The TDR-5S has 15 heatsinks, not 10. I have no idea how that error snuck in. I may need more sleep.

It is the Toyota Hilux of the battletech world. It is not the face of battletech, but it should be. It is one of my favorites and is always a go to.

I like the T-bolt because it looks precisely like I imagine a function over form early heavy mech would look.

Why do we love the Thunderbolt? Because in the lore it has perhaps the most spacious and comfortable cockpit around. Piloting a Stinger or Wolverine, with no room to stretch at all, is fine for very short missions. When you get a long haul mission however, and you're sealed in there for 12 hours, that leg room will be priceless.

The Thunderbolt has been my favorite mech since the 3025 Technical Readout came out.

For 2025 tech, I believe the Thunderbolt as one of the best heavies in the game in the Succession Wars. Its impressively armored for a 65 ton mech, has weapons for every range bracket and weapons for virtually every kind of opponent. It can go toe to toe with the likes of the Marauder and win.

The holy trinity of the Thunderbolt, Crusader and Catapult are what made me fall in love with the 65-ton weight bracket way back when I got into Battletech. They're a damn-near perfect blend of offense, defense and mobility, and will put in work in practically any lance you place them in.

The most appealing aspect early in BT was some of the designs like this one were just overall, good solid ones. You get the tools for any kind of job so to speak as long as that job doesn't involve going fast, jumping over things and mostly just involves shooting people until they stop moving. Before omni mechs, fancy gear and large amounts of specialist mechs became more common there was TR-3025 book full of all sorts of stuff we desperately wanted to field. Heavies really proved their worth as being the go-to to have something with a lot of firepower to get it done and that book had a lot of them in it.

The Thunderbolt is one of the best workhorses of the succession wars era. It is versatile and has good staying power at a reasonable price and it looks awesome. Despite some obvious design flaws it works amazingly well in battle. If you are starting collecting Mechs, the T-Bolt should be very high on your list - it will never disappoint you.

The Thunderbolt is one of my favorite 'Mechs, and it's one of the ones CGL made look way better than the original FASA/Ral Partha design. This 'Mech is rock solid, and can dish out as much as it takes.

When I finally got a thunderbolt in mw5 it instantly became a favorite of mine so excited for anybody to talk about it

Never realized how much I would like this mech. The thunderbolt and crusader have made the front lines for a many of games.

Back to the classics! This mech has always been in my top 3 heavies.

The T-Bolt is a classic that can take a beating and keep on going.

The Thud is just as utilitarian as it looks. It's the definition of a heavy trooper. It rolls up the field, dishes it out at any range and takes a beating without complaint. It's not a standout performer in any niche, but simply a workhorse that will just do its job with a steady, plodding reliability under almost any circumstances, and do it for a very affordable pricetag. And then there's the -5SS for a phenominally efficient 3025 brawler that also run cold as ice. People say the Capellans can't do anything right. This Mech proves that wrong.

The thunderbolt was the first mech that made me go "this one, this is my mech". I've moved away from it now in favor of other heavies, but it will always have it's own special place in my heart, along with the rifleman

Also worth noting how 60-65 ton mechs are usually -meh- and can be taken down fairly quickly in MW games, like the 40-45 ton mediums. But this one. This one grabs your attention when it shows up as a target.

The Thud may not get the amount of mainstream exposure in the way an Atlas or a MadCat may luxuriate in the limelight, but make no mistake, it's a dependable and solid unit that well-deserves its venerable reputation amongst many Battletech fans. There's a reason it first set the standard as being a 'Mech rated for face-up assaults up until heavier 'Mechs appeared on the field.

The Thunderbolt. Damn fine machine. Pity it didn't do better in Dougram.

I would like to thank the designer in BT 2018 who put the LRM ammo on the T-Bolt in the center torso; thanks for all the easy salvage. As for the T-Bolt itself, it was my first heavy in TT, and I loved that thing.

Nice video! Honestly speaking I like the "a weapon for everything" approach of the classic Thunderbolt. Heavy 'Mechs have enough tonnage to make that design actually work, unlike the poor Mediums that try and fail.

The Thud is one of the best generalist heavies in the setting, as someone said in another comment its the Toyota Hilux of heavies, solid, very hard to kill, and dependable and its kept this throughout its long life and many many configs too. I like the MF one too, great vid as always!

The Thunderbolt is the mech that made me love heavies. The Wolverine made me love mediums. Everything else in my BT interests stems from there.

My favorite (older tech) variant is probably the 5SE (later upgraded to the 9SE. A little less punchy, but adding a huge amount of flexibility with jump jets, and a couple of additional heat sinks is just delightful.

