41 replies to this topic

[Galaxy Drifter]

"... to absorb damage. If you want to LRM boat or do long range damage, you must switch to xx mech."

I can only assume this sentiment is from players who what someone else to die for them, so they can get in more hits safely.

But this tactic just does not work, at least not in PUG's. If your team is advancing on the enemy, and the Atlas takes focus fire, they are gone in about 3 seconds. I truly feel that my Shadow Hawk has higher survivability in this situation.

The problem is the "meat shield" concept, from the mmo world, just does not work in MWO because there is no mechanism for support classes to heal and/or shield the tank.

My Atlas felt a lot more "tanky" back when drop sizes were smaller, but I had mostly stopped playing them as they seemed to die too easily.

I have been playing a Jager for some time now and have gotten very conformable with the sniper play style. So I decided to dust off my D-DC and try something new.

There is something very sweet about an ECM sniper. If you stick to slow firing guns only, you can fire a long time without anyone detecting you.

Engery and missiles leave an obvious trail back to your sniper spot and even faster AC weapons can be traced. I find the Gauss to be best for this stealth sniper. Once I am detected, I have a couple of ERLL to add to my gun.

At any rate, I am having more fun with my Atlas than I have in a long time, and to those who feel it is wrong for an Atlas to use long range weapons, I suggest you piot an Atlas and show us how it is done.

Edited by Elddar, 01 December 2013 - 07:58 PM.

[LORD TSARKON]

I always cringe when I see LRMS on an ATlas... but with SRMS so out of balance lately I finally took the bait and just dropped all missiles from my ATlas and put an Ac/2 plus AC/20 on my DDC ATlas with some LArge Lasers,ect...

I also put a Zoom MOdule on and before my Brawler ATlas (2 medium lasers, AC/20, 3 6 SRMs) had 270 meter range.... now I have a long range weapon or two and it makes the ATlas more fun (not sure about viable)... Still Torso twist and use those arms as shields... thats how to play an ATlas

[Escef]

Honestly, most of my mediums and heavies are all'rounders. Lights don't really have the tonnage to be multi-range engagement platforms (this hasn't stopped me from running twin ERLLs on a Commando, though). Most of my mechs mount ERLLs or AC5s for long range work (added benefit: they work up close, too). And while my HGNs and my Atlas are slow, I still run bigger than stock engines because there's slow, and then there's stock HGN/AS7 slow.

As for boating LRMs on the Atlas, I recommend against it because all of your missile points are crammed into one hit location. Too easy to have your mech's focus shot out from you. Hell, I run my BLR-1S as an LRM50 boat, but if I lose my left torso I'm down to an LRM15 and 2 MLs.

[Escef]

LORD TSARKON, on 01 December 2013 - 08:49 PM, said:

... my Brawler ATlas (2 medium lasers, AC/20, 3 6 SRMs) had 270 meter range....

Just had to comment on this. Missiles actually mean their listed range. 270 meters for SRMs, tops. Energy still does damage out to twice listed (so those mediums will still have effect out to 540 meters), and ballistics out to triple listed ( 810 meters for the AC20). Mind you, energy and ballistics have a damage drop off past listed optimum range, so firing the AC20 past 600 meters isn't worth the ammo, and the mediums past 450 are barely harassment.

[Flyby215]

I'm one of those guys really irritated with some Atlas pilots, and to be honest I've been trying to think of a way to explain this that isn't the usual "you're a tank" or "its your role" kind of thing.

I guess the best way I can describe it, it's the "shyness" that irks me. I'm a Stalker driver, specifically the Misery. I appreciate the fact that cover is important, and that it's pretty easy for me to 'hill hump' and snipe when necessary. In fact, I carry long and medium range weapons on mine to deliver my heavy firepower as early as possible and counter-snipe if it's needed.

But here's the thing, I'm not afraid to get my feet wet, hands dirty, face in the fire, as it were. If there's a lone enemy, I will engage it. If I know he's isolated, I'm not going to let opportunity pass, I'm not going to wait for friendlies to back me up, I'm going to straight up engage it. I have the weapons to take it down, I have the armour to survive any kind of struggle, I'm going to fight!

I'm not stupid about it, I won't flat out charge their entire line in some blaze of glory. With good positioning I will try to set myself up so that only one or two enemies can fire at me at once, and I will engage, using my assault-class armour to tank the two enemies while my friendlies add to my firepower and we take the two down before they can kill me.

