22 replies to this topic

[M0rdresh]

Decided to drop some cache on this game, which I enjoy alot, and bought me the Awesome Pretty Baby hero mech. Stripped it, added 3x SRM6 and 3x Medium Pulse Laser, 400XL Engine and Double Heatsink. Armor maxed out. What an unstoppable force at 81 speed it's as fast as a medium mech.

[Blue Hymn]

Hella quick in twisting too, which is nice. Pleasant improvement compared to before. Now if they can do something for the 9M with its erppc quirks...

[Phashe]

Loving my PB and AWS team right now. First assault I can play effectively, honestly, being a Medium & faster-heavy pilot. The AWS just feels right to me. Different Strokes....

But I still wish my PB had one more energy slot SOMEWHERE.... :-)

[M0rdresh]

Blue Hymn, on 22 December 2015 - 05:04 PM, said:

Pleasant improvement compared to before.

Does this indicate they made changes to these hero mechs? I find reading old posts, such as about the awesome, is often obsolete. What did they change?

[Blue Hymn]

M0rdresh, on 23 December 2015 - 02:52 AM, said:

Does this indicate they made changes to these hero mechs? I find reading old posts, such as about the awesome, is often obsolete. What did they change?

If we're gonna just focus on the Hero Mech Awesome, the changes were kinda here and there, oftentimes odd and out there, but nothing completely groundbreaking. Back then in the old days the PB had silly Deceleration nerfs (it takes a hella long time to brake), plus hardpoints which didn't make sense. When quirks came, the PB had crazy LL quirks and some mediocre missile buffs - which made it a good fast striker, if you build it with 2LL + 3srm4/6. Now PB got I think uh...some extra internal armor, generalized energy weapon quirks, and a lotta other goodies. In lore, considering that the PB was a mech that had high mobility, seems like they tried to keep that somewhat faithful.

Though Hardpoints and the general width of an Awesome could be checked...but I ain't complaining much.
I believe this site has the current up to date quirks on each mech and its variants, including the Champions and Hero mechs. If you check in the Assault/Awesome section, you can see just exactly the current state of quirks they have on each variant. :3

http://snafets.de/mwo/quirks.htm

[Psyden]

I have been theory crafting an Awesome, the 9M specifically.

Quick stats:
5 Small Pulse Lasers
1 SRM 6 with 300 rounds (3t, 50 volleys)
1 AMS with 4000 rounds (2t)
24 Double Heatskins for 78 kph
XL Engine 385
Max Armor (10 rear CT, 8 rear ST)
All Slots are used

This yields a firepower rating of 32.90.
Max DPS is 10.50 and a sustainable DPS of 8.29
With the SPL only, it is 7.27 max, 7.20 sustainable
Cooling Efficiency is 79%, 99% with SPL only

Since this lacks any sort of range, the SRM 6 and 1 ton of missile and AMS ammo for an LRM 10. This leaves 2 tons of ammo (360 missiles, or 36 volleys). Instead of cutting into ammo, the AMS can be dropped, and with its ammo gone, .5t can be added. This brings the ammo up to 2.5t, 480 rounds, or 48 volleys.

Comments, Suggestions, and Critisms welcome. I am a new player and trying to feel out the Meta.

A more detailed description will follow.
Right Arm:
52 Armor
3 Double Heatsinks

Right Torso:
60 Front Armor
8 Rear Armor
Small Pulse Laser
2 Double Heatsinks
AMS
AMS Ammo

Right Leg:
68 Armor
AMS Ammo 1/2
SRM Ammo 1/2

Head:
18 Armor
Small Pulse Laser

Center Torso:
90 Front Armor
10 Rear Armor
2 Small Pulse Laser

Left Torso:
60 Front Armor
8 Rear Armor
Small Pulse Laser
2 SRM Ammo

Left Leg:
68 Armor
AMS Ammo 1/2
SRM Ammo 1/2

Left Arm:
52 Armor
2 Double Heatsinks
SRM 6

To replace with LRM 10, remove the leg ammo or LT and switch the leg ammo to all LRM ammo. Last option is to remove the AMS and all its ammo and add 1/2t of more ammo... somewhere (RT or legs).

[Blue Hymn]

Sounds like an interesting build, that 9M. The range is a bit lackluster, so you'll need to have some lady luck moments to get you close enough for some good ol' brawling. If you're interested in brawling with a 9M, there's an old build that used to be pretty potent back in the days with the 9M.

