Strum Wealh, on 29 January 2014 - 08:06 AM, said:
The
SPR-4F is extinct by 3050 (outside of
rumors of McCarron's Armored Calvary having a few) & would require implementing both the
Chameleon Light Polarization Shield (
Phantom Crash style optic camouflage) and the
Null Signature System (renders the unit invisible to IR/thermal, plus pre-adjustment ECM effects) - both of which are perma-LosTech.
The
SPR-5F doesn't come into being until 3053, the
SPR-5S does not come into being until 3067, and the
SPR-ST does not come into being until 3068.
Given what we know of PGI's 'Mech/equipment selection process, the likelihood of it being the
Spector is so small as to be effectively non-existent.
While the
UrbanMech has the requisite number of extant variants (UM-R60, UM-R60L, UM-R50, UM-R63), the upcoming Light is arguably more likely to be something that doesn't require overhauling the game's Engine system (as the UMs would all come with a STD 60 Engine, which gives them an upper limit of 85 on their Engine ratings (60 * 1.4 = 84, round to nearest multiple of 5); Engines with ratings below 100 don't work within PGI's current Engine/Cockpit/Gyro integration implementation) - each of the
Hermes,
Javelin, and
Mongoose has the requisite number of distinct timeline-appropriate variants, can be implemented with the equipment currently in-game, and appears in the armies of each Successor State since 3028 (per the
faction tables).
- Hermes (HER-1S, HER-1A, HER-3S/3S1/3S2)
- Javelin (JVN-10N, JVN-10F, JVN-10P)
- Mongoose (MON-66, MON-70, MON-67, MON-68)
Honorable mention also goes to the
Thorn (THE-N, THE-S, THE-T) -it's not as common in-universe as the others, but it does meet all of the other criteria.
For the
35-ton bracket (in keeping with the thread title), it would have to be the
Firestarter or the
Wolfhound (since it apparently cannot be the
Panther) - everything else of that tonnage is already in-game (
Jenner,
Raven), Unseen, Clan-built, out-of-timeline, or doesn't have enough variants.
We already have the stealth-armored invisible headhunter mech, anyway - Atlas D-DC.
The Wolfhound is very shy on variants, and those it does have mainly distinguish themselves by shifting lasers from rear to front arcs. There isn't much to work with there. It's a shame the Panther isn't available (for unknown reasons), since it's a very iconic Succession Wars light mech, and could reasonably produce three variants from the PNT-9R, PNT-8Z, and PNT-10K2 with just a little hardpoint inflation.
I like the Hermes except for the MASC issue - if the Flea can't come in, I don't see how the Hermes can. Same issue for the Mercury.
The Thorn might be viable... though differentiating between variants could be tricky. The THE-N, THE-S, and THE-T are essentially identical except for tech level and swapping one LRM for an SRM. As nothing in their weight class has more than five hardoints total, it could be hard to spin those into anything distinct. The THE-Nb would be cool, but PGI has avoided using any SLDF Royal units thus far, plus it uses MASC. The THE-S1 would be a nice option, but it's faction-limited to Comstar and doesn't debut until Tukayyid, making it unlikely to appear.
I like the Javelin a lot as a light striker and recon unit, but it's another one that would be hard to create variants for. The -10N and -10P are pretty much identical for weapon type/location (only side torso missile slots), making them difficult to differentiate even through hardpoint inflation. The -11A and -11B could potentially solve that problem, with the -11B carrying an ECM slot at the cost of some missile hardpoints and the -11A losing some module slots and maybe taking some negative variant quirks as a tradeoff for its mini-Swayback arrays of energy weapons. I'm not sure that either is actually into production at this point in the timeline, though.
The Firestarter is another mech I'm very fond of, but variants are a bit of a problem again. The FS9-H variant has by far the best selection of hardpoints (2E in each arm, 2E CT, 1B each side torso). The -M variant just drops hardpoints for armor, which isn't very beneficial as a variant. The -A is distinct for replacing the ballistics with two more energy weapons, but the -K is another all-energy variant with fewer hardpoints, which isn't terribly attractive unless it gets a buff elsewhere. The -S1 and -C variants could potentially be unique for including ECM and a missile hardpoint, respectively, though I'm not sure they fit within the timeline.
Edited by Solis Obscuri, 29 January 2014 - 01:33 PM.
8
. I'm worried about nothing - bring on the trash can on!!!
