Recently Black Knyght said on the Sherman discussion
While I'm not a fan of the too common trend of min/max optimizing to exploit the rules wherever possible
And while I don't deny him the point I thought it would be interesting to discuss what people do and don't find important when doing a custom design - sure, you might have a specific objective in mind when starting a design, whether it's primative warship or black water power armour what running themes do people find important in their designs
For me - I tend to think of myself as someone buying or selling these products in a fairly in universe way (although not necessarily in the BT verse), so for me
Important -
C-Bill cost - This is a good baseline for me, although I like to look at far more than price per unit and the concept may demand something specific, also important is
Strategic Implications - Speed has important strategic implications off the battlefield, so does flexibility, an expensive 50T tank makes perfect sense if it's usually for dropship mounting as space is a premium, but land based militia will want cheaper, cost effective units. This is why I like adding infantry compartments to vehicles even though they're not all that use on the tabletop but they would be for all sorts of odd jobs elsewhere
Battlefield Performance - Very much based on tabletop rules, with everything that implies - although often with the assumption that battlefields may be more varied than BT usually supports - such as running fights over miles of terrain, artillery support from many map sheets away, massed infantry battalions and things like that.
Flexibility/Suitability - while it may not come up on the tabletop a vehicles ability to lay or clear mines, their ability to suppress civilians or their ability to work with a different unit then the one they usually deploy with are all considerations that come up from time to time.
Less Important
BV - I kind of ignore the BV system unless I'm building a force specifically for a game - in some ways high BV means I am doing Battlefield Performance well but I just don't really look at it in the design phase usually
Scarcity - I generally don't pay too much attention to what is readily available in the BT verse, if it's specific to the design challenge I'll stick to it but, for example, SFE engines are available, even at a 3025 tech level. So I won't hesitate to stick one on a combat vehicle as surely they could just build more if they use a lot of them. Generally I see the C-Bills cost as a counterbalance to the Scarcity - if you are paying for an XL engine you can probably source one (specific issues not withstanding)