I love the Thunderbolt, it's just such a good trooper. With CASE II, it's extremely difficult to take down

Thunderbolt is such a good design... I should definitely have one in a list Im building for my sister to use.

The Thunderbolt is one of the top performing heavies in Battletech. Lots of guns, heavy armor, and easy to use. For introtech battles i pull the MGs and ammo for two more heat sinks, which makes it more survivable. The later era Taurian variants, including the Royal 5sb (a nice touch of irony and poetic justice in one), are great examples of how a useful mech never dies. The 9T moves 6/9, carries two light PPCs, an LRM-10, and 3 ER medium lasers with 12 DHS and CASE.

The Thunderbolt is just a solid design. The newer cults look very cool. When I was teaching my son to play, I let him choose a mech to play and he chose the Battlemaster (a great design) and I took a Thunderbolt to oppose him. We both enjoyed this matchup and played several battles with them, as he was learning. It seems to carry over into the Clans as the Loki, another mech I've always enjoyed. I've never been upset about piloting a T-bolt Great video, Frog!

Out of the standard listed variants of the Thunderbolt, the TDR-5SE is one of my favorites. It's basically the Succession Wars predecessor to the -9SE. My own ilClan-era variant of the Thunderbolt used the TDR-17S as a basis. I upgraded the chassis and armor to Clan versions, along with the DHS. I retained the IS Compact Fusion engine and the Heavy Duty Gyro, but the whole weapons load was swapped out for a left-arm Plasma Rifle/w 3 tons of ammo, a Medium Re-Engineered Laser in both the center and left torsos, 2 Clan Micro Pulse Lasers in the right arm and a pair of Clan ER Medium Lasers in the right torso. I did the 'main gun' on the left arm instead of the right for left-handed pilots.

Thunderbolt, Warhammer, Marauder, the 3 heavy mechs this Taurian merc will always make room in his company for. They never didapoint, they aren't fancy or top of the line, they just put, in, work.

I didn’t know about the -C2, that’s a scary machine. My personal favorite is the Royal -5Sb, it’s also an excellent trainer but explodes a bit less lol I’ve been enjoying your look as some less well known machines but the occasional dabbling into absolute setting-defining classics like this is super fun also, nicely done

First, I really enjoy your work here. As someone who's spent literal decades in this fandom, your dedication to the history had lore has made you and Critical Rocket my go-to BT content guys on KZfaq. (Sven's great, but I prefer to wait for him to finish a series and then binge it.) The Thunderbolt has been a favorite of mine since 1986, and I'm very pleased to see this treatment of it. Now I"m going to be that guy: the Thunderbolt debuted during the Age of War, not the Star League era. The Star League was founded in 2571, some 80 years after the first Thunderbolts entered service. There's also a few errors on slides, as others have mentioned, but that's rare for you, so no big deal. Again, great work with this series; thoroughly enjoy it. I'm very happy to see some lesser-known and older designs get this treatment, and I think your discussion regarding good 'Mechs or variants for new players is especially valuable. Looking forward to the next one.

A TDR-5S refit I’m fond of drops the MGs+ammo for heatsinks and swaps the SRM-2 to fire Infernos for anti-infantry work. It’s not as good at crit seeking, but being able to ride the red line a little longer seems to come in handy.

Super happy to see this! Originally I never gave the thunderbolt too much thought, but after a narrative campaign with friends, I learned to truly love it, as it ended up surviving everything that got thrown at it. Its the perfect mainline trooper!

This is my favorite IS mech. I even made my daughter a merc mech warrior that piloted a thunderbolt for the Clan Invasion kickstarter cannon character.

My favorite variation is a custom Taurian Concordate one. Replace the large laser with a hand held LB-X autocannon, carrying solid slug, mech shot, and modified Elias shells.

