I loved the fire starter as well, but they are not comparabel. Sounds strange, but the speed of the Spider and the missing JJs result in a big different playstyle.
- Firstarter is hot most of the time when action starts because of JJ (at least with my playstyle), while the Spider is always cool.
- Because of the „small“ range of the Firestarter, the spots where he could be placed is given most of the time (to have a good angel, beeing in forest and in range, and to have chevrons, while not overheating). The Spider has full chevrons after 2/3 of it‘s movement and the range is so generous that you are much more flexible, even that you don‘t have JJ‘s. Backstabbing and hitting with the ERSLas is pretty easy without having to look for the heat.
- Because of the generous range you dont have to be afraid that the opfor gets the idea to smash his fist through your reactor. You can easyly close in until you are in your charge range (meaning you are still far away). I charge everything from Firestarter to Banshee without trouble (and with high end gear the Spider is a fearsom clsecombatant)
If you have the gear and pilot try to get one. It is a lot of fun and a great spotter for extreme range lance mates.
I removed mine from the „First mech to pick for every mission“-list with the newer double heat sink SL PHawk with double Snub, but thats another story. The Spider still is in my heart =]