The Birdeater, on 16 February 2013 - 08:11 PM, said:
The
Shadow Cat isn't on the TRO 3050 list and wasn't used during the first years of the Clan Invasion. You wanna run an 45 ton Omni? Take the
Ice Ferret! It's a good choice.
Norris J Packard, on 16 February 2013 - 08:36 PM, said:
Shouldn't matter. It's introduction date falls within the timeline and it fits the faction.
So far if a Mech has enough variants, falls within the timeline, and fits the faction, it hasn't been excluded.
It isn't stuck in this ambiguous faction grey area like the Annihilator or the Imp.
It could (and likely does) matter, though - it's
explicitly stated that while the
Shadow Cat (the primary, A, and B configurations) may have been around
since 3003, it was not seen at all by IS forces until
the (first) Battle of Luthien in January of
3052.
Likewise, the
Cauldron-Born (the primary, A, B, and C configurations) has been in existence with the Clans
since 3049, but it too was never seen by the IS until the (first) Battle of Luthien in 3052.
From a content standpoint, It makes sense for PGI to get through all of the "front-runners" (the
original 16 OmniMechs used in the opening waves of the Clan Invasion) before getting to "second-stringers" (like the
Shadow Cat and
Cauldron-Born) in their due time (which also allows them to keep up the drip-feed of new content over time).