Howdy everyone and welcome back to Mech Overview! This week we are looking at the Huntsman, also called the Nobori-Nin by literally nobody. The Huntsman is a fairly early Omni-Mech, though it wasn’t part of the very first wave that were released, coming a bit later in Invading Clans. I have a bit less experience with the Huntsman compared to the other various Clan mechs, and it is certainly a premium Clan medium, with all variants clocking in at over 2000 BV. Considering its 50 ton weight, it would really need to do a lot to justify those kinds of prices. So, lets get into it!

Look at that tiny freehanded Nova Cat roundel and Daggerstar. Christ. Shouting out this incredible paint job, it owns so hard.

Chassis

The Huntsman is an Omni-Mech, so there are a number of traits that all variants share. It is a 50 ton mech, moving 5/8/5 with those jump jets hard mounted, a bit of a shame but its only 2.5 tons and a lot of variants are going to want them anyway. It carries the maximum possible armor load for its tonnage, and assigns it reasonably. It isn’t durable per-se, with a Clan XL engine and side torsos that are not AC-20 proof, but it is as good as it can get at this weight.

Pod Space is quite high, with 23 and a half tons of free space to cram full of guns. This is why the mech costs so much, with weight efficient Clan weaponry you can really cram a ton of BV into not a ton of space, and this can carry an entire Wasp’s weight in guns, with a bit left over.

I am not going to lie before we get into variants, this is a bit of a dodgy base chassis with BV considered. It is really hard to cram enough gun to matter into this mech without it costing more than 2000 BV, and every variant does, in fact, cost more than that. 50 ton mechs are durable but with only +3 possible TMM and medium mech grade armor, it doesn’t hold up against incoming fire particularly well at that price point. There are incredibly high quality assault mechs that come in for less than this.

Variants

These mechs have all been reviewed based on a standard F through S scale, which you can find described on our landing page here (along with all of our other ‘mech reviews, the name of the box you can buy to get any of the mechs we have covered, and our general methodology).

Prime

Coming in at 2108 BV, the Prime sure does not feel like it should. It carries four ER medium lasers, an LRM-10 with Artemis IV, an Ultra AC/2 that might as well not be there, a Streak SRM-6, a Flamer, a TAG, an AMS, and an active probe if that matters. This is a wildly scattered weapon load and, with only the base 10 double heat sinks, it struggles to fire it. Clan ER medium lasers are great weapons and they are appropriately expensive, but you can do better than 4 7 damage hits at this BV. The remaining guns are a bit of a scattering of random crap, with the UAC/2 and Flamer being functionally worthless. The missiles are vaguely nice to have but it would have been better off if it stuck to one type or the other, SRMs or LRMs, not both.

As is this is a confused and overly expensive mess of a configuration, and it just isn’t good for the price.

Peri’s Rating: D+

A

Coming in cheaper at 2034 BV, the A is a substantially better mech. It carries a dead simple weapon load, with two LPLs, a LRM-10, and a LB 2-X autocannon. The LB2 is much better than the UAC/2 and the LRMs are whatever, but what you really care about here is the paired LPLs. Clan LPLs remain really good, and this is a decently mobile caddy for a pair of them. You can do better cheaper, but this has a good cavalry movement speed that most of the other LPL options around this BV do not have. Perfectly usable, but still very spendy.

Peri’s Rating: C+

B

For 2156 BV the B makes me really unsure. On the one hand, it has a bunch of good weapons. On the other hand, I can’t help but feel that I can do better for less BV. It carries an ER PPC, two medium pulse lasers, two machine guns, and a LB 10-X autocannon. The heat sinks work out where it can fire the autocannon and PPC, or the autocannon and MPLs, and be heat negative in either case. It isn’t making incredible use of heat math or anything, but it at least isn’t going to cook itself. A full alpha strike at a run puts you at +7 heat, which is exactly the point before you start taking accuracy penalties, which is interesting I guess? I question the use of this when something like a Mad Cat B can do better damage out to better ranges with better armor and only marginally more BV, in that mechs case only 70 more. The price is just completely insane to be paying for this sort of damage, even on a more mobile chassis. It isn’t worthless but I would rather use any of a huge number of other options.

Peri’s Rating: C-

C

For 2199 we get another random scattering of guns. This time we have an ER medium laser, a LRM-20, an Ultra AC/5, a LRM-15, an ER small laser, a streak SRM-4, and a flamer. This is an oddball mix of guns that is vaguely ok just on the raw strength of Clan LRMs, but as I have said a couple times now, if you want to brawl with Clan LRMs you can do better cheaper. It is heat neutral firing the LRMs, autocannon, and ERML, which is nice. I think that there is a world where this is a very good mech on a very big map with lots of room, but there are just better, lower cost options. I mean, fuck, the B variant Thor has better armor, the same movement, and more LRM tubes for a lower price. It is missing the UAC and its backup guns are worse, but this just is not a great deal.

Peri’s Rating: C-

D

For 2007 BV this is actually pretty close to what I would make if I was trying to save BV on this mech. It carries an Ultra AC/10, 2 medium pulse lasers, a small pulse laser, and an ATM 6. ATMs remain a favorite here, even if the 6 is a bit small. It has no heat problems, being heat neutral at a run firing everything but the SPL. This is a pretty solid cavalry mech that does acceptable damage at more or less all ranges, but it won’t wow or amaze you for that price. I can’t stress enough that some of the game’s best heavies and assaults cost less than this.

