Gatestriders use military grade omniframes to run defense and escort support for mining THMPRs.
I wonder if we'll see NPCs at outposts or small "villages" going about their daily routines (moving stuff, peace-keeping, patrolling) who will operative non-military-grade, more basic frames, that may or may not look visually less customized. Maybe a local gadget-head/engineer has a base-model that they kitted out, not only aesthetically but with customized servos and such for faster movement and they'll have side-jobs for you get them more parts for their frame or they want you to test them yourself by running a course...etc. Would be neat. And you'd have to wipe their saliva off your own frame, after every visit.
Skim: so is skimming essentially sprinting?
Jump-Jets: can we expect "air-control" to return, meaning, we can fine tune our thrusters and wings to be able to "dance" around in the air more fluidly.
Glide: Nice. What I had in mind.
Melee damage is progressively more effective against equal sized or smaller targets, and progressively less effective at targets larger than the attacker.
Yes! Nice! This could mean that we can squash critters and maybe not feel like even the smallest of them may be over-powered, because if they can fit on the top of our frames foot, it can crush 'em. Or just slice them in half mid-air with a sword, spilling their slimy guts on our frame's chest-plate.
Melee damage is only partially absorbed by shields, and most of the damage passes through to armor beneath the shields.
Iiiin-teres-ting! I like this a lot. Makes melee-ing more viable against shielded enemies. Definitely gives a purpose to light and medium-sized, faster frames, to close-in from the flanks or backs of enemies to slice and dice them, while the enemy is distracted by heavier frames that could soak up their damage, until they're cut down.
Kinetic damage is equally effective against all sizes of targets.
But, surely if we'll have an ability similar to a shock-wave or push that does kinetic damage, it should affect larger opponent a little less. Maybe it could deal the same amount of damage to them, but perhaps they wouldn't be thrown back as much, if at all, by it, unlike smaller enemies that could be sent flying.
POWER ALLOCATION sounds awesome!! I expect I'll get a distress signal, divert power to my jump-jets for added movement speed and longer sprinting (skimming), to get their quicker. Then, I find cover, divert power to my weapon system, while I asses the situation, checking my targets...etc. and then, with the added damage (and maybe even added range and accuracy), I start shooting. Hell, yes! Power allocation feels like a must. This really needs to be essential and have debt.