32 replies to this topic

[Col Jaime Wolf]

just took my 8R, PB, and 9M out for a spin these are my thoughts with the new quirks. i reserve the right to pick up a 8Q to see how it fares.

8R just plain garbage its quirks are pointless it neither is good with just 2 ERLL and backup nor is it capable of really boating lrm 15's without major sacrifices. example? you can pack 4 lrm 15+art+bap+2ml+tag but you are left with a paltry 7 tons of ammo of which 9/10 of it is wasted in an average map. the LRM range? is just a cruel joke you can barely use LRMS past 600-700m unless you have a god spotter and a perfect shot (not often) so being able to shoot 1250m is just pointless.

you can pack more ammo dropping the art and it is debatibly worth it, but having to drop bap and what little backup weapons you have is basically not an option with the amount of ECM around and the need to fend off lights even somewhat (2ml is fairly paltry). either give lrms the ability to be aimed manually or fix the #$#$# flight paths i cant tell you how stupid those missiles are and how much a joke lrms are in sizes above 10 both because of how much more ammo you waste with lost shots on bigger launchers and because they are only partially more effective then 10's/5's clustered and the mandatory ART on 15/20's just so when you DO land a shot MOST of those missiles miss anyway.

PB just plain bad it should have gotten good general energy quirks because 2 LL just doesn't cut it. i usually have mine as 1 ERPPC, 1 LL, TAG, LRM15+art+bap, 2 SRM 4+art with a speedy engine. as a whole its never been steller but the mixed weapons and speed lend it at least the ability to fight and move tactically. NON of the quirks benefit the weapons PB really uses. if you dont know let me spell them out to you, mixed energy loads like mixes of pulse and normal lasers, maybe 1 or 2 ppcs. lrm 10/15 (and it only ever is good with 1 lrm) and srm 4's/streaks because its arm is gimped for no reason.

PB should have gotten general energy buffs so you can run mixed energy loadouts or take advantage of at least dual ER/PPC's like the 8Q/9M

9M is the best of the bunch and is still pretty terribad. ya it can actually fire 3 erppc and not overheat. and yes it fires ERPPC's like they are pre-nerf, almost pre-ghost heat. but it still as a whole just gets mauled by any other assault. even with the quirks its deadmeat to a victor that has NO quirks.

all the energy based awesome s should have GOOD all around energy buffs not just pigeonholed builds forcing them to boat 1 weapon. the general quirks given are simply not enough some of the quirks are downright bad or some kind of joke.

also i think that LL quirks should apply to ERLL as well and Med laser quirks to MPL or pulse laser quirks working for ALL pulse lasers as well because pigeonholing mechs into choosing one weapon to boat over all others is simply stupid and needs to be fixed. yes im looking at the BLR-1D, 1G, 3S and many more. quirks should allow you to experiment, not optimize single builds.

FIx it. end transmission.

Edited by Mellifluer, 08 November 2014 - 03:19 AM.

[Aggravated Assault Mech]

PB is good now. Try a better build.

[meteorol]

Quirks didn't change hitboxes.

[Col Jaime Wolf]

vnlk65n, on 08 November 2014 - 03:15 AM, said:

PB is good now. Try a better build.

honestly with what? 2 LL a ML and some SRMS?

it should be able to benefit from ERLL as much as LL and ER/PPC's as much as LL. it cant boat anything and is forced to be a generalist by design. it lacks the hardpoints to boat anything forcing you to take a few big guns over several smaller ones.

awesome is described as a mech that was truly feared on the battlefield and as a mainstay of assault lances. a Timberwolf can get 95+ alphas at short range easily while still running 89KPH+JJ while only being 5 tons lighter. maybe an 8Q could compete with a bunch of pulses but its going to run slower, have less total alpha and lack JJ and likely run hotter.

awesomes need hitbox changes and REALLY good general buffs to be useful or even compete.

[Impyrium]

8Q and 8M are pretty great, but obviously still can't win in a brawl. No manner of quirks can save it from being a barn door. Try playing as a fire support role rather than direct brawler, since I think it suits that better.

[King Arthur IV]

the PB is in a tier of its own; tier 10 needs help alot of help

[Mechwarrior Buddah]

They always will as long as theyre so wide

[ibex230]

Don't play it if you find it bad?

[Col Jaime Wolf]

ibex230, on 08 November 2014 - 03:53 AM, said:

Don't play it if you find it bad?

you know i bought PB right when it came out and ive always had them. i don't like to own mechs that i don't want/like to play. so when its a mech i particularly like and have spent real money on... i kinda you know.... expect them to actually be usable and not have to resort to stupid things like peekaboo/meta or w/e the #$#. 1-1 long range, short range, med range somewhere in this equation a mech has to be able to compete even if it has to compete solely on ITS terms and not get caught in a bad position. but every mech should be USABLE and have at least a good load-out and play style that doesn't resort to.....