It consists of -- 4mpl, 3 standard srm4 (2 at center torso), and the XL 385 for speed. 3-4 tons of ammo, depending on personal preference, followed by cramming the mech with as many double heat sinks as you can possibly can for maximum heat efficiency. Works pretty well, and should give you that extra oomph for the taking.

[CmdrA]

I've brought my 9M out of the garage for a while the past few days with some pretty good success.

Running this AWS-9M build and getting typically 500 - 600 dmg per game with 2 - 4 kills a match. A bit hot if you spam too often but its very managable.

I chose an STD because I honestly find if I get into a bad situation because, team either screwed up somewhere or lights harasss you to no end, you'll end up dying faster by having an XL, I never ran an XL on my awesomes and never will. I find the tradeoff of speed over survivability to do damage one last time before dying a better trade off than speed. 3 LPL are typically the main arsenal i'll be firing with the torso mounted ones on group 1 with the arm on group 2, the medium lasers on 3.

[Steel Raven]

PGI needs to fix IS XLs, loss of a side torso=sudden death really kills most of the benefits.

[SkaerKrow]

I never really figured out my Pretty Baby. Two LPLs and three aSRM-6s. It can put the damage on, but it has to spend a lot of time face forward to do so, and those torsos are made of cotton candy.

[Aleski]

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...ae3665c35ed369d

Best assault ever !!!!

PB for the win, the glass cannon of brawlers =)

Really one of my favorite hero mech.

[Funnytom]

Hi all, I'm a relatively new player and I recently dropped some cash into MWO and one of the things I picked up was Pretty Baby. My current loadout is :

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...3384010705d77b2

(though just by linking that I realize that I've got a bit much SRM ammo there).

I have been going ok in this mech, but I've noticed that I cannot take as much punishment as other assaults and I was wondering what people's thoughts were on the Awesome in general, and if I should bother going ahead and getting 2 more variants to elite them all up.

I've also been getting into a bit of CW, and I want mechs that will allow me to pull my weight and not drag the team down, and I'm not sure that going all Awesome will allow me to do this. I've only got a few other mechs at the moment (3 Jenners and 3 Dragons) so I want to make sure that I'm not wasting C-bills and mech bays on mechs which will not see the light of day very often.

Cheers all

[NRP]

That build isn't too bad, but you probably have too much SRM ammo and the bap is just dead weight. Doing well in an awesome requires a specific mindset, play style, and role. You're best suited as a striker who engages after the death ball gets going. Therefore, you need speed above all else. Then you need long range weapons so you have help out at the start of the game from relative safety. Then you need some short range punch for phase 2. So in short, your build looks good, but stick the biggest engine in that you can fit and play more cautiously at the start of a match. Do everything you can to preserve your armor for phase 2. Then go wreck house.

[Wildstreak]

Steel Raven, on 07 January 2016 - 01:11 PM, said:

PGI needs to fix IS XLs, loss of a side torso=sudden death really kills most of the benefits.

For the Awesome, it eagerly awaits its resizing that will make using XL better, just look at what some say about the Zeus.

[Blue Hymn]

Funnytom, on 16 January 2016 - 06:05 AM, said:

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...3384010705d77b2

Goodness gracious, no back armor? Might want to rectify that.

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...eb6f465345b733a

This is what I would suggest if you're gonna stick with an XL engine. Modified your build a bit with Artemis - works rather well in keeping the missile spread close when fired.

For my Pretty Baby,here's the build I pilot quite often, with good degrees of success:

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...b688568e3b2e2e2

A downgrade in firepower, but the Artemis upgrade plus the Standard engine replacement means that your missile spread is significantly reduced, and you won't get knocked out of the fight if your side torso gets blown out. Endo Steel helps get you that extra weight savings to fit in the Engine, Shifting down to srm4 means that you're throwing less punch, but you have a slight faster reload time compared to the srm6, and you waste less ammo in the event your shots don't hit.

Also, like NRP said, the Awesome fills a more niche role compared to most others - to me, it shines particularly well as a suppression mech, and some variants of the Awesome can act either as flankers or quick strikers. However, don't expect to be able to slug it out against fresh assaults often - 80 tons is the lightest assault class, so your armor and firepower are not as potent compared to the heavier assaults. The essential tips and tricks to becoming a good Awesome pilot is learning the art of torso twisting, positioning and suppression support. Keep a good situational awareness of the battlefield - while an Awesome usually isn't a front-line unit, its speed and mobility gives it an edge in plugging holes/breaches inside your team formation during an enemy push. I cannot recall the amount of times I had where an enemy flank was occurring, and my Pretty Baby was able to get there in time to halt the advance just long enough to buy time for the team to regroup and push them back.

