131 replies to this topic

[Atomic Weapon]

Perhaps revamping the dashboard as well. Giving it a red glowing feel that would be pretty cool as well.

[DONTOR]

Man I remeber back in 8 mans how nasty Atlas were, atleast 2-3 times the threat they are now.
Not to say good players cant still do very well in them but I personally highly prefer the DW's firepower.

[Bilbo]

DONTOR, on 28 May 2015 - 01:18 PM, said:

Man I remeber back in 8 mans how nasty Atlas were, atleast 2-3 times the threat they are now.
Not to say good players cant still do very well in them but I personally highly prefer the DW's firepower.

In 8 mans you could control a match with one.

[Atomic Weapon]

DONTOR, on 28 May 2015 - 01:18 PM, said:

Man I remeber back in 8 mans how nasty Atlas were, atleast 2-3 times the threat they are now.
Not to say good players cant still do very well in them but I personally highly prefer the DW's firepower.

Oh yes brother the good old days! It's pretty bad when the Atlas pilot is afraid to go against one firestarter. Some of us probably fought 2 firestarters at one time in their Atlas and the majority of us more likely lost that battle as it's hard enough to go against one. Isn't it where the light pilot is supposed to fear the assault?

[Kh0rn]

Joseph Mallan, on 28 May 2015 - 10:37 AM, said:

I don't know about you, but our Atlas is much more Burly than TT, and I like it.


But this also looks nice and burly.

There is my point the torso's are slimmer and the arms are larger like the Banshee and look how much tankier the Banshee is. Apply this too the Atlas we will have something.

[Zoid]

Very much so. The only loadout that can really hit hard enough to be a threat is extremely short-range and NOT pinpoint. If a TBR finds you before you're in SRM range you can probably kiss half your weapons goodbye.

The only way I've found an Atlas to be truly effective is if I literally hide the entire game and poke with a pair of ERLL until everyone's pretty banged up. Then I can close to SRM range and munch people.

The Atlas needs more armor, missile and structure quirks. Make the max SRM range 350-400m and increase the velocity and it will be feared again.

Seriously, I saw I think 3 Atlases during the last event and they ALL just died. It's just not a good 'mech right now. Yes, a really good pilot can make it work but that pilot would get far more results out of a lot of other 'mechs.

[Felicitatem Parco]

I don't really like hearing how the -S variant is the savior of the Atlas Mechs... The last time I saw an Atlas I was in my SRM30 Stalker and said on TeamChat: "I see an Atlas around the corner, wait here and let me solo it.". I walked around the corner and Solo'd it in seconds, flat. Then my team came around and we moved along like nothing happened. My armor was yellowed a bit, and the Atlas S was toast.

It failed to instill fear in me. In fact, I thought it was cute.

Edited by Prosperity Park, 28 May 2015 - 03:26 PM.

[Clownwarlord]

Atlas needs help ...

[Sigilum Sanctum]

I would definitely enjoy some defensive armor buffs to the Atlas, but I will say this:

You haven't seen a Stormcrow pilot **** himself until he goes to the rear of the pack to go poke around or flank only to find an Atlas-S bearing down on him, maybe with some friends. I do this often on Mining Collective, and it is oh so satisfying seeing the panic.

Hello everyone, this is Rangarok.

[Khobai]

Of the few somewhat viable Atlas builds that exist, I definitely wouldnt consider that to be one of them...

Honestly theres no reason you shouldnt be using a D-DC instead. Dropping an SRM6 for ECM is a no brainer. The Atlas needs all the help it can get to close to brawling distance and ECM definitely helps.

Also you need some large lasers or er large lasers... not having any long-ranged weapons on a slow assault is pretty fail. Especially when you know youre going up against clan mechs.

Edited by Khobai, 28 May 2015 - 04:17 PM.

[Sir Wulfrick]

Joseph Mallan, on 28 May 2015 - 10:48 AM, said:

Well there's you mistake. Its supposed to be hard for an Atlas to go toe to toe with a Dire. I have no interest in giving my mech perks to level the playing field. I took weeks learning how to overcome the limits I have to beat Dire Wolfs.

I admire your integrity of approach in relation to this, and I think that in general we tend to agree on a lot of things, but I'm afraid I'll have to respectfully disagree with your position on the Atlas. Amongst all the IS assault mechs, with the possible exception of the Awesome, the poor old Atlas is the mech I see the least in games. I would submit that the power creep inherent in the quirks process has left the Atlas far behind in terms of viability when compared to other IS assault mechs, and far behind the best that the Clans have to offer.

More generally, I should make clear that I do not want the Atlas buffed to a position of balance, I want it to be buffed to a position of parity, the two are different things. Buffing the armour and internal structure on the Atlas will give it asymmetric balance, i.e. parity with the best the Clans have to offer. I would strenuously argue against buffs to twist speed or ground speed, or any buffs to weapons. The Atlas should be given it's rightful lore position of the toughest, most un-killable mech in the Battletech universe. The current wishy-washy set of buffs that the Atlases have are nearly completely ineffective, so I'll say again and appeal to PGI to make the Atlas what it was always meant to be: the toughest mech in existence.

[Burktross]

Jonathan Paine, on 27 May 2015 - 03:05 PM, said:

The Atlas is very far from being an intimidating assault mech. The hardpoints are varied - which means you get less value out of cooldown and range modules since you burn two modules per weapon type - and they are much too low to be competitive. In an Atlas, terrain is as much your enemy as mechs, as often as not you willl fire into the ground and get stuck on pebbles that you cant lean forward enough to see.

