Commander James Raynor, on 07 July 2017 - 08:18 AM, said:
- 6 heavy medium lasers is too much. Ghost heat after 4 seems reasonable. 5 if you want to push it, but 6, no way.
Heavy Gauss weighs 18 tons versus the AC20 at 14 tons, has 5 shots of ammo per ton versus 7, has 6.50 second cooldown versus 4.00 second, and has a 1.00 second charge-up versus no charge up.
The AC20 absolutely shreds the Heavy Gauss within its optimal range of 270 meters due to far higher DPS, and it does so while weighing less. The AC20 also doesn't have the disadvantages of only fitting in side torso hardpoints with a standard engine, or blowing up when crit.
As for the Heavy Medium Laser ghost heat limit, that's because the Heavy Lasers are all about alpha damage; if the Heavy Medium can only fire 4 at once, then their alpha damage output is only 40, less than the 42 damage that 6x ER Mediums can put out.
Math-wise, the Heavy Lasers with my proposed changes would have worse DPS than comparable Clan ER Lasers, so their primary advantage would be alpha damage.
Worth noting that without my proposed changes to the Heavy Medium, it actually has superior DPS and damage/heat to the Clan ER Medium Laser; it is probably the only usable Heavy Laser as things currently stand.
Edited by Zergling, 07 July 2017 - 04:04 PM.