Back in the day my friend and fellow Mechwarrior RPG enthusiast traded in a stock MAD-3R Marauder for a Kurita Thunderbolt-5S taken as salvage. The -5S had a well earned reputation as a tough gun bus with a weapon for every situation! The overheating issue was easy to deal with by weapon discipline at selected ranges. The heat output was real, but in the halcyon pre-Clan days nobody freaked out about it. My friend customized his T-bolt (because RPG) by dropping the SRM-2 and MGs in favor of SL x2 and increase to 18 heat sinks. TDR-5SE The first bouncy T-bolt was something I didn't appreciate back when. Nowadays I'm willing to give it a chance because mobility often trumps raw fir epower. And if i want to field a ELH company, I have to use a notable regimental variant! TDR-7M This is how to use the Helm upgrades for maximum effect. Funny how many 'mechs used it without a true increase in combat power. This T-bolt does great though! TDR-9S You're skipping through the catalog, but I understand, the OGs have LOTS of variants! 😃 I know why you picked it, as this type is a dedicated CQB Brawler made to trot through long-range fire to crush enemy missile boats and sharpshooters in close. Infantry and armor blocking units will regret meeting it. TDR-9SE This type gave the -5SE the -9S level upgrade, which makes it excellent! Letting this thing run & bounce into good laser range is a mistake. Keeping the ever-useful LRM-10 is a good call and might result in a -5SE misidentification. TDR-C2 We get it, doing the Clan firepower upgrade makes it super-nifty! TDR-10S Another good use of the Helm update tech to make a superb ranged brawler. You're right, strict heat management is mandatory, but worth it. Also works to keep it compatible against the Clan omnimechs that are dripping with long range firepower. TDR-17S This type really leans into the Brawler Tank role! All-energy loadout, defensive & endurance options, and TSM so it can suddenly dash ahead to block the enemy force's heavy hitter. Would choose this for a Dark Age combined-arms force as its endurance and laser boat loadout will give it staying power so it can confidently anchor the battle line. TDR-MF1 "Fireworks Special" Rrrrrribbet!! (Yes I am a Cincinnati man! 🤣) This is a good Dark Age type definitely made to take on all comers! It's another great anchor for a combined arms force that is expecting to face the enemy's best units. (Maybe ROTS could've mass produced this one instead of the useless Malice?) Mostly long range, but decided effective at that range, and anybody who gets close eats plasma. The AMS is a good choice seeing how every other battle armor and armored vehicle in that era has LRMs. This T-bolt won't get nickel and dimed by the auxiliaries' LRM launchers before it fully develops its battle plan.

Because it's just a solid, stalwart design. The Thunderbolt does exactly what's listed on the tin, and that's more than enough.

Currently the lance commander in a campaign and love my tbolt. The Taurian Queen has put many a foe in the grave

Nice vid. I personally prefer the Tdr-5SS in succession wars. Basically a smaller, more heat efficient battlemaster.

Ah the thunderbolt.. the workhorsiest of workhorses of the heavy mech class. A Mercenary favorite, this block of metal is the epitome of "gets the job done". If youre looking for a straight out IS heavy combat mech you can never go wrong with a thunderbolt. Reliable, readily available, easy to maintain. It does well against mediums, other heavy mechs and can stand its ground against lighter assaults. Its no nonsense weapons loadout gives it a good enough punch at all ranges. While not the most glorious of Battlemechs it reliably clocks into work each morning and clocks out every evening without a hickup inbetween.

It is what I call a meat & potatoes mech. it isn't glamorous, it doesn't spit out overwhelming fire but it is tough to knock down, mobile enough to keep preasure up and the price is right.

While I love me some janky old 3025 tech, the first Thunderbolt I ever used in any game (It was the Battletech: Frontierlands MUX, which I miss terribly) was the TDR-7M. It is, in my opinion, the perfect Thunderbolt. Upgrade the armor to Ferro-Fibrous, and swap the SRM2 and Large Laser for a Streak SRM2 and an ER Large Laser. Add double heatsinks and CASE. It's perfect.

It was honestly probably the best all around design in the original 12, it's more than capable of taking on targets 10-20 tons heavier than it.

Inner Sphere ERPPC are expensive in c-bills and heat, and they don't deal increased damage unlike their Clan counterparts, but they do have that No Minimum Range going for them.

