BattleTech: The Best Light 'Mechs of the 3050s | Classic BT Strategy & Tactics 

Discount Dan recommends filling your Hollander's left torso with Structural Reinforcement Foam. It's totally not just expired riot control foam and absolutely does something. Also I point out that neither the Talon nor the Spectre were recovered schematics in 3040, so they're pretty much lostech. So they might not be the best options simply because we don't HAVE those, whereas at least if you know the right people, a Wraith is something you could maybe buy.

It's so cool to see more and more quality Battletech content pop up on RU-vid ❤

Nerdy Overanalyzed's video is solid, so it's cool to have sort of an addendum to it.

Excellent content, spoken about in a context that is super relevant to me (hypothetical merc commander). Chill, inoffensive music. Keep it up.

So just found your channel, awesome stuff. Need more people talking btech gameplay/tactics, and playing and sharing the game. So i have a large issue here. The advice given is from the point of view of 1v1, with the light mech being used for direct combat, and not 4v4 team fights. The 'initiative sink' is a scout mech first and formost. You move the scout first, and it reports back on enemy movements for the rest of your lance. (You move a cheap scout, they move, and you see how they moved to give your forces direction). The scout stinger isnt being sent to die--quite the opposite. Its critical to keep it alive for as long as possible so when you kill an enemy unit its 4v3 and you can really push initiative. Its useless to be a scout if you are dead, as you then lose the initiative bonus. Further, by keeping the scout safe, the 20 tonner can take targets of opportunity. My stingers/locusts have killed many shut down mechs by virtue of being alive and able to move fast enough to take advantage of an opportunity. Now, cheap infantry and vtols brought up can do the init sinking, but not the target of opportunity part like a cheeky kick to knock out the last pip of structure on a damaged leg. Also they often cant move up to objectives in objective missions as well. However the biggest issue with the ultra cheap infantry is the unit count problem. Its assumed both players have a fixed and equal unit count. If you can take unlimited infantry then they quickly overtake everything... Why take a spector when you could have 20 infantry? Leave the thunderbolt home, take 16 ac10 field gun infantry. Ect. But with 4v4 unit balanced games, well that infantry may be cheap but it isnt contributing to the fight, and the remaining 3 units will tend to be heavier with the points saved, limiting the lances mobility. Anyway, nitpick aside love the channel and looking forward to more stuff!

I could hear the Crecent Hawk MIDI looking at the thumbnail.

Good guide. I like that at the end you state why you would or would not bring a light mech. These lists are pointless or nearly without context.

The Wraith is pretty good. Me personally I love a Spider. Extreme mobility, and just enough firepower that if you get behind an enemy, they are gonna feel it

Biggest down side was wasting tonnage on AMS instead of increasing armour on a bunch of the 3050 lights

Great points about Large Pulse Lasers and Targeting Computers. 3025 era lights were a threat to even assault mechs due to their speed and ability to backstab. In later eras, I've noticed fewer people playing light mechs at all, because they no longer have the speed advantage, and are incapable of mounting enough armor to be able to close with heavier mechs before getting legged or cored. And no one enjoys playing light mech vs light mech, as the game takes forever. It's kinda sad what has happened to lights.

You appreciate the LAM. Subscribed!

The scarabus is my favorite light mech, it's even got a cute little hatchet with tsm!

The reason for using light 'mechs for recon is due to the nature of most BT warfare. A mech an be dropped from orbit. Vehicles have to be unloaded on the ground from a landed dropship. So a recon 'mech can be in action scouting before the main force even hits the ground. Recon armor cannot. Now if you're defending the world, recon armor makes a lot of sense. If you're engaged in a long-running campaign, recon armor makes a lot of sense. But for that initial landing, there is no substitute for a recon 'mech. Of course, if you can get AND maintain a LAM, that's even better. But those are FANTASTICALLY rare, and it would often be better for a merc unit to SELL the LAM and use the cash to buy several something else's instead. The 'rarity' factor will grossly inflate both the resale value AND the cost of maintenance quite severely. From a merc perspective, better to have that factor work FOR your bottom line, not against it.

The best light battlemech is The Firestarter with small lasers replacing the arm flamers, drop jumpjets to max the armor. Or a Wolfhound but Firestarters have better availability.

Completely agree on the premise that pulse lasers, particularly clan versions, really warped the game balance of original battletech. Its almost like the game designers at FASA completely forgot the roots of their 2d6 gaussian hit probability system. There is a reason many tournaments rule to curtail the use of or amount of pulses that players can build into their forces. They are a very imbalanced weapon system, particularly larges. Around our friendly table, we house rule pulse lasers to only a -1 to-hit mod, and impose an extra 15% BV tax on any units tying pulse lasers with targeting computers (a penalty in-line with would be the cost of upgrading gunner skill on the pilot).

There really should be some new tech that benefits lighter units, more. Light jump jets that can't loft heavier units? I don't know. Would be nice if they could be more viable... I say this as someone who still uses them a lot. I love my light mechs.

Ya, my group has a ComStar player so our lights have to worry about LPLs in 3029

Locust IIC 10, Gunsmith, Incubus 9, Wolfhound 2X and the Copperhead 3 and 4 all use Reflective armor which could make them viable against the pulse laser menace, and also tarcomp'd PPCs

Id add the Night Hawk , generally agree need be fast or durable but you can get by with a Dasher or Tarantula used smart , alot of clan lights are hardly surviavable themselves

The one place you would take a light mech that you inarguably would not bring a combat vehicle is hazardous environments or exceptionally rough terrain. VTOLs are great until the LB-Xs come out, and everybody has those. Similar logic for Hovercraft. Only thing worse than motive crits is motive crits over water.

