81 replies to this topic

[Koniving]

Voivode, on 30 January 2014 - 11:40 AM, said:

On most models (unfortunately not the 9M in question) one of those arms is a "dead" arm that carries not weapons, which makes it an ideal damage sponge.

Actually simply removing the ER PPC from the right arm of the 9M in question would solve all of the original poster's issues. It'll just be a right-arm damage sponge instead of a left. I confess when confronted with a mech and they rotate clockwise (to their right to expose the left arm), I hold fire knowing they're trying to block my next shot. If they twisted the other way I'd still fire in hopes of taking out the right arm weapon.

If there's no weapon, well then I just wasted my shot didn't I? Right arm damage sponge for the win!

[Voivode]

O7 Koniving

I might hold my fire for an arm twist. If it's a mech I know (or strongly suspect) has an XL engine I might try to bore my way through the arm to get to that juicy XL engine.

Interesting thought to use the right arm as the damage shield instead of the left. I think I'm going to try this later.

Edited by Voivode, 30 January 2014 - 12:25 PM.

[SaltBeef]

Too bad The awesome could not get a little bit of a pass on PPc heat!! Granfathered!! It comes with 3. But you can use the PPc's just have to chain fire and pause between shots to cool down. 1 large laser 2 PPC is manageable. L pulse laser Laser, PPc. It really is a better mech than it used to be. There is a sweet video of a member here kickin arse with his awesome to the AC/DC TNT song track. I absolutely cracked up when I first saw it. I was the guy getting smoked 1000 times with the sad Platoon movie music in the background at first due to poor hit-box issues. But Now I can kill with it and have started to purchase the other varients. I may never recover from the kill death ratio.

Edited by SaltBeef, 30 January 2014 - 12:42 PM.

[Koniving]

Indeed. One common tactic on tabletop was the "2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1" method of alternating fire to better manage heat in high heat rigs.

[Victor Morson]

Black Arachne, on 29 January 2014 - 01:22 PM, said:

Finally was able to grind enough credits to buy one of my favorite mechs from when I was younger. The AWS-9M which was piloted by Major Adam Steiner, and a mech I always had in my lance when playing battlemecn but there seems to be something very wrong with it.

Yeah, welcome to my pain. I love the Awesome in Table Top, but it's only been done properly in two MW games (MW2 & Living Legends) ever. It has horrendous hitboxes and weapons layouts here, plus the Ghost Heat you are dealing with.

I never liked the Highlander or Victor much in CBT but here, they are king of the heap. Pick one up.

SaltBeef, on 30 January 2014 - 12:39 PM, said:

Too bad The awesome could not get a little bit of a pass on PPc heat!! Granfathered!! It comes with 3.

The Awesome is one reason I say Ghost Heat is one of the most embarrassingly stupid systems ever designed by a "professional" game designer. It fails at it's stated purpose entirely and wrecks iconic designs.

Plus it doesn't even have an in-game UI because it's just that dumb.

Edited by Victor Morson, 30 January 2014 - 01:14 PM.

[Voivode]

SaltBeef, on 30 January 2014 - 12:39 PM, said:

But Now I can kill with it and have started to purchase the other varients. I may never recover from the kill death ratio.

You'll recover it. I've been running the Awesome since it came out in beta and my worst variant has 2.09 KDR.

[RickySpanish]

OP, as a long time fan of the Awesome and having played them throughout closed beta I must tell you the sad truth about the chassis: It has never been good in MWO. The 8R was alright during the LRM apocalypse, and it could also function as a poor man's splat cat, but the Awesome is without a doubt the worst Assault in the game, and in my opinion the second worst chassis in the game (Quickdraw is even worse).

Do yourself a favour: Do not buy any more variants. Bite the bullet and save up for a decent Assault, if that's your thing. For example, the Victor is another fast Assault that also packs ballistic weapon hard points and jump jets.

