Specifically the PPC in this case.
XTRO:Primitives II states
"While the Terran Hegemony did not “perfect” the design and manufacture of the particle projection cannon until 2460, the Hegemony utilized PPCs on designs such as the Mackie and the Banshee BattleMechs for more than two decades before advances in miniaturization and manufacturing processes allowed the debut of the “standard” model PPC. A Prototype PPC follows the standard rules for the PPC, but costs five times as much (1,000,000 C-Bills)."
So a Prototype PPC is exactly the same as a Standard PPC, it just costs more, and shows up 20+ years before the Standard PPC.
However, Jihad Secrets states "At the designer's option, however, units may be created using weapons introduced up to 10 years before their listed introduction dates, to reflect the use of Primitive prototypical technology."
followed by
"Primitive prototypical energy weapons (lasers and PPCs) will produce 50% more heat when fired (rounding up)."
So how do the Prototype and Primitive weapons interact? Which comes first? How are they handled? Why completely different rules for things that are basically the same?