Similarly, if I see an enemy assault engaging a friendly heavy, I will flat out charge, and if required, facehug the enemy assault to draw fire. Again, because I have the armour to survive the engagement, and two damaged mechs delivers more firepower than a single fully armoured mech. ... but not being stupid, I won't help the guy who actually did flat out charge the enemy's entire position.

******Story, don't read unless you're bored*********
Driving my Misery into the center of Terra Therma, my team was getting bottled at the usual place near the entrance to the chasm, but no enemies in sight yet. I lead the way along the side platform, fully expecting my team to follow, but some sort of poked their head into the middle, others still held back. As I approached the next entrance-way on my left, I got three blips on my seismic. I called out to my team notifying them of the enemy position. An enemy Cataphract poked out first, I quickly read the load and aimed for its shoulder to pick off the XL. Two alphas later and his shoulder is stripped and glowing red, he quickly backs off. Another enemy, a Victor is more bold and lurches forward to engage me straight up. I backpedal as best I can to stop him from encircling me which would have given one of them free reign on my backside. Suddenly I take a hard hit to my right torso, I glance over and see on the far side of the chasm a PPC/AC5 Highlander firing at me, half a second later I recieve the "Incoming Missile" warning as his LRM-Stalker sidekick launches a barrage of doom at me. I push forward now, lining up one of the massive cables that supports the center platform between me and the assaults on the far side, while also pinning myself to the side of the chasm wall in a desperate effort to not draw further attention. My AMS is going non-stop, the Highlander keeps losing his shots to the cables in the center but is moving to get a better firing position, I've lost my right side armour and am down to internals but I'm doing a fair job keeping my left side to the Victor at all times. He's manouvering around boxes and support beams trying to shoot then cool off behind cover. The Cataphract keeps wanting to come out and shoot but everytime I see him move on my seismic I make sure I'm facing him for a quick kill if he dares poke out. That's when I see it, two more mediums appear from yet another entrance-way to the chasm, enemies, they're not quite behind me but they have a clear view of my bad side. I curse under my breath, 7v1, I'm terribly outgunned, hopelessly surrounded, and my team is still huddled up on the bridge outside the chasm...

Except one. I can't remember his name, but I remember very distinctly that he is popular on the MWO Forums. I read the line that he said in teamchat; "Big Al intercepting". A friendly Atlas emerges into the chasm and charges headlong into the two mediums, covering me. Behind him is two more friendlies apparently now brave enough to enter the middle with Big Al drawing fire. I notice the Highlander and Stalker also turn their attention to Big Al.

Not letting opportunity pass, I emerge from my hiding spot, blow my Cool-shot and finish the Victor in a brief but vicious firefight. I push forward partially around the corner, the Cataphract foolishly alphas my still-armoured left side then tries to hide his bad shoulder, but it didn't help as either by skill or dumb luck I pegged that bad shoulder with my pair of LLs and he goes down. The third blip which I never saw until now turned out to be a Cicada, his back was turned and running. I lined up my PPC/AC20 combo and one-shot him in the back.

On the other side Big Al and co had taken down the two mediums and were rounding the outter platform towards the rest of the enemy team, I continued around on the opposite side to join them. Just as I arrived to join the group, tragically, Big Al was destroyed... but the damage had already been delivered. The Highlander had backed up out of the chasm, his team were now being bottlenecked. My Misery's right torso was badly damaged, but not the arm. Exploiting the side-peak-a-boo technique, I softened as many up as I could with my pair of LLs before they were finally blown off, by this point we had killed a few and lost a few. Finally I felt the time had come, I lead the charge into the last few enemies with my PPC/AC20 combo and finished their remaining damaged mechs.

Our lights had to chase down a couple of stragglers, during which time I thoroughly thanked Big Al for saving my bacon, and I profusely apologized for not being able to return the favour. I can't remember the exact score at the end, but Big Al and I had the most kills and most damage by a longshot.

I will never forget that match, because it was by far my most intense, brilliantly executed (on Big Al's part), hopeless-turned-glorious match I had ever played and I have Big Al to thank for that.

He lead the charge into the middle, he decimated enemies while bravely absorbing fire, he took the pressure off of a pinned down but [apparently] valuable teammate, he single-handedly tilted the entire battle in our favour. THAT is how an Atlas should be played.
**End of Story**

TLDR; the Atlas is an assault class mech with the power to sway battles one way or another depending on how it is used (and, of course, the skill of the pilot). In my personal opinion, I feel the best way it can be used is as a lead mech, the center of attention, the tip of the spear. Never to be played stupidly (as in charging the whole enemy line) but also never in the back of the friendly line.

