Average damage per tonne of ballistics is 150 (or 125 for UAC and 140 for AC/20).
150/2000 is 0.075 dmg per bullet.
10 bullets per second.
Sustained DPS 0.75.
That's 25% less DPS than a Small Laser but is sustained at 0 heat and offset by a very short range and very slow bullet speed. Max boatable ballistic slots so far is 4 making a total max sustained DPS of 3 for 3 tonnes at peak weight efficiency (4 machine guns 1 tonne of ammo).
Seems pretty balanced to me. It gives machine guns value without being abusable. For reference, current machine guns do 0.04 dmg per bullet, so its roughly double the damage it currently does (as I understand it).
Edited by Ryebear, 12 December 2012 - 08:07 PM.