Interesting, but I'm not sure why you have to remove the shoulders? ???
The initial plans for ELMs was to have every design with the same kind of arms as the Rifleman, to save material and space. To fit the wings, the fluff was to describe them as slim, needle-shaped bodies (Like the Lockheed Starfighter?) with Torso- or Wing mounted weapons - no arms allowed. Because it was so small, the plan was to severely restrict the number of Critical spaces; I haven't figured out where it fits yet (Probably a 'finish the record sheet'-step) but this is the original description below.
• Because of their small size, ELMs have fewer Critical Slots; the head has 3 slots (Completely filled with one slot apiece for Cockpit, Sensor, and Life Support), each arm 5 slots (6 with the removal of the Shoulder Actuator for ELM PAMs), Legs have 2 slots (6 with Hip, Upper- and Lower Leg Actuator, and Foot), each side torso has 6 slots (all of them open) and CT has 12 slots -1-2 for the AirMech gear (NOTE: 1 slotgyro for 9-14, 2 slot for 15-19+Standard engine slots)
Basically there are about 36 crits plus a smaller CT (about 2 charts of 4?), which leaves about 42 total (-8 for legs, -6 for engine, -1 or -2 for gyro, -2 for shoulders, -1 for PAM equipment) before the free crits of about 24-25 (minus more stuff like Jump Jets - can't be a LAM without them).
Where the ELM PAM isn't crit starved, I tried to punish it with the 33% slower ground speed and the 15% mass penalty. And where those won't do it, I diddled their game rules; it takes added Thrust Points (or did; I haven't used ELMs since TW came out and need to study them, too) to Launch and Land, they have to travel a set distance before turning a single hex facing safely, etc.
The reason for the big deal about FASA's LAMs, in my opinion, was the way players treated the Jump range like a Queen in chess ("I CAN GO ANYWHERE!") and tried to treat them as super-units. Not happening here - you can try moving 18 hexes and land behind somebody to try and gut them in a single Turn, but I tried to make it impossible without a series of miracle control rolls. But Game Rules will come later. Not looking forward to it, really.