[Galaxy Drifter]

Flyby215, on 01 December 2013 - 11:16 PM, said:

I'm one of those guys really irritated with some Atlas pilots, and to be honest I've been trying to think of a way to explain this that isn't the usual "you're a tank" or "its your role" kind of thing.


He lead the charge into the middle, he decimated enemies while bravely absorbing fire, he took the pressure off of a pinned down but [apparently] valuable teammate, he single-handedly tilted the entire battle in our favour. THAT is how an Atlas should be played.
**End of Story**

Nice story, and we have all seen games like that. But it mostly just that, a story, an exception, not the norm.

The more typical game works more like this: The Atlas pilot stands at the forefront of battle, his confidence is strong, as he has his loyal team behind him for support.

He sees a tactical advantage and bravely leads his team to press the advantage. Three mechwarriors from the other side see what is happening and start firing. "Oh no, we are getting attacked" and 8 of your support teammates go duck for cover.
The three opposing warriors notify two of their friends, who come to assist. They all see the Atlas, who now only has one or two support mechs, and focus fire on the big, hard to miss the target. The Atlas pilot realizes he has lost this support, but is too slow to duck for cover. He takes one for the team, again.
**End of Story**

Again, I challenge you to play this Atlas pilot you like to see, not just a few games, but a few weeks, and see how you feel. If you play with friends/clans on TS and work together, it can be great to be this tank/hero, but it rarely works in PUG's.

So I guess you can just plan on being really irritated with me, for when my Atlas in on the field, he is playing as an ECM Stealth Sniper, who averages 400-700 damage, several kills and most of the time the top (or near the top) team score. I don't feel like I am letting anyone down.

Edited by Elddar, 02 December 2013 - 12:02 AM.

[Corvus Antaka]

Play what works for you.

Some of us even use flamers.

Everything is viable if used correctly and the situation lends itself to what you are doing.

Some people think they have discovered the "Secret" to being "Better" than everyone else, but all that ego is really what ends up getting the better of them.

[Kubernetes]

I admit I get annoyed by assault drivers with 15+ tons of armor hanging way in the back while the mediums and heavies get shot in the face, but what can you do? I hate the Stalker LRM boats carrying only one or no lasers (because how sickening is it that an Assault is essentially defenseless against a Light mech with machine guns and flamers?), but again, what can you do?

And yes, I run my Atlases as pure brawlers (270m? I like to get within 150). Sometimes I die quickly, but most times I live and rack up kills and damage (more than most of my other mechs). It's a tricky thing with an Atlas because you have to know when to fully commit--you just don't have the mobility to do hit-and-run. Yeah, if five enemy mechs can shoot you at the same time, don't commit just yet. Usually the two sides will skirmish around and over cover for a bit; take some shots, but wait until you see their heavies getting worn down a bit and then go in at full speed. If your smaller teammates have any brains, they'll follow behind and you will overrun the enemy in short order.

One of my most memorable games was in my DDC on Forest Colony. Another DDC, a Centurion, and I just hugged the tunnel side and just overran a spread-out enemy that appeared singly or in pairs. In about two minutes we wasted eight enemies at point blank range, just walking right through them. Showed me that an Atlas or two taking the initiative at the right place at the right time can be nearly unstoppable. If you're getting wrecked in 10 seconds at the front, you picked the wrong time and place.

[C E Dwyer]

Elddar, on 01 December 2013 - 07:22 PM, said:

"... to absorb damage. If you want to LRM boat or do long range damage, you must switch to xx mech."

I can only assume this sentiment is from players who what someone else to die for them, so they can get in more hits safely.

But this tactic just does not work, at least not in PUG's. If your team is advancing on the enemy, and the Atlas takes focus fire, they are gone in about 3 seconds. I truly feel that my Shadow Hawk has higher survivability in this situation.

The problem is the "meat shield" concept, from the mmo world, just does not work in MWO because there is no mechanism for support classes to heal and/or shield the tank.

My Atlas felt a lot more "tanky" back when drop sizes were smaller, but I had mostly stopped playing them as they seemed to die too easily.

I have been playing a Jager for some time now and have gotten very conformable with the sniper play style. So I decided to dust off my D-DC and try something new.

There is something very sweet about an ECM sniper. If you stick to slow firing guns only, you can fire a long time without anyone detecting you.

Engery and missiles leave an obvious trail back to your sniper spot and even faster AC weapons can be traced. I find the Gauss to be best for this stealth sniper. Once I am detected, I have a couple of ERLL to add to my gun.

