heat up time is the difference. no damage increase over tiers.

and they take up so much pg/cpu for the same reason that plasma cannons take up to 100+ cpu. 2 simple words.

CCP Logic.

The LR does 450 dps after 2.875 seconds of firing (after 36 shots)

this is assuming you do not have any damage modifiers, this is includes LR proficiency, damage mods and that you are ignoring the -20% to armor and +20% to shields

Honestly I don't know if its exponential, decay, ramp or entropy based in terms of beam formation

s(n) = shot damage = 17*M
s(t) = shot damage per second = s(n)*12.5(t)

(M is damage multipliers from all sources, 12.5 is how many shots the LR fires a second)

b(n,0) (0 >= t >= 1) = beam damage between 0 and 1 seconds = 4n
b(n,1) (1 > t >= 5 = beam damage between 1 and 5 seconds = 50 + 8n
b(n,5) (t > 5) = 450

n = shot number since initially firing

D(n) = total shot damage = 17*M + b(n)

total dps follows pretty much the same format, but its simpler to jsut assume you are calculating at as second 0, 1 and 5

dps(0) = 212.5*M
dps(1) = 212.5*M + 50
dps(5) = 212.5*M + 450

The LR does 450 dps after 2.875 seconds of firing (after 36 shots)

this is assuming you do not have any damage modifiers, this is includes LR proficiency, damage mods and that you are ignoring the -20% to armor and +20% to shields