33 replies to this topic

[JLordi34]

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...3c57c8025bd4f75



I wanted to avoid heat penalties for the PPC and large lasers, and i wanted some missile for tighter quarters.

My obvious concern is for heat.

Thoughts?

[MavRCK]

Ok this is my adjustment for your mech based on what you desire: http://mwo.smurfy-ne...bfd9bcd4b6da3e5

A couple of things: Double heatsinks are a MUST-HAVE 1.5 mill cbill upgrade.

The second thing... when mixing weapon systems note that using LL and PPCs gets hot really quickly.. if you have SRMs, you'll find that you'll be too hot to use them..

If you want to play a strong long range to medium range mech, why not consider dropping the SRMs and add extra heatsinks -- check out the heat efficiency: http://mwo.smurfy-ne...4aa4778ded234e5

GL

[JLordi34]

I suppose I just wanted the missiles in that case. The second build you posted, could it be done better by another mech?

[Victor Morson]

1: I'd recommend you look into another 'mech when possible. The Awesome is a fairly weak chassis with bad hit boxes and firepower; the Victor, also 80 tons, is exceptional with the 9S being a top tier model.

2: This might work while you grind some money, but you always want Endo, DHS, and Artemis if you're using missiles. You can get much higher performance out of a design like this.

3: This particular 8T is VERY hard to design something workable. Honestly you might make it into a makeshift LRM boat for a while until you can afford something better; even other Awesomes are better than this.

Best use of the Awesome 8T

JLordi34, on 04 February 2014 - 10:59 PM, said:

I suppose I just wanted the missiles in that case. The second build you posted, could it be done better by another mech?

Absolutely.

The Victor 9S for example can run missiles, ballistics and energy. You can run anything from meta 2x UAC/5 2x PPC (which is a GREAT design) to SRMs & AC/20s to PPCs & SRMs. The Victor has jump jets, accepts much larger engines, and has better hit boxes.

All for the same tonnage.

If you are enjoying the Awesome, consider the Victor. It's a really good replacement.

EDIT: Large Lasers and PPCs don't pair very well together. PPCs pair really good with ballistics; ballistics pair really good with missiles, and large lasers can pair with some ballistics or operate on their own. I'd recommend you consider looking at mixing the PPCs with other non-energy weapon systems for an assault. You mostly find LL on smaller 'mechs these days.

Edited by Victor Morson, 04 February 2014 - 11:07 PM.

[Modo44]

You want to be over 30% cooling efficiency in Smurfy. Lower values will prevent most of your weapons from firing most of the time. Double Heatsinks are a required upgrade for 99% of the builds.

The Awesome is a difficult mech to pilot. If you have not bought it yet, take a Victor like, uh, Victor said. If you really want an Awesome, consider 4xLL or 2xPPC+2xMPL on the arms -- that is better on the cooling and tonnage. And yes, the most effective 8T uses LRMs.

[JLordi34]

Ok, took some of your advice and played around for a little while. How is this?


http://mwo.smurfy-ne...d170509903b6def

Again, no DHS or anything in there, trying to stay cost effective for now.

[Victor Morson]

JLordi34, on 04 February 2014 - 11:18 PM, said:

Ok, took some of your advice and played around for a little while. How is this?


http://mwo.smurfy-ne...d170509903b6def

Again, no DHS or anything in there, trying to stay cost effective for now.

MGs are pretty bad, and the reason DHS are important is that it will buff the "engine heatsinks" as well - meaning you get a HUGE cooling boost off the base, in addition to extra heatsinks you put on.

I'd recommend you slowly start working your Victor into this:

Ultra Victor

Or this:

Brawler Victor

Also feel free to play with Streaks and/or SRMs. The 9S is slightly superior to the 9B for this.

... also keep in mind it's OK if you can't get there all at once. Just start working your way towards that, buying a piece at a time, and you'll have a murder machine!

PS: If you do use missiles, add Artemis. Even Streaks get an unlisted lock-time bonus from it, so it's very worthwhile. The Victor has poor missile ports for LRMs, so stick to SRMs with this.

Edited by Victor Morson, 04 February 2014 - 11:28 PM.

