20 replies to this topic

[Mazzyplz]

i have been running my builds with AMS, now with all the lighter mechs shooting me in the back, i have swapped my XL (which works really great when there's no swarm of lights) for a STD engine, but i had to say goodbye to my 2.5 tons of AMS+ammo

the current meta is at a weird state, (not talkin about ppc or anything of the sort) we see a lot of light mechs running around with very messed up hitboxes, but also there's a TON of LRM since pgi buffed NARC and gave BAP ecm-piercing properties.

in your mind, is AMS really needed right now? or are you guys rockin assault mechs without AMS? i'd like to get some assault pilot opinions on this, at the end of the day AMS just slows down the missiles, but when some of the matches are missiles for 10 minutes or more... at least 1 ton of ams ammo is welcome,

so far i haven't had too much trouble by removing my AMS, but... i haven't been in a huge lurm fight since-either. honestly though, more often than not i use the AMS to stand next to my allies and try to shoot down some of the missiles that come their way. also, it tends to run out halfway through the match.

opinions?

[Zeede]

I still use AMS on all of my mechs except the dual gauss sniper and the LRM boat style of builds. My lance mates generally run one too, and 3-4 AMS put a serious dent in incoming LRM volleys.

[Flying Judgement]

its cheap. Dont take too much space. Its useless alone but if u in a group, with 4-5 AMS u can walk up to the meanest LRM boat and kill him with a single medium laser from 200 m without taking almost no damage
but it generates heat be aware of that

[Corison]

To be honest, AMS is almost worthless depending on your play style...

Oh look, I just fired 1000 AMS rounds at LRM's that were hitting the building in front of me anyways... weeeee.

Nice if you happen to have 2.5 extra tons and crit spaces with nothing better to use...

[Voivode]

I find AMS to be useful, but not essential. If you equip it there is a definite benefit to in how long you live, as it works against SRMs and SSRMs as well as LRMs. In some builds, though, that extra ton and half (or 2 tons if you have double AMS) might be better used on something else.

The slower your assault moves the greater your returns on AMS will be.

Edited by Voivode, 28 February 2014 - 09:07 AM.

[Charons Little Helper]

My general rule for all mechs (assault & not) is that I need to be going at least 85kph to not take AMS - and it's still very beneficial up to 100-110kph.

If you have ECM (DDC) - it's not as necessary.

And why does everyone keep saying 2.5 tons? - It's 1.5 tons.

[Voivode]

Charons Little Helper, on 28 February 2014 - 09:11 AM, said:

My general rule for all mechs (assault & not) is that I need to be going at least 85kph to not take AMS - and it's still very beneficial up to 100-110kph.

Tossing an AMS on a light mech can be hugely beneficial against streak equipped mechs.

[Corison]

.5 for the gun, 1 for each ton of ammo.. Taking 1 ton of ammo has limited use as most of the missiles you shoot down will never hit their target anyways. Taking more ammo means you may have ammo when you would actually get hit by a missile later in the game.

[Charons Little Helper]

Corison, on 28 February 2014 - 09:27 AM, said:

.5 for the gun, 1 for each ton of ammo.. Taking 1 ton of ammo has limited use as most of the missiles you shoot down will never hit their target anyways. Taking more ammo means you may have ammo when you would actually get hit by a missile later in the game.

I've only run out of AMS ammo once or twice ever (and that was back in LRMpocolypse). The only time I could see taking a second ton of ammo is when I had a second AMS.

[xXBagheeraXx]

Ams is only actually useful if you can cram 2 tons of ammo for it...1ton of ammo wont last you a whole match, if i have the weight to spare, and nothing else to mount, and i cant cram another heatsink then and ONLY then wiill I use it. In most mechs the 1.5 tons is used for bap if im packing streaks for very few of my mechs carry ams...Except atlases, those things are missile bait.

[TygerLily]

I rarely use AMS...unless a Mech can mount 2...for some reason I feel compelled to install them both xD

[CygnusX7]

A Jester and couple of Locust 3M's or FS9-S can do some work on enemy LuRM boats.

[New Day]

They didn't buff NARC.

Edited by NamesAreStupid, 28 February 2014 - 10:39 AM.

