Goals
The goal of this mod is two-fold. First, to add fun to the game through variety and challenge. Second, to have you make choices about your equipment instead of just scaling up the +++ ladder of weapons and tonnage.

Changelog
1.0.03

• Adjusted APC_Vargr movedef to match the other faster vehicle speeds, now you won't always get the three types of vehicles that seem to take forever to move for your escort contracts.
• Added turret location to all vehicles that did not have turret information specified, now you will no longer AC20 that SRM carrier for no damage when you really need it dead except when you miss.
• Adjusted morale gain in combat to be drastically reduced on successful actions against the enemy. Also added negative morale effects on successful actions by the enemy against you.
• Adjusted heat damaging large lasers to have UI names more consistent with function and the rest of the naming changes.
• Added missing LRM ammo to WVR-6M_support enemy.
  
  

1.0.02

• Enabled the AI being able to be inspired.
• Cleaned up the storyline contract files to only include changed values (general housekeeping).
• Fixed customized settings.json not applying properly in AIM.
• Limited maximum chance to hit to 60% + Gunnery * 2.5%. Modifiers will still affect actual chance to hit, but maximum chance to hit is capped 85% for example if the pilot has 10 Gunnery.
• Mechwarrior costs reduced to 35% of original since mechwarriors are still eating too much budget for how many may be on staff at a time. (Hiring cost still left at 75% since it's always more expensive to hire a trained professional.)
• Increased contract cbills per difficulty by 30% placing cbills per difficulty at around 210% of original. Maintaining solvency will be easier unless you're always selecting pure salvage.
  

1.0.01

• Found Precision Shot still boosting base accuracy, fixed to not boost base accuracy as much.
• Changed shutdown overheat chance of ammo bins exploding from 10% to 15%.
• Updated AIM mod to v2.0.
  

Changes
All weapon variants rebuilt around trade-offs instead of arbitrary bonuses. Added 149 new weapon variants. I did not limit myself on what could change, so yes, there are variants with +/- to tonnage, critical slots, recoil, etc along with the usual acc/dam/stab. All stock game weapon variant changes restricted to non-crit/tonnage changes to maintain compatibility with other mech mods. 

• Example: +damage on LRM's may come with -acc, reduced maximum range, or decreased stability damage. Alternate example: An AC may come with +acc or -heat but will use an extra critical slot. (there is a .xlsx in the download with a full list of new weapon variants and their stat changes)
• Note: Read weapon/equipment stats thoroughly before purchase. The first bonus line will list positives, the second will list negatives. I could not reliably fit tonnage negatives in the second line so tonnage has been omitted from drawbacks listing in all cases. IT IS UP TO YOU TO READ THE TONNAGE ON EVERY WEAPON/ETC PURCHASE.
  