[JLordi34]

May I ask why "ultra" is used over regular AC5? On that site they read as the same exact stats, except U weighs more.

[Mahws]

You can fire uAC5 much quicker (~2x faster) but risk them jamming for several seconds if you do so.

Going to jump on the double heatsinks wagon here, they aren't optional. They're a necessity. Single heatsinks are in no way, shape or form balanced, you'll have an absolutely miserable time trying to run them. Just consider every mech you buy to be 1.5 mil more expensive than the price tag says.

For example, a mech with a 250+ rated engine and no external heatsinks (so only the ten free 'invisible' heatsinks in the engine) will have:

With Single Heatsinks:
Cooling Rate : 1.00 heat/sec
Heat Threshold : 40

With Double Heatsinks:
Cooling Rate : 2.00 heat/sec
Heat Threshold : 50

Twice the cooling rate and 25% extra heat capacity before shutdown. It's exactly as poorly balanced as it looks.

Edited by Mahws, 04 February 2014 - 11:50 PM.

[LuInRei]

JLordi34, on 04 February 2014 - 11:32 PM, said:

May I ask why "ultra" is used over regular AC5? On that site they read as the same exact stats, except U weighs more.

You can double-tap and fire another shot at the risk of jamming the weapon(15% chance IIRC), essentially doubling DPS for a short duration.

As far as LL+PPC combo goes I play it on my stalker http://mwo.smurfy-ne...84198503883d13d every way better than poor awesome can do.

P.S Yes, double heatsinks are just that, a tax to be on par with everyone else.

Edited by LuInRei, 04 February 2014 - 11:48 PM.

[Victor Morson]

JLordi34, on 04 February 2014 - 11:32 PM, said:

May I ask why "ultra" is used over regular AC5? On that site they read as the same exact stats, except U weighs more.

Yep - the Ultra lets you fire twice in the time the regular AC/5 can fire once. They stand a chance to jam, but you can effectively spray a LOT of shots with some luck, and then take cover during the jam - think of the jam as a normal weapon cooldown.

Regular AC/5s are good to, because they don't jam, and feel free to give them a shot too. AC/2s get used on these forums sometimes but aren't worth it. UAC/5s are nasty on a Victor though, since you have two of them plus the PPCs to back them up - brutal firepower.

Don't forget PPCs have a minimum range of 90m, so if you get into a close in fight, rely on your Ultras. They'll still do tons of damage!

[Modo44]

The UAC5 allows for quick bursts of multiple shots while the AC5 provides sustained fire. Since mech locations are separate targets, the ability to put in a lot of damage and quickly hide/torso twist is very important. Go (jump) out of cover, put in an alphastrike or stream of bullets, hide (drop) in cover -- rinse, repeat. The UAC5 gives you 2 or 3 shots in one firing cycle compared to 1 shot with the AC5, which makes a big difference.

[Victor Morson]

That said, AC/5s are still a reliable weapon that shows up on some builds, including Victors, frequently. They aren't a bad gun so feel free to experiment with them. I do lean towards the 2xUAC for the Victors that can run them though.

The one good thing if you do opt to go with a Victor OP is that it's very flexible with a nice array of ports, and will let you fill all kinds of roles; it's much faster than the Awesome, too, so you can play it more like a heavy Cataphract or opt to play it like a lighter Highlander; it's right in the sweet spot. Very solid 'mech you can't go wrong with.

Edited by Victor Morson, 04 February 2014 - 11:56 PM.

[TheCaptainJZ]

JLordi34, on 04 February 2014 - 11:18 PM, said:

Ok, took some of your advice and played around for a little while. How is this?


http://mwo.smurfy-ne...d170509903b6def

Again, no DHS or anything in there, trying to stay cost effective for now.

Also, the problem with a design like that is that all your big guns are on one arm which means it's easy to disable you. And you only need 1 ton of MG ammo per 3 MGs since they are such short range. They are also only useful really against unarmored sections.

[Denolven]

As long as you are not aiming for highly competitive tournament playing, everything will be perfectly fine. You like lasers, get lasers! Just get as much cooling as you can, otherwise you won't be able to use them much.

