If you create variables out of alpha, rof, optimal and falloff (it's how I understood your post) -such system would invariably lead you to all weapons doing same damage at same ranges (with exception of missiles which would result in shortest range - i think, didnt run numbers) with slight variations that compensate different bot speeds n armor.

I dddddddooooooonnnnnnn't think anyone would rly want that.

On  the other hand if you only had variables for alpha and rof (or just alpha).......  this might work. It's still a matter of figuring out how to get statistics that really reflect true state of weapons ))

Everything being used equally is not necessarily a sign of balance. Take most RTS games, for example. There are always units with very limited, but also very important roles. They are worthless in most cases, but sometimes they are the only tool for the job. They were well-balanced, but they were also rare.

Mark's got it right. Devs should watch killboards and collect other stats and make balance decisions from that.