I generally use the large lasers for long range (obviously) and in close quarters I alpha with the AC20 and 3xSRM6+A and alternate with the large lasers if the enemy stands still while my close range weapons reload. Surprisingly, I don't really ever overheat unless I'm playing drunk and just not paying attention.
I'm mostly happy with the build. Drama is, my orion with AC20, 2xmedlas and srm4+a (and a PPC which I don't fire up close) seems to carve up in close quarters, frequently bringing down an opponent in 2 shots whereas with my atlas,which is theoretically much more heavily armed, I can fire and fire and fire again and they're regularly still standing.
As much as I can I aim for the same spot each time.
Dragons in particular don't seem to die. I did 250 damage to one, one game, all to the torso and because he wouldn't go down I eventually got obliterated. Next game, I did 150 damage again to a single dragon, again all to torso, and same thing.
Is there something I'm doing wrong perhaps? Maybe in terms of range with the AC20 or the SRM6s?
Atlas arms are very very very much lower than where the AC20 barrel is. So if you are bear-hugging an opponent, you're basically spreading the damage over a wide area. Personally I think SRMs are quite anemic these days, so if I were you I'd drop the ASRM6s down to ASRM4s, go to faster engine, and ..... add MG.
Think of MG as "free DPS" esp against injured mechs. Since it is also on the RT, it will hit the same things that our AC20 does at very close range, should somebody decide to bear-hug you. Quite useful for crit chances.
The Streaks are really pretty optional and you could easily drop them for more DHS. They don't have a BAP (which you want with Streaks most of the time), you can swap your ECM to Counter so it's not much of a serious drawback.
The main firepower is the twin Ultra/5 and twin PPC. While it's no Highlander, for an ECM mech you can't really beat that kind of punishing top-meta firepower. While you do have a minimum range on the PPCs, overall, this will leave you in really good shape at 80-200 meters, and even at point blank, 2 Ultras and 3 Streaks is enough to make up for the PPC drop.
Alternatively you could swap the AC/5s for an AC/20.
EDIT: If you run this, it's pretty toasty if you alpha all the time. Run the Ultras/PPCs as your main groups and use the Streaks to swat light 'mechs or for bonus DPS on things that move into range. A lot of lights will try to isolate an Atlas like this, esp. in pugs like that, so those Streaks make for a very strong backhand to them. Why I favor them, perhaps against trend for DDC builds.
Edited by Victor Morson, 06 December 2013 - 07:33 AM.
LocationStuck on a piece of Commando in my Ice Ferret
Posted 06 December 2013 - 07:37 AM
Your suffering from SRM hit registration being terrible. I have full volleys of SRM 18 not register and thats why I dont use them anymore. When they are fxed however Ill be all over them.
So the main drama's that the SRMs are buggy in the current patch?
The rest I kind of have to take with a grain of salt since the three of you who have replied so far have offered entirely different builds.
Assuming stay with SRMs, I think I would be keen to drop from SRM6 to SR4 in favour of a faster engine. I considered going to streaks but I usually to stay in the group so I don't get picked off by lights very often... might still be worth swapping one SRM slot for a streak still?
Still unsure about AC20 vs 2xUAC5, guess I'll just have to try it out.
The other thing I had considered previously but which I decided against in favour of the SRMs was swapping the LLAS to PPCs. I mostly decided against it as I wanted the SRMs as I kept reading that SRMs were chainsaws vs big mechs, but also because I can still use the LLAS close combat where PPCs will almost definitely cause me to overheat.
I have artemis but I didn't have enough slots for endo (again, dropping to SRM4s will probably give me the slots for this)
I hadn't even considered MG - I once had a light spamming 4xMG and I dumped 2000 rounds into an offline mech, aiming at the same spot and it was still alive so I gave up on them altogether. Are they fixed now?
The other quirky thing I did consider was a flamer, but it would be at the expense of an energy weapon and I like having at least a little flexibility in my armament, sometimes you can't get up close and I don't want to just be sitting around doing **** all hoping my team mates win the sniper shootout
Your suffering from SRM hit registration being terrible. I have full volleys of SRM 18 not register and thats why I dont use them anymore. When they are fxed however Ill be all over them.
Dragons in particular don't seem to die. I did 250 damage to one, one game, all to the torso and because he wouldn't go down I eventually got obliterated. Next game, I did 150 damage again to a single dragon, again all to torso, and same thing.
This has me wanting to play Dragons again. I think it's time to get the dust off of them, as this sounds about impossible with the Dragons I remember.
Picone, on 06 December 2013 - 07:17 AM, said:
Any other tips?
To be honest, experiment. The problem with an AC/20 in addition to its lack of range (270 for full damage, which is barely any distance at all) is how slow the projectile is and its tendency to 'sink' or drop. Instead of things like recoil, the game features severely under-filled projectile casings, such that the rounds barely have any range or ability to fly straight under their own weight.
Some AC combinations I particularly enjoy.
AC/2 + AC/5. Fast, disorienting punches.
Twin LB-10, good for seeking weak spots; once found focus in on them with all your weapons. They won't truly shine though until you strip his armor.
AC/20 + MG. You'd be surprised how well this works.
Twin UAC/5 is an okay combination. Chain firing them reduces ammo consumption and jam chances. Also allows you to hold the fire key (otherwise if they jammed they could rejam over and over resulting in a potential permajam glitch until you let go; my longest jam was over 30 seconds). Switch chainfire off to fire at full speed in emergencies.
UAC/5 + AC/5. I like this combo. You might, too. One gun is always reliable.
UAC/5 + LB-10x. Great combination. One for ranged shots, one for random damage.
AC/5 + LB-10x. Currently running on my Victor and I love it. Super low heat, backed up with 3 streaks and 2 ML and you'll be able to go through a few enemies with no rest on terra therma and still not overheat.
