13 replies to this topic

[Felio]

The medium laser is light, doesn't usually require additional heat sinks, and has the range to deal damage in most combat situations. If you shoot much farther than 540m -- assuming the map even has positions that far apart with line-of-sight -- I would consider it sniping. I'm not saying 541 is sniping, but it's a good distance out there.

The below statistics only show a slice of the picture. You obviously can't use them to make a complete and objective analysis. There's refire rate, attack duration, how much you value being far away, and other things.

But in my playing, I have found it really difficult to justify using a heavier weapon when the option to stack medium lasers is there. And the mechs have so many hardpoints, we're never forced to use a heavy weapon.

So I set out to see if there was data to support what I was doing or if I was missing anything. These are my results.

Conclusion: To me, it seems there is an area between the 1- and 2-ton weapons and the 5- and 7-ton weapons that needs fleshing out. There are times I would like to use a 3- or 4-ton weapon, but they do not exist, so I use 3 or 4 Medium Lasers instead, and this is many times more effective than, say, a 5-ton Large Laser.


Damage per heat:

Small Laser: 1.5
Large Pulse Laser: 1.37
Large Laser: 1.29
Medium Laser: 1.25
PPC: 1.25
Medium Pulse Laser: 1.2
Small Pulse Laser: 1.0
ER Large Laser: 0.95
ER PPC: 0.91
Flamer: lol


Damage per ton:

Small Laser: 6.0
Medium Laser: 5.0
Small Pulse Laser: 3.0
Medium Pulse Laser: 3.0
Large Laser: 1.8
ER Large Laser: 1.8
Large Pulse Laser: 1.43
PPC: 1.25
ER PPC: 1.25
Flamer: lol


Range per ton:

Medium Laser: 270
Small Laser: 180
ER Large Laser: 135
PPC: 115
ER PPC: 115
Small Pulse Laser: 90
Medium Pulse Laser: 90
Large Laser: 90
Large Pulse Laser: 43
Flamer: lol


Damage per slot:

Medium Laser: 5
Large Pulse Laser: 5
ER Large Laser: 4.5
Large Laser: 4.5
PPC: 3.33
ER PPC: 3.33
Medium Pulse Laser: 3
Small Laser: 3
Small Pulse Laser: 3
Flamer: lol

[AnnoyingCat]

alrighty~ let's give the med lazor a crappy stat~

[Lynx7725]

Medium lasers has always been staple. It's the go-to weapon really, so no big surprise there.

Still, "But in my playing, I have found it really difficult to justify using a heavier weapon when the option to stack medium lasers is there. And the mechs have so many hardpoints, we're never forced to use a heavy weapon." is not totally true when the weight class scale up to Assaults. Assaults have the luxury of weight, but not enough slots -- this is unique to MWO due to the way the system is implemented. For example, an Awesome 8Q has 9 E-slot, which leaves a lot of tonnage unused if we strictly use medium lasers.

You do point out a problem with the current weapons set, and there is the gaping hole where pulse weaponry is suppose to come in, but pulse weaponry is currently underwhelming, and not sufficiently advantageous to take over standard lasers. As it is, Energy weapons suffer IMO from a peculiar problem of not doing enough damage, but in a sense that's fine because that's where ballistics come into their own.

[Tarl Cabot]

Wait for the Clans and their ER medium laser (shudders)...

[Roland]

The medium and small lasers should have their stats restored to what they were originally, prior to being nerfed back in closed beta.

[Lynx7725]

Clan weapons are supposed to be OP. One on one, equal tonnage, a Clan mech should flatten the IS opponent. Even if it's by running over them repeatedly in the case of the Dasher...

And if you think that's bad, Clan Med Pulse lasers should function more on par as the current IS med laser, with more range and damage. And with a cool sound effect too...

So let's park the Clan one side and deal with the IS side first.

[Xeno Phalcon]

Medium lasers have always been considered a workhorse weapon, and are a staple for most mechs through out the battletech universe and its various eras. In MWO heat range and the fact that the lasers damage is spread over a few seconds (and thus rarely gets focused on one point in a fast moving battle) prevent them from being as overly used as PPC and gauss are right now, on paper a a pack of medium lasers will do more damage in a sustained battle then a ppc or gauss weapon but the burst damage of the larger weapons and extra range are pretty appealing with the use of cover, poptarts and range. PPC/Gauss also offer a heavier 'first blow' in a opening solvo giving a greater chance of disabling the opposing mechs weaponry.

ERGO: medium lasers are fine.

[Lynx7725]

I personally prefer PPCs (in both versions) over lasers simply because they can pinpoint 10 points of damage into one location. But enough Med Lasers do the same job, so it really is up to the build and fighting style.

[HarmAssassin]

Medium lasers are meant to be the workhorse weapon with the best overall stats. If you are playing a heavier mech with spare tonnage you use larger weapons and can equip the heatsinks to fire them. If you are playing a smaller mech with a lack of free tonnage, you use smaller weapons... but the medium laser SHOULD be the most common weapon in game, and the weapon that all other weapons are balanced against.

[Keifomofutu]

Medium lasers are the only weapon preventing assaults and heavies from blowing lights and mediums out of the water without a second thought. The lights and mediums are still weaker but the mlas help bridge the gap somewhat.

Honestly I don't think this is taken far enough. The missile class has ssrms. I would prefer if srm2 was retooled to be specifically useful for the lighter classes as well. Maybe an extra fast recycle time or something. Heavies wouldn't get as much use out of a buffed srm2. The ballistic weapon class is lacking a similar weapon for lighter mechs.

Big mechs can pack in lots of big weapons lighter mechs don't have that option.

[Lynx7725]

SRM2s? Nah. Just add Infernos.

[LordBraxton]

all ur numbers showed me is that the PPC does way too much damage for its heat

[Taemien]

Medium Lasers are the Spinfusors of BattleTech. They are supposed to be the best Dmg/ton and Dmg/heat weapons in the game. They can support any other weapon in the game and usually do both in Lore and TT.

The majority of my mech configs contain 2-4 of them and I think they are probably the most balanced weapon in the game, every other weapon should be balanced with them as the standard.

[Mazzyplz]

LordBraxton, on 29 May 2013 - 08:47 PM, said:

all ur numbers showed me is that the PPC does way too much damage for its heat

in the numbers posted, the large laser and large pulse are above it in that respect..

i think the energy weapons are balanced compared to each other as they are tbh.

what we need is better balance between energy, missiles and ballistics type weapons!!
some ballistic needs to be nerfed and the ac5 needs a slight buff, and SRM needs to do
more damage!

Edited by Mazzyplz, 29 May 2013 - 10:21 PM.