21 replies to this topic

[Ewigan]

Hi guys.

Right now i am trying to master Atlases, and my AS7-D works like a charm.
After this weekend i finally saved up enough money to get myself a D-DC. I WANTED to make this build:

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...3126120617a0c90

But the more i play with the stock loadout i am liking it more and more. Especially those LRMs for annoying/pounding enemys from a far really is fun with the D-DC.
Soften them up with your LRMS, then finish with the AC/20.
The mediums had to go though, so i came up with only a slightly modificated loadout:

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...b42a8529bcea6c7


What do you guys think?
And what should be my third Atlas? I read bad stuff about the RS, but somehow i keep seeing it more then the K.

[An Ax Murderer]

If you enjoyed the D, the same build will work for the RS. The hardppoints are about the same, only moved around. This is probably why people (myself included) don't like it. The K is very hard to optimize is all.

[Hex Pallett]

First thing: Ammo placement. CASE will prevent ammo explosion to damage nearby body parts, but will NOT prevent ammo expl. itself. Also you want to try to fill as much crit slots as possible, so when in combat they will have the chance to be damaged first, instead of your weaponry. Here's what I use for my DDC. Substitute the ASRM4s with SRM6s directly and you get your build, but more survivable. Also two more DHS.

I don't like LRM on my DDC. But that's just me.

Now people would only whine about D or RS, because basically we all already know that K is THE worst. But somehow I managed to pull off a fast-ish strafe runner, and topped a few matches with it. The thing is, D could do the same. Also RS is good for 4xPPC trollcannon.

Edit: Forgot a link

Edited by Helmstif, 03 April 2013 - 05:19 AM.

[Royalewithcheese]

RS is much better than the K - 4 energy hardpoints in the arms is nice to have and AMS is IMHO not worth taking two (or one) of. Personally I don't like it (I'm a DDC brawler purist) but given the current state of missiles it's comparatively very powerful at the moment and it's a solid robot. 4 large lasers on that thing is pretty devastating.

For your DDC, my initial advice is, whatever you end up doing, take off the AMS (ECM does the job better) some arm armor, and maybe some leg armor, and put on a bigger engine. I'm also one of those people who says "3xSRM6/4, maybe with Artemis, for all DDCs," but if you really want to mount LRMs you might save up some tonnage by mounting a 15, because the DDC only has 15 tubes anyway.

And yeah, ammo in the legs/arm/head, if in the arms on the same side of your robot as the gun they feed. This will also let you free up some tons by removing CASE.

Edited by Royalewithcheese, 03 April 2013 - 05:23 AM.

[Wrenchfarm]

The RS is the clear choice sadly. I've been running a K just to be a special snowflake and it really is sub-par. I would love to see AMS get a buff (or even a modual that would improve performance) to help the AS7-K feel like it's getting more for what it is giving up. If you ask me, the K could also use an extra modual slot, that is something they could add without changing much else about the mech (they could play with some extra twist quirk or whatever too).

The RS is great in the current climate of direct fire dominance, strap a bunch of PPCs and a Gauss on there and go. The K requires a lot more finagling. Helmstif's build (as always) looks good if you want to give it a shot.

[Ewigan]

I get mixed feelings from you people

For my 3rd Atlas i get it: It should definintely be the RS. Thx for the help there! I will probably run it a bit different to my D (2 ERPPC, 1 Gauss, 2 med lasers) but that should not be a problem. When i can finally afford it that is.

For my build i am a bit confused. Yeah, i know LRMs on Atlai... But it feels really natural on the D-DC. You slowly make your way towards your target, while you bombard it with LRMs. And then BOOM - AC20. It was fun the few times i did it yesterday.
Helmstifs build scares me a bit. Yeah, i never died from a headshot while piloting an atlas, but ammo in the head? really? that sounds like a death sentance. :S

[Royalewithcheese]

Ewigan, on 03 April 2013 - 05:34 AM, said:

For my build i am a bit confused. Yeah, i know LRMs on Atlai... But it feels really natural on the D-DC. You slowly make your way towards your target, while you bombard it with LRMs. And then BOOM - AC20.

