I moved this to a new topic to leave the official errata thread just for errata and not to clutter it with discussion ...
What if the ROF on the pulse laser were reduced to 40 (same as a beam laser). Then the extra power just buys a little extra penetration, but Beam and Pulse weapons become more of an apples to apples matter of choice.
I don't play much MegaTraveller combat to know if I am missing something.
I also did not try to design a pulse laser in Striker to know if reducing the ROF will have other impacts.
Traditionally (in CT), the beam laser offered a slight edge in accuracy (at a higher price) and the pulse laser offered an edge in damage (and was less expensive). I was just spit-balling an idea on bringing the MT lasers in line with the CT expectations.
"Tradition" in this case speaks to the High Guard system and to Book-2 post errata - in other words, space combat. In Striker, a 4-mirror pulse laser has a very slight damage advantage over a beam laser but
the same odds of hitting as a beam laser - it costs a wee bit more because it uses batteries to accumulate charge for the pulses. The Striker version of the High Guard shipboard pulse laser is a 3-mirror pulse laser, an odd thing with much more punch but a lower rate of fire than the 4-mirror, therefore lower odds of hitting than the 4-mirror or beam, which is why it shows the behavior "traditional" to High Guard/Book-2. (One could conceivably up-end tradition by introducing an 8-mirror pulse laser that does less damage but has a higher chance of hitting.)
For MegaTrav - if one draws on Striker to produce the weapon - correcting by reducing the pulse laser rate of fire results in something almost identical to the beam laser. I think it might get one or two more points of penetration, which because of the way MegaTrav works penetration, is only occasionally relevant. In MegaTrav, damage falls into one of three categories: either you haven't penetrated, or you have anything from just enough up to almost twice the penetration you need, or you have twice or more the penetration you need. That decides whether you do little-to-no-damage, half damage, or full damage. One point penetration difference only counts if it was just what you needed to make the next breakpoint; unless it does that, it didn't make a difference. So, a 4-mirror pulse laser has the same rate of fire as the beam laser, is only slightly better and costs only a wee bit more. Practically speaking, having both in the game doesn't produce much of a choice.
Frankly, there isn't much use for a beam laser in personal combat: it is
always slightly inferior to a 4-mirror pulse laser of the same input. That's a different argument, and it was inherited from Striker. However, if the aim is to give players in MegaTrav a range of options rather than having them design their own laser systems, then it's better to tackle the size than to tackle the rate of fire because that way you preserve choice: the smaller beam laser with its 2 targets (as clarified in Errata 2.21) or the larger, more power-hungry pulse laser with its 3 targets.
