52 replies to this topic

[Koniving]

It's not the armor. It's the pinpoint front-loaded damage combined with a lot of mechs now being even FASTER at it!

[Sarlic]

knightsljx, on 28 November 2014 - 07:49 PM, said:

TL:DR? Buy a Direwolf, not an Atlas.

It's sad, but that's just the reality of it. The Atlas would need a HUGE armor buff if it wants to fulfill its role of a tanker. I would like to see an armor increase of 50% at least across the whole chasis.

It sounds insane but it actually makes sense. The Atlas would have a lot less firepower but a lot more durability compared to the DWF.

Exactly.

Koniving, on 29 November 2014 - 10:14 AM, said:

It's not the armor. It's the pinpoint front-loaded damage combined with a lot of mechs now being even FASTER at it!

Well something have to change.

[Sir Wulfrick]

Well this is interesting. I've recently bought a set of Direwolves to see how the play. Even with what is for the Direwolf a relatively conservative build (4 x CER-LL, 2 x CLB-10X) it easily manages at least 175% - 200% of the damage-per-match that I get in one of my Atlas builds.

It is true that the Direwolf doesn't have quite the same longevity that the Atlas has, however the comparison is severely imbalanced: the damage performance of the DW is vastly superior to the ability of the Atlas to soak damage. I'm even more convinced than ever that the Atlas needs an armour or damage reduction buff, and probably a substantial one.

[Sam Slade]

DD-C is the only really viable model and even then it's only for 'Surprise, Atlas!' factor with a well maneuvered brawler. The slight BAP nerf will help the D-DC a bit but I think this will be offset by the 'Surprise, Hellbringer!' factor.

Atlas used to be scary... now the only really scary thing is the UAC5 Troll Whale. Taking off an Atlas side torso should take longer then 5 seconds for any one mech.

[Win Ott]

I just want my Boar's Head to be playable as a Boar's Head (you know, with an XL engine and speed). It's a big, bad-ass hero mech that is currently good for collecting dust and using up a mech bay.

[Sir Wulfrick]

Win Ott, on 30 November 2014 - 03:50 AM, said:

I just want my Boar's Head to be playable as a Boar's Head (you know, with an XL engine and speed). It's a big, bad-ass hero mech that is currently good for collecting dust and using up a mech bay.

Agreed. I gather that the BH is supposed to be, of all things, some sort of lone scout type mech. If it had something, anything, that made carrying a huge XL engine viable then as Sam Slade commented it would absolutely have the "surprise, Atlas!" factor. As it is, the reduced torso twist range means that it's merely a gimped -DDC with some extra energy hard points that make it run even hotter than the ECM variant does

[Win Ott]

In the current meta, I'm far more scared of a Firestarter with SPLs than I am of one of the biggest mechs in the game, bristling with big-bore weapons.

And that's a little bit sad.

[C E Dwyer]

If the atlas has any weaknesses, then its not the energy points, but lacking ballistic or missile, points on some variants, the only real advantage the DW has is its ability to lay down a lot of hurt outside 300 meters with its balistic builds.

the atlas is a brawler mech its how its supposed to be

[Void Angel]

Sir Wulfrick, on 26 November 2014 - 07:05 AM, said:

4. It's perfectly possibly to take endo and/or FF armour, endo being the most common and probably better choice of the two, but due to the large number of slots taken up by our large weapons we still end up running in to the lack of space for ammunition and heat sinks problem.

Endo-Steel is always the better choice. Take ferro-fibrous only if you can afford both, because mathemagic.

[Summon3r]

Win Ott, on 30 November 2014 - 01:07 PM, said:

In the current meta, I'm far more scared of a Firestarter with SPLs than I am of one of the biggest mechs in the game, bristling with big-bore weapons.

And that's a little bit sad.

yes this here is a far bigger issue the "whole line up of Atlas's"

Sarlic you answered your own questions in your post there... almost no entire line up of mech chassis has all "good" variants in fact at most 1 or 2 of each chassis is any good at all, clan doesnt really fit that with swappable omni pods obviously... also you say you do better in your Atlas in a team environment as opposed to solo?? of course! thank god thats what this game is about team work... solo is pure PUG lottery luck.

[C E Dwyer]

Win Ott, on 30 November 2014 - 01:07 PM, said:

In the current meta, I'm far more scared of a Firestarter with SPLs than I am of one of the biggest mechs in the game, bristling with big-bore weapons.

