10 replies to this topic

[_____]

This is an old chassis but it's also the only C-Bill variant that I didn't own. I never had a reason to own it before, but turned out fun to play. I think this is one of Mazzy's favorites though

As general education, I included a discussion about why certain mechs, including the 8T, are not considered "meta".

[Mordent Hex]

I just rebought this mech today, as I also have awesomes and wanted to up my collection of them again now that i have so many free mechbays. Its a really decent mech all things considered. I'm happy with mine.

[grendeldog]

Thanks for the video man, it's always fun to watch somebody succeed in a mech that is fairly well anti-meta.

This is a bit off-topic, but I wonder if you might give me a recommendation for a two Awesomes to get besides the 8Q. I want to get them while they're in sake as a mech to challenge myself with, and since I find PPCs to be challenging the 8Q is an obvious choice. I was thinking of getting the LRM-centric 8R, but I'm not sure about that, and I have no idea for my third variant. Perhaps the 9M to try out a higher engine cap? Or the 8T as mentioned here for a variant that is focused on th and instead of the torsi?

I like watching your videos Blackhawk, so any suggestions as to which other variants besides the 8Q would be much appreciated. Anybody else who would have a suggestion is also quite welcome. Thanks!

Edited by grendeldog, 22 January 2016 - 11:11 PM.

[oldradagast]

The 8V is an interesting version. It can mount something like a pair of PPC's and 3 SRM6's for weapons, so you can do some distant combat and some up-close combat. The drawback, of course, is that you're tempted to get in close to use the SRM's, which can go poorly in an Awesome because of their big, blundering size and easy to nail hitboxes. Still, if they ever fixed that, the 2 PPC (or large pulse laser) + 3 SRM6 Awesome 8V would be reasonably scary, IMHO.

Edited by oldradagast, 25 January 2016 - 04:36 AM.

[Virlutris]

grendeldog, on 22 January 2016 - 11:09 PM, said:

Thanks for the video man, it's always fun to watch somebody succeed in a mech that is fairly well anti-meta.

This is a bit off-topic, but I wonder if you might give me a recommendation for a two Awesomes to get besides the 8Q.

<snip>

Anybody else who would have a suggestion is also quite welcome. Thanks!

oldradagast, on 25 January 2016 - 04:36 AM, said:

The 8V is an interesting version. It can mount something like a pair of PPC's and 3 SRM6's for weapons, so you can do some distant combat and some up-close combat. The drawback, of course, is that you're tempted to get in close to use the SRM's, which can go poorly in an Awesome because of their big, blundering size and easy to nail hitboxes. Still, if they ever fixed that, the 2 PPC (or large pulse laser) + 3 SRM6 Awesome 8V would be reasonably scary, IMHO.

I actually picked up the 8V as my 3rd variant during the sale. A Stack 'O SRMs never goes out of style

I went 8Q, 8R (must LRM, lol), and decided I wanted to run the SRM stack and lasers on the 8V more than the available builds on the 8T or 9M.

For the 8Q, I'm starting it with a trolly 7MPL+20-something SHS build before I pay the DHS tax and run quad PPCs. Why not?

8T: LRM15Ax4, I'm going to embrace the LRMs, and invite Red team to do the same when I share the love

8V: I'm going to run it as a bodyguard, like SIB. Why is that relevant? Because with SRMs as the feature weapon in a necessarily hybrid build, and with reputations for being squishy chassis, they've got something in common. Now, I could run LRMs, but I've got the 8R for that.

The gameplan for the bodyguard mech is to play close to a high value heavy or assault mech of similar speed, laser poke anything that you can reach, and bomb the legs and/or open components of anything that gets close to the rock stars. On 8V it means a STD300, 3xSRM6A, and an assortment of blue and green lasers.

Sure, it's not necessarily glamourous, but it's honest, steady work. Somebody's gonna pay dearly for it and be killed or mauled when/if they get close. That's more than enough for me to get paid a reasonable sum in XP and c-bills while at least basic-ing it. Something will get greedy enough to close, there's nearly always one in every match.

Edited by Virlutris, 25 January 2016 - 12:00 PM.

[_____]

Sorry didn't pay attention to this topic for a while....

grendeldog, on 22 January 2016 - 11:09 PM, said:

This is a bit off-topic, but I wonder if you might give me a recommendation for a two Awesomes to get besides the 8Q.

The two best Awesomes in my opinion are the 8Q and 9M. Since energy boating is the current meta, both of these variants have good enough quirks for that, though obviously there are better chassis.

For a challenge besides the 8T, the PB is probably the hardest to play well and if you don't want to use MCs, then the 8V. I'd recommend 3xASRM6+2xLPL (optionally +1xML) on the 8V to make it kind of an energy SRM brawler, which honestly is not amazing, especially with the low engine cap, but it can do well if given the chance.

