The Thunderbolt is my all time favorite mech. It’s visually distinctive with the asymmetrical layout of weaponry and the walking pillbox design makes it almost barely humanoid. Very much a function over form look, all business and no frills. The cockpit is supposed to be very roomy and comfortable even if it doesn’t look like it from the outside. The standard 5S variant is very tough for its weight and has a well rounded loadout. I like loading the SRM2 with Inferno rounds for extra giggles. With all the variants available in every era you can build an entire lance of just Thunderbolts! So long as you don’t mind being a bit slow…
You should definitely add one of these to your budding company. This fills in a heavy mech role I call "Flexible Brawler", a heavily armored mech that is at home brawling but if stuck at range, it has the missiles and direct fire weapons to contribute until you can move in for a brawl. It is very similar to an Orion 1K in this way. This is opposed to the "fast brawler" (Ostsol, Ostroc, Quickdraw) that sacrifices armor and firepower for speed/mobility, or the "pure brawler" (Grasshopper, Flashman, or Guillotine) that lack the long range punch/indirect fire for better close range performance. I love your "Stormbreaker" variant, I normally just drop the MGs to upgrade the SRM to a 6 pack, but if you are going to keep the anti-infantry role intact, nothing quite like a pair of flamers to drive infantry into retreat. Great overview vid, can't wait to see what you cover next!
This channel's starting to become among my favorite BT content creators. I really appreciate the concise explanations whilst still providing a surprising number of info. Keep it up slime boi!
A neat thing about the Thunderbolt lore wise is it has one of the least cramped and most comfortable cockpits. Which would be nice on those long haul missions.
Ah, the Thunderbolt. Backstabbed one out of desperation in the HBS game only to realize for the first time that it stored ammo in the centre torso. Blew the damn thing sky high.
The Thunderbolt has always been one of my mainstays, alongside the Marauder. There's something about a brick beating another mech to death while absorbing copious amounts of damage that is just funny to me
@@nerdyOveranalyzed "It ain't bad"? I feel like while it is not specialized like the Archer, it is my favorite kind of BattleMecha, the Generalist. A T-Bolt can do almost any mission with some minor mods. 1) Replace the two MGs with a Flamer, Small Laser, & an extra heat sink. 2) Use Inferno Missiles in the SRM-2. The Flamer can kill Infantry & Vehicles, the Small Laser is a good plinker, & the Infernos can raise the heat levels of anything & kill Infantry & Vehicles in the T-Bolt's sweet spot of 120 m to 180 m. Basically this mod works for me & removes the danger of a MG Ammo explosion. But, yours would work too.
The Thunderbolt has been one of my favorites since I started to play. I enjoy the format of these videos as they are entertaining and informative. Excellent work!
Damn, you have no idea how grateful I am for this video! In just 6 minutes, I understood the meaning of heating, different types of guns and what is their balance with each other. Can't wait for new guides!
Hey, thanks so much for taking the time to write this. Really means a lot when I get a comment like this. What about it did you find most helpful? Was there anything else you feel was missing?
@@nerdyOveranalyzed I started playing battletech this month and was looking for good videos about the general feel and meta of the game. There are a lot of videos that are like podcasts, but they really lack visual representation (and overall quality actually). I've seen about 1-3 videos that match your level of visual and style quality, but that's all lol. I think the most helpful thing in your videos is that you give your viewers visualised idea with simple analysis of what and how actually you should act in combat, not just "ummm so you have this, this, and this mechanic, now you are good to go". I can confidently say that you are a monopolist in niche of informative, useful for newbies, good-looking BattleTech content : )
I think my favorite part besides overall learning the best use out of a mech is formation suggestions that also includes infantry or other vehicles like a long rangle/missile battery focused lance with supporting carriers. I know the Thunderbolt has always been a menace when I've fought them but never used them myself. Admittedly I'd rather gut the machineguns for more armor/heat sinks but if I stuck with the all rounded design, I'd definitely go for your Stormbreaker
@@nerdyOveranalyzed I think the strongest core of these videos is the context and reference that goes with it. It goes from just a single mech that's good or bad to having a picture painted allowing people to know how/where often you saw it and the kind of formations it would stride across the battlefield in. For many I think it provides a visual to the more gritty stuff like the preferred range. So even if it's only a snippet like who has how many, it paints a bigger picture and gives life to the explanations.
@@nerdyOveranalyzed it really does makes sense, having flamers as opposed to machine guns still keeps it in line with it's well rounded nature, keeps it safer from ammo hits, and still lets it be viable for infantry harassment or torching mechs that get too close.
Hello Nerdy. The Thunderbolt was one of my favorite 'go to' Mechs in the early days of the game (1984 thru 1990). Almost every Lance I created in that time period featured at least one Thunderbolt. Your alternative design is a carbon copy of my own variant on the TDR-1C, which I designated as the TDR-1X. I used this variant to great success in many games, until after the release of the 3050, 3055, and 3067 TROs, where I upgraded the Mech with various weapons and equipment to make it an even more outstanding Mech design. It is good to see that you and I have similar goals for Mercenary Mech designing. Although I will admit to liking 'upgraded' designs more than you seem to. As for the 'basic' game, one cannot really beat a good Thunderbolt in one's Lance. They are relatively inexpensive, easy to repair, and can survive massive hits in combat that would totally destroy other Mechs. For a Merc, the Thunderbolt is a 'dead' easy choice to add to one's Company force mixture.
Hands down, my favorite mech of all time. The TDR-5S was the first Ral Partha mini that I had bought back in the day and I wound up fielding it like every unit I ever made.