At any rate, I am having more fun with my Atlas than I have in a long time, and to those who feel it is wrong for an Atlas to use long range weapons, I suggest you piot an Atlas and show us how it is done.

First off all my atlases carry either srm or streaks so yes I do get down and dirty, and I'm hardy the best player out there but if I only get one kill and don't top 400 damage with it, I start to annalise what the hell I did so badly, and if it was purely down to me or if I was part of a fail pug..yes I nearly allways play pugs though in the last month i've been grouping up with people I just like to be around no viop by the way.. and I think I should be getting around the 600 damage mark and 3 kills a match with my atlas, thats about the level I feel i've done a good job.

The victory dance wohoo butt wriggle happens about the 4 kill 800 damamge mark and a match score of around 100 even if I've been in the losing team.

so I think I'm moderately competent to say why you get a lot of dung thrown your way.

This isn't just an atlas thing this is all the assaults with the exception of the awesome.


First off and the main one comes from your comment about expecting others to die for them, you saying this as a defence yet you have the biggest most heavily armoured mech in the game, and yet you are expecting lighter mechs to go in there and mix it while you sit safe and snug behind your ecm popping away at a safe distance. seriously don't try defend your selfishness by saying others are selfish for not doing the job assaults are designed for, ask a locust pilot why not if you think I shouldn't be saying that..

second..assuming you hit every shot, and your in effective range your doing 15 damage every 6 seconds with your guass only engaging which is very bad for an assault (you said only if detected you use the erll) so your also failing to dis out the damage ( I'm quite sure you get high scoring damage games, I'm also sure you get some high kill games taking down the mechs others have mixed it with and stripped the armour off for you, while you sat safe at the back) I'm also sure that once your teams dead you die very quickly in quite a few games.

your not the worse kind of assault pilot, the big parrasites are the lrm boats. I will pack my assault with as much alarm launchers as I can, I might put tag in and I might have 1 single medium laser.

which have around one good game in ten and as mostly are on teams that lose and rarely hit the 350 damage mark they lost because the team which they will throw abuse at for being a nood fail team, failed because they were in teams that had only lurm assaults and once the locusts and mediums died because they couldn't support properly they were wasted tonnage with weapons they couldn't do damage with.

so now you know

[Galaxy Drifter]

@Cathy I also pack 3xssrm, 2xerll and the gauss. I don't hide or try to avoid getting "down and dirty", it is a part of almost every game.

Yes, the dps on the gauss does not compare well to other guns, but this unique scenario causes the gauss to work out for more dpm (damage per minute).

When I have a good flanking position to the enemy, and are undetected, I can many times get 4 to 5 gauss shots on them before they totally relocate. Most of the time I then just switch targets and do it over again.

When they have no idea where the shot is coming from, they tend to just back up a few steps. I think they are assuming it is coming from somewhere in front of them. If I try the same thing with added lasers, or use ac/2's and most of the time 5's, they figure out what is happening and move to safety sooner.

But you cannot always have a good, hidden sniping position. The line of scrimmage changes or the map involves too much relocation, so I do not ignore my "down and dirty" skills or weapons.

The stats I quoted are what I have recorded from games where I have been able to play my stealth sniper.

Some large map games, I spend most of my time slowing running around trying to catch up with the rest of the team (slow atlas) and obviously don't score over 400, but do about the same as my brawler builds.

[Escef]

Cathy, on 02 December 2013 - 02:14 AM, said:

First off and the main one comes from your comment about expecting others to die for them, you saying this as a defence yet you have the biggest most heavily armoured mech in the game, and yet you are expecting lighter mechs to go in there and mix it while you sit safe and snug behind your ecm popping away at a safe distance. seriously don't try defend your selfishness by saying others are selfish for not doing the job assaults are designed for, ask a locust pilot why not if you think I shouldn't be saying that..

I think the problem is in people not pulling their weight. Heavies and assaults should generally be the foundation of the group, with the lighter mechs playing maneuver support and scouting roles. Sadly, I'm sure we've all seen heavy and assault pilots that were unwilling to expose themselves to fire and perform their roles. Or, the opposite extreme, throw caution to the wind and get killed stupidly, accomplishing little. Don't expect the guy in the Atlas to get killed for you, and hopefully he'll return the courtesy and not expect you to die for him.

Cathy, on 02 December 2013 - 02:14 AM, said:

your not the worse kind of assault pilot, the big parrasites are the lrm boats.