[Mazzyplz]

i didn't read the whole thing, however, i can pilot my 3 ppc awesome.
and i use 2erppc and 1ppc.

the trick is to fire only 2 at a time. 2 erppc at a distance, and 1 erppc + 1 ppc at mid distance, backed with some green-class lasers when cooling down. works pretty good

you will also be able to shoot triple shots but only when popping out to shoot and running back again into cover so you can cool down.

no firing ppc like autocannon though, you just can't do it.
you need to learn the autocannon dance for your awesome, trust me i am a veteran awesome pilot in the game, only by returning fire with erppc you won't kill them, you have to back down in a zigzag pattern to avoid their barrage, and shoot each time you pivot. hope that helps
just reverse gear left, and reverse gear right direction, like you're pulling off a driveway backwards.

by the way i only pilot awesomes (4 of the free ones, except 8Q which i could never make work) and all of them have positive KDR. all four above 1.2 kdr, so you will recover

Edited by Mazzyplz, 30 January 2014 - 01:29 PM.

[Victor Morson]

Mazzyplz, on 30 January 2014 - 01:27 PM, said:

i didn't read the whole thing, however, i can pilot my 3 ppc awesome.
and i use 2erppc and 1ppc.

the trick is to fire only 2 at a time. 2 erppc at a distance, and 1 erppc + 1 ppc at mid distance, backed with some green-class lasers when cooling down. works pretty good

you will also be able to shoot triple shots but only when popping out to shoot and running back again into cover so you can cool down.

Meanwhile in 2x UAC/5 2x PPC Victor land, your CT is being chewed to ribbons ten times as fast. For the same tonnage.

Awesomes are just bad.

[RickySpanish]

Victor Morson, on 30 January 2014 - 01:29 PM, said:

Meanwhile in 2x UAC/5 2x PPC Victor land, your CT is being chewed to ribbons ten times as fast. For the same tonnage.

Awesomes are just bad.

And all that while flying upside down!

[Mazzyplz]

Victor Morson, on 30 January 2014 - 01:29 PM, said:

Meanwhile in 2x UAC/5 2x PPC Victor land, your CT is being chewed to ribbons ten times as fast. For the same tonnage.

Awesomes are just bad.

i dont pretend to pilot the biggest baddest meanest mech, to the contrary, i like to make due with some of the more unconventional tactics and i love this iconic mech because adam steiner also. for me the fact that i have a positive ratio with the worst mech is satisfying enough, i don't need to go for 3.0+ kdr. to have 1.2 or 1.5 in my awesome is good enough for me, if the OP agrees maybe i can help him out

edit: i'm talkin about pugging, of course... AWS probably ill suited to a conventional team of 12v12 premade on voice comms. no matter the loadout.

but competitive in the pug sense/scene? sure why not - you can get more kills than deaths with your erppc awesome

Edited by Mazzyplz, 30 January 2014 - 02:48 PM.

[Koniving]

Mazzyplz, on 30 January 2014 - 02:46 PM, said:

edit: i'm talkin about pugging, of course... AWS probably ill suited to a conventional team of 12v12 premade on voice comms. no matter the loadout.

Disagree here. While not the optimum, on the right maps under the right conditions a lance of 4 awesomes providing ranged fire support and focused fire on the same targets while another lance or two keeps the enemies both busy and otherwise suppressed is quite a strategy that'll make the other team quite livid and/or dumbfounded.

The three common reactions are as follows:
1) The enemy ignores the distractions and rushes the suppression and direct fire. Depending on the timing this could win it for them or they'll die to the barrages of it all. Worse comes to worse, the 'distractions' take all the kills.
2) The enemy recoils into cover. Suppression worked too well, direct fire is made ineffective though and the distraction team has to pull away. Temporary relief only. Wait until enemy grows a pair and then resume strategy.
3) The enemy focuses on the distractions. Between the constant LRM bombardment, the PPC/ER PPC hammering, and some artillery + arty strikes from all 12 players... the enemy has lost.