Suggestion:
1. For the Atlas (and mechs with all actuators) - let the mech armlock with the arms shoulder high.
2. Slightly raise the RT/LT/CT mounts. Looking at the model you could easily slightly raise both ballistics, the CT as well as at least 1 missile mount.
3. Increase the missile tubes. It is patently ridiculous that the biggest mech in the game cant fire 20 missiles at a time when even LIGHT MECHS CAN.
4. Either ditch the weapon modules from the game, or re-work them so that bonuses are divided amongst all the weapons on the same type. A single module boosting a dozen weapons is insanely better than boosting just 1 or 2 and actively encourages boating.
5. Same goes for weapon quirks - please stop boosting mechs that can boat weapons as much as mechs that have only a couple of weapons of that type.

Sigilum Sanctum, on 28 May 2015 - 04:01 PM, said:

I would definitely enjoy some defensive armor buffs to the Atlas, but I will say this:

You haven't seen a Stormcrow pilot **** himself until he goes to the rear of the pack to go poke around or flank only to find an Atlas-S bearing down on him, maybe with some friends. I do this often on Mining Collective, and it is oh so satisfying seeing the panic.

Hello everyone, this is Rangarok.

That's terrifying...
Unless I have cover and you don't

Atomic Weapon, on 28 May 2015 - 11:48 AM, said:

They did a good job on changing the Orion and giving it better armor, the developers did an awesome job on that. I rather pilot the Orion then a Atlas as it moves quicker and is not a big target, practically dishes out the same damage. Orion seems to absorb more damage then the Atlas..

I run my Atlas build on my Orion

[East Indy]

I play my Atlas(es) occasionally, and I really want to like it, but anyone who says it's not third string post-Clan and post-quirks is either being sentimental, carried big time, or is okay with dealing <300 damage a match.

It suffers from two problems: one, hitboxes that 100-ton armor capacity can't redeem; two, no heat endurance for the loadout required by hardpoints.

Whereas quirks have given many Inner Sphere 'Mechs powerful niches, the Atlas just doesn't do what's advertised. It needs to be the defense-oriented counter to the Dire Wolf.

Here's what it needs: all weapon quirks removed and replaced with 30% armor increase for torsos and limbs, 15% internal structure increase for torsos, 30% heat reduction for all weapon types. You think these are excessive now, until you tank an Atlas in a remotely challenging match and you'll still find your right torso cracking while the shutdown warning bells go off.

Edited by East Indy, 28 May 2015 - 04:43 PM.

[CocoaJin]

Antares102, on 27 May 2015 - 01:46 PM, said:

I dont fear the Atlas at all. IS Mechs I fear:
Thunderbolt 5SS
Dragon 1N
Huginn
Wolverine 6K
Stalker 4N
Banshee
Grid Iron

Hmmm, I see you haven't ran into enough HBK-4Gs

Edited by CocoaJin, 28 May 2015 - 04:45 PM.

[Atomic Weapon]

We're not crazy, the Atlas needs to be fixed..

[Sigilum Sanctum]

Burktross, on 28 May 2015 - 04:32 PM, said:

That's terrifying...
Unless I have cover and you don't

Like a good Atlas pilot though, I always make sure I have cover or support :3

[Burktross]

CocoaJin, on 28 May 2015 - 04:43 PM, said:

Hmmm, I see you haven't ran into enough HBK-4Gs

Oh how I love steamrolling dires before they know what hit 'em...
Lovely mech.

Sigilum Sanctum, on 28 May 2015 - 05:50 PM, said:

Like a good Atlas pilot though, I always make sure I have cover or support :3

Cover's useless when your low slung guns can't shoot from it >:^)

[Evan20k]

The Atlas is the slowest mech in the game with quirks supporting being mounted with extremely close range weapons which it has to use its extremely low speed to get into range with. It's expected to charge into giant enemy formations and hope everyone on the Red Team's internet connection hiccups because there's no way it's not getting mowed down by a 12 man firing squad before it gets into its effective range.


In conclusion I think the Atlas needs the +20% DDoS other team quirk to really be effective.

[CocoaJin]

Atomic Weapon, on 28 May 2015 - 05:47 PM, said:

We're not crazy, the Atlas needs to be fixed..

You won the internet!

[Sarlic]

Sir Wulfrick, on 28 May 2015 - 04:16 PM, said:

I admire your integrity of approach in relation to this, and I think that in general we tend to agree on a lot of things, but I'm afraid I'll have to respectfully disagree with your position on the Atlas. Amongst all the IS assault mechs, with the possible exception of the Awesome, the poor old Atlas is the mech I see the least in games. I would submit that the power creep inherent in the quirks process has left the Atlas far behind in terms of viability when compared to other IS assault mechs, and far behind the best that the Clans have to offer.

More generally, I should make clear that I do not want the Atlas buffed to a position of balance, I want it to be buffed to a position of parity, the two are different things. Buffing the armour and internal structure on the Atlas will give it asymmetric balance, i.e. parity with the best the Clans have to offer. I would strenuously argue against buffs to twist speed or ground speed, or any buffs to weapons. The Atlas should be given it's rightful lore position of the toughest, most un-killable mech in the Battletech universe. The current wishy-washy set of buffs that the Atlases have are nearly completely ineffective, so I'll say again and appeal to PGI to make the Atlas what it was always meant to be: the toughest mech in existence.

Just a reminder:
Let Russ know. I don't have Twitter and he does not look on the forums.

Edited by Sarlic, 29 May 2015 - 03:52 AM.