Ah love the thunderbolt. Ironically haven't run the stock varient much because of that srm2 and machine guns. Love the refit as it keeps both the anti infantry and the lrm15 for punch. Definitely want to try it out!
I was introduced to Battletech through the clans, first with MechWarrior 2 and then with the Jade Phoenix Trilogy. It took me a while to become a proper citizen of the Inner Sphere (FedSuns for life), but the Thunderbolt is my go-to general purpose heavy. Especially the TDR-7M (RIP Battletech: The Frontier Lands). My personal refit drops the MGs and ammo for 2 small lasers and an extra heatsink.
Thunderbolt is quite versatile as they can provide sustained LRM fire with a LRM 10 or LRM15 while engaging with a PPC or ER Large Laser. Heavy Mechs can close and when engaged the Thunderbolts can move in to bring medium ranged weaponry to bear.
Hi Otto. Began to test out your build and I found that it's better to actually just have 1 flamer and 18 heat sinks instead. That being said, I ran an entire lance of TDR-Slime X1s multiple times. The highest enemy tonnage I was able to fight and "survive" was against a lance consisting of a WHM-6L, CGR-1L, BNC-3E, and LGB-7Q. Another time around I fought an actual Assault lance consisting of a VTR-9A, AWS-8R, STK-3H, and CGR-1L (and I only managed that because I used the rolling terrain and forests to my advantage). Each time it turns into a pyrrhic victory, because your lance will be horribly shot up. The Mechs will lose limbs, and you may even continue to fire from a prone position, because of a lucky gyro hit. But the Thunderbolt does have staying power. The lack of jump jets does hurt. You can get easily outflanked if you're not careful. Take it easy!
I feel a bit bad about my thunderbolt story lol My first intro to the thunderbolt was Phontoman's Battletech playthrough, and whenever a thunderbolt popped up he'd give a sigh of relief and simply target the side torso with his primarily pierce focused lance. It made me think that thunderbolts were death trap mechs only to be used as a last resort or retooled for lower ammo dependency. It's still not quite a favorite of mine, but I respect it a lot more.
Idk if thats a premade avatar you use or your own. But it would be cool if you could get a nerohelmet on its head to make your avatar more "themed". At least for your BT videos. And for more interactivity you could have your avatar in the right lower corner for more "interactive" feel. Like what you are doing here, subscribed to the channel. Keep up the good work!
I like to remove the SRM-2 and ammo in order to upgrade the Large laser to a PPC and then remove the machineguns and ammo for two more heatsinks. This gives it more long range firepower but makes it more vunerable at extreme close range.
This is probably my favorite heavy mech of the Succession Wars era, especially the 5SE model with its jump jets. One of my characters in a campaign currently uses a modified one, which removed the LRM launcher, moved the large laser to where the LRM-10 was, and puts a PPC on the arm. This is a major upgrade when coupled with the pilot's natural aptitude for energy weaponry.
Not bad I dig the build. One thing I might suggest is removing one flamer and adding a rear firing medium laser. After few games and talks with my buddy who plays we figured it wouldn't be a bad idea
@@nerdyOveranalyzed Agreed there. It always feels as though if something is behind you, you're already fucked and having a singular small gun to fire back is absolutely pointless and a waste of tonnage. Rifleman not included.
@@nerdyOveranalyzed nothing wrong with that. Most of time it's only used when I'm getting swarmed lights or double teamed. It's also a nice have you fail initiative 5 times in a row. I'd try it out. You would be surprised how many light mechs get killed trying to hump your rear. I'm on 3kills now;)
Your "Refit" is almost identical to my preferred version. I swap the LL and SRM+ammo for a PPC, and the MGs for one flamer. The additional tonnage is heat sinks.
The Newtown Industries refit kit (designated -5NI) strips the SRMs and half the MG ammo, moves the MG ammo to the same arm as the guns, moves the LRM ammo to the same location as the launcher, and removes a quarter ton of armor from each leg. It uses the weight saved to add 3 heat sinks, which allows it to walk and fire all of its lasers without building up heat, increasing its sustained brawling capabilities and reducing the risk of a catastrophic ammo explosion while drastically simplifying feed mechanisms.
I'd have argued swapping the large laser for a PPC by dropping the LRM 15 and its ammo for two more heat sinks, an SRM 6, upgrading the SRM 2 as well to a 6, an one more ton of SRM ammo after the change of the srm 2 ammo, flamers are good. personal choice would be to drop the flamers for more armor or heatsinks
Hmm, I did think about going the other way and doing more SRMs. I think they'd play pretty well into a brawl weapon. Ultimately though I decided to not take them in favor of keeping the anti-personnel weapons.
@@nerdyOveranalyzed the Flamers are still viable, the last portion is just about an alternate without the AP weapons. I miscalculated the tonnage slightly, but only for the extra heatsinks from dropping the lrm. Instead it's one heatsink and an additional ammo for the srm6 (providing both launchers a ton for 15 rounds of shooting, which balances the loss of the lrm)
@@nerdyOveranalyzed As far as I know it's a built in Achilles heel. Many of the 3025 mechs had them when the design was felt to be to powerful. Most of us even back when that book was new, just erase them on the sheet and move them.
@@richardstephens3327 Interesting! And yeah agreed. Looking at all the mechs I think the general rule is they all need some kind of weakness rather than completely min-maxing. But you are correct about moving the ammo making it almost strictly better!
God. I still need a 1 hour version of this bloob to that awesome muisc. Thunderbolts are a must have in Battletech and MW 5. When you swap the LRM 15 with a SRM 6, and upgrade the SRM 2 to a 4, you get a brutal closerange Fighter. Especially thanks to the 3 M-Lasers. The only Heavy of that Era which tops that, is the Steiner 2S Variant of the Archer. With that you can pack a whooping 20 SRM tubes in the chassis, and still got 4 medium Lasers. And still tonnage left for Ammo and Heatsinks.