For the 8Q, I ran 4xPPC 3xSL for a while. It was fun but convergence between the 2x2 PPC shots was an issue. But yesterday switched to 2xPPC 3xLL. This is the first game I did on that build, so I was pretty happy with it

[Steel Raven]

Tried out the trail Awesome, got cored in the fist minute of the match

[WatDo]

I forget the other variant, it's super similar to that one. 4xsrmA and 2 LL's for some range is what i ran. I ultimately sold it because i dont run missles.

I agree the 8Q and 9M are the best variants. For my 8Q i run 2xLpL, 2xPPC. Quad ppc is just asking for a light to come facehug you while you cry. LPL+PPC mix lets you alpha without ghostheat and gives you a punch up close.

My 9M i run one of two builds to great success, generally. 3xLpL, 3ML. Or 2xLpL, 4xMpL. Both builds with a 325 engine for a bit of speed. It's a decent brawler/LpL boat thanks to quirks, forgetting the erppc quirks because lol erppc.. If you're running Awesomes, i suggest those builds for a good time.

/2cents

Cool video too.

[Yozzman]

The lurmboat is so funny, 4x LRM15 with artemis and a tag ^^

[Mazzyplz]

you're doing god's work BlackHawk

have you tried the mech since the kodiaks came out? i find a have to be careful not to get pinned when i drive this
i recorded a bit of footage with some kodiaks in play





i would like to add onto what you said - not many people know the 8T can be SNEAKY. and while it isn't very fast it can twist and has good acceleration. in that video i inch my left side outside of cover and shoot with the head and the arm - to pop back into cover you only need to twist your torso back pretty much and the arm is already behind the rocks. you can even do this behind a banshee or another assault if there is no cover.

by twisting away from incoming fire behind cover like this like in minute 5:15 i can dodge even laser fire as you can see.
everything except for the quickest shots will zoom by.

if you try and take shots of opportunity like that at the beginning of the match then you can choose at which moment you tank shots. as the match progresses you become more the shield that the team needs as the situation evolves and you're needed to soak some dmg.
it's best to be sneaky for a little bit before you commit to tanking anything because otherwise
- you tank and are left cored trying to be sneaky trying to get people to ignore your ct.
better to do it the other way around start out sneaky and end up going in close is what i found


this time i got caught with a nasty ER.Med alpha from a kodiak but i got the solo kill on him
toward the end i do an epic fail when trying to snipe the right torso of that last kodiak, i was trying to go for his side but my aim was so bad that i just missed and hit his ct. i think i ran out of mousepad real estate

oh well from the assaults in the match the 8t had the best performance at least. i'll take it.



the mech is a bit of a glass cannon and its a bit hot but really if you chain fire all the weapons one by one you can do tons of damage before getting max heat.
i made a test chain firing without using coolshots to see how many shots i can do before i have to stop
the sustained damage is a good aspect of the mech, it supresses enemy very well so they stay behind cover.

i also did a test with the LPL shot all at the same time, which is sometimes what you have to do when enemies who are brawling you twist away you only have a chance to hit their ct.

right now i feel this is the strongest awesome. even if it can be fragile sometimes


oh speaking of fragile that's the last thing. the way i build my version even if i lose one sidetorso i still got a pretty good arsenal, but the idea is not to lose any sidetorsos. if it hits the fan and you cannot twist you want to go down swinging so you should try and get shot in the center torso as much as possible and never lose your weapons.
to this end i came up with psychological warfare in the way i paint my mech.
i paint the CT BRIGHT COLORS so psychologically the opponents shoots there.


even a nice little black arrow in the chest, as if saying 'shoot here'. that's a face asking to be punched. but that only serves to our advantage in this case. using all 97 points of front armor that way and all the ct hitpoint quirks

Edited by Mazzyplz, 02 June 2016 - 02:02 AM.

[BlueStrat]

I'm finding I like the 8T better than my other AWS variants, the 8Q and 9M.

The build that seems to be quite effective for me is a XL300 engine (I know), 5DBL HS, STD armor/structure, 2xERLL, 3xML, LRM20 & SRM6 Artemis + Beagle AP and running with radar deprivation.

As was noted above, "sneaky" is the way I start out matches with this build, particularly with the XL engine. It's reasonably quick for an IS assault at 65.9 km/h and has a good mix of weapons for long & short ranges. It packs a nice 65.9 alpha punch and a 1.1-2.00 heat but with cooldown weapon modules for the energy weapons and LRM20A it is quite manageable even on Terra Therma. With 464/494 of armor and torso-twisting to spread damage, it can tank a surprising amount of damage for an XL-engined AWS. It's been my favorite "bear-hunting" AWS build.