I'm quite intrigued by the upcoming light mech, the locust, but on paper it doesn't look like it stands up to the other light mechs. When I compared it to the Jenner, the Jenner had both a faster top speed and more armor. Compared to the Raven 3L, it is only slightly faster (by 1.2 KPH) and once again falls short on armor. However, because of the ballistic mounts, the Locust was able to sustain a higher DPS for a longer time than either the Raven or the Jenner. When I designed a Locust 1V and Spider 5K with almost identical loadouts, they had the same top speed, but the Spider had better cooling, jump jets, and a bit more armor. I'm not very familiar with the Commando, and I found it difficult to compare the two since one has a focus on missiles and the other has none. When the two are compared the locust has a similar top speed to the commando, but the Locust once again lacks armor. Am I comparing apples to oranges and have I missed where the Locust shines? To be honest, MWO is the first Mechwarrior game I've played, so I may be missing on some of the Locust's history and lack experience that would explain what it excels at.
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Locust The Locust is the most common mech. But the upgraded units run in bursts of 180kph. THAT is the real appeal of this mech.
We won't see the real strength of the Locust I don't think until MASC or TSM or something comes out allowing it to break the 152kph barrier. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Byz7eU8jF0
LRM Mosquito-Locust. I'd be fine with a LCT-6M capable of an XL280 and one ton free for weaponry/support. With some armor dropped, you could even fire a pair of mediums or MGs. But, 226.8kph? Yes, please. I don't see PGI implementing MASC, but, an extremely fast light with little to no weaponry could make an interesting build... Chatt.
That pic...I can't tell which is heavier, the LRM's, or the pilot inside. JK, but really, Untill PGI confirms MASC in the game, and we get to try it out, it's going to be a long wait.
At first, I thought it looks appealing. But 4 ballistic points and 1 energy hard point? I don't mind the Locust with energy or heck even missile hard points, but what can we do with ballistics and 1 energy hard point :whacko:
4 ballistic and 1 energy are already in the Spider 5-K, the Cicada 3C, and you could almost say the CTF-4X just look those up in the forum to see what people have done. I've killed Atlas's with Just MG's in both my 5-K and 3C. both times with and without ammo explosions.
Well okay, there is that since pilot skill compensates. But the problem is that the Locust is really under tonned and it cannot fit any strong armaments nor have any good distinctive advantages compared to other mechs. The Spider SDR-5K has JJs and also an extra 5 tones. I'm not saying the mech isn't playable, it's just that it presents no actual advantage compared to other light mechs. Then again, I probably missed something. This is the build that I envision would probably be optimal: LCT-1V Unless you guys can make it better somehow
Probably better in a spider, but this would work. or, use the MPL for better damage. If you can't do short range, do long.
It does have a certain nostalgic appeal to us old TT players, but with the current state of the game I can see it being difficult to find its niche(s). The 4 ballistic variant with MGs would make a decent crit exploiter once heavier mechs crack open an armor section. In team play, the SRM version loaded with the maligned NARC launcher and BAP would make a light spotter for LRM fire.. and with the clans and their half weight LRM launchers coming there are going to be LRM boats throwing insane shoals of missiles. And as the lightest of mechs, it will allow others to bring heavier chassis once tonnage restrictions on drops kick in. Alot is going to depend on how hard a target it is to hit, though, compared to the already extant spider.
The Locust could actually be pretty useful in some ways, but not in the current game. It could provide a low-tonnage alternative for a Spider or even a Cicada if proper weight limits for drops were ever implemented, allowing for more/bigger mechs in the same drop. It could be a very useful scout and harasser if MASC or TSM were implemented, since it would be uniquely capable of mounting those systems without sacrificing much in the way of weaponry (which it doesn't have much of anyway). There are also variants with more sensible weapon configurations. In fact, if the game wasn't set in 3050 and moving forward from there in real-time (which means that even in a best-case scenario we'd have to wait about a decade for any real improvements to occur, by which point MWO probably won't even be around anymore), we could have a lot of significantly better weapons for the chassis (since the main problem is the lack of any good ballistic weapons to mount in the arms). And of course the Locust's usefulness would be significantly improved against non-Mech units like fast vehicles or Elementals, which larger, slower, bulkier Mechs might struggle with.
Russ said tonight on twitter that it goes 169kph and at least 1 variant has 2 AMS's so for whatever that's worth, maybe its new info for some of you
