Gristle, on 07 November 2012 - 11:46 PM, said:
This is equivalent to 3,672 damage @ 1.7 per missile, if all missiles hit, delivered in 306 seconds. 4xML will only deliver 408 damage in the same time.
Unless I'm mistaken, 1 ton of LRM ammo is still only 180 missiles. So, at Jun's cited 4 tons of ammo, this amounts to 720 missiles. That comes to only 1224 total potential damage if LRMs are set to 1.7 damage per missile. That's a pretty hefty load, to be sure. However, this represents an investment of 18 tons and your damage output can plummet fairly quickly if the enemy takes some basic precautions.
Let's assume that since Jun is using 2xLRM15 and 4xMLs that he is using the Trial Catapult C1. If he decides to stagger his fire, so that he could use those MLs against any light or medium 'mechs that decide to come his way, then he is very susceptible to AMS. Unless it changed since mid-October, one AMS roughly kills 5 Missiles per LRM15 volley. This means that even a single AMS could reduce his total damage output to only 816. If target/spotter movement and terrain cause half of his remaining missiles to miss, then he might only be doing 408 damage on the same 18 ton investment. This would be insufficient to kill an assault 'mech, and anything Dragon-speed or faster might decide to come brawl with him where he is weak. His stock heat sinks would only let him discourage rushers, not actually kill them unless a significant portion of his missiles had already struck them. He could die without helping his team, based solely on what his opponents do. I believe Jun's concern comes from the notion that you can invest a huge amount of tonnage into weapons that might not do anything.