Peri’s Rating: C-

E

At 2104 we have a big mix of pulse lasers and other crap. It carries an LPL, 2 MPLs, an ATM 6, an ER small laser, a light tag, a light active probe if that matters, and an anti-missile system. This is mediocre for the price, I would rather have the weapon load from the A in almost 100% of cases. It just isn’t doing much and it is asking you for so many points in exchange.

Peri’s Rating: C-

F

F is for Funny in this case. At 2367 BV it is still just so fucking expensive, and it carries a large improved heavy laser, 2 ER medium lasers, a targeting computer, and a LRM-15 with Artemis V. Every shot out of this mech is at a -1 bonus and that is hilarious, but it just costs so insanely much. I like the thoery here, and it only builds movement heat firing off the lasers, but 30-ish damage a turn with one headchopping hit is something you can often get for sub-2000 BV, even on a faster mech like this. The Huron Warrior R4O comes in just shy of that damage for 1600 and is still 5/8/0. It doesn’t have the T-comp, but fucking hell 2400 is just too much to pay for this kind of output.

Peri’s Rating: D+

G

I really hope the Huntsman isn’t someone out there’s favorite mech. This is just an embarrassing showing for an omni-mech. At 2377 BV the G is completely bizzare. It actually shares a few things with the F, carrying a bunch of T-Comped lasers. In this case, that is 3 ER medium pulse lasers and a small pulse laser. The ER MPL is a mediocre weapon but with the T-comp putting it at -2 to hit it is pretty well used here. It also carries 2 streak SRM-6s, an active probe, and a couple of very odd pieces of kit. For one we have a supercharger, pushing the mech to 5/8(10)/5 and therefore kicking it over a BV breakpoint. It also has a retractable blade, a funky piece of gear that lets it sometimes make TAC punches and other times get a to-hit bonus with melee. It is still better to kick 9 times out of 10 but whatever.

This is a very odd mech and it isn’t unusable, the price is just way too high for what you are getting. 5/8(10)/5 is one of the worst movement profiles in the entire game from a BV perspective and nothing here justifies that 2400 BV price tag.

Peri’s Rating: D

H

Oh my god this thing is 2495 BV. Heavy Laser time!

The H carries 4 medium heavy lasers, 2 ER large lasers, a small heavy laser, an ECM suite, and an active probe. It uses a targeting computer to offset the accuracy bonus intrinsic to heavy lasers. It manages heat ok and everything but fucking christ its 2500 BV. This mech goes to much more effort to be worth that price though, with a big, heat neutral slap for 46 damage at point blank, 40 from just a bit further back. This is pretty good on a cavalry mech, and it has some ER lasers to make itself useful when it can’t get in range to slap people around with heavy lasers.

It costs a lot and it isn’t insane or anything, but it isn’t nearly as bad as the last few. I could see myself using this, it can skirmish well with the to-hit buffed ERLLs and then dive in to backstab and bully with its heavy lasers.

Peri’s Rating: C+

I

2277 BV remains a lot to spend on a 5/8/5 50 tonner. It carries an ERLL, a HAG/20, an ER SPL, and a plasma cannon. Cool, whatever, its some guns. HAGs are fun and cool but the I can’t fire its full long-range weapon load without heating up. I do like Plasma Cannons and HAGs as a combo, they combine pretty potently, but this is just not a particularly great example. Meh.

Peri’s Rating: D

N

At 2556 BV the N is the most expensive Huntsman out there, and it is easy to figure out why. It carries an ER PPC, ERLL, medium heavy laser, and an ATM-6. It buffs its energy weapons with a targeting computer, and that is where the extreme price comes from. It is frustratingly close to heat neutral firing the big energy guns, but it doesn’t quite get there building 3 while running. If you throw in the ATM it does jump to 7, which is the point just before heat accuracy penalties, but taking the heat penalty to movement is pretty dire on a mech this expensive and this comparatively fragile. This is a deeply terrible deal but it isn’t the worst mech design in isolation. It just gets completely murdered by BV.

Peri’s Rating: D

T

Oh god this record sheet has so much shit on it.

Ok so, at 2105 BV the T carries one or two of fucking everything. It has four medium improved heavy lasers, 2 streak LRM-5s, an ER small laser, a micro pulse laser, an UAC/2, a streak SRM-6, a flamer, and a laser AMS. It also uses a targeting computer to help it hit things. This is cool and all, but it is horrifically undersinked with a running alpha generating 44 heat while it can only sink 20, putting it at +24 and dunking it into the core of the earth. I am not wasting more breath on this mech, it is bad and it should feel bad. If you cut the heavy lasers off it is heat neutral, but then you are doing 30-something damage and, as established, you can get 30 damage a hell of a lot cheaper. If you do blast someone with everything it does OK damage, but you will almost certainly die in response. Even just firing the medium heavies puts you up 10 heat at a run. Dogshit config for a mediocre omni-mech.

Peri’s Rating: D-

Conclusion

I hate to say it but the Huntsman sucks shit. It has been a while since we have had a Clan mech that just sucks due to price alone, with a lot of the ones recently making good arguments for themselves, either in raw power, flexibility, or strong use cases in game. The Huntsman does not have any of that. At every level this is a terrible mech, with weak armor compared to the various 5/8/whatever Clan heavy mechs that infest this game, and normally weaker firepower for nearly the same price. You can get better for everything this mech does. It is trying to be a multi-role, do everything omni-mech, but all of the variants end up incredibly unfocused and poorly constructed as a result. There is a reason everyone forgets about this poor thing, and after concluding this I am probably going to go right back to forgetting it exists.

Cheers.

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