Well, a lot's been posted since my last post, and I'm sorry for not responding sooner. That aside, I'm not pretending my suggestion was a perfect idea. With either option, there will be detriments, however, the idea of having a mentor seems to be the lesser of two evils. It's why I suggest that having a mentor would be mandatory, but listening to their advice or heeding it be optional.
Now, moving on to what was basically the final straw that triggered this thread...
Holy shit, 20mm? Get ruler out and measure that man. Go visualize it; that's thicker than most people's thumbs. And can you imagine carrying the ammunition for that? How much space it'll take up for just a few rounds? The Demons had to have a huge drum fed weapon to feed theirs, and the Star Army doesn't like to do heavy. There are many ways to get around the problem of the LASR being anemic - very many in fact - but upgrading caliber to this degree isn't one of them.
Now that I got that off my chest;
I am not saying any of this to be rude and I am not angry, but I'm sticking as straight to the facts as possible to get this post out. Just hearing of this, it seems that it doesn't take into account the setting, what's come before it, or the faction's style. Not to mention practicality. These are the very same fears that Semjax and others have talked about, and this is where chatting with people about the ideas ahead of time would really help out. Hop on the shoutbox or IRC and talk a bit at least.