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[Dark Shaman of Clan Ghost Bear]

Engineering Tree and Hardpoint Restrictions

Currently it is far too easy and very unrestrictive for players to create all manner of Boats in Mechwarrior Online. As long as a Mech has an open slot for an Energy Weapon a player can slap in as many PPCs as they can and become a one-hit wonder instantly.

Battlemechs are designed to have a range of weapons at their disposal. Designed for prolonged combat, damage sustainability, and combat flexibility. If mechs were able to handle 6 ER PPCs or 8 LRM 20s. don't you think every Mech in the game universe would be maxed out already with 'the flavor of the month' weapon?

Our Hardpoint system needs a little more restriction. I know 'restriction' sounds harsh, so instead lets use the word 'clarification'.
Our little Spider Mech has a Hardpoint slot for ENERGY WEAPON. Is it really able to, by design, support an ER PPC? The little guy would probably topple over if you tried it.
Lets change the description of ENERGY WEAPON for something else. Lets clarify it as MEDIUM LASER/SMALL LASER/FLAMER/TAG instead. This gives you weapon layout options, without opening up this Mech design for exploitation and overbalancing.

Some players will still like to put an ER PPC on this little Spider. Is there still a way to do so? Sure there could be!
Lets implement an Engineering Tree for each Mech type/variant. You would still have to earn Mech XP to do so, but you could earn up to 3 Tiers of Hardpoint Changes for your Mech.
The high cost of earned Mech XP, and time to earn it, and limitations on how many Hardpoints you can actually change, will balance any Boating options a Player would like to create.

Using a variety of weapons, changing weapon groups, and finding synergy with your weapon groups is how Battletech/Mechwarrior was MEANT TO BE PLAYED. Walking around with 4 Gauss Rifles on a Medium Mech which was originally designed to carry Flamers and Machine Guns isn't.

[PanzerMagier]

Yes yes and yes.

I've always enjoyed the idea that we need pilot exp upgrades on chassis specific mechs.

EX:

~ mastering a hunch will allow you to add more armour on the "hunch" at the cost of more weight (Extra armour above the limit requires twice as much weight as regular armour)

~ Elite'ng a catapult will allow you to increase the missiles per pod.

~ Mastering an awesome will reduce a certain amount generated by laser weapons equipped on the awesome.

~ Eliting an atlas will allow you to swap the sides where the barrel/missile points are.

All these chassis specific quirks can help balance the game and bring some more love and value to less used mechs.