Try running the campaign by going to every priotity mission as it comes up (though with clearing the current planet of contracts before leaving.
My lance at the end of the main campaign that I'm about to take in to the Heavy Metal mini campaign:
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This is more fun as you end up fighting with what you can get your hands on, and anything that means you need to run a second string 'mech means a more interesting fight until your primary lance is back at full strength.
Primary Lance ready for battle:
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You end up with a by no means all 10s company, and this lance is a seemingly light 280 tons. It's nothing short of lethal though. Now to see how the Heavy Metal campaign evolves this lance.
So this lance took on a 5 skull mission, straight battle against 2 lances. Both lances were 80ton assault, 3 heavies. Terrain was favourable so I could largely kill the first lance before the second got nearer than LRM range. The Phoenix Hawk is worth more than twice it's weight in terms of the shots wasted firing at it. Only took one lucky headshot against Dekker (of course) in the Pheonix Hawk, and no structural damage in the lance. This lance would struggle more (but still win I think) in a straight up standing fight with more assaults in the enemy lances, but would still be fine against a single full assault lance.