Since I'm not too familiar with the setting, could I get the heaviest mech that still counts as medium?
Options for that are the 55-tonners, which iirc in 3050 are still
mostly the same chassis as the classic 3025 lineup, just with new variants. The 55-tonners start with the classic trio of the Griffin, Wolverine, and Shadow Hawk, then branch out to the Dervish, Kintaro, and Scorpion. Of these, the Griffin is long-range fire support with both direct-fire and missile weapons, the Wolverine is a close-range cavalry mech, and the Shadow Hawk is usually a generalist, with some long-range game to cover it as it closes, but not particularly good at any one rangeband. The Dervish is a missile support mech with both long and short range missiles, the Kintaro is a missile spam mech that is almost
completely short-range, and the Scorpion is a fast harraser with light armour that is...
ill-regarded, to say the least.
If you're taking advice, I'd stay away from the Scorpion, as its best (and really, only decent) variant won't exist for decades. If you don't want a mech that someone else already has a model of, then despite my opinion of almost every other model of it, I'd
heavily recommend
the Shadow Hawk-5M, which solves basically all the normal Shadow Hawk problems of slightly light armour for its size, an incomplete jump jet fit, and a weapons fit that, while versatile, can't really do decent damage at any of it's rangebands. The 5M packs the largest LRM rack possible, allowing it to do massive damage on the close, but since it's considered a secondary weapon, it only has enough ammo for six salvos - which has a side benefit of meaning there's no LRM ammo to touch off once you close. The Ultra AC/5 triples the fire rate of a normal AC/5, at the cost of some jamming potential. If you're far out, keep fire rate low for better accuracy and ammo consumption as well as a lower or eliminated chance to jam, but when you get close go full auto with that thing. It's got an accurate and ammo-conserving Streak SRM-2 rack and a workhorse Medium Laser to back those up, and if we're using Design Quirks it's got Battle Fists for melee (Clanners almost never melee, to the point they're usually surprised by it). Also, it's the first SHawk model ever to remember to pack all its jump jets, meaning it can actually move with the things. It only has CASE for one of its three tons of ammo, so you might have to worry about ammo explosions, but how much you worry about that is up to you personally - CASE is only a recently rediscovered technology in-setting, so a lot of pilots regard it as something only a perennial worrier would concern themselves with. Plus, of the two unCASEd tons, one of them is for the LRM20, and by the time you're taking the kind of fire that could touch off your ammo, that bin should be empty. IGNORE THIS, I'M AN IDIOT
If you don't want that
beast DEATHTRAP of a mech, the other option that's not the Scorpion and doesn't double up would be the Kintaro-20, which has
all the SRMs - but while it will
crush pirates and many peer combatants with that, it's almost complete lack of long-range game will be a death sentence if we end up against Clanners, since it won't be fast enough to close to use all those missiles.
If you're fine with doubling up, the Griffin has two quite good variations as of 3050, the -1DS which swaps its big long-range PPC for a significantly shorter-ranged but more accurate and better at infighting Large Pulse Laser that does almost as much damage, but gets that damage back and more by upgrading its missile rack to a LRM20 with two tons of CASEd ammo. On the other hand, the -3M doubles down on the big gun, swapping the normal PPC for an Extended Range version, as well as adding a half ton of armour and the obligatory near-superfluous Small Laser. We've already got a 3M. If you go for another one, and
if we're allowed to do minor modifications, ditch the Small Laser for another half-ton of armour. Trust me.
Or there's the Wolverine, which has the -7D, -7K, and -7M models at the moment, as well as the various models of the 6-series. Of the 7s the D is in my opinion the worst one, despite being tied for fastest with its MASC and having the second-heaviest armour. It just doesn't have the weapons fit for using it. The K has
the most damage output of any Inner Sphere Medium of this era, except
maybe the Hunchback, which put all its stats into damage at the expense of speed. In contrast, the -7K, while the slowest of the 3050 Wolverines, is still pretty nippy for an IS 55-tonner, has full Jump Jets, and max armour. The thing that makes me
personally leery of it is the lack of CASE for the ammo for those two big SRM6 racks, but that's my own hangup. It is a
wonderful brawler for its time, although it has a lesser version of the Kintaro-20s problem, where if it can't close it's in trouble - it's just better at closing and ambushing than the K-20 is, so it doesn't have to worry
as much. The M has the speed of the D, lighter armour than either the K or the D, but has quite a decent long-range hit, and can close for cleanup with the rest of its weapons, while using its speed to its advantage to keep to the most favourable range for the situation. This is what I'm riding, but if you want a Wolverine, I'd recommend going for the K since a K and an M working together can do a lot of work, with the M providing covering fire and flanking for the K and the K utterly
wrecking shit up close. If we're using Quirks, any Wolverine will be marginally harder for Elementals or Jump Infantry to kill, since their actuators are better protected, making it harder for anyone swarming you to get detpacks in there or rip them apart with power-armoured claws.
Or, for the last of the double-up options, there's the Dervish. The 6M was a wonderful model, and if perhaps a little outmoded by the time of this game, has its arguments for being chosen over the modern version, while the more modern 7D has suffered from some rules changes since it was first statted up meaning that its Streak SRM racks it swapped the old ones for, while still better for accuracy and ammo consumption than the 6M's racks, can no longer load Inferno rounds. If you take the 7D and we are allowed to do minor customisation to our Mechs, I'd recommend dumping the second ton of SRM ammo and the CASE it carried for an extra ton and a half of armour.
If you're taking my recommendation, I'd grab either of the Griffins
the Shadow Hawk-5M or the Wolverine-7K, depending on which sounds better to you. They have the same movement profile, with the
SHawk Griffins both being better at long range, using their mobility to keep the range open as much as possible, with the 3M being willing to accept getting closer as it has a sweet spot where both of its weapons can hit well, while the Wolverine on the other hand ignores any idea of contributing to the long-range fight, instead getting up as close as possible before letting them have it, which while it means it packs a
lot of hurt, can be a problem against Clanners who can kite it. The Wolverine mounts more armour, but not
that much more, while the Griffins have quite good armour coverage anyway and are less likely to pull aggro in the first place