If you do want to be super competitive and become a hardcore pro, then leave lasers alone and stick to ballistic weapons. But be aware that this "meta" changes every now and then, so while autocannons are the mantra today, it might be missiles tomorrow and lasers the day after. So the base question is: are you willing to train yourself with things that you probably don't like, to be able to follow the trend, or are you simply interested in having some stompy robot fun?

As for the mech itself, the Victor is very popular because it's very versatile (can use all weapon types). So if you are in Dakka mood, you can go ballistic any time by just switching weapons. The Awesome is ok, just not as versatile as the Victor. But if you want multiple strong energy weapons, the Awesome is probably better at that.

If you are not sure what you want, the Victor is never a bad choice. For the weapons I say go for the one you like most. I play my Stalker-M with 5 Large Lasers (4 ER and one pulse) and no ballistic weapon at all. Most people will call me insane for not using that ballistic slot, but it works for me and I like it.
You can avoid the ghost heat by leaving 0.5 seconds time between your shots. My Misery shoots like this:
left side 2LL, 0.5-1 second waiting, right side 2LL.
No ghost heat and still 4 large lasers in your face Of course I have a gazillion double heatsinks to be able to repeat that several times

Edited by Denolven, 05 February 2014 - 04:23 AM.

[80sGlamRockSensation David Bowie]

JLordi34, on 04 February 2014 - 10:48 PM, said:

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...3c57c8025bd4f75



I wanted to avoid heat penalties for the PPC and large lasers, and i wanted some missile for tighter quarters.

My obvious concern is for heat.

Thoughts?

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...5a76db13131b6d2

Here try this.

I upgraded the engine and heat by switching to endo steel, Double Heat sinks, and redistributed the armor for MUCH better protection. I also gave you a bigger engine.

Enjoy

[MavRCK]

JLordi34, on 04 February 2014 - 10:59 PM, said:

I suppose I just wanted the missiles in that case. The second build you posted, could it be done better by another mech?

Yes -- check out my tier list.. posts and videos -- there are like 12+ videos now.. Awesomes are the worst assaults out there.. The whole raison d'etre of the tier list is to help new players invest wisely in their first mech..

Frankly, you can do anything the Awesome can only much better in a Highlander, Victor, Stalker, Atlas, Battlemaster...

[Ertur]

Dear Awesome Pilot,
Thank you for your purchase of the ever-so-aptly-named Awesome.
Here are some tips you can use on the battlefield.
Be sure to run an XL engine. You want to be mobile, so you can spread destruction all over the place.
Don't put too much armor on your shoulders, you want to use that weight for weapons.
Don't be afraid to run single heat-sinks; everyone will understand if you need to take a nap or two in the middle of the battle. It'll still be going on if *ahem* I mean WHEN you wake up again.

I hope this helps.

Sincerely,
A Jenner Pilot

[Koniving]

JLordi34, on 04 February 2014 - 10:48 PM, said:

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...3c57c8025bd4f75



I wanted to avoid heat penalties for the PPC and large lasers, and i wanted some missile for tighter quarters.

My obvious concern is for heat.

Thoughts?

Same build as you originally made, but with DHS, Endo, 280 engine upgrade, and better cooling than the first revised build offered. Enjoy. The 280 engine is commonly used in many heavies (as is a 300 but usually the 300s are XLs).

[Koniving]

MavRCK, on 05 February 2014 - 01:17 PM, said:

Yes -- check out my tier list.. posts and videos -- there are like 12+ videos now.. Awesomes are the worst assaults out there.. The whole raison d'etre of the tier list is to help new players invest wisely in their first mech..

Frankly, you can do anything the Awesome can only much better in a Highlander, Victor, Stalker, Atlas, Battlemaster...

I hate to say it, but given how PGI has designed the game with armor equality, Awesomes did get the short end of far too many bad design decisions.

Of course, Victors would sink quite a bit if max armor per variant was based on each variant's stock armor. Victors starting with significantly inferior armor to Awesomes while Awesomes have more armor stock than many 85 and 90 ton competitors, the Awesomes would have been much better off than they are. (Say, stock + 100 = new max for said variant of any given chassis).