And that's a little bit sad.

They are little ******* aint they, I take alot of pleasure taking one of those down

[Void Angel]

Cathy, on 30 November 2014 - 01:19 PM, said:

If the atlas has any weaknesses, then its not the energy points, but lacking ballistic or missile, points on some variants, the only real advantage the DW has is its ability to lay down a lot of hurt outside 300 meters with its balistic builds.

the atlas is a brawler mech its how its supposed to be

The Atlas has several weaknesses. It's got a huge profile with most of its weapons - and all of its precision weapons - being very low-slung. Its non-arm hardpoints are clustered in single locations, causing cramping which limits the armament potential of the Atlas' tonnage - and making targeted destruction of the Atlas' armament a routine occurrence. There's also the very slow speed and massive movement profile, which are part of designed balance, of course.

The Starebear Dire Wolf has a huge advantage in firepower over nearly everything else in the game. Whether it's using lasers, ACs, or a mix, it just has more heat sinks and guns than anything else out there. Staring at people is what the Dire Wolf does,and it does it very well. The Atlas, on the other hand does indeed excel at taking a licking and keeping on kicking - but its ability to do so is proportionally less than it used to be, given the amazing dps of Adjective Animal weapon systems.

[UndeadEdd]

I don't think the Atlas is as bad as it's described here, considering my performance with the D, D-DC and BH variants. My only "problematic" Atlas is the S but that's mainly because I'm trying to make it work with 4xLRM5 launchers instead of 4ASRM6/4 launchers, which would make it a bit too similar to the D or D-DC.
The Atlas is indeed a brawler, and it performs very well in that role, even against DireWolves.
What I would upgrade in the Atlas is, as has been mentioned, adding more structure to the arms. Those beefy arms surely have more structure than a DireWolf's arms.

By the way, to those having trouble piloting their BH, just try an STD350 engine, AC20, 6xMPL and a total of 18 heat-sinks. This is now a very deadly build.

[Win Ott]

UndeadEdd, on 01 December 2014 - 01:29 AM, said:

By the way, to those having trouble piloting their BH, just try an STD350 engine, AC20, 6xMPL and a total of 18 heat-sinks. This is now a very deadly build.

True... but then it's just another Atlas; slow but somewhat deadly. What makes it a Big Hero Boar's Head is that XL400 power plant.

[Sarlic]

Any feedback is welcomed folks. Thanks so far.

[BUDFORCE]

Sir Wulfrick, on 29 November 2014 - 03:29 AM, said:

Bizzarrely my current favourite build uses the AS7-D(f) and has 2 x ER-LL, 2 x LB-10X with 60 rounds of LB ammunition and a pile of heat sinks.

Not bizare, been using this build for years, I'd like to say I was the first one, but that's probably not true.

As for the OP and topic of this post, I agree, in the modern game of MWO the Atlas is lacking in a lot of ways, and I think that is the general concensus reading through the posts.

[Dawnstealer]

Honestly, I've never had a problem owning the battlefield in one of my Atlases, but keeping with lore, maybe give them structural bumps on everything? While they shouldn't be able to pump out the damage like a Whale, they should be able to tank it.

[Wolfwood592]

The best hit I have seen so far is an armor increase across the entire Atlas platform.

Personally, I could care less about being outgunned by a Dire Wolf.

What I do care about is the fact that for me to survive, I have to front load my armor and hope to God no one gets behind me for any period of time.

Make my atlas the damage soaking machine its supposed to be.

[Revener]

Can't say that I have any big issues with any of my fAtlases, rather play them than my boring DW´s.

S is nasty up close and I put in 1 ERL for at least some long rage fire. Actually just soloed an AC spamming DW with it as I write this.
My DDC I run with Dual LBX 10, 3 LRM5 and 2 LL. Alpha is not that great but if you stay alive the whole game as an anchor for the team you usually get good damage.

[happy mech]

if you try to force the atlas to be a brawler because "it got to be a brawler", obviously it will not work, you need range

balance your build, like with any other mech

atlas has great arms for shielding, learn to use them, twist, circle the enemy and be ready to retreat, rather than rush in

use your right side (torso and arm, they are nearly at same height) to peek and hide, ac10+ppc, gauss+erll

use your left side for short range defence or long range support, mpl, ll, lpl, srm, ssrm, lrm5+a

you need to be able to adapt and keep pace with your team, it is NOT a solo mech