Mauler 3R Boondoggle

[Col Toda]

The Mauler 3R is a 19 + million C Bill Assault Mech  that explodes entirely at an ammo explosion that harkens back to the days of 3025 combat with 3060 tech . No Case I was suprised anything that expensive did not have it .  Did a quick fix if I put Composite internal Structure in it I save enough tonnage to replace the XL Fusion Engine with a Light Fusion engine and add CASE to both torsos with no change in armor per location and weapon location ammo amounts . It costs 3 + million less and an ammo explosion does not kill it.
Has anyone else come across as an expensive death trap combat unit ?

[Firesprocket]

Honestly I think the 3R tries to do a bit to much and while the swap you suggest would add a little bit more to its life span that span isn't likely to be leaps and bounds more effective.  Any damage to composite structure takes double damage which means for that one stretch of time your torso got savaged and save from ammo explosion with case an arm or a leg could have been destroyed that much faster.  To put context on that any 10 point hit to an unarmored location is going to take any location clean off outside of the center torso.

The other mitigating factor in making the changes to the design would be whether or not the DC had the means to produce the composite structure or the engine.  The FS didn't start standard production until 3082 and the 3R was first built in 3062.  Light engines also didn't start getting produced until 3062.  So from a fluff prospective I can see a justification for why it never happened just as much as to the fact the increase in durability is questionable at best.