First Quote:
Tech Manual pg 239, Transport Bay Chart
Out of all of the transport bays listed, only mech bays and protomech bays have no maximum capacity. At the time that book was published you couldn't build legal units of those types larger than the bay's weight. Now however you can build superheavy mechs that weigh 200 tons, 50 tons past the weight of the bay. You can also build 15 ton protomechs, a point of which weigh in at 75 tons, half again the weight of the bay itself.
So my question is this: can superheavy mechs and Ultraheavy protomechs be carried in the standard transport bays for that unit type? If not will the inner sphere ever be developing actual transport bays for those units or will they be forever relegated to deploying from cargo?
Second Quote:
Tech Manual pg 240, Mech/Fighter Bay
‘Mech and fighter bays consist of one or more cubicles designed for the long-range transport of ’Mechs, aerospace fighters, conventional fighters or Fixed-Wing Support Vehicles massing up to 100 tons.
I always assumed mech bays held mechs, and fighter bays held fighters (including aero/conventional fighters and fixed wing SVs. However the way this sentence is worded it sounds like it is permitted to have fighters in mech bays, and mechs in fighter bays. Is this true, or is my original assumption correct?
Third Quote:
Tech Manual pg 240, Vehicle Bay (Light, Heavy, Super-Heavy)
formatting to match questions to specific section of the quote.
Still, the range of vehicle bay cubicles boils down to three main classes: light vehicle cubicles, with a capacity of 50 tons or less in individual vehicle mass; heavy vehicle cubicles, which can accommodate Combat and Support Vehicles up to 100 tons in mass; and super-heavy vehicle cubicles, which are designed to hold a single Support Vehicle of up to 200 tons—including small craft, if the user’s in a pinch.
3a-Which vehicles by itself, this could mean both CV and SV unit types, or it could mean any mechanical unit that fits the technical definition of 'vehicle' to include, mechs, protomechs, and aero units. I always assumed it was the first of those two choices. Is that correct?3b-Only this bay size mentioned both CV and SV unit types, which I assumed is how all 3 of these bays worked normally, Is that assumption correct?3c-Can Super-heavy Combat Vehicles go in these bays?3d-If small craft are included in the definition of "support vehicle" here, can other unit types like super-heavy mechs up to 200 tons also be carried in these bays under the guise of 'support vehicle' (fire support is still support right?)?Specifically, in regards to questions 3a and 3d I was thinking that allowing superheavy mechs into superheavy vehicle bays, and ultraheavy protomechs into light vehicle bays (at a rate of 1 proto per bay, rather than one point of protos per bay) would solve My 'First' question at the top of this post. And before anything thinks I am just pulling stuff out of no where, also on page 240, in the vehicle bay section is this line:
Many of the cubicles used in these bays are actually configurable with relative ease, though practiced engineers find it easier to work more creatively within a vessel’s design specs rather than dismantling and resetting cubicle walls and the like.
With possible re-configuring even of the bay's walls, I figure it might be within the realm of possibility to have these bays carry other unit types, and with that evidence, and with the super-heavy vehicle bays actually being allowed to carry another unit type (small craft), it seems like it might work.
