Hear me out.
I've run mechs quite a bit since their implementation. I love the things.
As much as I love them, there's quite a lot of bullshit that often goes wrong - often prior to the pelican even dropping the damn things.
On one bot mission today I had my mech destroyed before it could land, by a tank and factory strider that (on my screen, maybe not the host's) had yet to actually fall from their own dropships.
In jungle biomes I've had pelicans drag my mech through trees and land without arms for me to use.
In cities I've had pelicans simply refuse to drop the mech at all so that Leviathans and (even now) various Bot AT enemies blast it to smithereens.
I have also, often, had friendly pelicans from other mech drops blast mine to pieces (and vice versa) often enough to where my squaddies never call mechs down nearby.
This is before we get into all the bullshit like:
Breaches happening right beneath a newly dropped mech's feet - and an ensuing Charger or Bile Titan emerging to pulverize it nigh instantaneously.
Invisible corpses (particularly biletitan corpses) clipping and then annihilating the mech.
Friendly fire is one thing, negligence / bad positioning are another. Hell, I won't even get mad when I'm two feet from boarding but a rocket devastator ragdolls me away from it, only for his pals to all turn their aggro on my unpiloted mech to then subsequently blow it up less than a minute after I call it down.
Those aren't things to rail at, I think.
Still.
We reserve a full stratagem slot for something that's supposed to be an incredible force multipier.
The implied power of the mechs requires us to time their deployment right, position ourselves properly, and operate them with care to maximize their potential, including maneuvering them in a way that doesn't let large enemies rip our precious weapon limbs off.
And yet there's so much random, literal bullshit that is completely out of our control that has nothing to do with bad play.
And yet we still have that 10 minute penalty despite having up to two other mechs in reserve.
Would it truly break the game if we were allowed to replace it after another minute or two?
Or hell, call the next one down instantly?
What if we wanted to arm two other friends for a hail-merry breach?
Who gives a damn?
Mechs have plenty of problems right now that everyone's posted quite a bit about, but it surprises me that this 10+ minute cooldown isn't one of them. I genuinely don't think it's needed.
End rant.