First time trying this mod for a full campaign after playing both Vanilla and BTA; I’d first like to say THANK YOU to the mod developers for building what I do think is the best integration of vanilla storyline and expanded broader universe, it’s great so far 
I just wanted to comment on a few of the issues I see people raising, some of which are valid, some of which are valid for a short while but seem to resolve themselves:
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The issue of can’t-hit-anything in early game is real, and really demoralising. You can play tactically perfectly, but the fight just ends up with you and the opponent comically leapfrogging into each other’s rear arc. The mod design requires you to keep running or your weak mechs get wrecked, which the mod prevents you from affording to replace, but the mod also penalises your accuracy heavily in so many ways that a running early game mech can’t hit anything and it becomes Rock Em Sock Em Robots. I would suggest an uplift in early mechwarrior accuracy…
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HOWEVER: As soon as your mechwarriors are at 6-7 Gunnery and you have access to TTS units and better mechs, this changes drastically and ceases to be an issue. If you are playing this mod and hating the early game, push through: by the time you are fighting the Taurians, it should be ok and the game is fun again. Unfortunately if you can’t gather enough cash you end up in the To Hit Black Hole, where your low hit rate causes mechs to constantly die or get damaged (which deprives you of skilled pilots too), and you are basically stuck in this miserable cycle of loss and repair.
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Drop costs really need to be eliminated for storyline missions and/or flashpoints: just plain gotten rid of. All it really does in gameplay terms is force you to grind cash, and ultimately save-scum if things go wrong because the margins are razor-thin to negative on lower-threat missions. I don’t think the storyline missions were balanced around drop cost as a deterrent. I just gave myself a pile of cash so I wouldn’t have to care about it, and that’s not ideal; without that, drop costs plus trying to acquire new mechs to keep up with the difficulty curve (and escape the To Hit Black Hole above) is basically unsustainable.
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Speaking of rear arc: whichever AI tweak is causing the enemy to obsessively go for your rear armour, could do with being taken down a notch if this is possible. The enemy becomes hyper-fixated on it to the point they will sacrifice their own Evasion completely and essentially commit suicide. In duels, the fight always ends with both mechs taking turns to comically trundle into each other’s rear arc until someone runs out of armour there.
Now I will repeat though, this mod is still the best one I’ve played for extending the game without completely replacing the experience with a new one and I am having a great time with it, but since we’re at the start of a new major release it seemed the time to share feedback as a new player of the mod