Posted 02 May 2015 - 02:12 PM
This is simply the result of the differing Clan and Inner Sphere weapon paradigms.
For example, the clans have range advantages with their lasers, and their lasers weigh less and take up fewer critical slots than their IS counterparts. This means that medium mechs are totally viable, because they can carry enough firepower to be truly viable in CW. Clan mediums also have good mobility, so it is easy to reposition, enabling favorable trades at longer ranges with those lasers.
For the IS, to meet the clans range advantage, large and ER large lasers are necessary. The IS large lasers take up two slots compared to the single slot of the clan ERLL, and weigh 5 tons instead of 4. Likewise, IS LPLs weigh more than clan LPLs, though they both take up two slots. The result of the greater weight and slot requirements for IS LLs mean that to boat them effectively you need a lot of free weight and enough slots to mount them in multiples, and that suggests heavy and assault mechs.
Ghost heat on IS large lasers also contributes to the preponderance of heavies and assaults, because you can fire three without incurring that penalty, whereas for the clans they can only fire two before ghost heat sets in. This means that IS mechs can truly boat large lasers, whereas clan ERLL and LPLs are usually used in combination with ERML due to the longer range of the clan ERML and the ghost heat limit of two. Therefor to take advantage of the ability to truly boat IS large las, you again want maximum free space and tonnage - heavies and assaults in other words.
Next, IS ballistics are in play more often clan clan ballistics due to their pinpoint single-shot damage. AC/2s are basically useless due to the requisite face-time, so that dictates bringing bigger, heavier autocannons if you're going for a dakka build. Being heavy and taking up lots of a mech's available slottage, ballistics are once again going to be more easily carried by heavies and assaults.
And finally, clan lights are less effective at being proper light mechs than their IS counterparts. This means that it is often a better choice for clans to take many mediums than, say, a heavy, an assault, and two lights. IS lights are actually properly viable if the team takes them in serious numbers, being more capable of effective generator rushes.
So the result of all this is that clan mediums often beat out clan lights, and clan mediums can actually boat lasers at range. IS heavies and assaults on the other hand can carry the multiple large lasers and / or ballistics that can meet the clans on even ground as far as weapon balance. IS lights are capable of generator rushes to a greater degree than clan lights, as clan lights fail to offer enough speed to offset their reduced weapon loadouts in comparison to clan mediums.
The TL;DR is that Clan and IS weapon differences ensure that the IS works on heavies and assaults - with lights thrown in for potential gen rushes and to meet deck requirements - while clanners get to use mediums in greater numbers.
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