normally when I look at what gear I want to put on a mech, only one or two good options present themselves. then I finally took a look at the neanderthal thug. and it made me smile. let's take a look shall we?

to start, there is a healthy dose of what I like to call "brawling" already on the dial. it's a nice little gray square that lets you do more damage on any melee attack.

so since this is a "brawler" of a mech I would like to put a gear that enhances this...

vibroblade= get through that pesky armor alot quicker

inferno flamers= when you are getting down and dirty, why not add a bit of heat

retractable blade= it's like another brawling, just with a longer name. and 6 melee damage (7 on a charge) can me a beautiful thing

rapid strike and full strike= you can't use the brawling with it but it can come in handy

this is not including the good old IT

I can't wait to have fun with this mech.

Interesting, a BR unique. BR hasn't been getting that many units lately so the Thug would be cool.

BRs 2nd heavy (pilot wouldnt do bad on the BR Vulture either, one of the rarer +2av+2dv pilots for heavies.)

Now if only he was a Gunslinger, this would be a REALLY nice pilot to drop in my Nova Cats. I don't need speed when I got R-E-A-C-H :D

Still, I figure there will be some fierce battling for this piece come X-mas time at our own venue. Guess I better start thinking about my army now! :devious:

I'm not sure putting RS or FS on "Thug" would do anything, since its secondary damage is 0, and you wouldn't be able to use them on attacks with its primary DV. I think Retractable Blade is best for it, so it could deal the same amount of damage in CC as it does at range, which would not only work very well, but would also make more sense, IMO. I hate it when 'Mechs are set up as brawlers, but do more damage at range than in melee, and vice-versa.

Is it possible to use a Thug Neanderthal in place of the Persuader Cygnus and still do decently in a tournament (above 50%)?

i d say Thug is better with its prefered pilot (who needs Jacob with his -1 def) compared to Persuader and Jacob.

Persuader is more on range.
Thug is built for close combat but can deal out some nice damage. my vote would be on Thug though i yet have to play him.

Its pilot wouldnt do bad in the BR Vulture either.

IIRC Brawling works on CC regardless of what slot it is on. ALL melee/cc damage. I'd have to double check but I believe that the brawling DOES apply to Rapid Strike and maybe Full Strike as well (I don't remember if it was applied to a single target or all targets).

This mech is an in your face mech. It really needs to hit and it really needs to dish out its full damage to its target so that it's weakened enough that the return fire will either miss or not do much damage. I would think Vibroblade would not be a bad idea. If you are going up against an assault mech, 3 damage won't do squat to it ... but 5 will put a significant dent in most. IT isn't a bad idea either but considering the pilot already negates opposing pilot bonuses you essentially already have a built in ability to help hit easier.

Do you use mostly Close Combat Attacks with the Thug? I usually shoot enemies with the PPCC but I'm not sure if that is the best way to play Thug.

Yes brawling would work with full strike and rapid strike IF you had two melee attack types on one mech and brawling was on one and one of the other two were on the other and you used the rapid strike/full strike. If they are active on the same slot then you'd have to choose what one was active. Also Rapid Strike and Full Strike only work on melee attacks with melee type damage where as brawling works whenever you do a close combat attack.

I agree with Simayi's way of using the thug... i have used ppc but I don't like all the heat gained from it; so I thought of using r.i.s.c. hyperlaser. so if the enemy is too far I can still have a chance to range him from far off 18". and if my opponent gets too close then I can use his stunning pilot and "brawling" abilities. So what do you think?

I just played thug this weekend and frankly didn't do too well because the opposing mech's had a lot of agility special gear which reduced damage to 1. The PPC Capacitor definitly dishes out heavy damage but the extra heat's not so good. Overall I think that for the points he's an awesome melee unit and if you're going to do a lot of shooting with it you'd better find some water to stand in and reduce some of the heat effects. Overall I'd set up a water terrain near my deployment zone (say 8" or so straight out from center) and use him to lay back and defend bringing him out during the middle end game. High cost, yes but I don't think that anyone will have great luck taking VC3 from you with this guy protecting the rear.

Upsides:
- Cheap for its power, only due to its 0 DMG on the second weaponry.
- Good Heat Dial
- Very Stable
- High Defense and Attack
- Repairable
- Good Damage Potential

Downsides:
- For starters, infantry can still pose a problem for this Mech and since you can't add Full Strike on this unit, it will sometimes have to run from them.
- It can't benefit from any "other" Melee equipment, except perhaps Agility.
- Despite the effective heat dial, this Mech is a quick heatup as it tries to assault and PPC your opponent.

See? More upsides than downsides. That's what we like to see... ;-)

Another downside btw is the short Assault Range of his Melee. He can move only 9 inch forward, thus 11 total if you count the base. Even Mechs with 12 inch range can't be targeted by it...

Another upside is probably the amount of clicks it has for a BR Mech...

I agree with Blayze's analysis. However, for the infantry basers, can't you use a close combat attack for 4 damage (primary). It might not kill the infantry but it does get rid of grapple and other stuff.