The Hellstar is in the running for the most boring mech in the entire game. It's what you get the first time someone sees Tech Manual as a teen, picks the simplest big gun, and just starts trying to take as many as possible. It's a mech that's pretty commonly called out as a Problem, and while it isn't actually too strong or anything it does commit the cardinal sin of being boring to play and to play against.

Weighing in at 95 tons, all three variants are fully armored and move 4/6 with a clan XL engine. Endo steel internal structure and standard armor is the correct choice for an energy heavy mech - it wants as many crits as possible for heat sinks, so ferro fibrous armor is out.

Jade Falcon Hellstar. Credit: Jack Hunter

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).

Standard

The standard variant of the Hellstar is equipped with four clan ER PPCs and 60 heat sinks. That's it, that's the mech. It only builds movement heat. It wants to find some trees and stand in them all game while slinging out 15 damage hits. At 3,084 BV it's effective - this is a mech whittled down to exactly what it needs and nothing more. It's undeniably good, as being able to fire that many 15 damage shots a turn will take mechs apart, but it does still rely some on luck - you can get a faster mech with much more damage for less BV, those ones just won't have as much chance of just removing someone from the game.

Jack's Rating: A+

2

With stunning creativity we've traded five heat sinks for a targeting computer. This makes for a much worse mech. It's not firing all four guns every turn now, even standing still if it fires everything it'll be taking a hit penalty next turn, pretty much negating the targeting computer. It's also paying almost 500 BV more, having spiked up to 3,545 BV. As it does the exact same job as the standard but worse there's exactly no situation you should ever field this mech, though in the absence of the standard existing it's still not terrible.

Jack's Rating: B-

3

This one is actually almost creative. It retains the targeting computer, but swaps weapons out for four ER large lasers, a pair of medium pulses, an active probe, and ECM. It's back to only generating movement heat, so it is a real choice with the standard - it's a little more accurate, but only does 56 damage and doesn't remove heads. Looking ahead to the playtest mission pack the ECM and probe may come in handy, so I'd actually just barely say this is better than the standard - it's also down to 3,025 BV, a whopping 59 BV savings. Go upgrade piloting on a wasp with that. It's also just ever so slightly more interesting to play. Not a lot, but a tiny bit.

Jack's Rating: A+

Final Thoughts

And there we have it. Three of the most boring mechs in the game. I've really only reviewed this because Lynn wrote the Thunder Hawk review for today and Peri keeps talking about the Thunder Hawk - Hellstar scale of headchopper efficiency. Hopefully you read this before bed and it put you to sleep.

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Tags: Battletech | mechwarrior | battlemech | Mech