The standard 5S is a good all-round mech, with the LRMS for long range, supported by the LL at medium range, and a variety of close range weapons for brawling. It can reasonably do well in any given situation, however, it really gets beat out by any mech with a dedicated role. It can't reliably beat a dedicated ranged mech at range, or a dedicated brawler up close if forced into those situations. In a 1v1 situation you can tactically use your strengths against an enemy mech's weaknesses, such as using terrain to avoid damage from dedicated ranged mechs while you get close enough to get under the effective minimum ranges of LRMs or PPCs that other mechs carry, or alternately you can try to keep range and an open line of fire for damaging a dedicated brawling mech with LRMs and the large laser to give you an advantage when the inevitable brawl does occur. This flexibility allows it to mesh very well with other mechs in almost any lance imo. It can help cover the weaknesses of any dedicated mech near its weight class, or it can be the big mech to command a lance of mediums/lights, or alternately it can be a versatile small mech in a heavy/assault lance. I'd say the biggest weakness is the 3 different types of ammo that can always cause issues with an unlucky crit. However, I'm generally a fan of taking dedicated mechs, because they are just better at their respective roles, and taking mechs with different strengths to cover the weaknesses of other mechs in my lance. Because of that, a standard 5S doesn't cut it. My favourite way to use it is as a bodyguard for a dedicated ranged mech like a Marauder, Warhammer, or Archer. And to do that, I turn it into a hybrid range/brawler that leans heavily towards brawling. Using 3025 tech, I'm a big fan of modifying the 5S by dropping the SRM2 and swapping the machine guns for 2 medium lasers. Swap the LRM launcher for a SRM6 with 1 ton of ammo, and swap the Large Laser for a PPC. This leaves you with iirc 5 tons to spare to throw into extra heat sinks. It can sit back with a dedicated ranged mech and throw a PPC shot each turn without generating any heat, and I find that when paired with a Warhammer, Archer, or Marauder (especially as I prefer to make some slight tweaks to these as well to make them more dedicated towards their ranged roles), my Thunderbolt is not as likely to be targeted by enemy ranged weapons as it is not as much of a threat at range. But it's an anti-mech monster with 5 medium lasers and a SRM6 up close, with enough heat sinks to keep most of it running pretty well, depending on the situation I can either hold back with it and plink away with the PPC or push forward with it as needed to brawl. It definitely misses the machine guns and SRM2 in some situations, and the LRMs in others, however, that's where I make sure that I take a mech in my lance that has good anti-infantry or anti-light vehicle loadouts, and pair it with a big long range threat to cover those weaknesses. It's not as good in long range or medium range situations, but I'm also not using it in a way where I need it to be as good in long range situations, and I tactically minimize the time I'm in any kind of medium range situation by either hanging back with a long range mech, or pushing forward as fast as I can to brawl. It realistically only ever spends 1 or maybe 2 turns in medium range in a game, and it can still shoot the PPC which is slightly more likely to hit in medium range than it is in long range, so it's not like it's useless in a medium range situation. Additionally, as it would run hot trying to use every weapon each turn, it also doesn't lose a significant amount of damage potential if it loses an arm or if any weapon torso weapon gets destroyed with a crit. It's not quite a zombie mech, but it's pretty resilient. The only ammo is from the SRM, and the mech still runs hot with all of the lasers + PPC even if you need to dump the SRM ammo to prevent an explosion.

Hello Frog The Thunderbolt has always been a favorite of mine. Even back in the early days, back when 3025 era machines were the ONLY things available to play with. Using that 'old' tech, there isn't all that much one can do to 'improve' the Thunderbolt all that much. Post Helm Memory Core, though, things get a bit more 'freewheeling' in the designs. I have fielded the older TDR-9S Thunderbolt against foes with 'better' tech installed. When I did so, it was to reduce the overall BV cost of the Mech, so that I could field more Mechs on the tabletop, and thus gain a numbers advantage. Add an advantage in numbers to some good terrain use, and decent deceptive strategy, and you can overcome an opponent's tech advantage in most cases. The relatively thick armor on the Thunderbolt has always stood for the benefit of the Mech overall. Again, using only '3025' Mechs, the Thunderbolt has the 'staying power' to hold the line and take punishment for long enough for one's forces to concentrate upon the most dangerous threat. The elimination of which, should tilt the battle into your favor. And then there is the Thunderbolt's size. Being a heavy, the 65-ton Mech can do 6.5 points of damage with a punch, and 13 with a kick. Adding TSM to it, just raises the damage to 13 for a punch, and 26 with a kick! 'Back in the day', I would strip off most of the shorter ranged weaponry, in favor of adding 4 jump jets. I cannot tell you how often a surprise DFA totally surprised and demoralized my opponents. It can be disheartening to see the Mech you've been pouring fire into, suddenly rise into the air, and plummet down upon your prized Mech. As an example, I fought against a House Kurita lance on a pretty rocky world. My Lance caught them traversing a knife edged ridge to avoid going the long way around a series of ridges in the way of their advance. Even though I suffered extensive fire as I closed upon the enemy lance, all my Mechs being jump-capable, came in very handy indeed. Four DFAs occurred at the same time, and all succeeded. The most spectacular one being the 'drop-kick' of the enemy Marauder off the ridge, and over the edge of the six hex height cliff it had been traversing. The Kurita Player never really forgave me for that, since the Marauder, up to that point, had never failed to survive a battle. A decade later, he would joke that it took a 'drop-kick me Jesus' moment to force his Commander to fail a mission. Keep up the good work, Frog. I enjoy viewing your videos. Which, tend, more often than not, to spark memories, both good and bad, from the decades I've played this game.

