Looking back at some of my (really) old notes, and seeing how Machine Gun Arrays were implemented, I came up with the below for lasers. I see this as a parallel research effort to the Blazer Cannon, and one that lost to it due to even worse heat issues, not to mention complexity.
Unlike Machine Gun Arrays, Laser Array equipment is required to link each individual weapon. For an array of two, one array link is required. For an array of three, three, and an array of four requires six links. Further, all the weapons and links have to be placed in the same location (this is one of the factors limiting arrays to four). Like Machine Gun Arrays, Laser Arrays can be fired together, and roll on the appropriate cluster hit table (2, 3, or 4), with all hits being resolved separately against the same location. Finally, the necessary proximity of the lasers and link equipment results in extreme heat. This is modeled by assigning a heat value to each link. Laser Arrays can be reconfigured in the End Phase of any turn to drop weapons (and their associated links) out of the array, or simply fire them independently (dropping only the links). Damage to links or weapons requires an array reconfiguration in the End Phase, but the remaining parts of the array continue to function once reconfigured.
Statistics:
Small Laser Array: 0.5 ton, 1 critical, 1 heat per link
Medium Laser Array: 1 ton, 1 critical, 2 heat per link
Large Laser Array: 2 tons, 2 criticals, 3 heat per link (thus only three Large Lasers can be linked on a 'mech)
Configurations:
Configurations of 2 would have been prototyped around 2812 (the year the Blazer Cannon beat this design in competition)
2 Small Lasers: 1.5 tons; 3 criticals; 3 heat; 3 or 6 damage (3 aero)
2 Medium Lasers: 3 tons; 3 criticals; 7 heat; 5 or 10 damage (5 aero)
2 Large Lasers: 12 tons; 6 criticals; 19 heat; 8 or 16 damage (8 aero)
Configurations of 3 would have been prototyped around 2820
3 Small Lasers: 3 tons; 6 criticals; 6 heat; 3, 6, or 9 damage (6 aero, only 3 threshold)
3 Medium Lasers: 6 tons; 6 criticals; 15 heat; 5, 10, or 15 damage (10 aero, only 5 threshold)
3 Large Lasers: 21 tons; 12 criticals; 30 heat; 8, 16, or 24 damage (16 aero, only 8 threshold)
Configurations of 4 would have been prototyped around 2830
4 Small Lasers: 5 tons; 10 criticals; 10 heat; 3, 6, 9, or 12 damage (6 aero, only 3 threshold)
4 Medium Lasers: 10 tons; 10 criticals; 24 heat; 5, 10, 15, or 20 damage (10 aero, only 5 threshold)
4 Large Lasers (Large Aerospace Craft/Vehicles/Test Stands only): 32 tons; 20 spaces; 50 heat; 8, 16, 24, or 32 damage (16 aero, only 8 threshold)