Adjusted all weapons to have minor description of bonuses in UI names, now you can tell the difference between the blue laser and the green laser without testing them on mech techs first. (You are of course still welcome to test them on Jimmy, everyone hates Jimmy.)
The full map (minus storyline-related systems) opens up after the first Argo storyline mission.
Systems now have 6 contracts at them with up to two travel contracts.
Contracts have had their base pay-per-difficulty increased, you will need this unless you're some Davion or Steiner earlier in their reincarnation cycle.
Contract salvage is now higher in most cases, enjoy ALL the loot boxes you can kill/maim/rend.
Contract difficulty variance from global/system has been increased, you will cheerfully or angrily find systems with one to five skull contracts simultaneously.
Doubled all defend mission building HP, now you have two turns to agonize about defeat instead of just one.
Starting mech tech rating has been increased from 3 to 6, see the next line for why.
Starting C-Bill count has been increased from 980000 to 2418000 so you can customize the abysmal company you have inherited before getting all your mechwarriors killed.
Starting lance 'mechs have been instructed to mock you with phrases such as, "git gud," and, "mommy's little try-hard." (starting lance adjusted down to all lights)((no, not all locusts. I tried that, the shadowhawk alone in the mining mission could kill everyone))
'Mech maintenance costs have been adjusted down slightly, at some point I may get around to checking if any of the maintenance cost adjuster mods are compatible.
Mechwarrior costs reduced 25% from original, a mechwarrior should not cost as much as a 'mech to maintain.
Increased sight and radar distance significantly, the AI will do things other than just run in and die without a firing shot now.
System difficulty has been rebalanced so that even end game you can still find 1-2 skull contracts, maybe even systems.
System stores have had their inventory selection drastically increased, please don't spend all your money in one place.
Milestones have had almost half their global difficulty increases neutered, cone of shame was lost due to not finding an appropriate place to attach it.
Global default accuracy has been decreased from 75% to 60%, you will miss either the ground or the sky with every other shot.
AI pilots have had their stats bumped slightly so that you will no longer run into 1 1 1 1 pilots, it was too demoralizing for your mechwarriors when they missed while shooting at the elementary school kids in their first battlemech.
Moving will reduce your accuracy for that turn, because bulwark really needed to be stronger. (Stealth buff to ace pilot)
Bulwark is now the tier 2 guts ability. I mean, really, who actually took juggernaut pre-"Better Juggernaut" mod? (if you raised your hand and can also raise your hand to complaining about getting shot in the head too much, there are remedial classes offered on how to stop hitting yourself after download)
Stability is now 60+'mech tonnage. This means light mechs will be easier to knock over, but 45+ tons will be progressively harder. (obviously this was written pre-1.1.1, now this makes it so that not everything is a frickin' atlas and stability can do things)
Shutting down from overheating will injure a pilot. This applies to both friendly and enemy pilots.
Cored out friendly 'mechs have a 50% chance of becoming salvage, don't strike superhero poses regardless of the morale boost.
Inferno SRM's + variants are in the game.
Select large lasers have had questionable focusing lenses installed and it appears they now heat large portions of the target's armor instead of damaging it.
The Coventry X?5 series of arm actuators have been hollowed out, they now fit better on light and medium mechs for more punching!
Added half and double size ammo bins, with slight bonuses to double size bins due to not including tonnage for a second feed system.
Increased AC ammo per bin slightly so half-ton loads are more viable in select cases.
Increased base heat on LRM10's from 10 to 11.
Increased base heat on LRM15's from 14 to 16 so the 15 isn't the default be-all end-all LRM launcher.
Increased base heat on SRM4's from 8 to 10 because I like the tears of heat management.
Returned base heat on SRM2 and SRM6 to 6 and 14 respectively.
Returned base heat on Medium Lasers to 10 from 12.
Increased Large Laser base heat to 22 from 18, since 18 was a bit low, old note still in parenthesis. (Decreased Large Laser base heat from ridiculous to 22, now you can actually use Large Lasers and not just Medium Lasers.)
Decreased PPC base heat from stupid to 30, now AC's are an option, not a necessity.
Decreased Small Laser base damage to 15, decreased base heat to 5 as well.
Added + variant heatsink, it dissipates a whole extra unit of heat per turn, buy twenty and get a free LosTech double heatsink. (only while supplies last)((there were no supplies to begin with))
Added LMG's, machine guns that fire twice as far, with twice as many rounds, but only deal 1 damage per round. Now you can feel like those support mounts actually serve a purpose, too bad it isn't damaging the enemy.
Enabled LosTech to be found in stores for utterly ridiculous prices.
Brought LosTech stock variants more in line with TT values compared to non-LosTech weapon stats.
Stole LosTech variants from "Battletech Enhanced" and adjusted to not be quite so OP.
Stole Partial Wing Systems from "Partial Wing System" and adjusted heat/tonnage to be in-line with game.
Added most of JK's Variants mod in, only change was to adjust stability on chassis' and omit the skirmish-only variants.
Created and added 306 customized versions of all the base + JK variants to increase op-for variety. (there are images of every build included in the mod at \CatBalance\AdditionalEnemies\Completed)

• !As a result of adding so many "variants" it is essentially necessary to have Adjusted Mech Assembly installed so variants combine, good luck getting the mech you want.! (seriously, some of those loadouts are broke yo!)((not really broken, but I like to think I build decent mechs, sometimes. other mechs will look like someone salvaged s--- from a scrapyard and stapled it on because that was all they could find. they're supposed to look that way, don't judge.))
  

Injected inferno SRM launchers into some stock and JK stock variants.
Enabled overheat shutdown causing injury to pilots.
Heat is a thing now, pay attention to your opfor.
Stole faster vehicles from the mod named Faster Vehicles (surprise!).
Stole the Less Useful tips mod and appended another 40~ish "tips."
Created MG variants so you actually have choices instead of just the black machinegun or the black machinegun.
Attempted to mod the conversation dialog for whether or not your blackjack survived, failed miserably. On the plus side, it'll be a surprise unless you open the .json. ^_^

Packaged With  (Note: There are multiple other mods packaged with that have had their settings tweaked to reflect my view of the Battletech world. Feel free to update or remove them, just be aware of what they are doing.)
Adjusted Mech Assembly

• Primarily used for the multi-variant parts assembly.
• Adjusted so when a 'mech is completed it will arrive with varying amounts of "light" damage. You wouldn't salvage completely broken shit from the field, that's called scrap. Alternately, you wouldn't expect parts to be in mint condition after you shot what it was attached to. Sometimes you will find more damage than you expected from the initial salvage inspection.
  