"oh hey team don't expect me to do anything but peck them as you do the real fighting, i wont really help or contribute to the battle in a way that can help turn the tides, you know like flank and distract, or push with the main group and either dish it out or tank it up. but i can stand here and poke them with a stick"

Edited by Mellifluer, 08 November 2014 - 03:59 AM.

[ibex230]

Mellifluer, on 08 November 2014 - 03:59 AM, said:

you know i bought PB right when it came out and ive always had them. i don't like to own mechs that i don't want/like to play. so when its a mech i particularly like and have spent real money on... i kinda you know.... expect them to actually be usable and not have to resort to stupid things like peekaboo/meta or w/e the #$#. 1-1 long range, short range, med range somewhere in this equation a mech has to be able to compete even if it has to compete solely on ITS terms and not get caught in a bad position. but every mech should be USABLE and have at least a good load-out and play style that doesn't resort to.....

"oh hey team don't expect me to do anything but peck them as you do the real fighting, i wont really help or contribute to the battle in a way that can help turn the tides, you know like flank and distract, or push with the main group and either dish it out or tank it up. but i can stand here and poke them with a stick"

No need to have a meltdown, either play with them or pick another mech to play.

Also, does it really matter that the Awesome is suboptimal if you find it fun to play?

[Wolfyop]

Tried the mastered awesome-8Q and find it pretty underwhelming. Its very big, clunky, with bad hardpoints positions and the 90m minimun range makes it even worse. The 2 first flaws would not matter if it wasn't for the others, And going full energy on hot maps yeah... tier 5.

Edited by Wolfyop, 08 November 2014 - 04:12 AM.

[Col Jaime Wolf]

ibex230, on 08 November 2014 - 04:01 AM, said:

No need to have a meltdown, either play with them or pick another mech to play.

Also, does it really matter that the Awesome is suboptimal if you find it fun to play?

Not melting down, just angry that PGI keeps insisting on "not fixing things" and to me fixing the awesome is not hard. it involves 1 resizing its model and hitboxes and 2 removing ghost heat from it either entirely or mostly entirely.. im going to assume your kinda new because of your low post count (plx correct me if im wrong). but when PB came out it was pre-ghost heat and it actually was a decent mech. was really freaking good with an lrm15 and 2 erpp'cs because you just slammed a big engine in and kited like no tomorrow saying hello to the enemy from afar. and if someone tried to pursue you, having an xl360-400 made it fairly easy to run back to the team so all in all it was a good mech for harassing, flanking moving tactically and so fourth.

at various times from the Lurmpocalypse(s) to hexa ppc stalkers the awesome has varied from alright to downright brutal when used right. its always had bad hitboxes but its hard points before ghost heat were very fearsome in the right hands. its models had variation enough that you could decide to go energy heavy, mix of missiles and energy, or spewing forth frothy lurm sploosh all over you enemies.

slowly but surely, its just gotten beaten down again and again. first was ghost heat which straight up neutered it wholesale and knocked it out of the competition in one swoop. then came energy rebalances which while now they arent so bad it basically is in a full circle cycle of nerf-buff-nerf-buff-nerff-buff. but the awesome was never able to shine because it specialized in boating energy weapons and again ghost heat. then came along battlemasters and banshees both of which basically obsoleted the awesome outright.

almost anything you can do in an awesome is better done in a battlemaster or a banshee. the victor has always been able to walk all over awesomes with easy because of good hard points+JJ. stalkers did and still generally boat missiles and energy far better then awesomes because of a better profile and generally more hard points allowing more backup.

for example if you want to put 4 SRMS/LRMS in the 8R you only have 3 energy hard points and 1 of them is in your head. all of the stalkers have at least 4 missile hardpoints spread + at least 4 energy hard points all can be PPC's (5m excluded) or LL.

basically its that a combination of barn yard door syndrome and ghost heat permanently knocked the awesome out of the competition and no amount of buffs can really change that. it needs to be fixed the awesome is supposed to be a premier assault, but it ends up being well subpar compared to all others even ones that are the same weight. even the zeus will be better because it can take a ballistic and has more varied hardpoints allowing more options.

[xengk]

Awesome cant win a brawl with another healty assault, they are not meant for it.
I am pretty sure there are ace pilot out there that can brawl in one.
I have my Awesomes since they come out and are the assault I play the most in and play them in support role.

On my energy support 8Q, the setup is 2xPPC and 5xMPL.
His job is to disable a mech by taking out components and legging them, making thing easier for the brawler to do the actual killing. Of course I would go for the CT whenever available.

