Weapon Concept: Clan Standard Lasers

[DragonKhan55]

What if the Clans had both the ER versions of their lasers, as well as improved versions of the original IS standard ones as well?

Clan Large Laser: 4 tons, 6/12/18, 8 heat, 10 damage. Less range than a Clan ER Large laser, but same damage and 33% less heat.

Clan Medium Laser: 1 ton, 3/6/9, 3 heat, 7 damage. The range band is the same now as a IS medium laser, but you do the same damage as a ER Medium for the same heat as a IS Medium.

Clan Small Laser: .5 ton, 2/3/4, 1 heat, 5 damage. 33% loss on range compared to the ER Model, but lower heat and still the same five-point damage tick.

[Coldstone]

I think the so called improved Lasers are allready what you want to do.

The have the weight and crit space of the clan lasers but still work with their original IS Values in case of damage, heat and range. From Operation Klondike I think.

[DragonKhan55]

Only the Large Laser would be improved in that instance-the medium/small lasers would stay exactly the same, no?

[RifleMech]

Only the Large Laser would be improved in that instance-the medium/small lasers would stay exactly the same, no?

Yes. Only the Large Laser was improved. I think if the Medium and Small were improved they'd have the weight of the Small and Micro Lasers with all the other stats matching their IS versions. The problem is that even generating 1 heat more the "Improved" Medium Laser would outclass the Clan's ER Small Laser. The Medium has a range of 9, while the ER Small has a range of 6. I think most would go for the 1 extra heat point for the extra 3 hexes in range.

The Improved Small Laser vs the ER Micro is more debatable. It does 1 point more damage for 1 hex shorter range. The differences are more like the Machine gun so and Improved Small Laser could be okay. I don't see how to make an Improved Medium. Reducing anything just makes it into a Small Laser.

[idea weenie]

Clan Standard lasers could follow this progression:

Improved Lasers - take the TL D Inner Sphere Lasers, upgrade them to TL E while keeping the heat, tonnage, and crits identical.  These would be little more than plug and play into existing Inner Sphere Mechs captured as isorla and used by Garrison/Solahma forces.  These lasers can be retrofitted by Inner Sphere technicians that don't have Star League tech training as the connections/software/balance are identical to the existing models (similar to how modern graphics cards are plug and play).

Mk 2 Improved Lasers - Take the Improved Lasers from above, double the heat output, keep the tonnage/crits identical, and make them using TL F factories.  Again, these are merely plug and play lasers onto basic Star League Mechs (that are expected to have Double Heat Sinks).

No extended ranges, no Pulse upgrades, just simply more powerful lasers (maybe a slight increase in range)

Rough idea for where the stats would be changed (other than Improved Mk 2 that would produce double the heat):

Name	Damage	Ranges	Estimated BV
Small Laser	3	(0)1/2/3	9
Small Laser, Improved	4	(0)1/3/4	17
Small Laser, Improved, Mk 2	5	(0)2/4/6	31
Medium Laser	5	(0)3/6/9	46
Medium Laser, Improved	6	(0)4/7/10	64
Medium Laser, Improved, Mk 2	7	(0)5/8/12	88
Large Laser	8	(0)5/10/15	123
Large Laser, Improved	10	(0)6/12/18	185
Large Laser, Improved, Mk 2	12	(0)7/14/21	311