Please, Don't Overnerf the SB Gauss Rifle

[Calispark]

As it stands in the game, the Silver Bullet Gauss Rifle is a strong weapon, outshining most of the other weapons introduced in the latest patch. Personally, I think it is good that IS assaults are finally getting some love. Thunderbolts are rather irrelevant at the moment, and the only thing IS assaults have over Clans are:

-Heavy Gauss
-RACs
-Single shot ACs and LRMs
While Clans have:

-HAGs
-Adjustable hardpoints
-Heavy lasers
-Beam lasers
-Lower weight and slot costs

The SB gauss rifle helps bridge the gap between the overall firepower of the heavier IS and Clan mechs, which is great, because the clanners have been dominating with the Mad Cat, Direwolf, Supernova, Blood Asp, Kodiak, etc. due to an overwhelming firepower advantage.

Despite this, I feel that SB Gauss rifles are looking at a nerf soon. And while I would prefer they don't get nerfed at all, in order to avoid putting them in the ground forever, I think a few guidelines should be followed in the event they get nerfed.

Things to do to make them less powerful, without killing them off (not all of these should be used obviously):

-Very slightly increase cool down. As long as the weapon still feels a lot more snappy than standard gauss, the cool down specifics don't matter all that much. I think this is still a sloppy way to go about nerfing, but if nothing else works, this can be a last alternative.

-Decrease range. This, in my opinion, makes a lot of sense, and I'm not sure why they already can shoot out to 800 meters with no damage drop-off. Putting them at 550-600 meters would encourage their use as brawling and anti-light weapons, rather than snipers.

-A slight (SLIGHT-- I cannot highlight this enough) heat increase would mean that they cannot be paired with PPC's and other energy weapons easily.

-Add ghost heat between them and PPC's and/or LBX 10s. This is one thing that I think is actually overpowered about them; it used to be only very specific IS mechs could run 2 gauss and 2 PPC, like the Marauder and King Crab; now any mech with 2 energy hardpoints and 2 ballistic hardpoints can get a 50 damage alpha for no ghost heat very easily.

-Make only one SB gauss rifle chargeable at a time. With the fast charge-up time, this would mean that the dps of the weapons would be only slightly affected, but the required accuracy would be increased greatly and running two of these alongside other weapons would be much more challenging.

Now, things that should not be done to the SB gauss rifle, for risk of killing it:

-DO NOT INCREASE SPREAD. The equivalent of an LBX-5 is more than enough spread. Anything more means that unless you are 300 meters away, you are hitting side torsos, even if your shot is spot-on. This is the equivalent of a 33 percent damage loss, and would functionally turn it into a far worse AC-10. It would make the weapon useless.

-DO NOT INCREASE CHARGE UP TIME. The snappy, quick charge up time is what makes these gauss rifles distinctive, and increasing it by any amount would make it lose it's functionality as a quick light-clearer and torso popper.

-Don't increase the tonnage or slots required. The equivalent of a standard gauss rifle is right where it should be.

IS mechs always were a bit more creative than Clan mechs, with stealth, RAC's, XL engines, etc. This weapon fits in wholeheartedly with that theme. I really hope it doesn't get nerfed to oblivion.