The TDR-5S mounts 15 heatsinks rather than the10 cited. My introductory setup from the game of armored combat box is a Thunderbolt 5S and Griffin 1S vs Wolverine 6M and Catapult C1. The Thunderbolt is always a walking slab of armor that absorbs so much fire. The 5D is another introtech variant that I recently tripped across. with the AC 20 and LRM 10 it reminds me of a bullet sponge version of the Centurion AH. In spite of the AC 20, the damage isn't particularly inspiring (it may have been uninspiring because the 20 hit once during the game,) but the TDR chassis will make sure the AC 20 comes into play. Thunderbolts, regardless of the variant, maintain that walking slab of armor motif. Some are faster, some might jump, but they are always durable mechs with at least decent weapons- definitely a workhorse.

Some say the Thunderbolt fades into the wallpaper, but I say it has color. That color is beige. Thanks for the video.

I love the Tbolt! Great balanced bracket fire mech that is armored like a brick with the LL & LRM at 7+, and the Lasers & SRM2 @ short range. Literal perfection for the 3025 era. My version would be to add Endo, and go with Heavy PPC, LRM15 w/ 2 ammo, SRM6, 6ML, 11 DHS, Case. Same overall concept, more and bigger guns! Nasty brawler.

The T-Bolt is one of the studliest 'Mechs in the game IMO, it's tough to kill and a solid fighter. I'm partial to the SE because I love it when an opponent doesn't expect a TDR to jump.

I really like the CGL jumping version of this miniature. I have picked up a fair few of these over the years. Your custom variant of this is great, plasma rules.

I went with a binary laser RA, LRM 10 (ammo moved to legs and 1.5 tons. Half tons of Swarm, incindiary and Fascam A for a shake and bake approach control.) 2 medium pulses replace the trio of mediums in LT. LA got most upgrades , shield arm with reinforced plating copied from a certain IS mech. Added were a firefist looted from pirates and two flamers. Just two jump jets in CT added for the surprise, terrain traversal and the Ryoken Flaming Punch. Flamers cant be used in melee, but the fire fist could. Left arm also had Solaris 7 reinforced actuators each taking up an extra slot. The only room on LA was enough for hand replacement and the flamers. It's armor is maxed IS Standard but spiky showing its Solaris 7 origins. It runs light at around 60 tons vs 65. Having 5 tons cargo space/modified case showing its second owner was a smuggler. I later added ecm a one-shot, long duration smoke projector to aid in infiltration missions. Mech was painted to look like a bed of obsidian showing magma erupting towards left actuator. Eye candy. After clan initial invasion was over, it got rebuilt to add a heat exhanger, AP gauss rifles for in close, and double plasma rifles with 4 tons ammo. Lrm swapped to mrm10, FF and Endo added. TSM , and a vicious mace held in LA. Gripy hand in Left actuator, flamers replaced with srm 4 inferno and one ton ammo. Retained cargo spaces but ammo all got case II too. I fielded a green tbolt with acid and HE focus on LRMs and SRMs with large laser RA and the original mdm lasers. It wielded a mech sword. The red one was as above. Focused on overheating. I never got salvage to build my yellow and black versions. Yellow was gonna focus on AMS, Chaff, ECM, tasers and support weapons. The Black on Stealth. ECM. And sudden strike weapons. Using best clan and Pirate tech possible. This unit was periphery and where after dark age il-clan renants ran. Crows were primary client if I remember rightly. Company was focused on control via overheating. Pathing denial. Or melee. Commander's Crusader had 4 LRM5 pirates which add heat to each hit. Rest were SRMs with infernos and HE. His Alpha strike was fearsome. Left glowing shut down mechs behind him for armor and power infantry to deal with. He lost his mech to enemy Stackpoles from cooking off ammo blowing cores more than once. We had a lance consisting of a Stinger commando wasp and a javelin configured to swarm overheated mechs and or piece out and carry off parts of downed mechs in battle. All had industrial heavy frame and industrial TSM built in at cost of weaponry. But sported laser cutters, flamers, mgs, etc for infantry and pilot control. All the pilots were techs with mech skills earned in war. A crazy bunch. Almost their own community in the company. Was a fun RPG table top campaign. We often got asses handed to us in set battles, but we were meant to distract enemy so Crow forces could hit main objectives unobstructed. It worked. We also got bounties on our techs for scavenging mostly working mechs in midst of battle. Our techs could shoot back. They'd also ransom full mechs back to owners if not pirates, but stripped of good gear, weapons and parts. Replacements coming from other company mechs which got upgraded. We had a Commando that had all the bells and whistles possible for Era and was worth almost as much as a new assault mech. That got sold to some merchant King so he could give it to his Son. Who promptly went out and stupidly challenged some local Robber Baron in his festve looking loot pinata. It only took a woman, some wine, a bed and drugs to disposses the kid. We were asked to rescue the kid, but Crows had a better long term offer that included refurbishment of our jump ship and drop ships and a deep raid back to their homeworld to grab relics and caches they were forced to hide during Hegira from homeworlds. That's where campaign ended. Us jumping into Kurita and Ghost Bear territory to move north to homeworlds.

