Mechwarrior Buddah, on 18 November 2014 - 06:08 PM, said:
When has IGP ever given two ***** about the lore/? We have Battlemechs more versatile than Omnis ffs
If you want to talk about Lore then conventional Battlemechs have been more customizable than Omnis, always. Each conventional Battlemech doesn't need to concern itself about fitting standardized, modular parts, one Victor doesn't need to worry about the weapon another Victor carries. Like a car a conventional Battlemech can be stripped down and modified in almost any way. The reasons for Factory Variants is ensuring the units fit tactical dogma for the faction as well as enabling reliable supply lines, modifying conventional battlemechs takes additional time so it would have only been common practice when the unit needed extensive repairs, when they were lacking the proper parts, and when they couldn't afford to turn the unit into spare parts or have it out of commission.
Remember that many mechs that are lacking the ability to be produced in the Inner Sphere are still on the field and have been on the fields of war for hundreds of years of Succession Wars.
Omni's are an entirely different design though. An Omni-mech does need to care about the weapons other Omni-mechs are using. The PPC you put into a Warhawk needs to fit into a Timberwolf without modifying the weapon at all. Omni-pods are the USB of weapon design and mounting. This means that the mech has to have the conduits in place to support any possible weapon that could fit into it's pod space, it has to provide power and ammo to support ballistic weapons, energy weapons or missile weapons. This is why the engine and structure of an Omni-mech cannot be modified as everything was designed around the ability to mount and use Omni-pods, changing the structure would interfere with that. The reason why armor couldn't be modified is due to a number of hookups and interfaces on the armor itself for support elements like Elementals.
Giving an Omni-mech the same treatment as a conventional Battlemech would remove it's ability to properly use Omni-Pods, turning it into a conventional Battlemech. While a conventional Battlemech can be more thoroughly altered doing so takes significant time, the pod space of an Omni-mech can be changed and customized within the time frame of a regular repair and maintenance session. Meaning that a small number of Omni-mechs with the proper support structure could be tailored to fit any battlefield, situation or strategy, a level of flexibility that would require exponentially more conventional Battlemechs to achieve and is something one could argue that the Great Houses of the Inner Sphere don't even have. This flexibility is why Omni-mechs are found in Clan Frontline Units, it ensures that they will not be limited in the forces they could field or be forced to field units that were at a disadvantage due to the previously mentioned factors.
So complaining that PGI or IGP didn't follow Lore is complaining that there wasn't a significant time lockout after repairs and refits of Inner Sphere mechs. Which should go without saying is a really bad idea in a Free To play Real Time Multiplayer Environment. If you need to find out personally then go take a look at game analysis of the Cow Clicker genre on mobile or play a game like Infestation: Survivor Stories on PC.
What PGI has done is attributed the Omni-Pod system to being able to swap about hardpoints when hardpoints are the limiting factor in Inner Sphere customization. So a compromise that fits the reasons of Lore, avoids bad game design decisions and also ensures differences between Omni-mechs and conventional Battlemechs.
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