The 9M works as a sniper, with 2x ERLL, 1xLPL and 3x SSRM2.
ERLL for softing up targets before the 2 team meet, great for raking up hit and run reward, oddly, the flanking reward too.
LPL and SSRM to hit faster medium and lights.
I may miss out the ERPPC quirks, but my other energy weapon still benefits.

8R missileboat run 4xLRM15 w 10t ammo, good for 30 alpha or 120 chain fire, 2xMPL or 1xERLL as backup.
BAP is installed but no TAG or Artemis.
It is nothing fancy and dies just like any Lurmboat caught alone.
The missile range quirk IS useless though, should have change it to missile travel speed.

[Satan n stuff]

King Arthur IV, on 08 November 2014 - 03:40 AM, said:

the PB is in a tier of its own; tier 10 needs help alot of help

Didn't it win a tournament recently?

[King Arthur IV]

Satan n stuff, on 08 November 2014 - 04:22 AM, said:

Didn't it win a tournament recently?

you mean those tourneys that allow you to play unlimited amount of matches within 2-3 days and only counts your top 10 scores.....

[QuantumButler]

protip: LRM awesome uses XL and Endo.

Edited by QuantumButler, 08 November 2014 - 04:57 AM.

[Aggravated Assault Mech]

Mellifluer, on 08 November 2014 - 03:25 AM, said:

honestly with what? 2 LL a ML and some SRMS?

it should be able to benefit from ERLL as much as LL and ER/PPC's as much as LL. it cant boat anything and is forced to be a generalist by design. it lacks the hardpoints to boat anything forcing you to take a few big guns over several smaller ones.

awesome is described as a mech that was truly feared on the battlefield and as a mainstay of assault lances. a Timberwolf can get 95+ alphas at short range easily while still running 89KPH+JJ while only being 5 tons lighter. maybe an 8Q could compete with a bunch of pulses but its going to run slower, have less total alpha and lack JJ and likely run hotter.

awesomes need hitbox changes and REALLY good general buffs to be useful or even compete.

If you run some trash build where you have an eclectic mix of weapons that don't have overlapping ranges, on a mech that only carries 6 weapons, tops, you are setting yourself up to fail. Of course the PB is going to suck with that build because you have anemic firepower at long range and anemic firepower at close range, and the overlapping range where you can bring all of your firepower to bear is basically not workable. You know that boating is good but you don't understand why it's good. You make the accusation that it's got some terrible mixed weapon loadout because you are putting a terrible mixed weapon loadout on it.

The stacking cooldown reduction on the large lasers is huge and you're seriously wasting it if you're putting an ERPPC on your mech (which is not really a very good weapon anyways). The cooldown on them with LLAS CD 5 is probably around the 2 second mark.

2x LLAS 2x LRM 15 1x MLAS. PB is fast enough to outrun most mechs that can outshoot it (Timberwolf excluded) and with this it can fit into a heavy skirmisher role spamming lasers and LRMs from 300-500m.

[QuantumButler]

vnlk65n, on 08 November 2014 - 05:23 AM, said:

If you run some trash build where you have an eclectic mix of weapons that don't have overlapping ranges, on a mech that only carries 6 weapons, tops, you are setting yourself up to fail. Of course the PB is going to suck with that build because you have anemic firepower at long range and anemic firepower at close range, and the overlapping range where you can bring all of your firepower to bear is basically not workable. You know that boating is good but you don't understand why it's good. You make the accusation that it's got some terrible mixed weapon loadout because you are putting a terrible mixed weapon loadout on it.

The stacking cooldown reduction on the large lasers is huge and you're seriously wasting it if you're putting an ERPPC on your mech (which is not really a very good weapon anyways). The cooldown on them with LLAS CD 5 is probably around the 2 second mark.

2x LLAS 2x LRM 15 1x MLAS. PB is fast enough to outrun most mechs that can outshoot it (Timberwolf excluded) and with this it can fit into a heavy skirmisher role spamming lasers and LRMs from 300-500m.

Also, most of the hero robots are actually bad variants of that robot, only a few are actually superior or even equal to their standard variants, the Pretty Baby was always just kind of...bad, even for an Awesome, which is saying a lot.

[Yosharian]

I don't actually think Artemis is worth it on LRM boats.

[QuantumButler]

Yosharian, on 08 November 2014 - 05:32 AM, said:

I don't actually think Artemis is worth it on LRM boats.

Same, you need to actually have LOS for the Art buffs to apply, that's never going to be a certain thing and is risky for a lrmboat since you can be easily focused down via direct fire weapons which deal damage much faster to you if you show yourself.