BattleTech Mech Overview: Locust IIC

Hey there, MechWarriors! Today we're looking at a precious little buzzsaw, the Locust IIC!

Dawn Guard Locust IIC. Credit: Jack Hunter

The Locust IIC is the first Clan mech I've had the opportunity to do an Overview for, and fortunately Liberty's Clan Advisor didn't need to lash me with a bondcord to get me to tackle this one: I'm genuinely fond of this little guy. The Locust IIC gains a little weight over the original Locust, moving up to 25 tons, and has a very strong identity as a petite striker. You will not find any EWAR gear or other concessions to a scouting role here; the Locust IIC is solely here to run in and shank you. Let's see how well it manages that!

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 Locust IIC is a BattleMech and does change things up sometimes, but the Standard model sets the tone for a lot of what's to come. Locust IICs typically move 8/12, usually with a Standard Fusion Engine, never mount jump jets, and most commonly carry the armor load the Standard does: 85% coverage with Ferro-Fibrous over an Endo-Steel structure, distributed with ten pips on the CT and legs, 8 on the arms, side torsos, and head, and 2 pips all across the back. While not a heavy load by any stretch, that's enough armor distributed intelligently enough that a Locust IIC can survive a little longer than people expect from itty little Clan mechs, particularly with the SFE (and typically one heat sink in each side torso to soak a couple of crits). A Fire Moth or Mist Lynx this is not.

What the Standard loads that frame with are four ER Small Lasers in each arm and an MPL in the CT, and with the base 10 DHS it only builds movement heat firing everything. Frankly, this is a fantastic weapons load. It can skirmish a bit with the MPL if required, and when it's time to slam in on a vulnerable target it puts out a cool 47-damage alpha, and has full accuracy from two hexes if it needs to stay out of melee with a scary target. 1,100 BV is a good bit to pay for a mech that's got 76 total armor pips, but the Locust IIC Standard is equipped to pull its weight.

Lynn's Rating: A

Clan Ghost Bear Locust IIC. Credit: Jack Hunter

2

Presumably developed by the first person who mistook the barrel-less small lasers in the Locust IIC Standard's art for missile tubes, the 2 takes the same base frame but swaps all the weapons out for two Streak SRM 2s in each arm and an ERML as the dorsal gun. This is, frankly, a huge downgrade. While the 2 does gain a boost to effective range, the SRM tubes deliver a little less than half the damage of the ERSLs they replace, the only ranges where the ERML delivers better accuracy than the MPL are at 5, 9-10, and 13-15 hexes, and though an ammo explosion is no mortal threat with the single ton of SSRM ammo in the naturally-CASE'd right arm, losing that arm silences the left arm weapons, too. You do save on BV here, dropping to 937, but in my opinion you give up significantly more than you gain.

Lynn's Rating: C-

3

The first Locust IIC to try on the Fast Sniper hat, the 3 mounts a single SPL in each arm and an ERLL in the CT. While this is another big drop in overall firepower, the range gain is a lot more substantial here, and the 3 is just cheap enough at 980 BV that it can plausibly play the Little Bastard game. I don't love it, but I don't hate it, either.

Lynn's Rating: C

4

A Sudeten original, this Jade Falcon Locust IIC is... the Almost Bad Heavy Laser One. It gains another two DHS (added to the side torsos for more crit padding than it likely needs), an ERML for the CT gun, and three Heavy Small Lasers in each arm. Nothing is present to offset the Heavy Laser accuracy penalty. This gives up range and accuracy and doesn't even gain damage in the process: while the HSLs hit in 6-damage clusters to the ERSLs' 5s, the fact that there's fewer total lasers here means the alpha strike damage drops by 4. Why did I call it almost bad rather than bad, though? The Locust IIC 4 only costs 795 BV base, 954 BV with a 3/5 pilot to offset the accuracy penalty, and this thing's still vomiting over 40 damage when it can get to point blank range, making it a plausible budget alternative to the Standard. That BV gap will likely only widen with the planned BV changes emphasizing weapon accuracy more, given the Standard's MPL versus the 4's six HSLs. This is... actually sneakily a Decent Heavy Laser One?

Lynn's Rating: B

Jade Falcon Epsilon Galaxy Locust IIC 4. Credit: Jack Hunter

5

The Locust IIC 5 is back to trying to make missiles happen on this frame, pairing its CT ERML with an ATM 3 and a single ton of ammo in each arm. Y'all know the Goonhammer Offices love ATMs, but we're not really at the mass of missiles where HE is hugely impactful here. If both hit with HE and roll full clusters (an 8+ chance even with the built-in Art IV), you still need the ERML to hit to even do PSR-inflicting damage. I do like that you have a little ammo flexibility here, and I'd say one ton of Standard and one ton of HE is the right play, but at this level of weapons tonnage lasers are just way more efficient. At 878 BV, though, this is still a usable variant, if hardly optimal.

Lynn's Rating: C

6

What's that? By god, they changed something on the base frame! It's not a huge shift, but the 6 gains a little bit more armor, thickening to 11 pips on the legs, 13 on the CT, 9 on the side torsos, and 3 across the back, with the head and arms still at 8. Who was it who remembered the Locust IIC wasn't an OmniMech? Why, none other than INFANTRY GUY, of course! The Locust IIC 6 keeps an ERML in the CT, but pairs it with three Heavy Machine Guns in a Machine Gun Array in each arm, with a full ton of HMG ammo in the right torso, just so it removes more of the mech than is necessary if it blows up. As with most mechs with machine gun arrays, I don't think the array gains you much here (they're both one HMG shy of gaining Funny Headchopper Potential like the Mist Lynx G has), and this mech's range is obviously terrible, but at 776 BV this really isn't bad. As with most lower-damage Locust IICs the 6 suffers from comparison with its punchier sibkin, but this is a point where the BV difference is truly substantial, and the 6 still has a decent bite... and will wipe the PERFIDIOUS CONVENTIONAL INFANTRYMAN, ETERNAL ENEMY OF THE CLANS off the face of whatever planet it might be on, of course.

