This was brought up in the Patch Notes discussion about having an equivalent HE weapon to the Heavy AC. We have the cheap but efficient Heavy Mortar that pairs with the Arbalest. We have the long-range Heavy Mauler that pairs with the HVD, and we have the short-range DPS monster in the Assault CG that pairs with the Heavy MG.
As it is, I find the Mortar to be preferable in most circumstances. I really only use the Mauler paired with Gravitons or HVDs though I might sometimes put a Mauler on Capitals that have other Large weapons. Mortars tend to not get used at all when paired with other longer-ranged weapons.
In the "weapons that make sense on paper" category, I think there's room for two more HE weapons, the "Light Mauler" (roughly equivalent to the Railgun) and the 800 range Medium HE Ballistic somewhere between the Heavy Mauler and Mortar (name pending but I'll just call it the Hypothetical HE weapon, or HHE)
Here's the problem, as I see it: The Heavy Mortar is already a general-purpose weapon as-is and the Heavy Mauler was previously OP (as Megas pointed out). In order to create the niche for the HHE, you have to make the Mortar less general-purpose and the Mauler more elite. You have to push each more to the extreme end so that the middle-of-the-road option doesn't overlap. In order to make the Mortar less general-purpose, I think you need to lower its rate of fire. Range, accuracy, and damage/shot would stay the same but the RoF could get tuned down so that it's in the 180-200 range of DPS instead of 220. In order to make the Mauler more elite, you increase its damage per shot to something like 225. That's not a huge increase but it gives more room for a HHE that does something like 150 damage per shot without it encroaching on the Mauler's territory.
So, the HHE would need something like 150 damage/shot, at 800 range, every .75 seconds (200 DPS) at 10 OP. The Mortar would still be more efficient, the Mauler would still hit harder against armor and at range, while the Assault CG would still have its raw DPS. However, you'd have to nerf the Mortar and buff the Mauler to do so. As it is, an HHE with the proposed stats in the existing Mauler/Mortar world would lose to the Mortar in most respects but outshine the Mauler.
As far as the "Light Mauler" goes, it would be a 700 range, roughly 150 DPS weapon that shoots 75 damage/shot twice a second for 7 OP. Relative to the Heavy Mortar, its more accurate but does less damage/shot and has overall less DPS. The LAG would remain more of a general purpose weapon much better suited to hit fighters and small targets and still has a slight advantage in overall DPS while the Light Mauler would have a faster projectile and tend to me more accurate at range.
