7 replies to this topic

[scJazz]

Dear New Players,

NOTE: New Players, playing PUG, not on TS! This is oh-so-obvious not Competitive Player advice! So having said that anyone who is reading this is Lo-Mid ELO.

AMS is not an optional component that you add after hyper-optimizing your build if you have space available! If you approach it that way then obviously, more armor, ammo, heat sinks, or Engine would take precedence. If you go back and read that last sentence again it is astonishingly... DOH!

If you are piloting a Light Mech, with an XLEngine, then please ignore AMS. Even against Streaks there is only a 22.5% chance that it will engage. Against LRMs @ 150kph you are doing 41m/s vs LRMs at 120m/s. Even worst case Light mechs with a competent pilot... aka not stupid... can generate enough Angle of Attack that the spread and tracking for LRMs is near useless. Warning: If you overheat or still run your Circle Strafe while hearing the Missile warning... whelp... at least you heard the warning 1.5 to 8 seconds before your mech falls apart. So assuming that you can hear the warning at all Lights do not need AMS.

If you are a Medium pilot, not counting the Cicada which is just an overgrown Jenner , if your top speed is 90kph or 70kph and you have JJ, please do not fit AMS at your leisure. This is a bit tricky since the assumption here is that you see the inbound LRMs and will take cover or change your Angle of Attack accordingly.

If you are in a Heavy, or dear god help you an Assault, if you fail to put an AMS on your Mech what happens next is in fact your fault. You are not fast enough to evade the strike by taking cover, you are not fast enough to evade the strike by getting underneath someone else's AMS. Following the ECM Bunny Atlas isn't going to help much either, since I know for a fact you will drift out of ECM or get cancelled out by BAP.

BE YOUR OWN BEST BUDDY! START CONFIGS BY PUTTING AMS ON! REMOVE IT AS YOU THINK YOU CAN GET AWAY WITH IT!

DO NOT POST LRMS OP POSTS UNLESS YOU HAVE FOLLOWED THESE SIMPLE RULES! DO NOT GRIPE ABOUT LRMS IN MATCH!

[Hammerfinn]

Yeah... AMS is mandatory. There are some builds I leave it off of, but most of my mechs have it equipped.

[Bront]

If you're pugging, you're taking a risk without AMS or ECM.

[mailin]

I sort of view AMS like DHS. There may be very specific cases where you don't want them, but generally speaking you do.

[Dalziel Hasek Davion]

You are equipping AMS not just for you, but also for the cover you can provide to your team.

Be that Hunchback pilot that stays in cover, allowing your AMS to knock down inbound LRMs, waiting for the opportunity to make best use of your "finishing" weapons when the enemy has finally run through their ammo, or has closed to begin the end game. Your team will (tacitly) thank you.

Actually it's rare your team will notice - but you can pat yourself on the back for a job well done. If you have won.

[Victor Morson]

AMS is a good thing on 'mechs that can fit it, but is positively not worth new players crippling their builds over.

Remember, LRMs have a huge dead zone minimum range, and have a very slow travel time at long range. You can often simply negate buildings through these factors and cover, once you have practice - and you can never start getting that practice too early, even with AMS.

Again, AMS is a good thing, but not as mandatory as started by the OP. There are many builds you simply cannot fit AMS on (Tripple Ultra Ilyas, etc.) without seriously damaging the build.

If you've got the space, by all means, go for it. AMS is great in PUG matches and I won't argue that point. But if you find yourself going "I cannot run this build effectively with AMS" then likely you can, in fact, run without it.

So taking AMS? Good advice whenever possible, but don't break your 'mech to make it possible.

[Roughneck45]

You need AMS until you are confident enough with your piloting skills to be able to move from cover to cover effectively.

[Elizander]

I try to put AMS on all my mechs and I stick around other mechs with AMS. Those without it can eat missile death.