1:55 Yeah, a particular concern. I lost my first TDR-5S in our narrative campaign to a lucky Commando who got a crit and rolled box cars for location. We didn't get another one until the last mission of that specific campaign. We rebuilt it in to a slight variant of the TDR-5SE, replacing the Large Laser with an ER Large Laser we ripped off a recovered Mercury II, and a Medium Laser with a Small Laser and CASE we secured. I swear if we can get Freezers (we just finished up the 4th SW), that thing can get nasty.
The Thud, like the Crusader much improved once the Helm Memory Core was found and lostech became available. Just putting double heat sinks on it, greatly improves the performance.
Let's see your take on my favorite 😍 Edit: yup that's a good refit for 3025 My fit swaps the lrm for a ppc on the torso mount and the MG for those lovely flamers, keeping the srm for inferno rounds to pair with them. More direct damage but hotter.
I’d drop all the short range firepower for a second large laser and extra heatsinks if possible. That way you can have sufficient piercing capacity to maximize crit potential out of the LRMs upon initial contact with enemy. Mlasers and an SRM sound good, until you realize it puts you at instakill range of a hunchback. I’d rather fully cripple those kinda mechs before they ever get a chance.
Hum hum maybe~ I do like the brawl identity of the T-bolt though. Killing something before it reaches you is a thing for sure. But mechs tend to be pretty sturdy. Generally you need something to block. At least from my experience. You are right about AC/20s being horrifying though.
I'd always suggest replacing srm2 ammo for some inferno missiles instead Useful for both messing with the many heat intensive mechs in the single heatsink era and also great for warcriming infrantry!
The Thunderbolt. Easily my favorite Heavy 'mech out there. Sturdy, reliable, and most importantly can do any job you want it to all while being remarkably cheap for its abilities. Want it to hold the line? That's easy, the base 5S has your back. Want it to be the most surprising skirmisher this side of of a jumping Banshee? Well my personal favorite variant the 5SE has you covered there. Want a baby Battlemaster? 5SS, this time with a flamer and the option for inferno ammo for its SRM because fuck Infantry in particular. Honestly the only really bad thing about the stock 5S is that uh, that MG ammo is in a bad, bad place. Move it to the arm with the MGs or rip it and the MGs out for flamers or small lasers or if you're a particularly lucky Merc with access to some lostech, you'll be able to replace them with Small Pulse Lasers straight up. I can't even say rip em out for armor because the little bit more armor you'll add in will be basically pointless. More Heatsinks are always fine though. My own personal Succ Wars Thunderbolt, nicknamed "The Iron Lady", is a bit of a mix of everything honestly. Same ol 4/6/4 of the 5SE, 13 tons of armor and 15 shs means she'll get the job done good enough. Double LRM 5s with a ton of ammo and a Snub Nose PPC provide that sweet long range fire support reminiscent of a Griffin while two medium lasers, a flamer, and an SRM 4 with a ton of ammo means it'll bring the pain up close while still warding away infantry. Sure she gets toasty sometimes, but honestly I kinda like em that way. She gets especially toasty once I'm in range to keep on unleashing hell with that snubbie in combination with all those mediums and the SRM. And to break the facade/move the tech up some, my personal favorite variant of the 'Mech I've come up with, using stolen clanner parts because fuck clanners in particular, fight me like a real man up close in melee, is a 4/6/4 Clanner XL engine with 15 clanner Freezers, 11 tons Clanner Ferro, 3 MLs, 2 MML 7s with 1 ton of SRM and two tons of LRM ammo protected by some CASE II, a clanner ER Large because I really like looting clanner corpses in case you couldn't tell, a medium pulse laser, two small pulse lasers, and a laser anti-missile system. It's a princed up little piece of kit that heavily relies on killing clanners but man, it's a beaut.
I am building a chaos campaign system that uses W40k Apocalypse Box Set for BattleTech and inspiration from other systems. An have a few versions of this mech its great.
So if someone wants to make a Franken mech they can use Thunderbolt parts to have an easier time finding replacement parts when they break... interesting
My long-standing merc unit had a TDR-5S as the command Mech for its Mech company. That thing got rebuilt into a ghetto-variant of the TDR-5SS after getting shot to pieces once, and then turned into quite the little monster by 3067 with a wide swathe of upgrades. End result was something like this: Standard 260 engine, 11.5 tons of FF armor, 13 DHS. 3 ML in left torso, flamer+small pulse in left arm, MML-5 with 2 tons of CASE'd ammo in the right torso and a Heavy PPC on the right arm. Two of the DHS got punted into the right torso to further shield the ammo there, too. And that left 4 tons over. So enough for an ECM, Beagle and TAG. Because fuck your Artemis, NARC and C3 systems, fuck your concealed stuff and fuck you, that Long Tom on our Fortress is gonna apply Copperhead shells to your face in particular.
Love the look of the Thud, but the ammo in the CT is a death sentence. Too much ammo in general, honestly. So for 3025 play it's a walking bomb. Will always dig the design though.
Asymmetrical mechs always bother me slightly on an aesthetic level, but I have a hard time ignoring the effectiveness of the T-bolt. ((Filthy clanners should have just called the Thor/Summoner an omni Thunderbolt))
Year later, but for your stormbreaker refit, if you are already doing a refit, can you split your LRM ammo into 2 locations, so you can eject ammo in threatened locations while preserving ammo in an untouched location? Or can you shift the ammo to a side torso and install case if its available per your tech and resource level, at the cost of a flamer?