I'm sure there are as many folks in LRM boats giving them a bad name as there are bad Atlas jocks. (Seriously, half of the guys in Atlai pilot like they're drunk or high... Or both.) I don't see LRM boats as parasites, they provide area denial. Don't want that guy where he is? Get the guys with LRMs to throw a couple salvos his way, I promise, he'll move.Well, that or he'll die, either/or is good. LRM boats CAN dish out some terrific damage, but more often they don't do exceptionally well, and my own experience is that an LRM boat might get one or two kills in a decent match, rarely more, often none.

For the record, the only mech I boat LRMs with is my BLR-1S. 50 LRMs, 9 tons ammo, 13 DHS, 300 STD, 4 MLs, endo, rest is armor. I don't like mixing it up close in with that mech, but I will if I have to. Those lasers are not decorative, I have scored a kill or two with them. Any LRM boat worth its slot in the drop will have enough armor and short range armament to defend itself up close, if not to kill than at least to hold out long enough for help to arrive.

But, yes, I've seen plenty of guys that don't know how to cobble together a proper LRM boat. I was once in a match where the last two guys left on my team were LRM boat stalkers. The only short range weapon between the two of them was a single medium laser. My was flabbergasted. The last enemies dashed right in and just ate them. I told them their builds were way too risky, and one of them got all insulted and told me I was trash talking my own team, but, really, if that's the response to constructive criticism, hey, whatever.

As I've said before, I don't even recommend playing an LRM boat simply because, well, it's kind of boring. I don't play this game to be bored, y'know?

Edited by Escef, 02 December 2013 - 02:46 AM.

[MeiSooHaityu]

I'm not saying that an Atlas needs to be out in the open just to generate agro, but if a force is pushing through a tunnel or the volcano in Terra, an Atlas leading the push isn't a bad idea. Atlas's are a bit of a damage sponge, it helps if they can lead a push and get the rest of the force through to a break-out so they can start unleashing damage on the enemy.

[zztophat]

I have always looked at it from the standpoint of; if you have an armor tonnage on your mech equal to that of the total weight of a light mech why not use it?

Then there is the fact that there are much better boats than the atlas, so using it as such is not even using it's full potential.


I sold all 3 of my atlas long ago, when I realized it was easily one of the worst mechs to play solo with, as they are so reliant on it's team and coordination is difficult when dropping alone.

[Blacksoul1987]

an atlas leading the charge isn't ideal. it would be much better if the mediums and heavies charge in first and then once they have absorbed moderate damage they should fall back behind the atlas who is following closely behind, then at that point the atlas can tank for the rest of the group. while it may be true that the atlas has more armor than other mechs it also has more firepower and it is just silly to waste that just cause you think it can tank.

TLDR STOP telling Atlas pilots to tank. their job is to deal damage the armor is there only so they can continue dealing damage when they do get attacked, if you want the atlas to tank for you bring the enemies to the atlas.

[Galaxy Drifter]

Cathy, on 02 December 2013 - 02:14 AM, said:

First off and the main one comes from your comment about expecting others to die for them, you saying this as a defence yet you have the biggest most heavily armoured mech in the game, and yet you are expecting lighter mechs to go in there and mix it while you sit safe and snug behind your ecm popping away at a safe distance. seriously don't try defend your selfishness by saying others are selfish for not doing the job assaults are designed for, ask a locust pilot why not if you think I shouldn't be saying that..

The big difference is I am not trying to dictate to the ligher mechs how they should build out their mech or what role they must play. My only expectations of them are to find their strengths and play to it.

I am also an avid spider pilot, and I can say without question that the spider can "go in there and mix it" with much greater safety than an Atlas in any role.

And again, the attitude of someone pre deciding "the job assaults are designed for". How did you determine this? If you look at the standard builds for assaults, you will find that a large percentage come with LRM's, Guass or other long range weapons. It looks like they were designed to fill many different jobs.

If you are putting together a pre-made, it is advantageous to assign people different, specific jobs and expect them to stick to them. But for PUG's, not so much.

We are here to have fun. If someone is messing around, and actually hurting the efforts of the team, there is cause for concern. But if someone is trying their best to contribute in a way that is fun for them, there should not be so much judgment and intolerance.

[Reitrix]

The Atlas is the tankiest Assault 'Mech in the game.
I always cringe when i see Atlai hide behind hills and lob an LRM salvo when a Medium gets brave enough to pop his head over the hill to get a Lock.

