What is the best light mech a mercenary can use in the 3025 Succession Wars Battletech universe?

FAQ
1. Hey, the Phoenix Hawk isn't a light!
Correct! A lot of people have asked why the Phoenix Hawk defines the light mech meta when it's a 45 ton medium. Because of it's popularity, speed, large laser, and good armor the Phoenix Hawk forces light mechs have to have an answer to it (out fight, out run, or defend until help arrives). So while it's not a light mech itself, it is the yardstick which I use to judge the effectiveness of the scouts and multirole scoutstriker mechs which are seen in this video. :)

2. Why isn't mech XYZ in the video?
Battlemechs included in the video are the ones that were listed in Sarna's RATs tables. Any that were not included were assumed to be too rare to be "realistically" (as far as that word can be used in a fantasy scifi settings) available for a mercenary unit to purchase.

3. The Spider and Ostscout are underrated!
There are a significant number of comments about this from Mercenary Commanders for me to be concerned that I may have underrated it. I'm aware of the situation and will keep an eye on it on my future games. While the mechs are undoubtedly superior in difficult terrain I will likely be still be relying on the "good enough" Locusts for my mercneary playthrough as I tend to prefer efficient general use mechs rather than specific use.

CHAPTERS:
0:00 Introduction
0:43 Design Criteria: Offense, Defense, Mobility
1:29 Design Criteria: Utility, Cost
2:41 Design Criteria: Availability
3:02 Engineering Selection Table
3:15 Ostscout
3:41 Spider
4:04 Flea
4:47 Javelin
5:25 Commando
5:50 Jenner
6:31 General Selection Criteria
6:50 Stinger and Wasp
7:55 Valkyrie
8:16 Raven
8:45 Firestarter
9:32 Urbanmech
10:07 Panther
10:52 Falcon
11:07 Hermes
11:24 Hornet
11:45 Mongoose
12:20 Tier List without Availability
12:36 Table of Weighted Scores
13:05 Recommended Mercenary Mechs
13:20 Proposed Customization
13:43 Improvements to Lance Compositions
13:57 Improvements from Customization

#battletech #battlemech #innersphere

The style of this video is similar to Big Red 40k and Auspex Tactics. Content creators like The Black Pants Legion and Baradul have had a large influence on this video. The introduction is in the style of jschlattLIVE's Tier List videos.