Suppression is almost a lost art these days.

But anyways, if you're thinking of other variants to buy for the Awesome - under the assumption that you feel a strange affinity (psychotic attachment to pilot something Awesome) - the 8Q and the 8R are the two more common variants that are pretty good in multiroles.

[Funnytom]

Sorry, I actually was running PB with rear armor but just hadn't added it in the mechlab :/. I've gone with your idea Blue and my new build looks like this:

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...f26241ce3c98e36

In the couple of matches I've played it seems to be going well, but I need to test it a bit more to make sure I'm happy with it. How much rear armor would people normally run on an assault? When I looked before it was pretty high to begin with, so that may have been hampering my surviveability somewhat.

If I don't decide to stick with Awesomes, which other assaults would people recommend? I've been thinking about the Banshee, King Crab or Stalker but I'm not really sure what to invest in next.

[Windscape]

Funnytom, on 17 January 2016 - 02:48 AM, said:

Sorry, I actually was running PB with rear armor but just hadn't added it in the mechlab :/. I've gone with your idea Blue and my new build looks like this:


If I don't decide to stick with Awesomes, which other assaults would people recommend? I've been thinking about the Banshee, King Crab or Stalker but I'm not really sure what to invest in next.

Stalker and Kingcrab are a must

try these builds
KGC-000 (improved)

STK-5M

[oldradagast]

Wildstreak, on 16 January 2016 - 11:01 AM, said:

For the Awesome, it eagerly awaits its resizing that will make using XL better, just look at what some say about the Zeus.

I so long for that day when the Awesome is NOT a walking slab of "shoot me!" I did alright in them in their current clunky state for a few years, but when the Zeus came out for cbills, I admit I eventually sold all my Awesomes. The Zeus basically did everything better, and I really hated the way the dynamic geometry looked on the Awesome. Still, the goofy things keep luring me in - I just bought the 8Q, one of the ones I didn't have, and am having fun zapping people with PPC's. Sure, it's still not a great mech - though the quirks really help - but it is fun.

If they do resize them properly, they'll at least be able to stand toe to toe with the Zeus, and if they ever introduce the 9Q - basically an 8Q with ECM - the Awesome will be granted another interesting role of fast command mech. Someday... maybe...

[Blue Hymn]

Funnytom, on 17 January 2016 - 02:48 AM, said:

Sorry, I actually was running PB with rear armor but just hadn't added it in the mechlab :/. I've gone with your idea Blue and my new build looks like this:

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...f26241ce3c98e36

In the couple of matches I've played it seems to be going well, but I need to test it a bit more to make sure I'm happy with it. How much rear armor would people normally run on an assault? When I looked before it was pretty high to begin with, so that may have been hampering my surviveability somewhat.

If I don't decide to stick with Awesomes, which other assaults would people recommend? I've been thinking about the Banshee, King Crab or Stalker but I'm not really sure what to invest in next.

Rear armor amount is an iffy issue, as it mainly depends on the player's preference. Some like to play danger close - ergo, 1-3 points of rear armor and put the rest on the front. The reason behind that is, if they're good at torso twist, they won't expose their rear to enemy fire, so the more armor up front the better. Or so they proclaim. I personally prefer 10 points of rear armor at the back for all torsos, mainly that I don't like to face-tank and I prefer a bit of solo flanking/positioning. If I'm re positioning and have to retreat, I rather have a bit of armor on the rear to at least withstand some modicum of damage, especially from an enemy light mech's alpha nowadays.

oldradagast, on 17 January 2016 - 10:09 AM, said:

I so long for that day when the Awesome is NOT a walking slab of "shoot me!" I did alright in them in their current clunky state for a few years, but when the Zeus came out for cbills, I admit I eventually sold all my Awesomes.

oldradagast, on 17 January 2016 - 10:09 AM, said:

sold all my Awesomes.

TRAITOR!

[oldradagast]

Meh... I did buy the 8Q this week... never owned that one, and I was interested in trying PPC's. It works well enough, but as I said, the Awesome badly needs the compact hitboxes of the Zeus to be able to compete. Heck, when you look at some of the artwork, the Awesome looks very close to the Zeus in overall design anyway, just with large shoulder pauldrons instead of fins, and no "rocket punch" missile arm.