The only reason to mount ECM on specific Mech's is to provide
variety. Otherwise, there is no reason to have variants of Mech's. It has nothing to do with any fluff rule. There are some Mech's in BT that have variants with ECM and some that don't, so it kind of goes hand-in-hand with MWO's way of making a Mech variant unique in what it can equip.
People really need to calm down on this issue, considering that very few Mech's are in-game and many future Mech's have variants with ECM. There will be very few to play with early on, but later on that list is going to expand.
In my opinion, the current list of ECM equip-able Mechs should be changed. However, some of these will probably even change, based on what the Dev comment in the ECM Command Chair thread said, "
As we add new Mechs into the game, some of them will be ECM capable, and we may even go back and reconsider existing Mechs deserving of the capability.":
From this
- Commando COM-2D
- Raven RVN-3L
- Cicada CDA-3M
- Atlas AS7-D-DC
To be reconsidered for change in future when additional ECM Mech's arrive:
Commando COM-2D - None ever used on Commando variants (Plus I don't see why the best Commando needs ECM, why not one of the 'weaker' variants to make it more viable?)
- Raven RVN-3L - Factory equipped (and other variants, 4L for instance)
Cicada CDA-3M - None ever used on Cicada variants
- Atlas AS7-D-DC - Possibly keep since Atlas gets a future variant the AS7-S2 (so until that arrives, this might be a good choice), or remove based on the current canon variants that have ECM below
Additions to the basic starting list:
- Assault Stalker STK-3F - Why? The STK-3Fb sub-variant mounts an ECM (The Stalker has a tentative release schedule of December 18th)
- Medium Hunchback HBK-4P (or some current HBK variant) - Why? The HBK-5P appearing later on gets ECM
- Heavy Cataphract CTF-3D ( or some other current CTF variant, could change to CTF-3L when MASC is added) - Why? The CTF-4L appearing 3060s get ECM
(with this new list, it would cover
all weight classes with current mechs making everyone happier perhaps)
For consideration of other Mechs that appear later:
- Light Flea FLE-17 - Why? The FLE-20 appearing in 3071 gets ECM
- Light Spider SDR-5V - Why? The SPD-7K, sub-variant 7Kr, is fitted with experimental Angel ECM in 3067-74
- Heavy JagerMech JM7-DD - Why? The JM7-F (uniquely upgrades JagerMech to 70 tons) gets ECM in 3062
- Assault Awesome AWS-9M - Why? The AWS-9Q, an upgrade package for the 8Q/9M series, gets ECM in 3057 (I didn't add this to the basic starting list since that would give 3 Assault's starting out with ECM)
Edited by General Taskeen, 30 November 2012 - 12:39 AM.