I love the Thunderbolt, my favorite variants are the Eridani Light Horse ones with jump jets. Put one of those in a lance with a Grasshopper, Wolverine, and Catapult and you have a lance that is really slippery, even if it is kind of slow, and hard to kill.

Thanks for covering my favorite 'mech ever. You did a great job with it.

13 tons of armor plus Rugged 2 plus Ubiquitous makes the Thunderbolt a war-winner. People really underestimate the strategic power of being able to get your busted Mech repaired and back in the fight faster and cheaper than the other side.

always liked this in MW5, it just covers everything you need in that game for an AI lancemate's weapons loadout so you can play what you want (except for speed, but thats what a flea is for). Although since infantry isn't a thing I usually pull out the srm 2 for extra heatsinks so it can have some cooling on anything but the tundra map

The 9SE is my go to for the Thunderbolt. I personally hate machine guns on my mechs so this variant dropping them speaks to me. Also the large pulse laser is just fun.

I have never loved the LOOK of the Thunderbolt, But I love the AFFECT of the Thunderbolt.

Ah yes, my overall favorite mech ever since I saw it on the cover of one of the old rulebooks. ☺

I haven't run many of the fancier Tbolts yet, but for introtech play the 5SS is my go-to variant. More armor than most other heavies and even some assaults of the era, trades out the lrms and LL for a PPC, upgrades the SRM to a 6, enough heat sinks to play with the curve if you're smart about it, and it does the smart design choice of dropping the machine guns for a flamer so it still has anti-infantry and utility.

The TDR-9SE is my favorite version of this already excellent battlemech

Why? Why Not? It's a solid mech.

Love the thunderbolt. Classically tough. Played out of the game of armored combat starter for my first game and this thing refused to die. Frequent lancemate from then on. All that being said I've still had one die in one hit lol

5-SE for da win during 3025ish. Less ammo, less heat - less explodable - jumpy :D - same kind of ranges as Grasshopper - almost same blow-up fun - just cheaper and better. Thanks for this vid. Fun fun fun.

Earlier this year I used one in my first game. My dad and I each had one and a phoenix hawk. It's super solid starting mech and very fun to play. Shame I *always* lose mine to srm ammo explosions lol

The original artwork made this guy look too goofy for me to consider it. However, having fought it countless of times in the Battletech video game made me reconsider. This Mech is as tough as they come and heavily armed at that. You can even fight assaults with it. It's my favorite IS heavy mech, especially pre Clan Invasion but even beyond. If you get me to choose between a T-Bolt and a Warhammer or Marauder, I'll take this baby.

Why do we love the T-bolt? It's a Battlemaster on a diet, so it makes loadmasters happy when loading the dropship, but it keeps you alive. But the biggest thing is the lore- one of the roomiest cockpits. No more sharing a neurohelmet with your kneecaps like a Stinger. The Thunderbolt is an awesome trooper mech- it does everything good enough, it's a grunt. There are specialists, and T-bolt and other trooper mechs support them, and need them.

First mech i ever ran ( 3rd edition box set) Still one of my go to mechs when force building.

