It seems like the Falcons have a weird inability to combine a good design with a good chassis (of course there are exceptions).
The Cougar is too slow, but it has good configurations that redeem it somewhat. Crazy firepower for a light mech, and almost all of them do a good job of giving it some range, so at least it's not slow and poorly armored and close. Definitely best against IS opponents, where it can exploit the tech advantage the most (if an IS mech keeps pace with the Cougar the Cougar almost certainly outguns it).
The Black Lanner is probably too fast, or at least underarmored, but once again a lot of the configurations are pretty nice (the H is one of my favorite medium mechs).
The Turkina is really just plain worse than the Dire Wolf, and those fixed jump jets mean I can't easily make IJJ configs to keep up with anything else the Falcons use. However, the Prime is elegant and effective without being munchy, the B is...the Turkina B, the D is preposterously dangerous at any range, and the X is just sick.
The Night Gyr wishes it was ten tons heavier but is still way better than the Executioner, its closest counterpart in the assault class. Probably something about the fact that more than half of it is pod space, and while sometimes it wastes that (B, C), other times it doesn't (Prime, A, D).
The Flamberge wishes it was fifteen tons heavier, but it still manages to be sickeningly effective (even though it's basically a Nova Cat with fixed SRM-6s) because the configurations are so good. Improved jump jets, Clan pulse lasers, and Clan missiles? Sign me up.
So, yeah. Inefficient chassis but decent choices for the configurations? Sounds like a Falcon OmniMech. I just hope the Thors and Lokis that show up in the Dark Age are new chassis types with FF and ES. A Loki with ES and FF could probably keep the same pod space but max the armor. The endo steel on the Black Hawk in DTP Liao gives me hope.
Incidentally, do we have anything beyond a name for the Winged Cougar they keep referencing? A 5/8/7 Cougar with a partial wing would actually be ludicrously competitive. Sure, it would still be better to be faster or heavier, but you could probably get a pair of Clan LPLs jumping 7 for under 5 million C-Bills, and that's pretty impressive.