IMO it's mostly just that the LRM20 is a really heavy long-range weapon that is dead weight in the range you ideally want to be fighting (i.e., your ECM bubble.) For DDCs, I'm a huge advocate of Large Lasers or paired UAC/5s for that job, because those are also really solid close-combat weapons.

Ewigan, on 03 April 2013 - 05:34 AM, said:

Helmstifs build scares me a bit. Yeah, i never died from a headshot while piloting an atlas, but ammo in the head? really? that sounds like a death sentance. :S

Head ammo gets used up first, so you'll mostly be fine. IIRC ammo takes 10 damage to crit out, and if you've taken 10+18 damage to the head, it's pretty bad in general.

[Ewigan]

but you hardly get to fight in your ECM bubble on big maps. what about those?

[T0rmented]

dude get rid of the command console, 3 tons wasted for equipment that is yet to be implemented properly, in other words command console does nothing, wastes a slot uses tonnage bin it!

[Royalewithcheese]

Ewigan, on 03 April 2013 - 05:48 AM, said:

but you hardly get to fight in your ECM bubble on big maps. what about those?

I usually run a big engine on the DDC (somewhere from 330 to 350, I prefer 350), which lets you control the range of engagement pretty effectively. You will almost always get a chance to brawl, even on Alpine.

T0rmented, on 03 April 2013 - 05:51 AM, said:

dude get rid of the command console, 3 tons wasted for equipment that is yet to be implemented properly, in other words command console does nothing, wastes a slot uses tonnage bin it!

Also this. 3 free tons

[Ewigan]

LOL

what a big pile of dung that i made in my 2nd build.

yeah, i GUESS i will not use the CC.... ^^

[Wrenchfarm]

Ewigan, on 03 April 2013 - 05:34 AM, said:

I get mixed feelings from you people

For my 3rd Atlas i get it: It should definintely be the RS. Thx for the help there! I will probably run it a bit different to my D (2 ERPPC, 1 Gauss, 2 med lasers) but that should not be a problem. When i can finally afford it that is.

For my build i am a bit confused. Yeah, i know LRMs on Atlai... But it feels really natural on the D-DC. You slowly make your way towards your target, while you bombard it with LRMs. And then BOOM - AC20. It was fun the few times i did it yesterday.
Helmstifs build scares me a bit. Yeah, i never died from a headshot while piloting an atlas, but ammo in the head? really? that sounds like a death sentance. :S

The bias against LRMs on an Atlas is mostly from watching terrible players do it poorly. An Atlas loaded up with LRMs and little else that sits at 999m throwing them into rock faces and buildings is one of the most frustrating teammates you can have. All that armour and potential power wasted on a crappy version of a Treb or Catapult.

Atlai need to be pushing the line and drawing fire. They have all that armour and hitting power, they should be the ones cresting over a ridge, not hiding behind it.

That said, if you know what you are doing (and it sounds like you do) then you can use LRMs to good effect. As you say, using them to bombard the enemy before closing in with a big weapon can work wonders. As long as you are pushing the enemy and staying with the team it's fine.

As for putting ammo in the head, it's a non issue. The Atlas head hitbox is a tiny little blip recessed in the eye, it is almost never hit. Go ahead and try to cockpit out an Atlas next time you see one, I'll be surprised if you manage to register any damage. You can safely store ammo in there without worry. As others have said, if you manage to get 18 points of armour stripped out of your eye and a further 10 points to set off the ammo, you were probably cooked anyway. Not to mention head ammo gets used first, so stick your LRM or cannon ammo in there instead of AMS or MG ammo that will likely remain all match. I know it seems odd, but it works.

[Hex Pallett]

Ewigan, on 03 April 2013 - 05:34 AM, said:

For my build i am a bit confused. Yeah, i know LRMs on Atlai... But it feels really natural on the D-DC. You slowly make your way towards your target, while you bombard it with LRMs. And then BOOM - AC20. It was fun the few times i did it yesterday.
Helmstifs build scares me a bit. Yeah, i never died from a headshot while piloting an atlas, but ammo in the head? really? that sounds like a death sentance. :S

In my experience, to fire LRM you need to be at least 70 km/h, ideally 80, to be able to redeploy and find cover (unless you're a Stalker). Also it's not like a single LRM could do much damage anyway - lengthy cooldown, scatter, etc.. Also you need a TAG. There're so many reasons why I NEVER use LRM on my Atlas.