The workhorse mech to end all workhorses; a Heavy Mech that knows what it wants to do, and does it well enough right out of the factory. Definitely one of my favorite heavies from a pure procurement standpoint, no matter the era, and there aren't many mechs I can say that about in the setting. While the Marauder and Warhammer both vie for the title of "The first all-range, all-purpose heavy mech", the Thunderbolt is actually older than both of them and by all accounts, is that mech, lacking really nothing but being specialized in naught all the same. (and being the poster child of the recurring tragedy of Capellans making much better mechs than they do their own society) In fact, the only thing the Stock Thunderbolt lacks in its "try everything at least once" approach are jump jets, but later variants offer those too. This thing is ripe for modification, moreso than arguably any other pre-Clan Heavy mech in existence. If you're an irregular unit with an itch to try a Bad Idea(tm), the Thunderbolt is your best option 9 times out of 10 because in the worst case scenario, it's bloody EVERYWHERE. Even if ideas could be made tangible, there would still be more spare parts for Thunderbolts in the Inner Sphere than civil liberties. There is no one "go-to" build for me when it comes to Thunderbolts in any of the BT-setting games because by the time I get one (usually my first heavy mech) it's always a "what do I have on hand, and what do I really need right now" sort of thing. For a Mechwarrior 5 build (YAML), and sticking to the core "philosophy" established by the TDR-5S: -2x MML-7s with four tons of ammo -1x Snub-Nose PPC (right arm) -1x Heavy Machinegun Array x4 (Left Arm) -3x ER-Flamers OR 3x Medium-Pulse-Lasers in the torso depending on what the mission demands Internals: Generally, I try to avoid XL-Engines on my Thunderbolts because a big part of the mech's usefulness is its low cost of repair and high durability, but I will use them if necessary to fit gear so long as the armor is maxed (and why the hell wouldn't I max it at all times?) When I get my pick of tech, I prefer Light Engines and Endo Steel to free up weight and DHS since every TDR is going to run engines above 250 rating anyway (the stock is 260, FFS) so there's no real drawback until you start really cramming for cooling. After the weapons and armor are sorted, I will try to fit a Supercharger and two Jump Jets on every mech that will accept them for getting around some of the more annoying ground hazards. After that, I prioritize LAMS or ECM if it's available to give it adequate long range protection. (bulky mechs catch a lot of LRMs) For Succession War era fits, few things are as terrifying up close as a TDR-5S with twin Inferno-SRM 6s since it has more than enough direct-fire death to quickly bore holes through cockpits once the enemy mech is overheated. Once Double Heatsinks become ubiquitous again, Pulse Lasers and Streak-SRMs are my go-tos, with the occasional LBX-5 or 10 variant as parts availability permits. Later-era tech sees a lot more variety in ballistics based builds courtesy of RACs, LAC/5s and MG-Arrays. About the only thing I don't load onto my Thunderbolts is Gauss tech, but it's not out of the realm of possibility. I just don't prefer putting these weapons into Thunderbolts when other mechs make better use of them...though I wouldn't really blame anyone for using them anyway for reasons I've already covered before.

The Thunderbolt is not the 'mech I would say is my favorite ... but it is always there. Always. And it has become a favorite over time. My personal favorite, the one that keeps showing up in my lance, is similar to the C2 variant ... but not exactly the same. 🙂

A true classic. Sure it can run hot, but it can take a lot of abuse while it cools before you redline it again. Edit: the 17S still says 10S on the slide.

Your Battletech stories are amazing! There is a criminal lack of Mechwarrior audiobooks on KZfaq, so your channel has been a gold mine for me. I very much appreciate it. You legend 😁

Old does not mean bad, once you equip double heat sinks as a field refit the mech really becomes a lot more capable. While not a personal favorite, I do take this mech into battle on a semi-regular basis. I like the Clan refit variant, as well as the ECM equipped unit, but rarely get to use them. I will happily try out the MF version given a chance as it looks both interesting and capable.

The Thunderbolt has a variant of Thunderbolt missiles but the other weapons trade off brings it down with 12 double heatsinks. It's the TDR-12R and all I'd do is drop the three Small Variable Speed Pulse Lasers and use it's six tons for 3 double heatsinks and ammo split between it's Plasma Rifle, Clan LRM 15, and Thundrbolt 5's. Only thing that isn't ammo dependent is the two regular medium lasers. The heat issues for it isn't easy to handle and personally I don't think it could ever have enough ammo for any of it's weapons, but what you get is slow but steady Thunderbolt that shoots two Thunderbolt 5's!

Thunderbolt is 'Mech equivalent of main battle tank and thus I call it main BattleMech. Orion is another main BattleMech, but Thunderbolt is less ammo dependent and keeps going strong even after all the ammo are spent. These qualities makes Thunderbolt my most favoured BattleMech.

Tbolts, I love you. The -SE variants are always my favorites, cuz I'm addicted to jump jets. While I like the functionality of the -MF variant you made, it doesn't feel like a "true" tbolt. I feel like I'm order to be considered a tbolt it needs to have a primary weapon on the right arm, a missile launcher on the left torso, and three medium lasers in the left torso. Everything else is negotiable.

I'm patiently waiting for the Panther!

First time I played BT was with a TDR-5S. Had a locust crit my CT and caused death by ammo explosion. It was great night.

First mech I actually ever painted. Truly a staple in most lances I make in battletech classic

That C2 is a MONSTER

Love my T-Bag, my first game it just WOULD ... NOT ... DIE. Finished the game with a single point of CT internal structure, 1 leg and one torso. It never stopped firing and taught me heat management isba thing real quick.

The Thunderbolt is a mech that's hard to improve on. Anything a pilot could object to in the stock 5S is almost certain to be addressed across several of its many variants. So, for my variant I decided to just double down on the Thunderbolt's role as a heavy trooper, going for a reinforced structure and clan-grade weapons to save the necessary weight. I love almost everything about the Thunderbolt. It's simple, cheap, and tough. Just looking at the model tells you everything you need to know about how to use it. Probably my favorite Inner Sphere heavy, and the archetypical frontline heavy mech in my opinion.