The only flaw in the plan is if you get stuck in an urban environment or canyon.
Replace said Awesomes with Pretty Babies, and this plan'll work even on Tourmaline. Gotta love climbing Awesomes!

[Mazzyplz]

well the SRM version of AWS8r is very good in urban scenarios really, just fire and forget while running through covers. works great. but i see what you mean.


oh by the way let me add to what i was saying before, you have to remember PPC and in particular ERPPC is a 'fire and forget' weapon also. while the autocannons are a 'DPS' type weapon, for autocannons to be effective they have to be held on target, not so for PPC, you can pop a shot on the move and never get an answer, your shot can go through a crack and hit a mech and it will be good damage right there. that is why it is unfair to compare both weapons, they have their advantages and disadvantages and if you're going to stand there and trade with an autocannon user you probably deserve to explode

OP: you need to make the best out of the playstyle the awesome demands; for instance, use fire and forget weapons because it is more suited to your weak chassis, instead of using large-lasers which you have to hold on target for long times, use a large pulse laser on your awesome or indeed a ppc, in a fraction of a second you deliver your payload and are out of there! this is what the awesome is about, really - because at the end of the day it can't take a punch. try to put at least 1 long range weapon in your awesome, because it is NO brawler! you better make darn SURE you at least scratch their paint before they're up in your face, you don't wanna stand toe to toe with them. and as long as you're long range shooting remember a high place is not bad because you can always drop, it gives you options

Edited by Mazzyplz, 30 January 2014 - 04:38 PM.

[Victor Morson]

Mazzyplz, on 30 January 2014 - 04:28 PM, said:

well the SRM version of AWS8r is very good in urban scenarios really, just fire and forget while running through covers. works great. but i see what you mean.


oh by the way let me add to what i was saying before, you have to remember PPC and in particular ERPPC is a 'fire and forget' weapon also. while the autocannons are a 'DPS' type weapon, for autocannons to be effective they have to be held on target, not so for PPC, you can pop a shot on the move and never get an answer, your shot can go through a crack and hit a mech and it will be good damage right there. that is why it is unfair to compare both weapons, they have their advantages and disadvantages and if you're going to stand there and trade with an autocannon user you probably deserve to explode

On the contrary, while you can get higher DPS out of ACs, most people fire 2 rounds exactly per-pop from AC/5s, 1 round from PPCs. So it's hardly a "stand around and shoot" weapon unless you are talking AC/2s.

UACs are similar except it's a "spray as many shots as you can in a brief window, then wait for your PPCs to recycle" situation instead.

That's why they are paired together pretty often.

Edited by Victor Morson, 30 January 2014 - 04:31 PM.

[Mazzyplz]

yes from what the OP said about firing in his face with AC i assumed he was talking about those DPS style ac2

i could be wrong though -

edit: well maybe my main point didn't come across, the shots you take with ERPPC are disposable - not only fire and forget, what do i mean by this? the damage is good on ONE erppc shot. so if you get shots of opportunity, they count! unlike most AC that is not ac20.
they fly pretty fast too

but the main reason that ppc shots are disposable is that they only cost heat, there's no ammo to be careful with. you need to exploit this fact and make it work in your behalf.

if you pair up these characteristics, long ranges, high flight speeds, high damage, no permanent cost on your arsenal>
you have a very good harrasing weapon for the long ranges the ERPPC can shoot at - your wiggle room is there, the autocannons have high flight speeds also and long ranges but the damage on most is a bit lower and they cost bullets so you gotta try and make it a marathon, not a sprint when going up against them - make them work for their shots while you can be careless and make shots that will miss because who cares? just shoot through every cranny between buildings in river city, why not?
also for ac2 and ac5 if you can get a good spread on your torso by twisting, the damage is very minimized. not so much with ppc shots, in particular if they're both fired from the same barrel at the same time or just with good convergence, several ppc shot is devastating and no ammount of twisting will help you, which is why the big nerf was made


EDIT2:

another thing i wanted to add to the OP is that if you want to "boat ppc" on this game, much like boating LRM, you're going to need support weapons. never go out without your green lasers for close range fights.
separate the weaps you're going to use for lrming (or sniping in this case) from the more "user friendly" guns that are more suited for close range fights.
on one of my mechs i use mainly green lasers, on another mainly srm - of my 2 awesome ppc boats.

