Garth posted the answers to “Ask a Dev #11” today.. we got the usual assortment of ‘serious’ questions/answers, and a fun one..
The answer regarding how lasers do their damage is the most interesting one to me.
 Q: I noticed that MWO implements lasers as a steady beam of light. When you fire this movable beam, how is the damage applied? Is it entirely upfront (only the initial hit matters), applied evenly over time. (100% of the damage if your beam remains on the enemy the entire duration, and 50% damage if you lose tracking half way through the laser cycle), or is it more of an exponential curve (the initial hit counts the most, but to gain the full 100% damage you must remain tracking the target)?[Allied]
A: Lasers do damage over time, and must be held on target. You can literally do (small amounts of) damage to an opponent’s left arm, left torso, centre torso, right torso, and right arm with a single laser shot. That said, it’ll be a tiny amount to each area.[GARTH]Q: Will the THG-11E Thug and its variants appear next in Mechwarrior Online? [Will9761]
A: I cannot confirm or deny it, but I personally would love to see it. Great main variant, too. [GARTH]Q: So my question is. Is it also possible to evade the LRM with pure speed or jump away? [Nash]
A: You can’t entirely evade with speed, but Light ‘Mechs get hit far less often; especially at extremely high speeds. So yes, you can essentially ‘evade’ them, but it is hard. [GARTH]Q: Are the current random beta key invitations for founders truly random, or is the data we entered regarding our computer systems taken into consideration as a weighting factor? [Rashhaverak]
A: Entirely random. [GARTH]Q: My sister and I will be playing next to each other. She wants to be a commander, with me defending her, what type of command orders will she give to help me gain points while just waiting for the enemy to come to us [fluffypinkbunny]
A: Probably things like “Mom knows you didn’t really do your laundry” and “If you’re going to go to that party, make sure Dad doesn’t talk to Steve – he always gives everything away.” [GARTH]Q: How many Urbanmechs does it take to change a lightbulb? [Feindfeuer]
A: Essentially infinite, as they have no hands. [GARTH]