21 replies to this topic

[TheMightyWashburn]

So I bought an AWS-9M Awesome Assualt mech the other day. I have tried dozens of different configurations and cant seem to find anything that deals good damage and isnt just torn apart. For an assualt it is killed very quickly (I known its the lightest assualt, but still) and obviously can barely handle lights at all (if using the ER-PPCs it comes with or normal ones).

Ive been playing for almost a month and and fairly good, but this is my first assault. It seems to be inferior to my other mechs in damage, spotting, capping(obviously), and assisting. So can someone explain to me how I should be playing this. Ive tried short, medium, and long range builds but nothing seems to be clicking.

Thanks

[Stickjock]

Wish I had more knowledge of the 9M to give you... only ran it for a short while when it was first intro'd and it wasn't too bad... I favor the 8R variant with 4xSRM6's and a few ML's...

One thing is the Awesomes ALL have a fairly easy to hit Head-hitbox...

[Lefty Lucy]

The thing about the 9M is that it's default configuration is absolute garbage. I prefer swapping the large energy weapons out for small ones, and then packing the missile slots with SRM6 and 2x SRM4. I also either drop the engine to a 320 SFE, or upgrade to as big of an XL that will fit.

[Kaspirikay]

Could add streaks to it. /shrug

[Lanessar]

I found that listening to "Master of Puppets" while playing AWS tend to help. I fire my weapons off to the key guitar riffs, and heat is then manageable.

Badda-badda-bammmm (PPC1)
Dee-do-dee-doo-dee da dee-doo (SRM6)

... yeah.

[Lerzpftz]

I had some fun with 2 different variants:

Version 1
3 ER PPC
3 Streak SRM
Xl Engine (something around 300+ for the extra HS in the engine)
as many DHS as you can fit.
somewhat reduced armor

Can be used as a pretty bad sniper targeting LRM boats / Gauss camper / everything that's big, slow and far away. You can fire 2 full Er PPC salvos, than wait a around 3 seconds and fire a third one. That's 90 dmg over a long range without getting shot back at you. It is a little difficult to play since you have to aim pretty good, but works. Oh ... and if your team sucks and dies before you can take out or damage 2-3 mechs, you die very fast. The 3 streaks usually are enough to keep lights away. Everything else can be shot with chained ER PPCs for 10 damage every 3 seconds plus the streaks or so.

Version 2
Med (pulse?) lasers and 3 SRM4
XL Engine (something 350+ if you can afford)
as many DHS as you can fit
Endosteel
full armor

Fine for running around with 80+ km/h and shoot everything med and heavy. Lights are still difficult to hit, but possible. Still not strong enough to do 1 vs 1 against atlases and some other builds of course.

Edited by Lerzpftz, 14 November 2012 - 09:44 AM.

[Mavairo]

I can't get into the Awesome or Atlas without feeling like a total putz. They are just far far too slow for my liking. I feel crippled in a catapult 9/10 times in terms of raw speed. You can imagine what tortue an Assault is for me.

I need to get around to learning Assault mechs (after all the best way to know how to pop anything is to fly it for a while), but it's just sooo agonizing.

[Viper69]

The awesome is fun, but its really a huge target. its a great standoff weapon with ERPPC though as in tabletop. Throw some of those on with some LRMs or Streak 2s for defense up close.

[Vlad Ward]

The AWS-9M is my primary brawler mech. I have it fit with an XL385, 23 DHS, standard armor/internals, and 6 MPL.

Speed tweak brings its max flanking speed up to 83.8 kph, and 6 MPL are devastating to just about everything. Because of the ninja'd 2.0 DHS in the engine, it actually runs cooler than it did before the DHS fix (which surprised the heck out of me), and its 23 DHS give it a massive Heat Capacity (76 base plus Heat Containment bonuses).

Running at ~85kph, it's more than capable of outmaneuvering just about anything on the field aside from the 100kph+ lights (which are, with a bit of practice, easy pickings for pulse lasers. Before the netcode mishmash, PLs were even deadlier to lights than SSRMs). The -9M will never have the armor to go toe to toe with an Atlas, but when you run more than 20kph faster than the absolute fastest Atlas on the planet (and significantly faster than the average Fatlas) you'll never really have to. The Awesome's shorter frame allows it to use vertical cover more effectively, and its twist/turning speeds with perks and a 385-rated engine should be more than sufficient to stick to an opponent's rear armor (and out of their line of fire).

Another advantage to its weapon config that isn't usually addressed by Atlas pilots is the -9M's ability to boat all of its primary weapons systems into the same type (Energy/Ballistic/Missile), giving it vastly increased precision and Alpha-DPS over heterogeneous builds. Working with both a Gauss Rifle and 4 Lasers, for example, forces Atlas pilots to either Alpha into two separate locations on an enemy Mech, or fire weapons of one type and then compensate for aiming discrepancies before firing weapons of another type. A 6MPL -9M will always have all 6 of its lasers striking the exact same spot when fired (it helps, too, that 5 of these 6 lasers are torso mounted and not subject to arm convergence).

Overall, the MPL AWS-9M is just about the only Awesome config worth a damn at the moment - mostly because it's a souped-up version of the old Pre-Engine Nerf Closed Beta MPL AWS-8Q, which was feared and decried on the forums as much if not more than the current "OP of the month" Gausscat.

[Mu]

I've spent a lot of time in the 9M and for me I keep two things in mind.

1. Gotta go fast. 385XL with speed tweak.
2. Need those 2x basic efficiencies so I can actually turn.

From there I just play it like a big, fat hunchback. The arm missiles only come out two at a time so you might want to run with 3 Streaks to finish off lights - despite what the forums say they still work just fine. Also keeping in mind the arm's firing quirk I actually have had some success with an artemis SRM6 in there and tend to use that while pretending it's an AC2 or something.

