https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15fQCjkxjECs3Jvhv-YA1ZP147SuEP2olkPzLJCLAFmQ/edit?usp=sharing


Up to date as of 5/31/2021. Feel free to add comments if you see something that I got wrong.

There's an "Ordnance score" I arbitrarily assigned based on personal opinion of what each weapon hardpoint type and size was 'worth', giving a general idea of offensive capability for each 'mech, but this also doesn't factor in heat management, or something more abstracted like whether weapons are on the arms (better firing arc, but more likely to be shot off), etc. The primary reason it exists is mainly to point out really, REALLY niche/poorly-armed 'mechs like the SHD-2K.

I'd largely ignore the "ordnance score" thing I go over above, especially if you're a new player (even though it was kinda sorta targeted at them specifically). There are far too many abstract things that go into how potent a 'mech is, beyond the number and type of hardpoints (and even those are subject to what meta you're building for and your playstyle, your opinion on certain weapons, etc.) I'll leave it there as a legacy, but it's mainly for the flavor of knowing which 'mech in a chassis family is REALLY undergunned compared to its brethren variants.

I realize there are a decent number of things that might not be immediately obvious, as this was drafted with other MW fans first and foremost in mind (created, as it was, back during the EGS release window, and the only ones of us who cared enough to buy MW5 were almost exclusively people with some degree of experience in Battletech/Mechwarrior). So here's some things to keep in mind as you peruse this sheet, going left to right in columns:

1. Obviously, DLC is self-explanatory. If it's got HotIS, it's a 'mech that only appears in Heroes of the Inner Sphere. For the majority of 'mechs added by the DLC, this means they can hold some sort of DLC-only gear (motive equipment, ECM, or Active Probes), though some 'fleshing out' of variants without this tech occurred as well. Optimistically called this column "DLC" with a color code for HotIS... hoping one day, I can add a new acronym with a different color code :')
   
   
2. Knowing 'mech chassis name, chassis code, and variants is very useful, especially in more stressful/hurried situations. Seeing a 'mech's variant, and knowing it off the top of your head, can save you the trouble of needing to take your eyes off a target to look at its infobox to see exactly what it has mounted -- an Awesome 8Q has three PPCs. A Charger 1A1 is a non-threat. A Hunchback 4H is much less threatening than a 4G or 4P. Things like this become second-nature, the more time you spend in the game, and especially given that 'mechs will only ever mount vanilla loadouts.
   
   
3. Maximum armor value is a product of tonnage, meaning that all 'mechs of a certain specific 5T weight limit (40T, 45T, 50T, etc.) will be able to be maxed out to the same armor value, with a few exceptions for 'mechs with oversized engines for their weight (Cicada 2As and 2Bs and the Charger 1A1 stand out as prime examples of this). There is no such thing as a 'more heavily armored' 50 tonner, in terms of sheer capacity should you choose to fit it so, but engine differences means that this can vary -- most Hunchbacks, a 50T 'mech, only move at 65KPH, but this means they have more free tonnage to mount armor and weapons than, say, a Crab that typically moves at 81KPH -- 22.5 free tons vs 15 free.
   
   
4. All 'mechs have a non-zero value taken by their internal structure, as well as things like the gyro and cockpit. This is figured into the math, along with engine size and type, to determine how much tonnage is used even when the 'mech is completely stripped down.
   
   
5. Hero 'mechs, FOR THE MOST PART, have something that gives them an edge over other 'mechs of their chassis -- they may come equipped with full Lostech (advanced gear) loadouts, or perhaps they have lighter internal structure or extra light engines (we'll get to that). Maybe they have a hardpoint allocation radically different from the typical chassis archetype. That said, Heroes are not always an insta-buy when you see them in stores. I did make sure to mark if a Hero has DHSs at all, as some people think that if nothing else buying Heroes is a good way to get guaranteed DHSs in the times before those are readily available; however, many heroes don't have them.
   
   
6. ENG HS refers to Engine Heatsinks. These are 'slots' associated with your 'mech's engine, which do not take any additional volume anywhere else on your 'mech, can't be blown off/out like heatsinks in other components, and DHSs can fit in a single one rather than their normal 3 when allocated anywhere else.
   
   
7. DHS Count, as alluded to before, refers to how many, if any, Double Heatsinks a 'mech is normally outfitted with in normal configuration. While a good rule of thumb is that Heroes tend to use these, this is far from a universal truth (as explained before); as well, there are some "Star League/Lostech Era" models that had these, even if they aren't themselves heroes (CRB-27B,/-27SL, GHR-5P, etc.)
   
   
8. Ord Score is described in the first section. Not gonna go over it again, but suffice to say, largely ignore this column.
   
   
9. Weapons are sorted in order of Energy-Ballistic-Missile, and furthermore broken down by Large-Medium-Small in each category. Abbreviated each as much as possible to reduce sprawl of the document.
   
