<S> My thoughts on this.
It's not going to be a clan 'mech in my estimation. I wouldn't expect anything clan related till after the first of the year.
It's also not going to be an Unseen. As has been stated, there's just too much room for legal issues. Hopefully they can find a work-around for this as I'd love to see all of the unseen make a triumphant return, but at this point I'm skeptical at best on that end.
It's going to be an assault (in keeping with the current revealed 'mechs, and the noted gap in the assault weight class.)
I for one expect one of two designs. The Highlander, or the Victor. Odds are on the Highlander though if I were to guess.
And before people start saying it's 'a watered down atlas' please pause, and think about this for a second.
Yes, the 'mech is similar in the overall load-out to an Atlas, having a blend of both SRM's, LRM's, lasers, and ballistics, but there's one thing you should bear in mind.
1.) The Atlas's big weapons are mostly contained in the torsos. Specifically all of it's missile and ballistic weapons in all of it's variants.
2.) This is not the case with the Highlander. The ballistic hardpoint is mounted on the right arm, making it's potential range of motion/targeting far greater than being mounted in a torso such as the atlas. Similarly, in the canon the SRM 6 of the Highlander is mounted on the left arm, giving it even more direct-fire knife-fighting capability in close thanks to the additional targeting range that having an arm mounted weapon can afford.
3.) It's got jump jets, affording it vastly increased mobility over most assaults, especially when dealing with a close-in situation.
So yes, it has a similar loadout to an Atlas as far as the actual mounted weapons go, but the locations of those mounts will make it play VERY differently from any Atlas out there, not even factoring in the added mobility of jump jets. It's not a watered down Atlas. It's a Highlander, and I for one expect it to be the next 'mech revealed.
To a similar degree, the Victor battlemech has something close to the same feel. It's ballistic weaponry is arm-mounted, though the remaining hardpoints are all torso mounted (2x Med lasers and an SRM 4). It'll still have a great deal of mobility and good close-in punch to be sure with the arm-mounted ballistic weapons.
All that said, we'll see what we will see. For now, I'm still waiting to see what's coming down the chute too, and hope that we do get a sneak peek at it in the upcoming magazine article releasing next month.
<S> That's all I've got for now. See y'all dirtside.
-Colonel Andrew "Havoc" Davis
Death's Hand Brigade Mercenaries.
Edit: Apparently you can't say the word P i p e any more. Good to know..
Edited by HAV0C, 25 September 2012 - 02:53 AM.