Other than that I put LPLs in the manboobs and MLs in the remaining hardpoints. They have about the same range and I fire all the lasers at once, I just move the MLs to another group on caustic valley since I'm lazy. You could also forget all that and run it as an LL boat. Edit: I actually bought this thing to recreate the MPL Awesome that was infamous in the beta, which Vlad mentioned above. It works just fine but the heat is awful right now since the pulse laser change.

I generally avoid Atlases in mine unless I think I can get behind them. They are bad news for an Awesome at close range (and usually long range too, if they have a Gauss) because your firepower and armor are nowhere near theirs. Gauss cats can really mess up your CT as well but your speed and firepower are just as dangerous to them.

I've also used the 8Q and 8M a lot, maxed elite as well. On both I use 2xLL in the gun arm for super accurate kill stealing and Centurion dissecting. From there I fill it up with whatever I feel like, but I generally try to use the biggest engine I can. If I want to go slow I'll play an Atlas.

Edited by Mu, 14 November 2012 - 09:56 AM.

[Dr Killinger]

Larger enery weapons suck at the moment. Use a bunch of small ones until the devs buff PPCs and the like.

[jper4]

Stickjock, on 14 November 2012 - 09:31 AM, said:

Wish I had more knowledge of the 9M to give you... only ran it for a short while when it was first intro'd and it wasn't too bad... I favor the 8R variant with 4xSRM6's and a few ML's...

One thing is the Awesomes ALL have a fairly easy to hit Head-hitbox...

i did something similar 4 SSRMs and 3ML- heat eff. was about 1.4ish- scouts didn;t like me much, but also suffered from the dying very early or being one of the last couple alive syndrome- seldom in between the two extremes.

[Foxwalker]

I ran a 9M with 4 Large Lasers and an LRM 15. It made a good Mid Range sniper and support mech. That extra speed helps somewhat in comparison to an Atlas. The other Awesome models with the slower engines are essentially gimped Atlas wanabes. But because it pretty much needs that XL engine, it seems a little fragile for brawling to me. But I found it a fun mech.

[Dyrael]

TheMightyWashburn, on 14 November 2012 - 09:27 AM, said:

So I bought an AWS-9M Awesome Assualt mech the other day. I have tried dozens of different configurations and cant seem to find anything that deals good damage and isnt just torn apart. For an assualt it is killed very quickly (I known its the lightest assualt, but still) and obviously can barely handle lights at all (if using the ER-PPCs it comes with or normal ones).

Ive been playing for almost a month and and fairly good, but this is my first assault. It seems to be inferior to my other mechs in damage, spotting, capping(obviously), and assisting. So can someone explain to me how I should be playing this. Ive tried short, medium, and long range builds but nothing seems to be clicking.

Thanks

Hey,

The Awesome has a huge profile so your torso gets hit a lot more than in other mechs. Try tearing out that XL engine and put a Standard instead. With the XL in there you will die a lot more because of the engine crit slots in the shoulders.

For weapon groups; when I'm trying to find a build that works I put in really basic weapons and grow it from there. Try something really simple like 2x Large lasers, 2x medium lasers, fill with heatsinks/armor. You'll enjoy being able to fire your weapons a lot more, and you won't get cored as much. Once you get a good feel for it start throwing in the bells and whistles one at a time to see if you like them.

If nothing seems to be working, sell it and buy something new you think you'd like! It's not worth your time sticking it out with something that isn't fun.

Hope this helps,

[Reoh]

It is the lightest assault and has a huge frame. It's really better as a sniper \ support \ skirmisher than a frontline mech. The atlas can just take more of a pounding.

[Suskis]

4LRM20 + Artemis + TAG + Double Heat Sinks and 1080 missiles. You have to change the engine making your possibly the slowest mech on the battlefield, but IF you have proper support from your team, you can easily end dishing 1K damage per match.

[AntiCitizenJuan]

I've been using mine with a standard engine and as a Brawler.
It kills. You just have to know how to use those big arms in a torso twist and when to fight or run.

[sg spider]

2 ERPPC + 3Med Pulses, 350(or even better)XL engine was pretty ok.
3 Large Pulse lasers + 3 Med Lasers, smth like this
6 Med Pulse lasers + fastest XL engine comes to mind too.

[Yokaiko]

TheMightyWashburn, on 14 November 2012 - 09:27 AM, said:

So I bought an AWS-9M Awesome Assualt mech the other day. I have tried dozens of different configurations and cant seem to find anything that deals good damage and isnt just torn apart. For an assualt it is killed very quickly (I known its the lightest assualt, but still) and obviously can barely handle lights at all (if using the ER-PPCs it comes with or normal ones).

Ive been playing for almost a month and and fairly good, but this is my first assault. It seems to be inferior to my other mechs in damage, spotting, capping(obviously), and assisting. So can someone explain to me how I should be playing this. Ive tried short, medium, and long range builds but nothing seems to be clicking.

Thanks

The engine nerf crushed the Awesome. The 9M is serivicable, but the atlas its likely to spawn is the tradeoff you make. As and LRM boat two of its variants at least work if you have an ECM spotter, is to big and too slow to brawl, everyone just side torsos it and chuckes as you pogostick around.

At 70+ you could brawl with it as a large medium, it wasn;t the strongest but it got respect. Now its sort of a joke.

[Dishevel]

Lanessar, on 14 November 2012 - 09:37 AM, said:

I found that listening to "Master of Puppets" while playing AWS tend to help. I fire my weapons off to the key guitar riffs, and heat is then manageable.

Badda-badda-bammmm (PPC1)
Dee-do-dee-doo-dee da dee-doo (SRM6)

... yeah.

Epic