Ammo Cook Off

• 5% chance for ammo bins to explode if you overheat.
• 10% chance for ammo bins to explode if you overheat so far that you shutdown.
  

Attack Improvement Mod (AIM)

• Quite handy for displaying firing lines, actually added to adjust hit rolls and called shots.
• Hit rolls are pure RNG, no more streak breakers.
• Called shots now have only a minor boost to accuracy/chance.
  

Basic Panic System

• The best way to get that 'mech you always wanted is to get it all alone on the battlefield and then keep knocking with noisemakers until the pilot panics and ejects. ^_^ (be careful the enemy doesn't do the same to you)
  

Better Juggernaut

• Juggernaut was at best lackadaisical, and at worst abysmal. This makes juggernaut leave you braced after a melee attack, super useful.
  

Exclusive Filters

• I like clicking on things and seeing what I clicked on (IE: selected), not vice versa. This mod makes it so.
  

Injuries Hurt

• When a pilot becomes injured in combat, their stats will be reduced by a percentage for each injury until they heal to full. This actually gives a reason to have more than six pilots.
  

Melee Mover

• Because why shouldn't I be able to use my move phase to walk partly around a 'mech before meleeing it?
  

Mercenary Deployments

• Converts all travel contracts into multi-month salaried positions at the planet. Take a mercenary deployment contract, travel to a planet, setup shop for awhile and see what chance brings. (make sure you are able to field two lances at least, or else not take hardly any damage in combat)
  

Semi-Permanent Evasion

• Grants evasion ticks only a chance of being removed with each attack. Values adjusted to 60% chance to keep evasion ticks with Ace Pilot adding another 20%.
  

Installation
It is recommended that you remove/disable all other mods unless you know they do not share directories or conflict with the contents of this mod. (that's just a disclaimer, you do what you want!)
BTML and Modtek friendly/required. 
BattleTechModLoader and install instructions.
ModTek and ModTek install instructions.
Unpack contents to \Battletech\Mods directory, copy/move general.txt from \Battletech\Mods to \Battletech\BattleTech_Data\StreamingAssets\GameTips and overwrite. (general.txt may need to be re-copied after patches or integrity checks)

Known Issues
If a pilot dies due to overheat shutdown injury, the game does not recognize the pilot as dead (the 'mech stops activating/moving though) until another vehicle/'mech dies or is incapacitated.
Workaround: Just don't kill the last pilot in a contract with overheating.
If you load a "volley" LRM launcher on a 'mech and leave it under-tonnage, it may not deal damage even when hitting a target.
Workaround: Stop wasting tonnage on a 'mech and fill it up properly.
Campaign contracts spawn as multi-month deployments.
Workaround: Travel directly to the campaign planet and accept the mission once it respawns as a standalone, or disable the MercDeployments mod.

For Best Experience
It is highly recommended that you play through the tutorial missions again the first time with this mod. This will give you a feel for how that base game has changed in terms of hit chances and your starting lance abilities. The mod has been balanced around normal difficulty and using five parts to complete a 'mech, those are the recommended settings for a first experience. (I did not force either of these settings so you will have to select custom game and configure as you see appropriate.) 
In addendum, this mod is tailored to provide fun through combat challenge, variety, and maximizing options for customization, not through scarcity of financial resources; please bear this in mind.

For Maximum Effect
More Knockdowns https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/mods/101 - Allows same-turn knockdown if you go over 125% of stability for a 'mech.

Future Planning
Any balancing that is reported to be absolutely terrible. Or typos, everyone hates typos.

Shamelessly Stolen From
AIM - Attack Improvement Mod - https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/mods/242
Adjusted Mech Assembly - https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/mods/93
Better Juggernaut - https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/mods/87
Basic Panic System - https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/mods/137
Melee Mover - https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/mods/226
Ammo Cookoff - https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/mods/188
Exclusive Filters - https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/mods/206
Injuries Hurt - https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/mods/204
MercDeployments - https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/mods/254
Semi-Permanent Evasion - https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/mods/249
Battletech Enhanced - https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/mods/13
Faster Vehicles - https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/mods/109
JK_Variants - https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/mods/18
Less Useful Tips - https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/mods/117
Partial Wing System - https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/mods/47

Q&A
Are Cicadas useless?
Cicadas are F---ing useless.