And now there is a Heavy Spiral

I'd much rather see them focusing on gameplay issues - improving clans and adding leagues - instead of rolling out more bots and weapons.

Agreed. A few extra maps (or even 1) would be nice aswell.

Well, what would the advantages and disadvantages of a heavy Orkan be? Or a heavy Spiral? Or a heavy Taran? Or a medium/light Ancile? Or a medium and light Thunder? Or...

Let's break them down, one at a time. What already is, what the new weapon would be, and what the new weapon SHOULD be.

Heavy Spiral (the following addresses all homing weapons; for convenience the Spiral is the only one named): The Spiral is a homing weapon, first of all. AIming is not necessary; once the target is locked, the pilot may fire when ready. Spirals may be fired from behind cover, without exposing the carrier pilot to enemy return fire except from other Spirals. Thus the Spirals is a weapon with lower risk than other weapons. However, the SPiral also deals less damage than other weapons, making it a weapon of lower reward. Lower risk, lower reward (the Aphid at the moment is a bit of an exception...it really has no downsides other than limited range). So then, imagine if there was a heavy homing missile launcher, firing heavy missiles from behind cover at 600m and never exposing itself to return fire...

Ouch. That weapon is going to be overpowered and very much so. Unless it has a set of weaknesses. First of all, a heavy weapon shouldn't fire as many times as a light weapon. So, three missiles sounds like a good number. Yet even there, how to avoid overpowering this new weapon? I believe the simplest way is to give it a 15-second reload, and 350m-800m range. Thus, the heavy launcher would NOT be useable on knife fighters that had closed distance, and it would not be able to be paired with Aphids, as the heavy Spiral would not be able to track targets closer than 350m and the Aphid cannot fire at targets further out than 350m.

So, three missiles and a 450m range window. Limited ONLY to midrange; unable to function in close quarters. The ultimate support weapon.

Heavy Orkan:  The Orkan/Pinata weapon class has among the highest DPS in the game.  It bypasses physical shields, deals massive damage almost instantly, and soon will not have to reload.

Right there, that's a recipe for disaster in a heavy weapon.  Why?  Well, because with such a weapon, why would anyone use a Thunder if a heavy Orkan existed?  The Thunder isn't really effective above 250m anyway, so they'd have about the same effective range.  The Thunder is a weapon that deals massive damage over a short amount of time, but it still needs some time.  Unlike the Orkan and Pinata.  So, I believe that a heavy Orkan could work, but it would have to follow the mechanics of the current Pinata, and not reload while firing.  Otherwise, the Thunder would be really and truly outclassed.

Heavy Taran:  This one follows the exact same path as the Orkan; a heavy version would render the Thunder obsolete.  In fact a heavy Taran would be far worse than a heavy Orkan in that regard.  So what could a heavy short-range plasma weapon look like?

I think the only way a weapon like that works is if it fires a weaker energy pulse at high frequency.  What it would look like if you crossed a Magnum and a Punisher and turned it into a heavy weapon.  Otherwise, it's simply too similar to the Thunder, and it would be more effective.  Such a heavy weapon would deal more protracted damage than a Thunder, but the Thunder would still have the advantage against targets which must be killed FAST from point-blank range.  The Thunder would still have higher DPS and higher critical hit rate.  Thus, the two weapons could coexist and compliment each other.

Medium and/or Light Thunder:  There's nothing currently like this in-game.  Yes.

Medium/Light Ancile:  Again, there's nothing like this in-game.  It should be weak and should only protect against one salvo from a Pinata, or one shot of a Thunder, but yes.  I'd like to see this, in fact I'd like one that can be purchased for AU or WP and fitted to a medium OR a light hard point, like the Ecu.  Regen should be quick but not too quick, and the overall health pool should be 25% of a heavy Ancile.  This item would handicap itself, like the Ancile; using one would automatically cause your firepower output to suffer.

We need Flashbangs! A 350m Whiteout radius that leaves opposing teams screen blank of all HUD (if caught in the radius) except of course their own HP and game controls.

The weapon mix is fine as it is. We don't need all gun/energy/missile weapon types at all 3 slots with all 3 ranges. Balance it a bit, but yeah, it would be much better to see clan system improvements.

If those weapons get released, it is time to replace all knife fighters with mid rangers

Good point. Heavy slots should indeed be able to hold a medium gun, which should be "lighter"  to carry. Not sure how this would affect the game tho.
Perhaps its better to keep it this way. Concerning the Zeus/Thunder thing: Zeus is 600m range, thunder is 500 but only effective at minus 350 or so.

Riding with a Zeus? Then dont get close to a Thunder, i guess.