I really loved the good look into Mechlab that cleared up a bunch of things. More interestingly is that hardpoints are NOT a 1/1 ratio for a given variant as suggested, which clears up a LOT of things - previously I was thinking small weapons would be all but useless if you could shift them to big weapons and it was as suggested in a previous interview - i.e. if a variant has 1 ballistic weapon, it'll have 1 ballistic slot.
The fact that the Hunchback has *3* ballistics in it's ballistic area makes a world of difference and allows small weapons far more usefulness. If a 'mech like the Awesome is sporting multiple energy slots where every PPC is, it could be quite possible to turn it into a medium boat or the like and that's a good thing - it offers far more flexibility than the 1:1 idea while still, importantly, forcing the 'mech personality by making every variant and chassis have unique load outs.
Though, I have to say the ForumUserKiller looks like a pretty awful 'mech unless the AC/5 is really awesome. I kept waiting for him to put on another MG in that free projectile slot instead of more ammo at least.
Oh and on one last note.. in at least two of the videos they state that Medium Mechs should be the most common on the battlefield and at one point when pressed ALMOST suggests that there will be limitations to enforce that - namely the Atlas video. When the interviewer is trying to suggest that you'd still need mediums, he does seem to suggest mediums will HAVE to be the majority. That's a good thing, I'm looking forward to how they might pull that off. I really want mediums/heavies to be front line 'mechs in the majority of battles with assaults and lights as the auxiliary pieces.
EDIT: PS, noone is using the Dragon because the Dragon is terrible by default.
I'm sure with some mechlab work it could be a nice 'mech though. Jam a Gauss Rifle onto the AC/5 arm and you've already started a huge step in the right direction.
Edited by Victor Morson, 07 May 2012 - 04:35 PM.