It maybe old, but does it hold. I'd replace the LRMs and SRM2 with twin SRM6s. Up armor and slip in s heat sink if possible. Oddly a heavy mech I like is the Argus from MW4&Mercs. It was the biggest thing I could get and I treated it as a small assault mech.
The Thunderbolt has the typical Star League problem of trying to play too many roles. It's main weapons loadout is solid, but the srm2 isn't intimidating against anything that would square off against a tbolt, and using it vs infantry is kind of a waste. If you give it to a mech tech worth their stuff, you'll lose the dead weight and it moves into a B+ A- tier mech.
Before I even watch this. IntoTech TDR! Some many questionable decisions. TDR-5S, the one that had it all started. Has MG ammo in one of the arms, making it extremely susceptible to "Death by 400 damage". Consult the Hit Location Table if you want to know why. Not a fan. Not a fan at all. TDR-5SE - can jump, can shoot far, can shoot close. Doesn't explode when you hit it in a wrong place. Great mech. TDR-5SS - the *cool* kid. Can't jump like the 5SE brother, but has impressive amount of gun and even more impressive amount of HS to shoot all of them. TDR-5D - he really wanted to be a HBK instead. Yeah. No.
Oh man, do these guys do some work in mechwarrior5 i have two of them. And yeah may be a bit slow but i can throw this guy into anything. Ill keep chugging even with armor in the red. Even had a leg taken out once and it still just kind of kept moving like nothing new. Just takes a beating and asks for more
It's fun the AI in 2018 PC Battletech never gets the "eject ammo" function (I don't even think it exists)...Thunderbolts cook off nicely with a good alpha strike on their core. Good 'Mech otherwise though.
My man, your analysis content is amazing but if i may give you some free, worthless advice: Chill out a touch on the presentation. Go a touch slower and calmer, or just a tiny bit lower tone. You sound a little too rushed and excited, like a junior astech in their first contract renewal review
Thanks for your worthless advice! I've gotten one or two comments saying something similar so I'll keep an eye on the pacing and take it into account! Could change, could stay the same.
Fascinating take on the Thunderbolt. You have a gift for certain. Your mercenary friendly version would definitely help this taurians company well. I’m shocked you’re a merc from the DCMS. Most of the ones I met are as hard headed as can be. All about their honor and duty and all that. You seem more suited to modern warfare like one of us……or the Fed bastards. Either way I’ll definitely keep you on the list of contacts. Never know when I’ll need a piece of solid advice. If you’re ever near New Vandenberg we’ll have to grab a beer. Cheer to ya Drac 🫡
Something that the TRO's mention that you missed here is that T-Bolts would often seek out bodies of water to gain extra heat sinking ability. With 4 heat sinks in the legs you can get +4 heat sinking just by entering Depth 1 water and also get a +1 to hit defensive modifier for partial cover. Personally I always thought the MG and SRM2 were wasteful to have. A quick mod is remove the MGs + ammo and replace the SRM 2 with a SRM6.
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The Thunderbolt is my all time favorite mech. It’s visually distinctive with the asymmetrical layout of weaponry and the walking pillbox design makes it almost barely humanoid. Very much a function over form look, all business and no frills. The cockpit is supposed to be very roomy and comfortable even if it doesn’t look like it from the outside.
The standard 5S variant is very tough for its weight and has a well rounded loadout. I like loading the SRM2 with Inferno rounds for extra giggles. With all the variants available in every era you can build an entire lance of just Thunderbolts! So long as you don’t mind being a bit slow…
Yeah it's pretty neat! I like the asymmetry of it too! I don't mess around with inferno rounds, but they seem pretty good!
You should definitely add one of these to your budding company. This fills in a heavy mech role I call "Flexible Brawler", a heavily armored mech that is at home brawling but if stuck at range, it has the missiles and direct fire weapons to contribute until you can move in for a brawl. It is very similar to an Orion 1K in this way. This is opposed to the "fast brawler" (Ostsol, Ostroc, Quickdraw) that sacrifices armor and firepower for speed/mobility, or the "pure brawler" (Grasshopper, Flashman, or Guillotine) that lack the long range punch/indirect fire for better close range performance. I love your "Stormbreaker" variant, I normally just drop the MGs to upgrade the SRM to a 6 pack, but if you are going to keep the anti-infantry role intact, nothing quite like a pair of flamers to drive infantry into retreat. Great overview vid, can't wait to see what you cover next!
This channel's starting to become among my favorite BT content creators. I really appreciate the concise explanations whilst still providing a surprising number of info. Keep it up slime boi!
Thanks so much for taking the time to write! More coming up Commander! o7
A neat thing about the Thunderbolt lore wise is it has one of the least cramped and most comfortable cockpits. Which would be nice on those long haul missions.
Makes a decent Command Mech too, with a little work.
Yep yep! ^^
Ah, the Thunderbolt.
Backstabbed one out of desperation in the HBS game only to realize for the first time that it stored ammo in the centre torso. Blew the damn thing sky high.
The Thunderbolt has always been one of my mainstays, alongside the Marauder. There's something about a brick beating another mech to death while absorbing copious amounts of damage that is just funny to me
It's quite a nice beefcake of a boi
The T-Bolt is a top tier BattleMecha as it can do any mission you give it.
It ain't bad!
@@nerdyOveranalyzed "It ain't bad"? I feel like while it is not specialized like the Archer, it is my favorite kind of BattleMecha, the Generalist. A T-Bolt can do almost any mission with some minor mods.
1) Replace the two MGs with a Flamer, Small Laser, & an extra heat sink.
