Horseman, on 04 March 2018 - 08:32 AM, said:
Another way to evaluate is to take the mech into testing grounds on Canyon Network - if the ammo is barely enough to kill all eight mechs (going for CT on Cataphract and AWS, backshots on everything else), then it should be enough for the match. There are exceptions, of course - certain builds tend to spread damage too much or aren't particularly good at prolonged engagements - and it depends on your ability to place shots accurately.
Same test can be used to evaluate how your mech handles heat management and if it delivers enough DPS to be effective in combat ( a good build should be able to do that run within 3.5 to 4 minutes, again exceptions for mechs like Annihilator )
I do this same test, except on Tourmaline. I try to do the run without overheating once, killing all mechs in any reasonable fashion (back shoot the Atlas, maybe the Catapult, then legs or CT the rest) and the goal is to finish all eight mechs before or around 5 minutes. It's a good heat stress test.
I have my Jaggermech that can't finish before running out of ammo, but it gets to the last mech when it runs out, so I consider it reasonable. One of my very few all ammo designs.