Lynn's Rating: C+

7

The Locust IIC 7 looked at the 6 and said "Okay, but what if I could kill infantrymen and/or civilian protestors from further away, and with better accuracy?" It drops back down to the usual armor load and pairs the traditional CT ERML with three AP Gauss Rifles in each arm and a Targeting Computer in the head. It also makes some choices when it comes to crit space, moving the traditional side torso DHS to the legs, leaving the right torso completely empty and the left torso only holding the single ton of AP Gauss ammo. On offense this is objectively better than the 6 (particularly because targeting computers do in fact boost AP Gauss accuracy, even though they don't boost MGs), but it gives up a lot of defense to get there. Don't you just love it when an AP Gauss explosion cascade can be triggered by a single Inner Sphere LPL hit to either arm? The 980 BV price tag starts to feel steep for what you're getting here; I genuinely think I'd like this variant better if the Targeting Computer was more armor instead.

Lynn's Rating: C-

Locust IIC, Wolf's Dragoons, Alpha Regiment

8

Chasing the Fast Sniper dragon again, this Ghost Bear variant pairs the normal armor and a single CT ERLL with an uprated XL engine so that it can move a much faster 12/18. This has the lowest damage potential of any Locust IIC, but its blistering speed shoots its BV up to 1,119. There is ambition here, but not wisdom. This is not the true path to speed for the Locust IIC. The true path lies ahead.

Lynn's Rating: D+

Hastati Sentinels Locust IIC. Credit: Jack Hunter

9

Other Locust IICs play at speed with their pitiful 200-rating engines. The Locust IIC 8 aspires to speed. The Locust IIC 9? The 9 is speed, is FURY, IS THE LIGHTNING WITHIN THE STORM. WHEN THE DAWN BREAKS, 9 OUTRUNS THE LIGHT OF THE SUN. LOVE HER. FEAR HER.

*cough* Sorry about that, folks, dunno what came over me there for a sec! Seriously, though, the Locust IIC 9 is an absurd machine and absolutely my favorite Locust IIC. It jumps up to a 350 XXL engine, propelling it at a ridiculous 14/21 movement speed. That's not quite the fastest speed a mech can reach without temporary speed boosts, but it's damn close. It also packs enough Heavy Ferro-Fibrous armor to max out its potential coverage, the only Locust IIC to do so. That must mean it doesn't have any space left for guns, right? Nah. The Locust IIC 9 cares not for limitations of space. It brings just about the biggest bang it could get for its buck, with an Improved Heavy Medium Laser in each arm and, uh, okay, a Laser AMS in the head because no Locust IIC is allowed to ship without a dorsal laser apparently. Heat-wise, its 22 sinking capacity means that it's actually heat negative firing both iHMLs at a run, even with the XXL tax: unless it's taken a crit it only actually gains heat if the LAMS goes off.

My advice? Just turn the LAMS off and enjoy being able to get a PSR's worth of damage practically anywhere you want it with a substantial TMM and non-negligible armor. Yes, you do pay for this. The 9 runs 1,133 BV, higher than the cost of the Standard, which does more than double the 9's damage... but the 9 moves nearly twice as fast as the Standard in exchange. It's too expensive to turn it into a chargebot, but I've always felt I've gotten my BV's worth out of it. Love this silly friggin thing.

Lynn's Rating: A-

10

The Locust IIC 10 is one of the WYSIWYG RecGuide variants, and its plan for the Locust IIC is very simple. Take the Standard. Downsize the MPL to an ERML, as most Locust IIC variants do. Use that extra ton of space to go from 76 pips of Ferro-Fibrous Armor to 80 pips of Reflective Armor (two extra for the front CT, one extra for the front side torsos). Done. That's it.

This isn't a bad side-grade. The 10 is looking at the same alpha strike, only slightly less heat-efficient (building 1+movement) and with a slightly less accurate "big" gun, and in exchange it slightly-more-than doubles its protection against the most common light-hunting weapons without compromising its defense any further against Precision ACs and the like. The 10 does need to be more careful about not letting itself get kicked, but once again, its party-zone range is two hexes. 8/12 isn't the kind of movement where Reflective Armor feels godlike... you can definitely tag an 8/12 mech with regular cannons and missiles if it's not careful... but it's nearly guaranteed to help, and the doubled fall damage isn't too terrible at a 25-ton weight.

The downside for the Locust IIC 10 is that its price rises to 1,248 BV, but that's still cheaper than, say, a Spector 6F or a Gunsmith, and 47 damage is still a ridiculous heat-okay alpha from a 25 ton mech. Now if only the Wolves would share it with others...

Lynn's Rating: A

Locust IIC. Credit: Rockfish

Locust IIC. Credit: Rockfis

Final Thoughts

"What if it went decently fast with a bunch of efficient little guns?" is pretty much a winning formula for a Clan striker mech, and whenever the Locust IIC sticks to that gameplan it offers serious value. You do need to be a bit careful with your movement lines to avoid getting it popped on the way in... 8/12/0 light mechs hate sinkholes and Rough and Rubble and any other kind of terrain that slows them down without offering cover... but if it can jump into a fight after something tougher has already engaged the target, it can offer ridiculously efficient damage. Get yourself a Locust IIC. Cherish your Locust IIC. Just... maybe leave the missiles to larger mechs, quiaff?

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Tags: Battletech | Mech Overview | Light Mech | locust iic