Pilot companion.

The idea is simple, giving pilots a companion that either boosts the damage of a different weapon type or give some kind of extra bonus to the mech, both will add 1 extra implant slot,

A pilot companion made for boosting damage adds the same amount of damage to weapons as a rare pilot while slightly reducing the damage bonus of the pilot. 

A pilot companion made for support will fall under 3 catagories.:

defense which will boost health and reduce critical damage at the cost of reduce sprint and slightly less damage.

Agility which will boost speed and sprint at the cost of slightly lower health and damage.

General support which is more of a neutral companion that has no draw backs and adds a10% bonus onto the extra implant slot only, so for example a 30% ability damage implant becomes a 40% damage. the only implants not getting a boost are those that reduce the ability reload or increase ability duration. 

The extra implant  slot on weapons focusing companions can only be used for the other weapon type and not for the mech. the support focused companions add 1 implant slot meant for implants made to supprot all mech and/or 1 particular mech. 

Reason for this idea: There are just too little options to optimize your mech and weapons and 4 implant slots are starting to become not enough thanks to many weapons having up to 3 and 4 implants ((not sure, but there might be a few weapons that have 5 implants.))

there's also the fact that using 2 different types of weapons effectively has been weakened because of the general weapon damage bonus that has been removed from pilots.

Bonus: As a way to get extra money, maybe give the companions different skins and have them alter the looks of the mech hanger. You'd select which companion you want to be used to alter the hanger theme, and than it will change!