Posted 05 November 2013 - 01:36 PM
Ballistics Damage vs Chassis Tonnage
A 30 ton Spider can only mount, at most, 4 MGs, 2 AC/2s, 1 AC/5 or 1 AC/10 on anything even remotely practical, and that is by the farthest definition of practical.
A 65 ton Jager can mount 6 MGs, 6 AC/2s, 4 AC/5s, 2 AC/10s, 2 AC/20s or 2 Gauss Rifles. As such a Jager can out DPS a Spider by at least 33%, and more like 75%.
Hi. This is MechWarrior, where there's this thing called balancing. A light Mech can move fast and is hard to hit, but is forced to use Lasers due to the exorbitant weight of ballistics and their ammo. In return, Lights tend to have much less range than heavies and overheat faster, forcing them to avoid prolonged engagements.
Heavies can mount many ballistics, which allows them much better heat management and range in return for being slower. They also mount lasers, usually as backup weapons for the heavier weapons the lights can't effectively use.
When the topic comes up that Lights are better at using light weapons than Heavies then the answer is YES. It's called diminishing returns. Everything about the Jenner is designed from the ground up to make the most use of lower weight lower crit slot weapons.
Heavies are better at using heavy weapons than Lights as well. Everything about the Heavy is designed from the ground up to make the most use out of heavy, high crit slot weapons.
If you're giving a Battlemaster 6 Medium Lasers and nothing else it's just as ludicrous as jamming an AC/20 into a Raven. It can work, and it's surprising, but you're failing to utilize the inherent advantages of the chassis as a whole.
Medium laser effectiveness caps out around 6. Diminishing returns after that make any medium laser after 6 less effective than the others simply due to heat sink worries. The 7th medium Laser is really only about 75% as effective, the 8th 50%, the 9th 25%. They do the same amount of damage, but even without ghost heat you've hit a threshold (19+ heat) that make the dissipation of the excess heat, even without the ghost heat mechanic, for those extra lasers more trouble than they're worth.
Because of this effect of diminishing returns the medium laser's effectiveness is soft capped at the 45 ton range. A Hunchback with 6 MLs can carry nearly the same number of heatsinks as a Battlemaster with 6 MLs, making taking them for the heavier Mech not only suboptimal, but rather ludicrous because the Assault can be much more effective utilizing weaponry designed for its class, which makes better use of its superior tonnage.
Essentially, you are correct in your hypothesis but incorrect in your conclusion. You assume that because Assaults make poor use of lasers that they should receive a buff when, in actuality, because assaults make poor use of lasers you should be taking different weaponry that's designed with that class in mind.