (two high, two mid/low). Hill humper/poptart?
edit3: current build is lfe300 4 mpl, uac10, srm4, 2jj, 15hs I had an ac20 in it for a bit, tried to use the empty right arm to shield (now has the srm4), but that didn't work very well. I'll probably drop one jj to use the extra ton... somewhere? With one jj gone, I'll have one ton and 2 slots, with all hp used except a single ballistic, maybe I'll toss an mg and 1/2ton ammo on to work with the srm.
4s: Missile cd and velocity quirks. 4 energy (1 ea ST, 2 L arm), 2 missile R arm. Hill humper/poptart?
Edit3: Currently this is my best performing variant (a very low bar, sigh), I've got an lfe325 w/ 2 ERLL, 2 ml, mrm30, 1jj, 15hs. The torso mounts for the ERLL are nice and high. (this was my original xl variant, but near instant death made that unwise).
5p: Ugh. Quirks for PPC and lrm velocity, w/ ballistic cd, slightly better structure than the other two (fwiw). All 3 energy mounts are in the right arm, 1 ballistic in the left, missiles in the STs and left arm (1 ea.) I say ugh again.
Edit: rebuilt my 5p into a poptart/ppc sniper. 300lfe w 4jj, 2 erppcs w/ 3 srm4 as backup way too hot, (esp with the new map so popular atm). switched to reg ppc's, heat much better, but range and min... urgh. having trouble with this variant. 4jj, btw, don't seem to provide good lift, will play with it more. (edit2) the 4 jj do not seem to give good enough lift for poptarting, given the height of the arm mounted PPCs (but I'm also not a great poptarter, so ymmv).
Edit2: Okay, given my dislike for this variant, I've been playing with it to try and make it work. I despise it. Granted, I've had a slew of very bad games, 3-12 or thereabouts almost every match, so my team has been getting owned, but I get gunned down so fast it isn't even funny (and I've been dumping every point I can into survival). Still WAY too hot. I had to go back to ER's because I'm too slow to keep people out of the minimum. Next try is one HPPC and a couple other energy for backup (for when they are inside min, didn't have that with reg ppc's), but space is also at a premium due to trying to jam in enough HS. Maybe it will be better when I've got full heat skills?
Edit3: Current build is hppc, 2 mpl, 3 srm4, 1 lmg, 4jj, 15hs. This seems a little better, since the mpl give me less heat painful firepower.
I'm still trying to decide if this will be my 2nd mech with points into the jj web to try and make the poptarting more viable.
(ed) More later if sp or varied builds seem to make a major impact.
Edited by Insanity09, 16 November 2017 - 10:36 PM.