10 replies to this topic

[MIGHTYBONE]

Hello friends,

I have been reading of the changes to ECM, I understand some of them but not well enough to make a decision on this matter. I was planning on purchasing an AS7 ATLAS D-DC for its brawling capabilities, durability and, of course the ECM.

Question: With the upcoming ECM changes will the D-DC still be worth purchasing over it's counterparts?

Thanks in advance

Edited by MIGHTYBONE, 15 May 2013 - 04:22 PM.

[NinetyProof]

You have to buy 3 anyways ... so does it matter?

If your going to brawl, you definitely need the 2x basics as well as the Speed Tweak.

So, buy the DDC, the RS and the other (not the K).

[DEMAX51]

Personally, I think the D-DC will still be very viable. Even without ECM equipped it's a pretty good 'mech.

NinetyProof, on 15 May 2013 - 03:28 PM, said:

So, buy the DDC, the RS and the other (not the K).

Quoted for truth - the K sucks (but the D isn't much better - the RS and D-DC are the two best variants)

[Corvus Antaka]

The K is good too, dual AMS is nothing to sneeze at, and may well be very handy in the future as LRMS come back.

[NinetyProof]

Colonel Pada Vinson, on 16 May 2013 - 10:41 AM, said:

The K is good too, dual AMS is nothing to sneeze at, and may well be very handy in the future as LRMS come back.

Ahh .... no?

The K only has 6 hard points and 2 of those are in the CT. The CT has no room for even 1 PPC, and can't even fit 2 Large Lasers ... it can fit either 1 Large or 2 Mediums (whoop-de-doo!). That means it's not really even 6 Hard Points, it's more like 5 Effective Hard points. 5 Effective Hard point is TERRIBLE compared to the other Atlai.

The D has the same problem (2E in CT), but makes up with it by having 8 actual hard points. So the D, with 2E in CT, has 7 effective Hard Points ... which is better then the K with 5 effective hard points.

And of course, the DDC and RS are both better then the D, so where does that leave the K? not even in the race for consideration.

Edited by NinetyProof, 16 May 2013 - 12:17 PM.

[DegeneratePervert]

The K is pretty bad, don't get that one.

The D is good, it's a nice all around mech. You can build some really heat friendly loadouts on the chassis.

The RS is great in that it has the highest damage per hardpoint available. Meaning, you can put dual Large Lasers on each arm, and have that act like one big ol' 20-ish point laser gun on each fist.

The D-DC makes the most balanced brawler, I feel. Dual ballistics, large/medium lasers, streak SRMs. Good stuff.

[ReguIus]

ECM will still be a good defensive upgrade for the DDC, despite of changes about to come. In my opinion you get nice results in current meta if you load up some Long Range Ballistics and PPC's, then apply some nice camo paint to it. I know it sounds oxymoron (It's an Atlas for ****'s sake), but the fact that even averagely good camo + ECM usually gives you a chance to shoot first, provided you've parked in a good position to allow your mech to blend into the background.

(I know you didn't exactly ask for this) Example build: http://mwo.smurfy-ne...db219b69266ad53

This isn't optimized. It probably is more trouble than what it's worth, but there have been games where I've been able to fire at enemies with impunity for minutes before they returned fire. If nothing else, maybe this can provide some inspiration.

Here's how she looks:
Edit: Oops.. Forgot to adjust CT armor in smurfy (fixed). Should be 120/4. I know having such paper thin back armor has its risks, but more often than not I've been happy having only ~3% of my armor in my rear...

Also you can consider using UAC5 instead of AC 5. In my experience though, AC5 + C.A.S.E. has kept me alive for much longer. Losing RT is especially bad if you have Gauss, since it has a good chance of damaging your CT as it is blown to pieces.

Edited by Kurbutti, 16 May 2013 - 01:04 PM.

[NinetyProof]

Kurbutti, on 16 May 2013 - 12:52 PM, said:

(I know you didn't exactly ask for this) Example build: http://mwo.smurfy-ne...db219b69266ad53

You not only don't have any missiles (like 3 each SSRM2) ... but those ER PPCs are going to run way hot. Your simply not going to be able to put out the fire power you need once you actually get into the brawl.

[Konril]

A medium laser does 5 damage a shot once every 4 seconds (1s duration + 3s cooldown) for 1 ton. An Artemis SRM6 weighs 4 tons and needs ammo, but every 4 seconds can do 9 damage + more splash damage for the same 4 heat. Not counting ECM, comparing the Atlas DC and plain D is almost a wash. They're about equal as brawlers, although the DC used to be a bit better before the missile "Hotfix." Depending on how the missiles get un-hotfixed in the future, the DC might just be a better again based on the fact that Ultra AC/5s and SRMs are just better than mass lasers.

Speaking of which, even accounting for the randomness, two Ultra AC/5s will put out a lot more DPS than a single AC/20, so having 2 ballistics hard points are better than simply having 1.

Mind you, mass lasers or mass PPCs are still capable of doing a lot of alpha damage, so the RS will always have a role as an armored sniper. The two center torso lasers of the plain D are really good at giving you backup weapons to shoot if someone shoots up one of your side torsos. But the DC is just overall a really solid mech even without ECM.

I don't expect ECM to be becoming useless even with the proposed BAP changes, though.

[IamSalvation]

DEMAX51, on 16 May 2013 - 10:38 AM, said:

(but the D isn't much better - the RS and D-DC are the two best variants)

The D can be set up nearly the same as the DDC ... 2 LL, 2 ASRM6, 1 Gauss, 2 Med Lasers... basicly trades one SRM6 for 2 Medlasers compared to the most common DDC Setup. Would not call it that bad... And ofc it loses the ECM

AS7-D-DDCStyle

[Mechteric]

ECM will become more for keeping off the enemy radar at range and sneaking a group of mechs up on people, but if your enemy has BAP then when close in you will lose it. So good at range, potential for being disabled up close. Expect to see BAP a lot for a while, then go down naturally as the number of ECM mechs goes down by a bit.

Ultimately the only mechs that have justification for mounting BAP will be LRM mechs, scout mechs, and mechs with Streak SRMs.

Edited by CapperDeluxe, 17 May 2013 - 05:41 AM.