Odanan, on 20 October 2016 - 06:23 PM, said:
What about the "Keep it simple"? I find the simpler solution the more elegant...
2 sizes of hardpoints (large and small) would be easy to comprehend and would give enough diversity to the variants (while keeping them closer to the lore).
Just Large and Small is better than S/M/L, but then you still have Small Ballistic, Large Ballistic, Small Energy, Large Energy, Small Missile and Large Missile (6 categories), with the 'standard, you add Medium Missile, Medium Energy, Medium Ballistic (9 categories). Every weapon needs a determination of what makes it Small / Large (and some will be slots and weight, others will be role, etc, and that will vary between Ballistic / Missile / Energy).
This would mean the Atlas D would have something along the lines of:
1 Small Energy
1 Large Ballistic (possibly 2, due to the HP inflation it has)
2 Small Energy
1 Large Missile, 1 Small Missile
1 Small Energy
The Mass System is simple and robust.
A simple equation determines Mass - Roundup((Slots+Tons)/4,0), and this is a straight forward metric for all weapons.
Then it's just Energy #, Ballistic # and Missile #.
So the Atlas with this system would be:
Energy M1
Ballistic M6
Energy M2
Missile M6
Energy M1
And that's just the Atlas.
Something with a larger variety of stock weapons, it becomes even more apparent, as rather than multiple different sized Hardpoints and weapons, it's a simple number rating for each.