I play my with the express intent to draw enemy fire. Why would i want the other teams Assault 'Mechs firing on my lightly armored team mates when i can draw that fire to my own Armor, which is often up to 3 times the armor of a Medium.

Most players will fire on Atlas before any other 'Mech that happens to be nearby.
I gladly take that AC/Laser salvo to the gut if it keeps Shadow Hawk on my right from exploding.

The Atas, and other Assault 'Mechs are designed to get close and tear the enemy to shreds, not hang back and play hide n seek.

ABUSE THAT ARMOR DAMNIT!

[Fuggles]

Atlases make terrible lrm mechs because they aren't very good lrm platforms. They lack the missle tubes to efficiently fire a lot of missles and equipping tag results in a significant loss of firepower.

In regards to "tanking" damage, it's no ones job to take damage. I would actually say that if your taking damage at all, your doing something wrong unless your doing significantly more damage than your taking. The atlas has a lot of armor and large arms to use as shields to make up for the fact that they are slower or have less hardpoints than other assaults.

The arms are what make atlases survivable and playing with lrms mean you have to sit there and stare at the enemy wich leads to getting cored fast.

[Roughneck45]

Elddar, on 01 December 2013 - 07:22 PM, said:

"... to absorb damage.

But this tactic just does not work, at least not in PUG's. If your team is advancing on the enemy, and the Atlas takes focus fire, they are gone in about 3 seconds. I truly feel that my Shadow Hawk has higher survivability in this situation.

The problem is the "meat shield" concept, from the mmo world, just does not work in MWO because there is no mechanism for support classes to heal and/or shield the tank.

You can shield. If you are dead in 3 seconds it is because you didn't shield.

The atlas has the most armor in the game. It it best suited as a front line assault mech, spearheading the advance. Stalkers and highlanders are much better suited for ranged gameplay.

You can play your atlas however you want, but it shines brightest in a brawling role where you can put the armor to good use. It doesnt have JJ's or high mounted hard points, and it doesn't have better missile tubes than the stalker, so it is inferior to those mechs in those roles.

Now I'm not saying that you should go kill yourself because the PUGs asked you to, but just know that the atlas is best suited for the spearhead.

Edited by Roughneck45, 02 December 2013 - 08:37 AM.

[Roughneck45]

Blacksoul1987, on 02 December 2013 - 04:27 AM, said:

while it may be true that the atlas has more armor than other mechs it also has more firepower and it is just silly to waste that just cause you think it can tank.

Except that the Atlas can twist to the side, take all the damage on its arm, and lose 1 medium laser.

Alpha, twist, alpha, twist. 100 ton mechs go to waste if they sit in the back.

Edited by Roughneck45, 02 December 2013 - 08:56 AM.

[Khobai]

Quote

I always cringe when I see LRMS on an ATlas

Why? LRMs are one of the best weapon to put on an Atlas (at least in PUG matches, in 12v12 youre better off with Autocannons and PPCs).

Atlases are very slow and easy to pinpoint in the torso. LRMs counteract both those massive disadvantages. Plus the fact SRMs are so weak right now makes playing brawler Atlases entirely pointless IMO. A D-DC with three SRM6s just isnt scary anymore like it used to be.

Quote

The atlas has the most armor in the game. It it best suited as a front line assault mech, spearheading the advance.

Clearly you dont know how to play an Atlas. If you try spearheading, even with expert torso twisting, you're dead in less than 20 seconds. And actually the Highlander and Victor are the most survivable assaults in the game because of their better hitboxes and the fact they have jumpjets which can mitigate a large portion of damage. But ultimately, the role of an assault isnt to tank, its to destroy enemy mechs. Lights actually make far better tanks because of the fact most people cant aim and will miss 80% of their shots against Lights. The irony of that role reversal isnt lost on me, but thats the reality of the game.

Atlases are second-rate assaults, theyre obnoxiously slow, they lack hardpoints, and their armor doesnt mean much at close range because their torsos sections are enormous and easily pinpointed. Its better if Atlases stay at long range where damage spreads across their armor more, and LRMs are one of the best weapons for ranging enemies. AC5s and PPCs are great too.

I won #1 assault in the very first tournament using an LRM atlas-D with LRM20s and ERPPCs. LRMs are fantastic weapons on an Atlas and play to all the mech's strengths while not exposing any of its weaknesses. As long as you have enough firepower to to defend yourself from lights and the sense to stay away from dedicated brawlers you can put serious hurt on the enemy team.

Edited by Khobai, 02 December 2013 - 10:13 AM.