2) Use Inferno Missiles in the SRM-2.
The Flamer can kill Infantry & Vehicles, the Small Laser is a good plinker, & the Infernos can raise the heat levels of anything & kill Infantry & Vehicles in the T-Bolt's sweet spot of 120 m to 180 m. Basically this mod works for me & removes the danger of a MG Ammo explosion. But, yours would work too.
The Thunderbolt has been one of my favorites since I started to play. I enjoy the format of these videos as they are entertaining and informative. Excellent work!
Thanks so much! Glad you like them!
Damn, you have no idea how grateful I am for this video! In just 6 minutes, I understood the meaning of heating, different types of guns and what is their balance with each other. Can't wait for new guides!
Hey, thanks so much for taking the time to write this. Really means a lot when I get a comment like this. What about it did you find most helpful? Was there anything else you feel was missing?
@@nerdyOveranalyzed I started playing battletech this month and was looking for good videos about the general feel and meta of the game. There are a lot of videos that are like podcasts, but they really lack visual representation (and overall quality actually). I've seen about 1-3 videos that match your level of visual and style quality, but that's all lol.
I think the most helpful thing in your videos is that you give your viewers visualised idea with simple analysis of what and how actually you should act in combat, not just "ummm so you have this, this, and this mechanic, now you are good to go". I can confidently say that you are a monopolist in niche of informative, useful for newbies, good-looking BattleTech content : )
I think my favorite part besides overall learning the best use out of a mech is formation suggestions that also includes infantry or other vehicles like a long rangle/missile battery focused lance with supporting carriers. I know the Thunderbolt has always been a menace when I've fought them but never used them myself. Admittedly I'd rather gut the machineguns for more armor/heat sinks but if I stuck with the all rounded design, I'd definitely go for your Stormbreaker
Thanks for letting me know! I viewer suggested it before and I decided to try it out. I'm glad I did!
@@nerdyOveranalyzed I think the strongest core of these videos is the context and reference that goes with it. It goes from just a single mech that's good or bad to having a picture painted allowing people to know how/where often you saw it and the kind of formations it would stride across the battlefield in. For many I think it provides a visual to the more gritty stuff like the preferred range. So even if it's only a snippet like who has how many, it paints a bigger picture and gives life to the explanations.
@@nerdyOveranalyzed it really does makes sense, having flamers as opposed to machine guns still keeps it in line with it's well rounded nature, keeps it safer from ammo hits, and still lets it be viable for infantry harassment or torching mechs that get too close.
Can't wait for the Hunchback review!
It should be good!
Can't wait to see what other heavies you cover, keep up the great work!
More to come!
@@nerdyOveranalyzed any idea when you'll cover the archer? A bit biased towards it
Your channel kicks ass man.
Thanks my guy! Glad you're enjoying!
I love this mech. Big, chunky, and can put the hurt on. Bit ammo-heavy, though.
Yeah! It's quite a cool looking mech. But you're right in that it's ammo heavy. Still one of the more interesting ones to pilot!
i love the Thunderbolt, it takes a surprising amount of damage
It's got a lot of gun!
Looking forward to you covering the Dervish and Wolverine. These two workhorses don't get enough attention.
Coming right up Commander! o7
Hello Nerdy.
The Thunderbolt was one of my favorite 'go to' Mechs in the early days of the game (1984 thru 1990). Almost every Lance I created in that time period featured at least one Thunderbolt.
Your alternative design is a carbon copy of my own variant on the TDR-1C, which I designated as the TDR-1X.
I used this variant to great success in many games, until after the release of the 3050, 3055, and 3067 TROs, where I upgraded the Mech with various weapons and equipment to make it an even more outstanding Mech design.
It is good to see that you and I have similar goals for Mercenary Mech designing. Although I will admit to liking 'upgraded' designs more than you seem to.
As for the 'basic' game, one cannot really beat a good Thunderbolt in one's Lance. They are relatively inexpensive, easy to repair, and can survive massive hits in combat that would totally destroy other Mechs.
For a Merc, the Thunderbolt is a 'dead' easy choice to add to one's Company force mixture.
Ah yes, my absolutely favorite heavy of the intro era.
Heh, it's a cool looking mech and fun to play!
Hands down, my favorite mech of all time. The TDR-5S was the first Ral Partha mini that I had bought back in the day and I wound up fielding it like every unit I ever made.
Honestly the TDR-5S is one of my favorites as well!! It's flexible, very reliable and just shows up and does its job. We need more like him.
Ah love the thunderbolt. Ironically haven't run the stock varient much because of that srm2 and machine guns. Love the refit as it keeps both the anti infantry and the lrm15 for punch. Definitely want to try it out!
Yeah! Give it a shot and let me know how it goes! Good to hear from you again
King crab and hunchback iic are my absolute favorites
heh, they're quite fun!
One of my favorite mechs, along with the Vindicator and Catapult. I'm so happy it was in the starter box.
Addendum: I really, REALLY like your refit variant on this one.
It's pretty great! Happy you like the refit!
I was introduced to Battletech through the clans, first with MechWarrior 2 and then with the Jade Phoenix Trilogy. It took me a while to become a proper citizen of the Inner Sphere (FedSuns for life), but the Thunderbolt is my go-to general purpose heavy. Especially the TDR-7M (RIP Battletech: The Frontier Lands).
My personal refit drops the MGs and ammo for 2 small lasers and an extra heatsink.
This should be pretty useful. Can't wait till I can get the full game so I can employ this.
It comes in "A Game of Armored Combat" along with a few other good mechs!
