IMO the missiles are the same while it is the delivery system that is different. PGI needs to agree on how much damage a single missile does and use it across the board. They already have a set damage for projectiles. One point per while the number indicates the number of projectiles sent down range per shot. Thus the number will correspond to the damage it does.
eg AC 20. Now I don't use ballistics so pardon me if I'm mistaken but I'm under the impression that an AC 20 uses up 20 rounds of ammo per shot fired. Each does 1 point per for a total of 20.
However ballistic weapons don't depend on lock, reach out pretty far, have no minimum range etc. Missiles have ECM, AMS and in the case of streak, requires lock. SRM doesn't but shoots like a ballistic and has a range of just 270 without being able to extend twice or three times that distance like lasers and ballistics.
Still since the number is the number of missiles fired per salvo, you have to multiply it by the damage the missile does which is different from weapon type to weapon type. They need to balance it out so that missiles simply do a set damage and let the weapon dmg come from missiles launched per salvo. Make the difference between them be things like number of missiles per salvo, if it uses a lock, if it needs a lock to fire, range, crit slots, tonnage, etc.
That's not saying that there shouldn't be separate missile types. The missiles can be different while containing the same payload.
Edited by Deamhan, 24 January 2013 - 08:45 PM.