2 ideas made by you guys that I'd like to highlight in here:
1. Detonating an EMP in mid-air sounds like pretty interesting to me.. would make gameplay more interesting imo. Although if the EMP collides with some other mech, map geometry, props, etc. then it should "detonate". Ergo no bouncing property for EMPs because that little line of code could probably make 'em too OP, IMHO. It's actual AoE is fine, IMO.
2. An EMP deactivating an E-shield without affecting mechs within its umbrella sounds like pretty coherent improvement to me. Just to highlight that every blockade or shield (no matter how many) within the EMP's AoE should be canceled or deactivated.
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IMO, balanced EMPs (with coherently short effect duration and area of effect),
plus a bit more sophisticated (like by adding mid-air detonation) and even adding some of distinctiveness factor to the various MK version (the more slots you invest in EMP tech the slightly better your EMPs are)..
these would be a nice touch as a whole, IMO. */
Also, considering EMPs with longer duration, enough duration to have you critically damaged if your opponent is good, then
the possibility of allowing the deployment of, at least, defensive items after, let's say, half the effect* of the EMP would not be a terrible idea either.
For example allowing blockades, shields, disruptors... that reduce the underwear impact the average pilot may feel after being hit by an EMP. --> The fact is that I find the faster mechs in the game to be quite dangerous after EMPing you (Scouts, Raiders..).
That worths its evaluation too, imo.. probably even to be well put into some test build soon. =)
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.. As one pseudo-related Note:
Big NO to any hypothetical future item nor weapon to decrease the maneuverability of the mechs in the game.