Making shorter sounds would make the number of busy channels decrease on average.
It would also alter the experience that we are trying to convey. A rack of ELRM20 should not visually fire off in 3 seconds but only have a sound of 0.25 of a second. A Heavy Gauss needs to have presence and is heard a LONG way away. RAC2/5 have windup times that are specifically designed for their balance.
As another example, the 'Mech footsteps are relatively short samples, but because there are so many players in 'Mechs and each 'Mech is repeatedly triggering the sound (and you can hear all other 'Mech footfalls within 250m). Now, in order to convey the differences in class properly, each 'Mech type has a different footfall (Light, Medium, Heavy, Assault) I have it set so that you should never have more than 6-8 instances of a footstep class at any one time, but that is still a LOT of sounds playing if you multiply by the 4 'Mech classes. Also note that each 'Mech class also has a distinct reactor sound, torso/turret sounds, weapon sounds associated with whatever the current loadout is, jumpjets (where applicable), all of the HUD interface sounds.
We ARE asset heavy, but we have to be in order to make it all sound as good as it looks.
All of the above said, there are ways we can optimise more, but those optimisations did not make it in prior to BETA 1.
