Additionally, the OmniMech customization restrictions (described in more detail on pages 47-57 of
TechManual) could make for a good way for balancing the OmniMechs (both those used by the Clans, and those eventually developed and deployed by the IS) against their non-OmniTech counterparts.
The short version of the canonical OmniMech restrictions is:
- An OmniMech's internal structure type (standard, endo-steel, etc) and location/distribution of criticals cannot be changed.
- An OmniMech's engine type (standard, XL, etc), rating (250, 300, etc), and location/distribution of criticals cannot be changed.
- An OmniMech's armor type (standard, FF, etc), amount (total tonnage/number of armor points), distribution (how much armor is where), and location/distribution of criticals cannot be changed.
- The locations and types for the cockpit and gyro may not be changed.
- The presence and location(s) of MASC and TSM cannot be changed; neither may be added to an OmniMech that wasn't originally built with it, and neither can be moved into a set of criticals other than what they originally occupied (for example, it may not be moved from the Left-Torso to the Right-Torso).
- The type of heat sinks (standard, DHS, etc) that are equipped on an OmniMech cannot be changed.
- Weapons and other pieces of equipment, additional Heat Sinks, Jump Jets, and other items may have been built-into the OmniMech as hard-wired "fixed items". Examples of such fixed components include the Flamer on the Adder/"Puma" (mounted in the Center-Torso), the Medium Lasers on the Avatar (mounted in the Center-Torso), and five of the Jump Jets on the Summoner/"Thor" (one mounted in the Center-Torso, the other four filling the legs). Such "fixed items" may not be either moved to another location on the OmniMech nor completely removed from said OmniMech.
The above restrictions are a large part of what keeps each OmniMech unique in spite of their relatively flexible weapon and pod-mounted equpment loads (e.g. why a
Blood Asp might be used in place of a
Kingfisher and vice versa, as well as why the former exists in the first place despite being predated by the latter by 172 years in-universe, and why OmniMechs of the same tonnage can exist without just being "X-ton gunbags with different skins").
Per the reasons above, PGI
should lock down all of the hard-wired aspects of the OmniMechs (engine, structure, armor, fixed weapons/equipment, etc), as that is what determines the tonnage and distribution of pod space and allows for even same-tonnage OmniMechs (e.g.
Fenris vs
Shadow Cat - both 45-ton Clan OmniMechs) to remain substantially different.
Fenris, base OmniMech: 9.5 tons of pod space, ~30 open criticals
HD: x1 Endo-Steel, no open slots
CT: x1 Endo-Steel, x1 open slot
LT: XL Engine (x2 criticals), x1 Endo-Steel, x2 Ferro-Fibrous, x7 open slots
RT: XL Engine (x2 criticals), x1 Endo-Steel, x2 Ferro-Fibrous, x7 open slots
LA: x1 Ferro-Fibrous, x8-9 open slots [hands and LAAs are OmniPods and might be removed per configuration]
RA: x1 Ferro-Fibrous, x7-9 open slots [hands and LAAs are OmniPods and might be removed per configuration]
LL: x2 Endo-Steel, no open slots
RL: x2 Endo-Steel, no open slots
Shadow Cat, base OmniMech: 17 tons of pod space, ~22 open criticals
HD: x1 Endo-Steel, no open slots
CT: MASC (x2 criticals), no open slots
LT: XL Engine (x2 criticals), x1 Jump Jet, x1 Endo-Steel, x3 Ferro-Fibrous, x5 open slots
RT: XL Engine (x2 criticals), x1 Jump Jet, x1 Endo-Steel, x4 Ferro-Fibrous, x4 open slots
LA: x2 Endo-Steel, x7-8 open slots [hands and LAAs are OmniPods and might be removed per configuration]
RA: x2 Endo-Steel, x6-8 open slots [hands and LAAs are OmniPods and might be removed per configuration]
LL: x2 Jump Jets, no open slots
RL: x2 Jump Jets, no open slots
With that, there would be loadouts on one OmniMech of a given weight that generally could not be duplicated easily or exactly (if at all) on another OmniMech of the same weight.
In exchange, each open critical slot could be a non-type-specific hardpoint, or each configuration (that is, "variant") could be assigned a number of non-type-specific hardpoints (based on its initial loadout).
This would allow PGI to implement multiple OmniMechs of the same weight while also keeping them relatively unique (so that there is a reason to take "OmniMech X" over "OmniMech Y" beyond "best geometry/hitboxes").
Thoughts?