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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   2632 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for September 19, 2025

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Their ER Small Lasers are better than Inner Sphere Medium Lasers in every facet. More damage, better range, less head, half the weight.

In the tabletop game it's equal damage, 2/3 the range, better heat, half the weight. Does the video game mess with game balance that strongly? Skimming forums it sounds like the answer may be "yes", because smaller lasers fire more frequently and all beam weapons hit the same target at the same time and the AI tries to close range rapidly regardless of loadout so you just want to spam builds with as many little lasers as possible ... but if it's the greatest Mechwarrior game ever (I haven't played since 3 but I loved 2) maybe they're exaggerating the severity?

I might have to double check my numbers.

So, by tabletop, IS MLasers have a range breakdown of 3/6/9, 1T, 3 heat, 5 damage. Clan ER Small lasers have 2/4/6, 0.5T, 2 heat, 5 damage. So yeah, same damage, 1/3rd less heat, 2/3rd the range.

Now in MW5 things get slightly confused by equipment qualities. So we have

MLaser Tier 0: 5 dmg, 324 range, 2.7 heat MLaser Tier 5: 6.5 dmg, 506 range, 1.688 heat C-ER SLaser: 6 dmg, 562.5 range, 1.312 heat

So yeah, it looks like the differences were exaggerated a bit. Compared to the lowest tier MLaser is 20% more damage, 50% more range, 50% less heat. To the highest tier MLaser it's actually less damage, but more range, and slightly less heat.

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