I like the Hunchback. Being able to pack an AC20 into a medium mech is ludicrously funny. The only problem there is that everyone knows where to hit you to rob you of the majority of your fire-power. With this build, I tried to keep the fire-power the same as a stock 4H, but spread the weapons across the chassis. The main punch comes from the dual LLas, with the AC5 providing a low heat back-up out to middle range and the two MLas rounding out the arsenal. As the Hunchbacks main role is as an urban fighter, I kept the stock Standard engine for survivability. For those wanting a little more speed, drop a LLas plus a half ton of armour and add a further two MLas and upgrade the engine to a Standard 225, giving a top speed of 72.9KPH without speed boost. This alternative actually gives you a higher maximum damage and marginally better heat efficiency, at the cost of medium range fire-power. I call most of my generic builds 'Trooper' because they don't specialise in any particular battlefield role, e.g. Sniper, Scout, Support, Brawler etc.
I think this looks like an excellent 'mech. I will give it a go after the weekend and let you know what I think. The deception will work well as long as the enemy don't look at their sensors to see what you are packing. Myth.
That's the problem with the Hunchback. If you set it up with a 'classic' load out, everyone aims for the hunch and BANG, most of your fire-power disappears. While my build doesn't have the rude short range fire-power of a classic Hunchback set up, it fairs better at longer ranges, plus relies less on ammo dependent ballistics. An alternate build would be to drop a LLas for two MLas and extra DHS, for a 5% increase in heat efficiency and improved short range fire-power. Another is to swap a LLas and the AC5 for an AC10 and extra DHS/extra DHS plus ammo. Extra DHS increases the heat efficiency to 44%, where opting for extra ammo and DHS gives you 41% heat efficiency. I've played Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries a lot, where the ballistics were a little weak and the heat scales were much kinder towards standard energy weapons, which is why I probably prefer the dual LLas/AC5 set up. Having seen all the gameplay vids online however, perhaps allowing the ballistic to play a bigger role in a builds' fire-power is the better option.
Single AC5 sucks imo. You're better off mounting a single UAC5 since you can potentially double your burst, and a single AC5 as opposed to two is not going to be the damage source you're relying on.