Thunderbolt is quite versatile as they can provide sustained LRM fire with a LRM 10 or LRM15 while engaging with a PPC or ER Large Laser. Heavy Mechs can close and when engaged the Thunderbolts can move in to bring medium ranged weaponry to bear.
It's pretty good!
Hi Otto. Began to test out your build and I found that it's better to actually just have 1 flamer and 18 heat sinks instead. That being said, I ran an entire lance of TDR-Slime X1s multiple times. The highest enemy tonnage I was able to fight and "survive" was against a lance consisting of a WHM-6L, CGR-1L, BNC-3E, and LGB-7Q. Another time around I fought an actual Assault lance consisting of a VTR-9A, AWS-8R, STK-3H, and CGR-1L (and I only managed that because I used the rolling terrain and forests to my advantage). Each time it turns into a pyrrhic victory, because your lance will be horribly shot up. The Mechs will lose limbs, and you may even continue to fire from a prone position, because of a lucky gyro hit. But the Thunderbolt does have staying power. The lack of jump jets does hurt. You can get easily outflanked if you're not careful. Take it easy!
Thank you so much fir your approachable content. You are my go to for battletech. Great production quskity as well.
I feel a bit bad about my thunderbolt story lol
My first intro to the thunderbolt was Phontoman's Battletech playthrough, and whenever a thunderbolt popped up he'd give a sigh of relief and simply target the side torso with his primarily pierce focused lance. It made me think that thunderbolts were death trap mechs only to be used as a last resort or retooled for lower ammo dependency.
It's still not quite a favorite of mine, but I respect it a lot more.
D:
My favorite heavy mech.
Such a beast.
Yeah! It's quickly becoming a favorite of mine!
Apart from unfortunate ammo bombs this mechs is amazing
Idk if thats a premade avatar you use or your own. But it would be cool if you could get a nerohelmet on its head to make your avatar more "themed". At least for your BT videos. And for more interactivity you could have your avatar in the right lower corner for more "interactive" feel.
Like what you are doing here, subscribed to the channel. Keep up the good work!
check the javelin video :^)
I like to remove the SRM-2 and ammo in order to upgrade the Large laser to a PPC and then remove the machineguns and ammo for two more heatsinks. This gives it more long range firepower but makes it more vunerable at extreme close range.
It's not bad! I do like the brawl identity though. But PPC isn't terrible!
This is probably my favorite heavy mech of the Succession Wars era, especially the 5SE model with its jump jets. One of my characters in a campaign currently uses a modified one, which removed the LRM launcher, moved the large laser to where the LRM-10 was, and puts a PPC on the arm. This is a major upgrade when coupled with the pilot's natural aptitude for energy weaponry.
The thunderbolt has quickly become one of my favorite heavy Mechs, and I'll often choose one of them over a fair few heavier Mechs
It's a fun one for sure. I really like it for the multi-track and sticking damage with the LRM. It feels so efficient!
@@nerdyOveranalyzed fielding two of the SE variants is a fun way to ruin a light or medium mech lance's day
Not bad I dig the build. One thing I might suggest is removing one flamer and adding a rear firing medium laser. After few games and talks with my buddy who plays we figured it wouldn't be a bad idea
Possible~ I usually don't like rear stuff though personally.
@@nerdyOveranalyzed Agreed there. It always feels as though if something is behind you, you're already fucked and having a singular small gun to fire back is absolutely pointless and a waste of tonnage.
Rifleman not included.
I feel like the arm-mounted large laser and a torso twist will cover 60-75% of times where you might want a rear mounted weapon.
@@nerdyOveranalyzed nothing wrong with that. Most of time it's only used when I'm getting swarmed lights or double teamed. It's also a nice have you fail initiative 5 times in a row. I'd try it out. You would be surprised how many light mechs get killed trying to hump your rear. I'm on 3kills now;)
Your "Refit" is almost identical to my preferred version. I swap the LL and SRM+ammo for a PPC, and the MGs for one flamer. The additional tonnage is heat sinks.
The Newtown Industries refit kit (designated -5NI) strips the SRMs and half the MG ammo, moves the MG ammo to the same arm as the guns, moves the LRM ammo to the same location as the launcher, and removes a quarter ton of armor from each leg. It uses the weight saved to add 3 heat sinks, which allows it to walk and fire all of its lasers without building up heat, increasing its sustained brawling capabilities and reducing the risk of a catastrophic ammo explosion while drastically simplifying feed mechanisms.
Doesn't sound too bad!
I'd have argued swapping the large laser for a PPC by dropping the LRM 15 and its ammo for two more heat sinks, an SRM 6, upgrading the SRM 2 as well to a 6, an one more ton of SRM ammo after the change of the srm 2 ammo, flamers are good. personal choice would be to drop the flamers for more armor or heatsinks
Not bad idea. Kinda like a smaller battle master. I'm not sure losing Large laser for ppc is good trade. 🤔
Hmm, I did think about going the other way and doing more SRMs. I think they'd play pretty well into a brawl weapon. Ultimately though I decided to not take them in favor of keeping the anti-personnel weapons.
@@nerdyOveranalyzed the Flamers are still viable, the last portion is just about an alternate without the AP weapons. I miscalculated the tonnage slightly, but only for the extra heatsinks from dropping the lrm. Instead it's one heatsink and an additional ammo for the srm6 (providing both launchers a ton for 15 rounds of shooting, which balances the loss of the lrm)
Good reconfig, but if you shift the LRM ammo to the side torso with the launcher you remove even more of the through armor possibility.
Correct! My lore brain couldn't make it -that- OP though. I assumed there was some story reason to store the ammo there.
@@nerdyOveranalyzed As far as I know it's a built in Achilles heel. Many of the 3025 mechs had them when the design was felt to be to powerful. Most of us even back when that book was new, just erase them on the sheet and move them.
