SRMs are far too inefficient. Against a testing grounds Awesome at 90 meters, aiming for front CT with 2xASRM6, you get an efficiency of 65%. Your DPS is supposed to be 6 DPS, but in reality, it is closer to 3.9 DPS. Compare that to an AC5, which represents the same tonnage investment, but lower hardpoint and crit space investment, which will get you 3 DPS.
The AC5 also kills the Awesome after generating 22 heat. The 2xASRM6 generates 56 heat to kill the Awesome. That is 2.54 times more heat.
You get all these massive disadvantages for a higher investment in hardpoints and crit slots, less range, slower projectile speed. And at 90 meters, where the SRMs should dominate the AC5 in performance, you get a 23.6% faster TTK. In Testing Grounds, a sterile environment, no lag or HSR issues, on a stationary Awesome, at 90 meters.
Problem is that this slight increase in TTK may not even come to fruition, because of all the extra heat you generate. Against a target that is twisting and shielding, it may take you even longer to finally bring him down, and heat will become a very real issue, slowing down your DPS to the point where it might be a wash between AC5 and SRMs.
SRMs should kill a target twice as fast and twice as efficiently as an AC5 at 90 meters. Basically, if two similar mechs meet head-on and begin engaging at 90 meters, and one has AC5s and the other mech has equivallent tonnage in SRMs, the one with SRMs should win and walk away with ~60% health remaining, if both start at 100% and are piloted by players with equal skill. First step is to increase SRM efficiency by reducing spread. You should be able to get 100% of a salvo into the CT of an Awesome at 90 meters. That will increase SRM efficiency by over 50%. Then, bumping damage per missile to 3.0 will be another 50% increase in effectiveness. Combine these together, and SRMs will become twice as effective as they are now, and thus roughly twice as effective as an AC5 at 90 meters.
TLDR: tighten SRM spread so you can hit 1 component at 90 meters. Increase damage-per-missile to 3.0.
Edited by YueFei, 27 May 2014 - 07:11 PM.