   
10. AMS is a column that simply indicates whether a 'mech can mount AMS. There are VERY few 'mechs that can do so, spread all over the weight classes.

Endo, FF Armor, and XLE are all very important, and if you take away nothing else from the guide, just go over here and check whether any of these are in the 'mech you're eyeballing. Further described in the next section.

These are significant enough to warrant their own section. That, and I kinda ran outta space when I tried to shove them in the last one. Whoops.

1. Endo-Steel Structure is an upgrade to a 'mech's internal structure (as described before, itself having inherent weight), halving the amount of weight taken thus. This comes at the cost of using up "critical slots" ("crits"), which are those boxes you see on the Detailed menu of the Mechlab. Now, these can be distributed anywhere on the chassis crits, with no penalty or advantage to where they are, and similarly to most other MW games it just does so 'intelligently' around the stuff you fit. I BELIEVE it's the case (can't be 100% sure) that there is no loadout for any 'mech that would be sufficiently bulky to take up all these crits (weapons still take crits, if invisibly, as I recall), and thus run into a conflict; however, if I'm incorrect, this means that in very specific situations, a 'mech with this (and probably also FF and XLE) might run into an invalid configuration error. TL;DR reduces tonnage consumed by structure, therefore giving you more tonnage to use to mount stuff.
   
   
2. Ferro-Fibrous Armor only applies to the weight of armor, so a 'mech with FF and one without will both weight exactly the same when stripped of all armor, all else being equal. It offers a 12% reduction on the weight of armor, which translates into less tonnage being consumed per tick/point of armor you add. Similarly to ES, it has a volume penalty distributed among any free crits, but also similarly to ES, I'm not convinced a configuration exists within the hardpoint system that would violate it. TL;DR reduces tonnage consumed by armor points, meaning that you can shove in more armor using less weight that you can instead use for other stuff.
   
   
3. eXtra Light Engines (XLE) is a specific type of engine that has identical performance to one of the same 'rating' (XL300 vs standard 300 will provide the same max speed on a 'mech as a product of their tonnage) while weighing half as much as the same. Just like ES and FF, this is basically a free upgrade. Now, XLEs SPECIFICALLY, I can offer a word of fitting advice: They DO consume specific crits in the side torsos, which gives you less room to mount, say, DHSs (since Inner Sphere DHSs consume 3 crits each, this makes STs the go-to place to shove them in lieu of risking them on the arms), especially if you have bulky ST weapons. You can see this in the Mechlab, even though it doesn't "draw" the XLE crits -- look at the Detailed view of a 'mech with a standard engine, then do the same for one with an XLE. You'll notice the side torsos both have fewer crits free for fitting. Unlike other BT/MW properties, though, in MW5 [Inner Sphere] XLEs do not lead to a kill when a ST is taken out. Tested this myself. Since the single greatest detriment/drawback to XLEs was taken out, it's thus a pretty no-brainer upgrade, provided you aren't running an energy boat with ST-mounted weapons that needs lots of DHSs to stay cool. TL;DR XLEs are half the weight as the standard engines they 'replace', but actually come with a tangible penalty to mounting space (vs tonnage). May be slightly more situational than either of ES or FF.

Struck through the bits about volume/crits. Just tested, this game does NOT observe any sort of rules about crits.



In the associated picture, this Champion (a -1NB, with both ES and FF) is super-illegal (besides the tonnage, of course), as the equipment mounted in the STs consume 13 and 15 crits, respectively, even though even without an XLE (which a Champion 1NB doesn't have) a torso component only has 12 crits available. Also, the sum total of crits consumed by the components pictured is 30 by the DHSs, 12 by the SHSs, 10 by the AC/20, and 3 by the PPC, adding up to 55 crits consumed. 'Mechs have 78 slots total. Subtracting the 55 used, that leaves 23 -- which would, BY ITSELF, be illegal, nevermind that the engine and cockpit systems also consume crits.

So don't worry about all that stuff about crits/volume, tonnage is all that matters. Oh, and the XLE engine thing, losing those crits still hurts as described for DHS-stuffing.

So essentially, these last three columns should be about the most significant factor in deciding whether to buy a 'mech (I might end up moving them, to be honest, to the front of the spreadsheet). Tonnage is one of the premiums in this game, and having more of it is almost ALWAYS a good thing.

One thing of note, fitting with their TT implementation, these components are MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE TO FIX. If you so much as scrape the paint of a 'mech with Ferro, you'll feel it in your pocketbook; and if you start taking structural damage with Endo or an XLE, the check's gonna be a doozy when it comes.

It's, for the most part, a no-brainer to get these, BUT I say that with the assumption that you've made a decent chunk of money by the point you're hunting Lostech. Just be aware that while they let you field more powerful 'mechs, in a general sense, it WILL be multiplicatively more expensive than standard tech. Risk vs reward and all that.