[Voivode]

NamesAreStupid, on 28 February 2014 - 10:38 AM, said:

They didn't buff NARC.

I think the buff comes first March patch

[Galenit]

Charons Little Helper, on 28 February 2014 - 09:11 AM, said:

My general rule for all mechs (assault & not) is that I need to be going at least 85kph to not take AMS - and it's still very beneficial up to 100-110kph.

I take ams or bap for a mech over 50 tons (1.5 tons (around 3%) of team&self utility)
and both for a mech over 80 tons (3 tons (around 4%) of team&self utility).

For smaller mechs, i take it sometimes too, depends on build, role and mood.


A single bap does sometimes something, 3 or more in your team changes sometimes a lot,
a single ams does a little, 5+ ams in your team changes a lot.

Thats why everyone should take some teamutility in a mech over 50 tons and sometimes in a smaller too.

[Garegaupa]

Personally, I prioritize armor, firepower and engine size in most of my builds (I prefer heavies and assaults), and this often means that "nice-to-haves" like AMS, jump jets and BAP get left out. Usually this works out well enough.

(That being said, however, AMS will be my first priority among the "nice-to-haves" every time. A slow(ish) 'Mech can be absolutely decimated by LRMs if caught out of cover, so thinning the ranks of the missile swarms is always a good thing.)

[Archie4Strings]

I run mainly heavy mechs (thunderbolt, cataphract and dragon), but also battlemaster very often. I use AMS in every mech except the dragon (which got a topspeed of +100 so avoiding missiles is easy).
Most assaults and heavies are just to slow to have a good chance to avoid missiles very successfull.
Its just 1,5 - 2,5 tons.
So if we say, that maybe every 5th(maybe a few more or less??) missile gets shot by ams (a few explode cause of max range, buildings/hills/cover, and sometimes they are just to many missiles in once, it means that an AMS can prevent around 200 damage (with 1 ton of ammo) which would be done to your team.
For 1,5 tons? That is incredible! Find a weapon which is just 1,5 tons and makes an average of around 200 damage in 1 match!

Also an AMS can almost outrun a LRM10 or 2 LRM5, which is often found in light or medium mechs.

I just wouldnt recommend it for light or faster medium mechs, in case for scouting, flanking...

[Cactus In The Rear]

Mazzyplz, on 27 February 2014 - 10:56 PM, said:

since pgi buffed NARC and gave BAP ecm-piercing properties.

They didn't buff NARC and BAP piercing ECM isn't recent.

Flying Judgement, on 28 February 2014 - 08:56 AM, said:

its cheap. Dont take too much space. Its useless alone but if u in a group, with 4-5 AMS u can walk up to the meanest LRM boat and kill him with a single medium laser from 200 m without taking almost no damage
but it generates heat be aware of that

It doesn't generate heat you must be thinking of LAMS that generates heat,but has no ammo.(LAMS isn't in this game)

Edited by Xanilos, 04 March 2014 - 05:16 AM.

[Cybertek]

I used to use AMS all the time on all of my mechs but recently I have removed them on most of the mech and increased weapons, armor, ammo, or engine instead. I have found that if you try to stay in cover and not go out in the open that missiles usually don't give me to many problems. Now the mechs that have 2 AMS I equipe them with the 2, Stalker, Locust, Jester, Atlas. I will switch to one of those if I see a lot of people that are using missiles.

[Bloodweaver]

Cybertek, on 04 March 2014 - 05:46 AM, said:

I used to use AMS all the time on all of my mechs but recently I have removed them on most of the mech and increased weapons, armor, ammo, or engine instead. I have found that if you try to stay in cover and not go out in the open that missiles usually don't give me to many problems. Now the mechs that have 2 AMS I equipe them with the 2, Stalker, Locust, Jester, Atlas. I will switch to one of those if I see a lot of people that are using missiles.

This is my approach as well. For the most part, the weight+crit space cost of AMS is better applies to: firepower, speed&agility, or heat efficiency. LRMs are such a situational weapon that AMS just doesn't feel necessary. Double AMS is fun, though - whether doing missile interdiction in a Locust or aggro in a AS7-K or STK-5S.