Back on the original topic, (the claim of "no True gunships in 3025) There WERE... in fact, one of the best, the Developers had to change the construction rules because they really couldn't design better, even with newtech.
The original Warrior H-7. Best use of suspension factor, warload, speed, range, and COST (which was, sad to say, an actual issue in the canon in the 3rd succession war) on the primary, with a good secondary version for missile-boating (admittedly, the LRM 10 isn't popular with min/max types).
Literally, folks, the Devs had to change the math, as in the order of operations used in generating these, to make the successors (later era designs) look less...pathetic in terms of over-all performance envelope.
Within the limits not only of the technology tree at the time, but also era IRL in which the design originated, the ORIGINAL, as in Pre-TRO 3039(Nerfed) H-7 pretty much pinnacled that class-it even had art that LOOKED GOOD, instead of the chibi-choppah art that replaced it.
Taking the requirements for a good Attack VTOL in the era of stompy robots, and the limitations of the rules (and all that heavy, heavy, heavy equipment that was available, nothing light, esp. compared to the modern day), in 3025, if you run out of Warriors, you ran out of gunships-because within the limits of 3025 tech, "tournament rules", a 'better' VTOL Gunship would end up looking, for the most part, just like the original (this isn't including the option of FCEs, which if you DID include them, would handle the rounding change just fine, no loss of MP whatsoever...however those rules didn't even exist until the most recent decade of real-time game existence.)
Even the Clans' vaunted Donar, was basically a slowed-down H-7 (9/14 instead of 10/15) with a fusion engine (enabling a massive energy weapon-but still requiring additonal heat sinks, aka weight sinks and cost multiplication), and Streak SRM instead of standard...for a design published in TRO 3060, while the much-beloved-in-some-quarters Yellowjacket AND Hawk-Moth are both basically overweight, slowed versions of the H-7's AC/5 variant, minus the secondary weapon.
Your other 3025 choices (if you're Comstar, that is) that match the same requirements (long AND short firepower, survivable speed in the air, decent crash protection) is the fusion-driven Pinto VTOL-which just reverses the armament pattern (short-range non missile, long range missile) at significant cost increase (and only if you're Comstar or Comstar supplied do you GET one-for hte price of a good light 'mech.)
For the PRICE, the 3026 spec H-7 was THE gunship of its Era and was competitive with, and could maintain a role IN the later eras with significantly fewer changes than were made in the Canon, all the way up to the point that the Staff literally had to change the rules to make the lesser-yet-far-more-expensive VTOLs published later even competitive against the original.
It's really easy to summarize WHY this is...
Weight Limit and Suspension Factor curve. Superlights like the Ferret basically match the warload of a jeep. Heavies (Yellowjacket and cousins) struggle under the weight of weapons like a poorly designed LIGHT 'mech, often with similar movement curves. It's the 21-15 ton "Middle weight" where your suspension factor allows you to carry MORE weapons and associated hardware, than a comparable Light 'mech of similar tonnage and speed.
In the larger game, all VTOLs are "Light" units, but within the class, there are definite, and significant, class distinctions, which can be broken down to super-light (Ferret), "Light" (Marten)-both under 20 tonnes, "Medium" (H-7), and "Heavy" (everything 25 tons and above),
The "Medium" range (over 20 tons, under 25) has the distinction of having the most efficient distribution of warload for airspeed of the three, along with having the best Rotor (at and below 20 tons, you only pack 4 points total on the rotor-two armor, two IS, and below a certain point, there's only ONE point of IS, but over 20 tons it plateaus-three IS two armor-making those incidental hits take longer to kill you under both mun-I mean Maxtech, and TW rules.)
How is this? because between 21 and 25 tons, you have the best suspension factor, enabling a smaller proportion of engine mass to get a specific cruising speed, which translates into a larger proportional warload than either the lower mass VTOLs, or the bloaties at the upper end.
The truly telling part, is that you can build a Cyrano (minus the active probe) at 15 tons, and it will match the published 30 ton version, with better crash protection (armor). you lose 1 pt. of IS in the rotor.
It's because of engine mass and suspension factor mixed with weight limitations. For their mass, the 3026 pre-dumbing down version (lasted about 20 years in play, btw, including some of the most nitpicky periods in the community) of the H-7 was hard to match, harder to top...it was simply THAT efficient within the limitations of the rules (30 ton ceiling, tiered suspension factors). On gunships, both oog and IG, bigger stopped being 'better' once you passed the top end of the middle weights.