Also, you have LLas already.

I call DDC a "strategic supportive weapon", someone your teammate can run back to and hide with, and absolutely CRUSHes whatever walks in range. Your main job is to push in the center/back of your lance with ECM, as other ECMs are all waaaaaaay faster and better for disrupting enemies.

For the head ammo? The last time I get headshot in my Atlas was...NEVER. You just can't do that. You can't.

Edited by Helmstif, 03 April 2013 - 06:25 AM.

[oldradagast]

IMHO, nothing wrong with an LRM rack on an Atlas. An assault should be pushing the line, moving into the fray, and dishing out pain across the entire distance - it's not like they move fast. An LRM rack is one way to achieve that. Put missiles on target, and then bring the direct fire weapons to bear as you head straight into the battle. The RS doesn't benefit as much since it can mount more long-range direct fire weapons (large lasars, PPC, etc.) but an LRM rack on the others makes sense, IMHO. While it's frustrating to watch an all-LRM Atlas epic-fail by hiding from battle, it is also frustrating to watch one slowly walk across Alpine, doing nothing, because he doesn't have a single weapon capable of being a real threat at over 270 meters.

[Ewigan]

I played around a bit again, this is what i will be building:

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...72f0c1a7c7353f8

Yeah, it does carry an AMS. it's useful!
And with 2 LRM10 i can use those 10 tubes at it's best. instead of shooting 2 x 10 LRMs with the LRM20, i can now shoot 1 x 20 ^^

Ammo shouldn't be a problem in this build, it looks fun.
So far am saving up for the Endo, everything else (without the AMS) is in place already.

[Hex Pallett]

Sigh...

Drop the SRM6 and get more heatsinks.

[Nine-Ball]

I'm thinking of trying out dual LBX10s along with trip-SRM6s.

Dual UAC5s are nifty, but they seem to be a bit too brittle. Dual UAC2s you can pretty much fire all day and **** slower mechs from long range.

DDC
ECM
Endo, standard 340 engine (55clicks)
2 ML on arms
3 SRM6s (3 tons ammo)
Dual UAC5s (6 tons ammo)

[Ewigan]

Helmstif really? You of all Forum members tell me to drop a SRM6? OUTRAGEOUS!

Right now i am driving said build without Endo, so i have to look for my ammo....
It works, i top the damage charts, but it needs Endo to be able to pack the ammo i want.
Heat is a bit of a problem, yeah. Especially cause i only tend to use 3-4 weapon groups (mouse only has 4 buttons).
So i have my groups set like that:
1) 2 LL
2) AC 20
3) SRM6
4) 2 LRM10

With constantly firing group 1 and 4 when i still am at range i do overheat a bit, yep.
But when i am in close and ignore group 4 heat is ok.

And for that sweet spot of 180-270 m... well, if a mech is dumb enough to be in that sweet spot i do not mind getting a bit cooked

for your advice: i will try it without the SRM6 when i finally am done with my build (still 400k for Endo to go *sigh*), and then see if my punch is still good enough when i am face-hugging.

[Hex Pallett]

I mean seriously, a single SRM6 really doesn't do that much damage anymore, and my 7K tend to tell me that 2xLL plus one AC20 is more than good enough for close combat, IF the heat level is controllable (btw it's 15DHS). I really don't feel 12DHS is good enough for more than three rounds of these weaponry firing.

Or maybe just my head cant handle more than three groups of weapons.

[Ewigan]

Btw, i played around at smurfys a bit.
And it won't work to drop the SRMs for more DHS, because of crit slots.
When i drop the SRM and ammo i could refrain from using endo completly, but if i go with endo and drop the SRMs i can't fill tons and/or crit slots ^^