(Commentary/Gripe) Scythers are (literally) indefensible

[Boboid]

I always get the impression when complaints about scythers pop up that people aren't taking advantage of the new Stopping Power mechanic. It's very effective for kiting.

Scythers only move at 4.8 which is only marginally faster than an unencumbered colonist at 4.61.
Anyone with a bionic leg can simply outrun scythers.
Even someone in power armor with a bionic leg moves marginally faster at 4.84
Squirrels are actually faster


Revolvers followed by Pump Action shotguns have the shortest firing cycles and can very effectively slow scythers to a crawl. They're not the most effective damage dealers as the armor penetration on both is reasonably low but since all you really need is for the scythers to be slower they work just fine.
It doesn't really matter how many shots they shrug off so long as they don't actually touch you.. and stopping power can provide that. Especially combined with emp.
Charge lances of your own are worth considering as well - Fairly long firing cycles so you have to be a bit careful with positioning but they've got stopping power and excellent armor penetration. A charge lance shot to the leg of a scyther will halve its move speed even before factoring in stopping power.
Bolt-action rifles of course are the best of both worlds - Faster firing cycles than charge lances, better armor penetration and range than shotguns and revolvers while still having the stopping power required.
Lmgs can be used too although I find them to be quite inaccurate. Maybe if you're firing into a large crowd but *shrug* can give it a whirl.

Mostly though you just don't want scythers to be able to touch you and well.. that's just not very hard if you're willing to let them do a bit of damage to whatever structures you happen to have around where they land.
If they're running at you from a map edge then there's a fair chance you can use critical mass to simply gib them as they run in - Autocannons will blow them to bits.

It sucks to have them land in your kitchen but.. if you can move pawns out of that room what is there that they can really destroy? A stove and some doors? A lamp?
It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking you have to prevent every enemy from doing any damage to your base but.. strictly speaking it's often the correct call to let them do some damage while you engage them piecemeal and in ideal scenarios.

As for Lancers.. well shield belts and melee are a pretty hard counter to them. They're very fragile and not much of a threat when you close in on them. They're actually faster than Scythers at 5.00 but they won't attempt to flee from you and their speed can be leveraged against them as they'll follow your colonists around corners.

Exchanging fire with them can be dangerous but *shrug* often it's optional. Mechs aren't tactical geniuses.
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All of this is not to say that scythers and lancers aren't dangerous in their own ways - and if they catch you unprepared or they're engaged in a scrappy manner they've got very volatile weapons that have a fairly high chance of murdering your pawns.

I've certainly experienced the "oh god that's a scyther and I'm not prepared for this" and had someone's leg immediately lopped off.
And the always classic "Oh god that's a charge lance and there's no way to break line of sight" only to have it dome someone.
And in large, mixed groups it can be hard to separate out the two kinds. It's manageable in my experience though.
It does suck but ultimately the best course of action with both types of light mechs is to not let them even attempt to do what they're best at in the first place.