Q: In the case of a custom mech with tech base Mixed (Clan Chassis), should we presume it incorporates Clan CASE in locations with explosive components or not?
TM (~2010): pg.210
"Units built using Clan technology (except for ProtoMechs) are presumed to incorporate CASE automatically in all locations that store ammunition or explosive equipment (such as Gauss rifles)."
I read this as guidance rather than a construction constraint, i.e. 'Clan CASE is the only kind of case available and has no drawbacks so we can presume it's always added where needed, though there's technically no requirement for it to be there.'
Contrast to a misconception elsewhere that CASE is an innate part of a Clan mech's internal structure or similar.
Also contrast to a generic strict rule like "all clan units must have case in locations with explosive equipment" or "all explosive clan components are cased" etc.
TO (~2010): pg. 377
"Any unit may be constructed using a mix of Clan and Inner Sphere technologies, including those described as tournament-legal (with rules described in TechManual), advanced or experimental...Both structural items (such as internal structure, cockpits, musculature and engines) and non-structural components (such as weapons and heat sinks) may be taken from different technology bases."
I read this as 'a unit may be constructed with a mix of Clan CASE and IS CASE'.
This is nice and funky and doesn't invalidate any actual hard rules about CASE because the clan case note, is guidance rather than a construction constraint.
However, the option of IS CASE eliminates the availability premise in that guidance, stopping us short of the final presumption that clan case is always there, because it could just as well be the case that IS CASE is there.
But, the possibility of IS CASE also eliminates the no-drawback premise — it could very well be that a mixed tech mech with explosive components has no CASE at all.
Ergo, it seems very within the rules to say that a Mixed Tech (Clan Chassis) unit can not be presumed to have Clan CASE as it may have IS CASE or no case at all.
Is that correct?
