Though only five tons heavier than the Osiris, the Cougar is a much stronger combatant. It
is capable of carrying more weaponry than either of the two other light mechs in the game,
and it has one more weapon slot (ten) than the five-tons-heavier Chimera. Two of the slots
are omni, which reveals the reason behind the Cougar's good statistical showing. It is a
Clan design, one of nine in the game. The cougar
makes for the best fighter of the light mechs, but that doesn't mean it can go
head-to-head with heavier designs. Its 10 slots are divided up into five groups of two;
two groups for beam weapons, two for missile weapons, and one omni group. Ranged
weapons are an appealing choice for the cougar. While it is generally a fast mech,
it's minimum speed is actually the lowest of any mech fifty tons or less. It maxes out as
the second highest, but that requires the allocation of precious tonnage that might
otherwise be devoted to more weapons and armor (weapons and armor are, of course, a good
thing). Spending a reasonable 1.5 tons brings the mech's speed to 96.95 KPH, a good
payoff for the expenditure. This is the speed of the default configuration.
I'm fond of a configuring the cougar LRM-heavy. It's
possible to get three clan LRM20 racks on board, with two tons of ammo each. That's
a fun configuration, capable of dishing out a lot of damage at long range, but also very
ammunition-dependent. Downgrading the missiles to LRM15s allows for the inclusion of
a Clan ER Large Laser while maintaining two tons of ammo for each missile rack. The
miniscule amount of tonnage left over may be dumped into engine or armor, or perhaps a
heat sink.
The offensive potential of this mech, coupled with its
relative lack of any real shortcomings, earns it our Favorite Light Mech in MechWarrior 4
award.
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Osiris
