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Brody319, on 26 February 2015 - 04:24 PM, said:
people go by the TRO 3050 because they want to keep some chassis **** despite how many times we have broken the lore by giving every chassis endo, and double heat sinks.
Customizing, rebuilding Battlemechs with alternate structural components is supported by canon, though it is rare.
Usually mechs are customized either because it is necessary (lack of proper replacement parts, etc.) or to test out new components (eg, a Hunchback carrying a prototype Gauss Rifle). More rarely, they're customized because their owners want to outfit their mechs in a way that suits them better.
It is practically never done* for the Omnimechs though, because that is largely pointless, not to mention wasteful as it most likely ruins the Omnimechs unique capability of adapting to new weapon loads. You just swap the equipment pods and you have essentially new mech. Configurations might not better at what they do than a dedicated mech... but if you don't have a dedicated mech, you can have something to approximate that.
Omnimech's still have roles, despite being flexible and generalists at a glance. The Summoner is essentially meant to be a raider and skirmisher. The Mist Lynx is a scout and harasser platform. The Nova is meant for combined arms operations (assumption, as it is a Hell's Horses design, very good at hunting Battle Armor in its prime configuration). They're supposed to be loaded with equipment suiting those roles.
A problem with MWO's Omnimechs is that that they either do not have enough customization options (eg the Summoner. It's pod choices are pretty anemic as it cannot carry many lighter weapons that would suit its pod-space well enough), or do not have good role because the game lacks the planned Role Warfare (eg the Mist Lynx, which is supposed to be a scout and a harasser, roles that barely work in MWO. The Active Probe is ideal for those... expect it is rather questionable in MWO at times (not that one freed ton would help the design any in MWO really). (Not to mention the fact some mechs are better no matter how you try to spin things. Of course, this is the case in Battletech tabletop game and canon as well.)
Another problem is that customizing standard Battlemechs has no drawbacks whatsoever beyond the cost. Not that limits to this would make for a good game.
*The only case where an Omni-unit was modified i can think of is the Bolla Stealth Tank. While it was made by the World of Blake originally, the Republic of the Sphere introduced an altered version of it (note, this is factory-manufactured variant, not a refit) to get rid of equipment only the WoB used.
There may be variants of The Society's Omnimech's in the future, as those contain parts no Clan will allow using though the designs themselves are usable.
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