@@richardstephens3327 Interesting! And yeah agreed. Looking at all the mechs I think the general rule is they all need some kind of weakness rather than completely min-maxing. But you are correct about moving the ammo making it almost strictly better!
God. I still need a 1 hour version of this bloob to that awesome muisc.
Thunderbolts are a must have in Battletech and MW 5. When you swap the LRM 15 with a SRM 6, and upgrade the SRM 2 to a 4, you get a brutal closerange Fighter. Especially thanks to the 3 M-Lasers.
The only Heavy of that Era which tops that, is the Steiner 2S Variant of the Archer. With that you can pack a whooping 20 SRM tubes in the chassis, and still got 4 medium Lasers. And still tonnage left for Ammo and Heatsinks.
We can do some karaoke if you want! What would you like to hear me sing and dance to? x3
@@nerdyOveranalyzed Getting away with murder, from Papa Roach would be the first song in my mind.
And I am sure you know why.
Adily one of my favorite heavies in mechwarrior 5
1:55 Yeah, a particular concern. I lost my first TDR-5S in our narrative campaign to a lucky Commando who got a crit and rolled box cars for location.
We didn't get another one until the last mission of that specific campaign. We rebuilt it in to a slight variant of the TDR-5SE, replacing the Large Laser with an ER Large Laser we ripped off a recovered Mercury II, and a Medium Laser with a Small Laser and CASE we secured. I swear if we can get Freezers (we just finished up the 4th SW), that thing can get nasty.
D: rip ammo crits. At least you were able to cobble something together!
played with a thunderbolt a little in MW5
quite fond of it
Nice guide!!
The Thud, like the Crusader much improved once the Helm Memory Core was found and lostech became available. Just putting double heat sinks on it, greatly improves the performance.
yeet
Let's see your take on my favorite 😍
Edit: yup that's a good refit for 3025
My fit swaps the lrm for a ppc on the torso mount and the MG for those lovely flamers, keeping the srm for inferno rounds to pair with them. More direct damage but hotter.
Nice nice! Yeah seems like a lot of people like the PPC for LRM swap
Handy in MWO. As I close with the lance, the scouts get me locks for my LRMs, then lasers and PPC to say hi to anyone within range.
Great content, and I like the refits.
Thanks so much!
I’d drop all the short range firepower for a second large laser and extra heatsinks if possible. That way you can have sufficient piercing capacity to maximize crit potential out of the LRMs upon initial contact with enemy. Mlasers and an SRM sound good, until you realize it puts you at instakill range of a hunchback. I’d rather fully cripple those kinda mechs before they ever get a chance.
Hum hum maybe~ I do like the brawl identity of the T-bolt though. Killing something before it reaches you is a thing for sure. But mechs tend to be pretty sturdy. Generally you need something to block. At least from my experience. You are right about AC/20s being horrifying though.
I'd always suggest replacing srm2 ammo for some inferno missiles instead
Useful for both messing with the many heat intensive mechs in the single heatsink era and also great for warcriming infrantry!
In mechwarrior 4, I use these as a bigger Hunchback. I load them up the medium lasers and srms, and basically just use them as a battering ram
Heh heh heh, nice!
The Thunderbolt. Easily my favorite Heavy 'mech out there. Sturdy, reliable, and most importantly can do any job you want it to all while being remarkably cheap for its abilities. Want it to hold the line? That's easy, the base 5S has your back. Want it to be the most surprising skirmisher this side of of a jumping Banshee? Well my personal favorite variant the 5SE has you covered there. Want a baby Battlemaster? 5SS, this time with a flamer and the option for inferno ammo for its SRM because fuck Infantry in particular. Honestly the only really bad thing about the stock 5S is that uh, that MG ammo is in a bad, bad place. Move it to the arm with the MGs or rip it and the MGs out for flamers or small lasers or if you're a particularly lucky Merc with access to some lostech, you'll be able to replace them with Small Pulse Lasers straight up. I can't even say rip em out for armor because the little bit more armor you'll add in will be basically pointless. More Heatsinks are always fine though.
My own personal Succ Wars Thunderbolt, nicknamed "The Iron Lady", is a bit of a mix of everything honestly. Same ol 4/6/4 of the 5SE, 13 tons of armor and 15 shs means she'll get the job done good enough. Double LRM 5s with a ton of ammo and a Snub Nose PPC provide that sweet long range fire support reminiscent of a Griffin while two medium lasers, a flamer, and an SRM 4 with a ton of ammo means it'll bring the pain up close while still warding away infantry. Sure she gets toasty sometimes, but honestly I kinda like em that way. She gets especially toasty once I'm in range to keep on unleashing hell with that snubbie in combination with all those mediums and the SRM.
And to break the facade/move the tech up some, my personal favorite variant of the 'Mech I've come up with, using stolen clanner parts because fuck clanners in particular, fight me like a real man up close in melee, is a 4/6/4 Clanner XL engine with 15 clanner Freezers, 11 tons Clanner Ferro, 3 MLs, 2 MML 7s with 1 ton of SRM and two tons of LRM ammo protected by some CASE II, a clanner ER Large because I really like looting clanner corpses in case you couldn't tell, a medium pulse laser, two small pulse lasers, and a laser anti-missile system. It's a princed up little piece of kit that heavily relies on killing clanners but man, it's a beaut.
I am building a chaos campaign system that uses W40k Apocalypse Box Set for BattleTech and inspiration from other systems. An have a few versions of this mech its great.
Yeah! The Thunderbolt is a pretty good platform for modding. Hope your campaign goes great!