Mediums and lights are my favourite mechs if I'm honest...their speed and weapon potential make them really useful when against the larger mechs....mechs like the scarabus are so fast they negate much of the pulse lasers strengths and has so much electronic warfare equipment to help in combined arms battles...I do agree though the clan pulses do require numbers to beat but the lights and mediums are so cheap in comparison you can swamp them :-)

So there are three things I think about when I look at light class after 3050 in the first thing is the next has to go at least 6:09 and probably should have jump Jets unless it's even faster. It has to always be running it has to avoid obstructions it needs to be able to do damage from medium and long range unless it's all knife fighting in which case you're running in shooting and then running out and there are a lot of light mix that are really not good at that. I think the valkyrie is a 585 doesn't work the urban also doesn't work a staple of the combine really needs to be in a lance with heavier units so that it can decide what it's doing and limit the shots taken on it. One light mix that I really like that might violate that would be the the the hammer out of the free worlds League it can fire missiles from pretty far away and keep things that range and if you can do that then you can kind of mitigate the targeting bonus that you might get from the pulse laser mix with gas rifles or big Ultra autocannons in the two and five variety could also be interesting but the thing here is light mix cannot close unless they're going to jump in do a bunch of damage and then get back out right away play just do not have enough armor to hang within potential short and melee range of mediums and heavies

I have run the Raven 3L (just not into the Clans) and I have found it to be useable; its faster than anything with an Inner Sphere Large Pulse laser so I just stay out of their reach or line of sight. That being said, in the 3060s the 4L has 10 leg armor and Stealth Armor to keep it safe and it really comes into its own. The 4Lr even has 3 ER Medium Lasers & an MML7 rather than the classic two medium lasers & an SRM + electronic warfare stuff of the 3L & 4L.

I love that you're making good content. I do however disagree with the premise. Clan pulse technology does cause problems for light mechs individual but if you look at them as a part of a greater force the become if nothing else great target saturation. The clanners with fewer units are going to have to deal with lights flanking or jumping around wrather than be shot in the back or kicked till they fall. That psychological push caused by cheap fast light mechs can be worth it

Okay, so, before I say anything else, I should say that I have only played a couple games of Classic BattleTech, and those have been in the 3070-80 era. With that out of the way, I disagree with the idea that the light mech in general and the 20-ton mech in particular are completely irrelevant, even at 3050s tech level. They do still have tools for survival. Yes, a Clan large pulse laser shot can strip the armor off the legs of most light mechs fairly easily with a substantial bonus to hit, but that doesn't completely invalidate the light mechs. For the sake of fairness, I will limit myself to tech available in the 3050s, and will not assume tactics such as initiative padding. However, I think that the mobility of light mechs (at least those with larger engines and/or MASC) is a bigger factor than you're giving it credit for. I'm not just talking about target movement modifier, either. That helps, but it has limits. Where a light mech can really survive is through positioning. Obviously, this is heavily dependent upon terrain, the opposing forces, and how those forces are deployed. There are two main ways this works. First, if cover is available, a light mech can more reliably get into that cover. That includes getting behind a level 1 hill and making it impossible for the opposing mechs to hit the legs, or just ducking out of line of sight for a turn. Second, positioning a light mech behind an opposing mech. Obviously, the opposing mech can still torso twist and bring all the weapons on one arm to bear against your light mech, but that comes at an opportunity cost. Let's assume a humble Stinger going up against a Timber Wolf TC (which has a large pulse laser and ER medium laser in each arm). The Stinger moves into the Timber Wolf's rear arc. This forces a choice on the part of the Timber Wolf pilot: torso twist to fire one arm's weapons at the Stinger, or ignore it in favor of firing all of their weapons at another target. Said other target is likely going to be easier to hit due to being at a lower TMM, and probably significantly more dangerous. In my experience from similar engagements, the Stinger will often be ignored, even in situations where both sides have similar numbers of mechs. Obviously, as you go further down the timeline, more survival tools become available to light mechs. The combination of MASC and a supercharger is particularly useful from my testing. Reflective armor is expensive, but mitigates the fear of large pulse lasers. My general point is: this, used correctly in the right circumstances, light mechs can be viable at pretty much any point in the timeline. There will always have weaknesses, and there will always be scenarios where those weaknesses are exacerbated, but that is true of any mech weight class or design. Anyway, this is all just my opinion, and each player should use the tactics that work best for them.

Post 3050, 20 ton mechs lose their combat viability against other mechs.

Pulse laser(is or clan doesn't matter)+targeting computer makes light mechs almost non viable, and the viable ones start at 30 tons with a predetermination that they'll have max armor. A standard clan pilot+pulse laser+TC= gunnery 0. At gunnery 0 you hit a 4tmm target in close range with 4s and up. You can quite reliably do it with a singular D6. Pulse lasers are op, but IS ones at least trade range for them. Imo clan pulse requires some concentrated effort as a community to enforce a homebrew nerf. If not in effectiveness then in BV.

Really LAMs for recon? Is that a case of lore what would be good vs combined arms table top option. Never played with a LAM but old guys talk about them in high reverence.

Wait. No left torso critical slots used so left torso critical hits get transfered to the center torso???? I always thought tough luck unless you got 3 critical hits or roll a 12 to blow off a limb. Is trailblazer right?

Any reason for ignoring Clan mechs?