The Champion is still, in my opinion, the single worst mech in all of #Battletech and I will never drop this vendetta.
I may be petty, BUT I don't have stupid locked wing-arms that are flimsy targets where I put all my weapons, so who REALLY wins?!
@Abrakastabra Champions suck donkey butt, but the Sentinel is pretty terrible, too. Rifleman for that matter - runs too hot and not enough armor. At least it looks cool, though.
The Rifleman is only a bad mech because it's a product of an era of specialization and Combined arms combat, and not well-suited for modern (I.e. 31st Century) warfare. It's a beautiful design for what it's supposed to do, which is to cover more capable ground fighters from air attacks. A company of Rifleman spaced out behind an advancing batallion is a great way to keep aerospace assets from harassing you. Like the Raven, it's not a good "table-top" mech, but is an excellent "in-universe" design for its time, which is why it's inclusion in the mechs that came with the boardgame (in the 90s) always puzzled me.
I'd argue it was never a bad mech at all! It just has a fun gimmick in a game full of fun gimmicks, where competitive nature comes a distant second to characterization and style.
I feel similarly about the Archer (The greatest mech ever, fight me), which is an amazing fire support platform with arms for stealing lunch money from nerds and it doubles as a handy pizza oven in prolonged engagements.
100% worth it every time though.
LOL- I always had the sneaking suspicion that, before the Warhammer was designed/copied, the Archer was meant to be BT's original "cover" mech, and the one that was to appear on most of the art and merchandise; it had a prominent place in a LOT of BT lore from that period. Unfortunately, the Warhammer (and then Marauder) is just a way cooler design aesthetically.
I actually don't have a favorite- a product of my being more about the universe than the game- although the Marauder is forever lodged in my mind as the first terrifying mech (it's basically the villain in "Thunder Rift", and is a powerful platform in the original "Mechwarrior") so it has a special place.
@JasonAshman @Abrakastabra this is a good analysis. back in the 80s, we liked using the Riflemen if we were playing large-scale battles, with several lances on each side, but not otherwise.