Varent, on 10 January 2014 - 10:57 AM, said:
The only mech I wont hit all in the 'roughly' same spot would be a light mech or a particularly small medium, like the black jack or the cicada. Keep in ming im aiming for a right or left torso usually, those are large areas that are pretty easy to hit. And most Center torso are even larger.
You can always go test your hypothesis. Take an AC40 Jaeger to the testing grounds. How many shots does it take to kill the target and how many mech sections are damaged ... then do the same thing with 4xASRM6 (You can even use the same mech). How many armor sections are damaged and which kills the mech faster?
So ... since I have my own jm6-a ... here are the results .. testing grounds .. forest colony snow ... 200m from target ... center torso target from front to keep things simple ...
Commando
AC40 - one shot kill
4ASRM6 - 2 shots - one volley - 7 total ASRM6 - first volley damaged 6 separate mech sections
Cicada
AC40 - 2 shots - 3 rounds total
4ASRM6 - 3 shots - 9 total ASRM6 - 7 mech segments damaged in first shot
Catapult
AC40 - 3 shots - 5 rounds total
4ASRM6 - 4 shots - 15 volleys total
Centurion
AC40 - 2 shots - 4 rounds total
4ASRM6 - 3 shots - 10 volleys total
So ... overall the 4ASRM6 is not as effective at killing opponents as the AC40 since although the damage potential is higher that damage is distributed over more of the mech so it does not kill the opponent as efficiently.
Now to test another popular hypothesis ... are SRMs more effective fired one by one?
4ASRM6 fired at Catapult LA from 200m - damage was distributed over 5 mech segments - head,ct,lt, rt. la
4 shots - 13 total volleys required to blow off LA
Fired individually 13 volleys required to blow up RA
Atlas
4xASRM6
3x4ASRM6 volleys through LT armor - total 20 volleys to blow off arm
ASRM6
Total 20 ASRM6 individual volleys to blow off the other arm.
So .. at least in the testing grounds ... a single ASRM6 does the same damage whether fired separately or together. (as it should).