7 replies to this topic

[Phoenix 72]

Hello everybody,

after about 6 months in game, I have gotten comfortable enough with the weapon system I am currently using that I decided to pick up a new one, I have never used before. ATMs.

I have done one match with it and have had a number of questions.

The Mech and build I use is:

https://mwo.smurfy-n...802b527a154ad03

So here are my questions:

If I fire this into a brawl, how much do I have to worry about hitting friendly Mechs? The ATMs seem to not spread out too much. As long as there is no friendly between me and the enemy, I should be fine, I hope?

In videos I saw people able to kinda do indirect fire by quickly throwing the nose of the Mech up. They were able to fire over small snow drifts, hills and houses that way. When I tried that I either left craters in the landscape or lost my lock. Is there any way to practice this?

Is dumbfire a viable strategy, or do I waste a lot of damage that way?
Does anybody know any good tutorials on using ATMs? I already noticed that I really need to pay more attention to my range. I shot a mech today at 119m, because I thought I had stopped early enough.

Any input or advice is much appreciated.

[Tier5 Kerensky]

ATMs don't really arch much, they are nearly like streaks. You will see when you try it. JJs are far more useful with ATMs. If the videos you saw were older, locks break instantly now when the aim goes too far from the locking rectacle.

You can use free arm lock to aim your torso higher and keep the lock by aiming with your arms. But really ATMs don't arch much.

Dumbfire isn't highly useful. Sometimes you can use it. 4 tons of ammo seems a bit high, but I haven't used a lot of them, so I won't say it's too much, just seems too much.

[Phoenix 72]

Good point on the ammo, actually. I was originally worried that it would not be enough. I dropped half a ton and exchanged the 3 ERSL for 2 HML. Same heat, but 20 damage instead of 15 and longer range.

[ClockworkDragon]

Atms are a weird weapon. You have a low arc, long range attack, or a mid range medium damage attack, or a closer range hjgh damage attack. At close range you can dish out some hurt, but youll be watching for 120m all the time. I find the best tactics arr a medium mech with atms in support of a heavier mech, wait for armor to be stripped, then lay waste. Balance your heat with agrression.

[Koniving]

If you tilt the torso up and bring the arms down you can shoot over some nearby obstacles.

This relies on them being torso mounted (as that is aimed up while arms aimed down) and having armlock off.

You can also shoot around obstacles close by such as corners using a similar method.

This said they work best at medium close range and fired directly. Lrms benefit more from the tricks.

[Buehgler]

I have had a Couger ATM build since they were released. I have always found it to be very situational. The limited speed and maneuverability really means that you are prone to die suddenly. All that said, I still have the build and pull it out occasionally when I want to take advantage of the ATM damage potential with a light.

My build is closer to this COU-E. I strip the left arm, use 4 ERML on the right, run with ECM and carry only 3 tons of ammo for the 2 ATM9s. Being slow means that you really want a serious backup threat, I think the ERMLs serve that role well, but you could swap them for 2 HML, some left arm armor and an additional heatsink, or some more ammo. However, with skills, 3 tons should be more than enough ammo if you are closing to the 3 damage range of the ATMs and landing a significant fraction of your missles.

[Dragonporn]

I've been running Cougar for quite some time now, tried various different builds with it, from pocket Gauss sniper to UAC/20 brawler (that was especially hilarious) to different laservomit variations and missile loadouts. From this experience, all I can say that Cougar is pretty **** mech no matter what you do with it. It's very big, very slow and extremely fragile. The only advantage it has is how many weapons you can shove inside it, but wet paper weapons platform doesn't appear so powerful in practice.

On ATM, I've tried it. Problem with it is that you need to have much higher profile, much-much better speed and most preferably jump jets for ATMs to work. COU has none of this, and with JJ omnis you will have to sacrifice too much slots/tonnage, while lift speed is pathetic. Plus with bigger ATMs that will allow you to deal significant damage (in case you get very lucky position), you simply won't have enough space to add enough heatsinks for adequate cooling, so overheat all day long.

After lots of trial and error, I stopped with this build:
COU-H
It's definitely nothing special, but this is much better than anything you can possibly arm it with IMO, especially if you want missiles. LRM 30+Art is serious firepower for a light mech. You trade only 6 damage from ATMs, have incredibly better arc, so profile and JJs get irrelevant, you get max noded ECM, so bubble will allow you to be a big help while sticking with your team and possibly will make you less noticeable and targetable, plus whooping 3 Med Lasers and all this coming with very adequate cooling, so you can unload pretty hard and not go into shutdown or blow yourself up after few alphas.

Have fun.

[Leone]

Darakor Stormwind, on 08 July 2018 - 06:27 AM, said:

If I fire this into a brawl, how much do I have to worry about hitting friendly Mechs? The ATMs seem to not spread out too much. As long as there is no friendly between me and the enemy, I should be fine, I hope?

Yeah, you just gotta move to keep yourself from hitting friendlies. Also, they don't leave little hovering mines like streaks, so all in all, they're pretty awesome. Just remember to keep your distance.

Darakor Stormwind, on 08 July 2018 - 06:27 AM, said:

In videos I saw people able to kinda do indirect fire by quickly throwing the nose of the Mech up. They were able to fire over small snow drifts, hills and houses that way. When I tried that I either left craters in the landscape or lost my lock. Is there any way to practice this?

So, with your mech build, you need to use the unlocked arms to do the same, since they're not torso based missiles. Hit your free look key, I think default is 'ctrl'? then you can unlock your arms whilst keeping the torso stationary. It's kinda the harder way to do it, but still viable. Play around with it. And yeah, feel free to practice all you want.

Darakor Stormwind, on 08 July 2018 - 06:27 AM, said:

Is dumbfire a viable strategy, or do I waste a lot of damage that way?
Does anybody know any good tutorials on using ATMs? I already noticed that I really need to pay more attention to my range. I shot a mech today at 119m, because I thought I had stopped early enough.

Okay, due to ranging, I'd suggest always trying to keep between 200~500m. ATM's just aren't worth one damage volleys. Lrms are more efficient for that. (unless you just wanna splash some damage to get assists or try and suppress folk.) As for tutorials, there're plenty of LRM tutorials, but I've not seen any on ATMs.

And yes, Dumbfire works, and yes it'll waste ammo.

~Leone.

Edited by Leone, 11 July 2018 - 08:23 AM.