I love the -5SE, the Succession Wars JJ variant, but mainly just because Eridani Light Horse. :)

Just switching to double heat sinks greatly improves the T-Bolt.

It is a great training mech for new players. It teaches them early to hate TAC and CT stored ammo.

First battlemech I ever played, way back in the large maps on the table and dice rolling days. A well rounded, tough mech, with superb armor coverage. It has a reasonable punch too--a solid and reliable all rounder.

I do like the Thunderbolt TDR-5SS for Succession War era games, it's more or less a 65 ton Battlemaster. For the Civil War era, my friends love the TDR-10SE as it has a little bit of everything but I really enjoy TDR-7SE as a simple but effective Gauss platform. As for fun lore; The Tempest was first introduced in 3055 by Iran Battlemechs Unlimited as a replacement for the FWL aging Thunderbolts, going as far lobbying FWS officials to end further production of the ancient Thunderbolt. A legal battle stated between Earthwork Inc and IBW when the WoB stepped in and proposed a duel between the Thunderbolt TDR-9M and the Tempest TMP-3M to determiner who would retain the contract. The Thunderbolt won, proving itself again as one of the better heavy mechs among it's peers.

Easily in my top 5 IS heavies. Great mech. The Eridani Light Horse variant is solid too.

I gotta say i enjoy these proper early clan invasion era mech vids best :-) these are the goats of battletech and the new mechs are just balancing on the shoulders of kings :-) love the thunderbolt such an awesome soldier mech that does it all :-) used often and am never let down :-)

I feel the Thunderbolt bullies the Shadow Hawk often, but when it comes down to it they got each other's back.

Thank you so much for the work you put into this video, it was great and I loved it! As I’ve said before the Hatchetman is my favorite mech but the Thunderbolt is a very close second. My first ever Mechwarrior rpg campaign had me piloting a T-Bolt and I fell in love, it also taught me how important the Rugged Quirk is on mechs and now that’s something I always look for in a mech. I love the Thud and I’ll take a captured Thunderbolt C or C 2 up against any mech in any era including Omni mechs. It’s just that good. Also all the variants means that you can play it tons of different ways in tons of games without it getting old. My spare Thunderbolt mini almost always comes with me when I go to the game shop on the off chance of finding a pick up Battletech game.

The Thunderbolt is the glue guy. He's good, but he is what let's the superstar shine..

I know you don't actually mean it when you're self-deprecating, but the MF variants are super helpful for helping describe the Flavor of a mech even when changing the details. I'd buy an MF Tech Readout. I would absolutely pronounce MF as the other one, not Mechanical Frog....

The thunderbolt belongs on some box art man. I mean, c'mon its got lasers AND missiles. I also know that its an excellent starter mech in the vidya games for teaching the new hires the basic mechanics without immediately dying

Great video! I really enjoyed the Thunderbolt video. Looking forward to more videos.

I love this Mech, imho it is one of the best Heavies that has a great price to effectiveness ratios.

Never mind the Warhammer or the Madcat, the Thunderbolt is the poster child for Battletech.

Believe it or not-the Thunderbolt was NOT one of the original mechs. The Thunderbolt, Battlemaster, Wolverine, and Locust were added later for ( IIRC) second edition. The Mackie was actually mentioned before they were as it was in Tales of the Black Widow which predates second edition. ( Though only 2 were known to be left at that point) Around that time a mini for the Behemoth was available but no Mackie- leading to questions that weren't answered for decades. Soon after a mini for the Longbow came out with no artwork and the only way to get stats was from the Sorenson's Sabres Scenario pack. Keep in mind this was before the internet. That means that in game stores there were multiple mechs with minis that nobody recognized and couldn't find stats for! By the time this was mostly sorted out BAM! Everything was UNSEEN. Honestly it's amazing this universe has survived long enough to thrive! The T-Bolt is a great mech for most people. They explode a lot for me except for the TDR-5SS.

The thunderbolt may not be a flashy or terrifying mech in terms of individual weapons but it’s a solid performer round after round. 10/10 giving the MF version a go. Best part of Battletech for me was that even the oldest unit or the under dog is always dangerous. Honestly the thunderbolt is one of those mechs you look at and say looks really nice. Definitely a good training or newbie mech as it has a little bit of everything. I’ll have to come up with a MF-C version as I’ve been on the clan tech diet via megamek campaign. Clan sea Fox funded merc unit for the win.