I’ve played the TDR-5D and the AC20 just rips mechs to shreds. But my question is when are we going to see Nerdy Overanalyzed play a game? 🧐Hmmmmmmm😆
Good question~ there's a poll up in the community tab.
I look away and look back over and see mtg artwork and wonder, am i just that much a nerd i instantly new the artwork from an mtg card?
well, i did a similar refit, just that i dropped one ton of LRM ammo and one of the flammers for a PPC.
Not bad!
So if someone wants to make a Franken mech they can use Thunderbolt parts to have an easier time finding replacement parts when they break... interesting
:^) Battletech is weird bro
My long-standing merc unit had a TDR-5S as the command Mech for its Mech company. That thing got rebuilt into a ghetto-variant of the TDR-5SS after getting shot to pieces once, and then turned into quite the little monster by 3067 with a wide swathe of upgrades.
End result was something like this:
Standard 260 engine, 11.5 tons of FF armor, 13 DHS. 3 ML in left torso, flamer+small pulse in left arm, MML-5 with 2 tons of CASE'd ammo in the right torso and a Heavy PPC on the right arm. Two of the DHS got punted into the right torso to further shield the ammo there, too. And that left 4 tons over. So enough for an ECM, Beagle and TAG. Because fuck your Artemis, NARC and C3 systems, fuck your concealed stuff and fuck you, that Long Tom on our Fortress is gonna apply Copperhead shells to your face in particular.
Love the look of the Thud, but the ammo in the CT is a death sentence. Too much ammo in general, honestly. So for 3025 play it's a walking bomb. Will always dig the design though.
Ah yes, the mech that got me interested in battletech
It's a pretty neat one!
Asymmetrical mechs always bother me slightly on an aesthetic level, but I have a hard time ignoring the effectiveness of the T-bolt.
((Filthy clanners should have just called the Thor/Summoner an omni Thunderbolt))
Heh heh heh. Embrace the ugly~
Year later, but for your stormbreaker refit, if you are already doing a refit, can you split your LRM ammo into 2 locations, so you can eject ammo in threatened locations while preserving ammo in an untouched location? Or can you shift the ammo to a side torso and install case if its available per your tech and resource level, at the cost of a flamer?
It maybe old, but does it hold.
I'd replace the LRMs and SRM2 with twin SRM6s. Up armor and slip in s heat sink if possible.
Oddly a heavy mech I like is the Argus from MW4&Mercs. It was the biggest thing I could get and I treated it as a small assault mech.
The Thunderbolt has the typical Star League problem of trying to play too many roles. It's main weapons loadout is solid, but the srm2 isn't intimidating against anything that would square off against a tbolt, and using it vs infantry is kind of a waste. If you give it to a mech tech worth their stuff, you'll lose the dead weight and it moves into a B+ A- tier mech.
Before I even watch this. IntoTech TDR! Some many questionable decisions.
TDR-5S, the one that had it all started. Has MG ammo in one of the arms, making it extremely susceptible to "Death by 400 damage". Consult the Hit Location Table if you want to know why. Not a fan. Not a fan at all.
TDR-5SE - can jump, can shoot far, can shoot close. Doesn't explode when you hit it in a wrong place. Great mech.
TDR-5SS - the *cool* kid. Can't jump like the 5SE brother, but has impressive amount of gun and even more impressive amount of HS to shoot all of them.
TDR-5D - he really wanted to be a HBK instead. Yeah. No.
not a bad take!
song at the end, is that a rage against the machine song?
no, neefeex
Oh man, do these guys do some work in mechwarrior5 i have two of them. And yeah may be a bit slow but i can throw this guy into anything. Ill keep chugging even with armor in the red. Even had a leg taken out once and it still just kind of kept moving like nothing new. Just takes a beating and asks for more
What is the song you play At the end of Every episode?
It's fun the AI in 2018 PC Battletech never gets the "eject ammo" function (I don't even think it exists)...Thunderbolts cook off nicely with a good alpha strike on their core. Good 'Mech otherwise though.
Heh heh heh, yeah I don't think the option is there~ oh well. Time for the fireworks I guess. XD
Can we get raving with the 👑 🦀?
Doesn't need a video. S+++ Everyone knows the crab and the king crab are the epitome of mech design.
Can't you swap the SRM-2 for Inferno rounds?
You can!
My man, your analysis content is amazing but if i may give you some free, worthless advice:
Chill out a touch on the presentation. Go a touch slower and calmer, or just a tiny bit lower tone. You sound a little too rushed and excited, like a junior astech in their first contract renewal review
Thanks for your worthless advice! I've gotten one or two comments saying something similar so I'll keep an eye on the pacing and take it into account! Could change, could stay the same.
Fascinating take on the Thunderbolt. You have a gift for certain. Your mercenary friendly version would definitely help this taurians company well. I’m shocked you’re a merc from the DCMS. Most of the ones I met are as hard headed as can be. All about their honor and duty and all that. You seem more suited to modern warfare like one of us……or the Fed bastards. Either way I’ll definitely keep you on the list of contacts. Never know when I’ll need a piece of solid advice. If you’re ever near New Vandenberg we’ll have to grab a beer. Cheer to ya Drac 🫡
Thanks so much Commander! You honor me with your compliments!
Something that the TRO's mention that you missed here is that T-Bolts would often seek out bodies of water to gain extra heat sinking ability. With 4 heat sinks in the legs you can get +4 heat sinking just by entering Depth 1 water and also get a +1 to hit defensive modifier for partial cover. Personally I always thought the MG and SRM2 were wasteful to have. A quick mod is remove the MGs + ammo and replace the SRM 2 with a SRM6.