Tesunie, on 02 October 2015 - 04:32 PM, said:
Recall that lasers are effective at any range.
They will deal their full damage when fired at a target inside their optimal range, yes. But that isn't accounting for laser duration.
In order to do your full 11 damage to the enemy with an ERLL you must hold your reticle on the component you want to deal damage to for a full second and a half. Dealing your full laser duration's worth of damage to an opponent at distance is much easier to pull off than holding that same laser on a target that is in motion at close range. At long range, a light mech moving 150kph is easy to target with an ERLL. At close range that same light is going to torso-twist that 11 points of damage, spreading it out across his entire chassis thanks to the long laser duration. You'll be lucky to keep your reticle on the desired component of his mech for any meaningful length of time.
If you have weapons for all engagement ranges you aren't going to excel at any of them because you're spending tonnage on trying to do three different things with one chassis.
ERLL and machine guns do not belong on the same mech. If the focus is on short range critical hits (machine guns) then the other weapon systems should be focused on short or mid-range damage (ERSLs, SPLs, ERMLs, MPLs, even SRMs.) If the focus is on mid-range to long range fire support (ERLL) then the other weapon systems should be focused on range as well. (a 2nd ERLL, or some ERMLs as a secondary system.) Make sense?
Edited by 0111101, 02 October 2015 - 05:08 PM.