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[Candy Pumpkin]

In the current implementation of the heavy gauss rifle it is very limited on what mechs can field it along with making some variants impossible to build (Ex. AS7-S2 with a heavy gauss rifle and light fusion engine: http://www.sarna.net...las_(BattleMech)).I was thinking that perhaps you could have it share slots in such a manner:

- Lock the heavy gauss rifle placement to side torsos in the same way C.A.S.E. is.
- The heavy gauss rifle will take up 9 slots in the side torso it is placed and 2 slots in the center torso.
- The heavy gauss rifle can only be equipped if the two available slots in the center torso are unused.

This will allow a considerably larger amount of mechs to utilize the weapon with the associated drawbacks in order to fit it:

- An XL Engine can be used to save a moderate amount of weight for fitting purposes at the risk that if the heavy gauss rifle is destroyed it will likely destroy the mech with it.
- A Light Engine can be used to save a small amount of weight for fitting purposes at the risk that if the heavy gauss rifle is destroyed it will cripple the mech, but has an increased survival chance over an XL Engine due to the Light Engine mechanics and the possibility of C.A.S.E.
- Only one heavy gauss rifle could ever be equipped to a mech.

A similar tactic could be applied to the LB20X though slightly modified to allow for more variety in such that it can be comparable to dual C-LB20X builds:

- Lock the LB20X placement to side torsos in the same way C.A.S.E. is.
- The LB20X will take up 10 slots in the side torso it is placed and 1 slot in the center torso.
- The LB20X can only be equipped if the one available slot in the center torso is unused.

This will allow a considerably larger amount of mechs to utilize the weapon with the associated drawbacks in order to fit it:

- An XL Engine cannot be used on a mech equipping an LB20X.
- A Light Engine can be used to save a small amount of weight for fitting purposes at the expense of using one center torso slot per LB20X and all slots in the side torso the LB20X is equipped
- Only two LB20Xs could ever be equipped to a mech.

These are just a few ideas I had to make these weapons more viable, but with drawbacks on use. Other suggestions I have are listed below in no particular order:

- L-AMS and C-L-AMS: Lower heat.
- Light Gauss Rifle: Increase max fired at once to 4. Increase range and velocity.
- Light Machine Gun and C-Light Machine Gun: Increase velocity with respect to range proportionally with Standard Machine Guns.
- IS PPCs in general: Have ghost heat limit set to 4 where a Light PPC contributes 1, a Snub-Nose PPC, PPC, and ER PPC each contribute 2, and a Heavy PPC contributes 3. Remove splash damage on heavy PPC as with the ghost heat implementation above the drawback of firing more than one simultaneously would result in a heat spike.
- C-ATMs: Perhaps remove minimum range, but have the missile spread start large and converge as distance traveled increases. This would allow large damage with low precision at close range. Moderate damage with moderate precision at medium range, and low damage with high precision at long range. This would compare with SRMSs which would have moderate damage with high precision at close range, S-SRMs which would have moderate damage with moderate precision at close range and LRMs which would have moderate damage moderate precision at long range giving ATM's a middle ground spot while still allowing the other missile types their more specialized roles.