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Had some idle moments and decided to check max damage per second specs of various mechs. First one I tried was which medium mech spits out the most missiles in a 5x5LRM or similar mode. So I tried the Kintaro GB, Shadowhawk 2D2 (3 LRM5, 1 LRM10 in 5-port torso), and the Stormcrow.

Kintaro GB: 10 per second (w/LRM5 cooldown and range modules)
Stormcrow: 8.3 per second (w/ clan LRM5 cooldown and range modules)
Shadowhawk 2D2: 7.8 per second (w/LRM5 and LRM10 cooldown module)

The Stormcrow has greater speed, and swapping out head omni-pod gives you a tag laser. You can equip the LRMs in Artemis mode and have a targeting computer. Or opt out of Artemis and carry more missile and better targeting computer.

The Shadowhawk 2D2 has jump jets.

But with the quirks and cooldown module, the Kintaro GB pumps out 17% more missiles per second. With an XL285 engine, still has room for tag, 2 medium lasers, BAP, and 12.5 tons (2250) of missiles.

You can drop one of the LRM5 launchers for an SRM4 for more short range protection. This drops your fire rate to 9.2 missiles per second with a load out of 11.5 tons LRMS (assuming one ton of SRM). Given the breaks in fire between targets, the overall drop in fire rate will not be noticeable and is an acceptable tradeoff.

I always favor the "pure" solutions; I would stick with the 5 LRM launchers and 2 ML in GB and preffer to rely on other mechs for close range protection. If you come to the point that you need more than 2 ML for protection, you are either on the wrong spot (isolated) or one of the lest mechs in your group; in both cases I doubt that the SRM's are going to make any difference.

Purists! Hah!

Anyway, what I was saying is if you remove one LRM5 you lose about 8% of your LRM fire rate, of which a considerable amount is diluted anyway through misses, for an effective dilution of only a percent or two.

Will the SRM4 make a difference? I agree that in most cases you should be maneuvering to stay in a protective shell of your lance. However, if you are up against a light, or a damaged heavy or medium, then they make a difference, especially if you get down to a 2v2 or similar situation where they know to start charging you. I do admit to preferring the 5x5LRM load out, but really hate it when I am a lone survivor without a lot of options.

In any case, in terms of missiles per second it represents the best continuous LRM spam/fire suppression platform. It can also go to LRM25 launch for six or seven salvos (dependent on temp) without over heating. While the salvo impact of a dual LRM20 is higher, it is still only 9 missiles per second.

The QuadAC2

Technically, it should be an awesome platform for outright shredding of components, whether you use the Jager S (for the quirk, brings firing to every 0.58 seconds with a fully mastered S variant, and I did test it), the Cataphract 4X. I prefer Jagers because of gun placement up high, but you make tradeoffs, especially with XL engines and large side torsos.

The real issue is heat, as the PGI masters have nerfed the quad system with a substantial heat build up when firing all four at once. 17 salvos later you are maxed out in heat, and the problem gets worse because it is hard to shed heat without a lot of heat sinks. But you cannot have the heat sinks unless you want to give up on the 12 tons of ammo you need to run this thing.

You can chain fire of course, but damage output is radically reduced. One answer for both hitting light mechs and reducing heat buildup is to use the Fire Control app, also known as ADHD, to create an abbreviated chain fire. For whatever reason though - you cannot just put the weapons on fire groups 3,4,5,6 and fire when hitting a separate mouse key on any timing period. Because of odd programming, the best timing between shots is about 90ms to 100ms. Any lower and much higher, then the heat build up is actually higher than on straight chain fire from the MWO client. Now you can get up to 20+ salvos and subsequent heat buildup is more manageable. But at the expense of going from 13.8 dps (max dps with Jager S quirk) to 11.1 dps (which is normal for other quad AC2s without quirk).

Still not great though, even in arctic environments, but you can have fun with it and do considerable damage. I always run it with two cool shots.