Nightbird, on 18 December 2020 - 04:31 PM, said:
IS LAMS is one ton heavier than AMS. Basically you can run 1 AMS + 1 ton ammo for the same weight and having no heat to worry about. The question is, how often is 1 ton of ammo per AMS not enough for QP that lasts around 4 minutes? The answer for me is 9/10 matches I don't run out of AMS ammo. I suggesting doing this experiment. If you have no heat to worry about, and ammo is not an issue, then you can use the extra heat to do more damage in 9/10 matches. If this is the case for you, then LAMS is a bad deal.
Basically weigh the 1/10 matches LAMS helps you against the 9/10 matches where the LAMS hurts you.
My anecdotal experience is that on matches where AMS matters, I need more than 1 ton of ammo per AMS. I often see matches where we're under sustained barrage for long periods during standoffs, or while holding an area. When there's a lot of missiles it matters, and when there's not a lot of missiles the extra heat from the LAMS doesn't matter.
So, when looking at the number of matches where LAMS is or isn't useful, we have to remove the number of matches where no AMS was useful.
My anecdotal impression is that on my Jester, running 1 AMS, 1 ton of ammo, and 1 LAMS, I run out of ammo in about 50% of the matches where missiles are a major factor. Matches tend to either be under 150 missiles destroyed, or upwards of 600. Now, how many matches have missiles as a big factor? That's harder to say. I tend to be part of a group, and the rest of the group is often long ranged firepower, so they are primary LRM targets. And I tend to stick near them for the first half of the match until things turn into a brawl. So I'm increasing the likelyhood of missiles being a factor in how my match goes. I'd say 50% of the time they matter, and 30% of the time they matter a lot.
So in a fair amount of matches, it doesn't matter which I used. But I feel like the LAMS works out more than it doesn't. But that may also be because of my build. If you looked at the link above, you'll notice I'm lighter on firepower than many Jester builds. But I still get great results because it has good sustainability/heat efficiency. It works well because I can keep firing for a long time. So even though DPS is lower, damage over time can be higher. I often get to stick on and finish off enemies with much bigger alphas, but who can no longer fight effectively because of their heat. And such a build would notice the extra heat from LAMS much, much less. So its entirely possible that I'm running a niche build that is the exception to the rule of LAMS.
Edited by Heavy Money, 18 December 2020 - 04:48 PM.