AC/10 + AC/5. A nasty combination. Beats an AC/20 in terms of damage over time (which is what counts in a brawl), but runs hot.
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Consider using non-SRMs. Streaks for example almost never miss. It also makes a great anti-fast-mech-deterrent. The lack of precision doesn't matter much and easily makes up for the Atlas's lack of agility.
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I'm including this vid by Lordred as it contains my Atlas and brawling against multiple targets at once in the open while swarmed.
This vid is a bit old, but it's an exterior camera of my joke build Atlas D (2 tons of ammo per weapon, AC/2, AC/5, LRM-10, SRM-6, 4 ML.) The other voices are in another match on the same teamspeak. My 'camera' (Lordred) doesn't record his own voice, and up until he's shot at he isn't trying to fight. Thusly our group includes me and my camera man (Koniving and Lordred).
Enjoy.
(At 5 minutes, when I say "working on it", Lordred is asking for my help with the Spider attacking him so that he could resume filming me.)
Match ends with 6 kills for me. A decent amount of damage, and surprising amounts of abuse taken (my first 'well rounded' Atlas armor rather than 'highly frontal' armor of my old 'tanking' Atlases).
My Atlas at the time is basics only.
So much leg ammo. Even arm ammo. A lack of Artemis on the SRMs. Wasting full loads of armor on arms that are only sporting like, 1 medium laser.
That's saying nothing of how mismatched the AC/2 and AC/20 are - one needs a quickshot duck & weave and the other needs on-target time, meaning you are exposing yourself to on-target time to people who are optimized for their own duck & weave...
Definitely try to streamline into just a few major firing groups and maybe a backup group and cop some armor in places it's not needed, or fill the hardpoint with heavier equipment, etc. Definitely room for upgrades.
Victor Morson, on 06 December 2013 - 07:27 AM, said:
EDIT: If you run this, it's pretty toasty if you alpha all the time.
Toasty is an understatement. This is the sort of build that I see which shuts down after one or two shots and then gets ripped apart. Losing the left shoulder means losing 100% of any tangible ammo (because by the time he is close he'll likely have used the first 3 tons of non-side-torso ammo). This....this is your recommendation? He'll be a stationary hungover wall to protect the guy behind him, not a brawler.
Victor Morson, on 06 December 2013 - 08:15 AM, said:
Dear lord these are some messy builds man.
2 minutes in smurfy will do that. They are not saved builds, just loadout examples. I was also trying to stick with an engine I thought he owned already (EDIT: and In my derpin I missed that it was a 300 not a 325 lol). Ammo placement gets tough too, when you are working with endo and that many weapons.
Don't knock the AC2 and the AC20 if you haven't tried it. It is very effective.
Edited by Roughneck45, 06 December 2013 - 08:35 AM.
@Picone - Just a couple thoughts on the build I shared a few posts up. I was running an identical one to what you originally posted but I changed it for these reasons.
1) SRM hit detection made the weight of the 3 x SRM6+A not worth it. 3 x SRM4 puts out fine damage (when it registers) and stays in a fairly tight group. Also, the heat I get from a 3 x SRM4 shot that 'disappears into the netcode' is less than the 3 x SRM6 shot that 'disappears into the netcode'
2) The cooldown on an AC/20 is 4 seconds and the heat generated is 6. An LB10X has a 2.5s cooldown and generates 2 heat. Running a pair of LB10X will output roughly twice the damage for slightly less heat. However, twin LB10X will run 7 tons heavier than an AC/20. You get 6 tons by dumping artemis and going to SRM4s. You get an additional 4 tons by dropping one LL for a ML. Put the extra three into the engine and/or heat sinks.
I'm making small changes and trialling them a bit at a time. So far I've dropped the SRM6s to SRM4s, which gave me the extra tonnage to swap my AC20 for an AC5 and UAC5 as Koniving suggested. (Victor also suggested 2xUAC5 but I think I like the combination).
Dropping the SRMs down to 4s also freed up a bit of space so now I have the 14 slots required to go either endosteel or ferro fibrous. I figure the endosteel is probably better as it will free up 5T allowing me to upgrade my engine to ~S325 but I'm curious about the "12% more protection per ton" offered by the armour. Help?
As Victor and a couple of the others suggested, I have still been thinking about swapping the LLAS to PPCs but after a few more games I think I still prefer the LLAS for the flexibility - It's not as good long range as the PPCs but still good and it means I can use them in close quarters if I need a bit of extra burn or for shots of opportunity on shutdown / still mechs, or if I lose the autocannons
The SRMs.. Still not sure what to do about them. I thought 3xSRM6s with artemis would be ******* deadly but it was a fail. I'll give the SRM4s a chance first, but thinking I might still drop them to streaks or get rid of them altogether in favour of a bigger engine (or PPCs if I go down that road).
Ferro-fibrous is about 20% as useful as Endo... short version... don't use it on anything but Lights and some Mediums... EVER!!!
Actually that's not entirely true. With Endo + Ferro, there's quite a few 'mechs that can take advantage of it.
The most notable one is the Cataphract 3D. Many popular meta designs leave enough free crits to run both Ferro + Endo, and thus, manage a standard engine. It's a small boost, but it lets you stuff on some more ammo or a bigger engine. The AC/20 4 ML build also uses this, allowing it to fit an Standard 325.
There are way more examples, but it's a mistake (abit a common one) to write Ferro off entirely because it's worse than Endo, it's just a matter of finding the effective 'mechs that can stack both.
That said, Endo should always be first. Ferro is flat out inferior Endo. It's only good when you can run both.
Edited by Victor Morson, 06 December 2013 - 10:11 PM.
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