Edited by Mazzyplz, 31 January 2014 - 10:03 AM.

[Voivode]

Koniving, on 30 January 2014 - 04:06 PM, said:

Disagree here. While not the optimum, on the right maps under the right conditions a lance of 4 awesomes providing ranged fire support and focused fire on the same targets while another lance or two keeps the enemies both busy and otherwise suppressed is quite a strategy that'll make the other team quite livid and/or dumbfounded.

The three common reactions are as follows:
1) The enemy ignores the distractions and rushes the suppression and direct fire. Depending on the timing this could win it for them or they'll die to the barrages of it all. Worse comes to worse, the 'distractions' take all the kills.
2) The enemy recoils into cover. Suppression worked too well, direct fire is made ineffective though and the distraction team has to pull away. Temporary relief only. Wait until enemy grows a pair and then resume strategy.
3) The enemy focuses on the distractions. Between the constant LRM bombardment, the PPC/ER PPC hammering, and some artillery + arty strikes from all 12 players... the enemy has lost.

The only flaw in the plan is if you get stuck in an urban environment or canyon.
Replace said Awesomes with Pretty Babies, and this plan'll work even on Tourmaline. Gotta love climbing Awesomes!

My corps leader always wants me in my Pretty Baby for 12mans. I run a brawler build on mine so I follow the Atlas' into the brawl and then use a good burst of speed once the engagement has begun to slip behind the other teams assaults and core their back. Either they turn and face me, thus giving their back to the Atlas', or they keep fighting the Atlas' and I kill them from behind. Greatly effective.

To the OP, don't worry too much about what people tell you about what mechs are "competitive". There is nothing more competitive than situational awareness and skill. If you like the Awesome just put in your time and you'll figure it out. Often the "meta" build is a cover for lack of the above.

Edited by Voivode, 31 January 2014 - 08:24 AM.

[Mazzyplz]

lockwoodx, on 29 January 2014 - 01:30 PM, said:

The explanation is that the exploits of Major Adam Steiner and his 9M were greatly exaggerated.

don't forget the 9m of adam steiner was upgraded with an angel ecm suite developed from the elemental's armor they stole!
didn't u watch the cartoons? jeez!

i bet if you put ecm on the 9m right now the tier list would change a little bit imo

Edited by Mazzyplz, 31 January 2014 - 10:11 AM.

[Victor Morson]

RickySpanish, on 30 January 2014 - 01:25 PM, said:

It has never been good in MWO.

Not entirely true, but for practical purposes it is.

There was a brief time - about a week, week and a half - where the Awesome had no engine restrictions, there was no Ghost Heat, and SRMs were actually useful. During this time, the Awesome was awesome, absolutely thrashing every single 'mech on the field.

Then it's engine got nerf'ed way hard (in particular compared to 'mechs like the Victor), outside of one variant; SRMs got trashed and Ghost Heat got added. Plus, on top of that, we got better assault 'mechs added to the game.

So technically, there was a very brief time the Awesome lived up to it's name, even though it didn't play remotely like an Awesome.

[SaltBeef]

The 8v is a powerhouse with a standard engine. The 9M will be pretty darn quick when I get the 3 I have elited on speed tweak. They are fun mechs and a lot better than they used to be. 2X Awsomes will be sweet! Noticed alot of players are switching from streaks to SRMs so lights are becoming a pain in the arse again. But non streak SRMs are death for them if they persist. IMHO. I have dropped a few the last few days with just standard Srms.

[Turist0AT]

Remove ghost heat. Lower heat on MPL, LPL, ERPPC. Missiles probobly need a buff too. AND STOP NERFING STUFF!!!!