Khobai, on 28 January 2018 - 05:23 PM, said:
in lore the atlas was so unagile they had to give it backwards firing weapons lol. The atlas has always been a bulky cumbersome mech. Its never been more agile than other assaults, except for maybe the annihilator.
The Atlas was given rear facing weapons because that's just what they did during that time at FASA. The Zeus, one of the early 'fast' Assaults, had rear facing weapons as well. It's not special in that regard.
What makes the Atlas special compared to the other 100 tonners present in MWO, from the lore, is that it's the only one confirmed to be a melee fighter. The Annihilator, Fafnir and Daishi don't even have hands, and the Kodiak's claws are just for show. While the Atlas is not only designed for it, but it's been confirmed that it can slug it out with the best of them, and there are in-universe rumors that it can actually pick up other mechs and throw them. That, to me, implies a great deal of dexterity and agility, as immobile bricks rarely when brawls without being swung hard and fast.
I'm unaware of anything in the lore saying the Atlas is ponderous or lacking in agility.
Of course, that's all secondary to the fact that the Atlas needs
something in its favor, seeing as it's the most useless piece of garbage in the 100 tonner category currently by a substantial margin. Upping its agility and making it more potent in slugfest makes sense from a lore perspective, a balance perspective, and a MWO specific 'role' perspective.
Edited by Bombast, 28 January 2018 - 05:50 PM.