A dedicated close combat 'Mech, the Firestarter 9-H is equipped with two Medium Lasers, four Flamers and two Machine guns. Between its armament and its Jump Jets, the 9-H is well equipped to go toe-to-toe with - and shut down - heavier BattleMechs.
Loadouts
Firestarter with Machineguns
The large number of weapon slots on the Firestarter gives it extremely high alphastrike potential when armed with non-flamer weapons. One such build is to arm it with 4 Medium Lasers and 6 Machineguns. This has a respectable total 190 points of alpha-strike damage, highest among light 'Mechs (and most mediums). Additionally, the machineguns' innate +50% crit change makes them extremely effective at causing ammo explosions with called shots.
The Firestarter is a dangerous 'Mech for its tonnage, carefully timed attacks with its Flamers can shut down any 'Mech and leave it open to punishment from your other forces. The FS9-H also makes a decent light 'Mech hunter-killer.
The Firestarter is a surprisingly brutal melee attacker. Mounting a full compliment of 6 small lasers or 6 machine guns, you can use your speed and advanced initiative tactics to close into melee range, and absolutely decimate them, with the highest potential damage in a melee alpha of anything below 65 tons. A common setup to compliment this is the inclusion of jump jets, not normally found on Firestarter models. These give the extra mobility required to make the most of this high risk high rewards setup.
Firestarter is one of the 'Mechs you can acquire rather early and you can actually make it medium-ish. He has surprising weapon tonnage and equally distributed energy mount points which can be filled with 6 Medium Lasers. You'll only need to add a minimum of 4 Heat Sinks, some Jump Jets for an occasional obstacle and also redistribute armor a bit (less on rear and head as head hits are rare early in the game) and you've got yourself a solid 150 alpha damage at considerable distance that can sustain just enough rounds both in heat and taking a beating to make a difference.
I found having 2 med lasers to be enough for a range weapon untill u can get into melle range, as its speed is pretty good. Atacking small lasers or MGs will make it devastating in melle against light mechs, or against the rear of bigger mechs. a rear melle attack will cause a lot of dmg together with the support weapons, and can 1 shot most light-med mechs. Against heavier mechs u might need more than a single attack, but its armor can survive some dmg, if you get plenty of evasion and use cover properly. you can keep using it even up to having some heavy mechs as it can easily be as useful as a good med mech if used properly!
