Anyway...
While I chose the fourth option of including the unseen/reseen designs as being just as viable as any other design in a cull, I feel that Battletech needs less of a cull and more a compartmentalization of the various eras. We have mechs that have been on production for ages, such as the Wasp which has been around since 2464 according to XTR: Primitives II yet has a new variant being introduced in 3082 (618 years!). While it initially made some sense in the original setting to have these long production runs, as these were supposed to have been the main units used by the SLDF and there had not been any new breakthroughs following the fall of the Star League. There have since been many designs introduced to fill the gaps, most damningly TRO3058 and TRO3075's primitives section. Instead of removing a portion of the designs, just install and enforce some introduction and extinction dates. Yes, I know we have introduction dates already, but they only effect new units when playing an older era. We need something in place to restrict older units in newer eras. The only Wasps you should be seeing during the Succession Wars are hollowed out museum pieces or unusable wrecks buried in forgotten depots. While I can see some older mechs (but not Wasp or Mackie old) still being used in the modern era by bottom-tier units, militias, and pirates, these ancient designs would have been phased out for newer designs in most units, and it is only replacement costs and parts stockpiles that keep them in use where they are used.
