General Taskeen, on 14 December 2012 - 10:26 AM, said:
That's not quite right. The default 3F, that is being put into the game, is already an extremely aged design built during the era of the Star League (2571-2780) in 2594. The 3-Fb was a sub-variant that appeared in 2705 during the build up to the Early Succession War (2781-2900). The design is not "lost" if the 3F is already appearing in-game.
Yes, it is quite right. Do a little research on the SLDF "Royal" upgrades. That's the "b" part of STK-3Fb designation. The designs were lost to the Succession Wars and Kerensky's Exodus. Designs that were only recently rediscovered in the Jihad era of the timeline. A sub-variant is still lost if it's design specs are still lost, regardless of whether or not the main variant is "found".