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The Hunch IIC, at 50 tons, when stripped of all equipment including DHS and JJs, while also maxed of armour, gets a nice 27.5 tons of pod space.
Upgrading to Ferro gives you 29 tons, then stripping both arms completely and a few extra points, lets you take an impressive 31 tons of pod space on a 50 ton robot.
That's with full torso armour, 2B and 2E hardpoints. Other variants will likely be a missile and laser focused, to replace the quad HERLL+2MPL IIC2 laser boat and the ATM36 IIC3.
That's with the stock 200XL engine, which means the same agility as a PeaceDove and moving at 71Kph.
The early art suggests...perfect Dual Gauss Med.
It has the space for Dual Gauss (or any pair of 12 ton Ballistic) with 7 free tons with that slow engine, and Gauss rifles won't care about lacking TrueDubs.
As a superior Battlemech, it will be able to change structure and engine.
Restrictions on those haven't been made clear...so I'll go with TT rules for now; they offer some restrictions while also offering plenty of choice. Also be a clear difference to IS robots and Clams alike.
Next engine up using those rules is a 250, same as the Nova (or Timby) for agility, while retaining the same armour stripping as above, can have 28 tons of pod space, and 10 TrueDubs.
UAC10s are the largest pair of ballistics you should take at this point, 5.5 tons of ammo, 1 JJ, 2 ERMLs sort of thing. Or, one large ballistic, ERLLs or MPLs, but that leaves a fair bit of pod space left; 2 CT E hardpoints prevents a pair of LPLs on the IIC, while the IIC2 should have plenty of space for lazors.
Next step up would be the 300XL, costing another 3 tons, bringing the total to 25 tons while running 107 Kph (Cute Fox agility...Crow is still better because dem 25% quirks).
The normal IIC probably shouldn't go this route, but a single large ballistic still works, and the energy boat gains the extra 4 slots because 2 engine slots for DHS.
A striker build with UAC20, 6 tons of ammo, 2 MPLs and 2 DHS, with a TC1 to help things along could work.
I don't imagine these will get hardpoint inflation; PGI will be creating the other two Hunches, and one has 6 E hardpoints, while the other has 3M 2E stock.
Lack of quirks and lack of hardpoints...still make this a pretty fearsome thing at a glance. Even Assault level agility isn't that significant, as it can at least stick with the group, unlike a Whale.
Dual Gauss will be fairly fragile, as the 5 HP Gauss will explode as soon as it's exposed...but a 50 ton effective Dual Gauss mech, that doesn't strip important parts, is pretty big.
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