I'd wish to see a substantial buff for the atlas.
Its current configuration makes it nearly (if not the) worst performing assault type in the game which is rarely seen these days due to its meny, meny, meny, meny ... many, many flaws. People only take it out once in a while for novelty sake.
Now the Atlas is supposed to be THE brawler, iconic to the game (its on the cover ffs) which is armored enough to breach enemy lines head on, and is supposed to be the paragon of brute force. Which it cannot be due to the following reasons:
Atlas is absolutely colossal:
Being big in tabletop is a none issue, but in the real world of 3d shooting its a very big deal. The target is massive which means you are hard to miss, which also means you get to be a priority target, which also leads to taking more damage rapidly.
It also means, due to its hardpoints, it has to show its entire body in order to fire at an enemy.
Atlas is sluggish:
exceptionally slow torso twist, anchor turn and acceleration rate means that atlas have NO chance of avoiding incoming threats/damage, all you can do is stand there and tank. You can think of an atlas as a semistationary defense tower.
Atlas bad hardpoints and no agility to compensate:
Since the atlas has its gun mostly on the lower chest, but cannot aim up or down makes it more or less useless.
All you have to do vs an atlas is to force it to fight in a upp/down hill battle and you win by default (and since the maps are 70% - 30* to 40* slopes this poses a massive problem. This would be a none-issue if the atlas got the ability to punch and kick anyone too close to it, like its supposed to do (but we cant have nice things) So i wish this to be addressed by giving it more up / down freedom.
Atlas has bad hitboxes:
Being huge and have very defined hitboxes makes it very easy for people to strip you off.
Atlas has a very small heatpool:
The atlas cant compete - due to its heat. As it stands due to the reasons mentioned above, the atlas needs to get close and end their targets fast in order not to be downed instantly, but due to its exceptionally small heatpool this cant happen.
This means it cant brawl, this means it cant move out of the way to cool down, this means it has to facetank the enemies after giving out 140 dmg for ~20 seconds on tourmaline before it can be ready to fire again. By this time. It is dead.
It overheats with 2 alpha strikes, one if you use a pair of large lasers to back you up.
The average alphastrike is also LOWER THAN ANY OTHER ASSAULT MECH due to its weak hardpoints.
The atlas has insufficient armor.
Having a 100 structure means nothing when you dont have any guns.
Some mechs in the heavy category currently outarmor the atlas and can carry the same weaponry. (the atlas needs to carry a massive engine to have even a remote chance of moving, due to ****** hardpoints and armor, it has to take a really big standard engine)
the way i run an atlas is currently 90 in side torso front, - it needs to be somewhere in the 150 range to make up for all the excement it has to deal with.
Solution:
Give the atlas more agility and heatpool to deal with these issues - or - give it tons and tons of armor quirks to compensate. - or - a mix of the forementioned two.
Discuss.
Edited by Invictus XVII, 18 December 2017 - 01:31 AM.