478 replies to this topic

[Nocifer Deathblade]

Moenrg, on 26 December 2012 - 04:04 PM, said:

As the long time Atlas pilot, here's some general "rules" for those following:

1) Do not follow directly behind, follow off to the side, so you can actually shoot at what the atlas is shooting at.

2) If the atlas is heading towards the enemy, he's probably in a brawling setup (in fact if it's me, I'm definately in a brawling setup)

3) Keep a fire lane, do not cut in front of the atlas, or be willing to live with an AC-20 in the back.

4) A good atlas pilot isn't going to chase light mechs, do your best to keep those away from him.

5) Once the atlas commits to a battle, he's there until the end, there is no 'breaking off', Once you see them engage, support them or expect that they are lost to the team.

Good one. I too am primary Atlas brawler. I always go to areas where I knew that there would be other brawlers so I can have fun with them. I don't bother much with lights as my lighter escorts can deal with them. I do attack them if they are only targets after dead brawlers.. I deal lot more damage to slow brawlers than I can to lights so why bother with lights? My most favorite Atlas is Boar's Head. Best one of all ever! Lot of dps and darn fast! Easy to navigate during brawling.. Easy to go to place fast so meds can easily on same pace with me.. Thanks to high speed it got, it makes my hitboxes moving fast making harder for others to aim at my CT/ST for XL engine destruction... My best score is actually Boar's head than any other Atlas types.. Atlas is my very first mech that I played in Beta and I came back 2 months ago and played Atlas alot but did very bad at start as new player that really hurt the stats and got Boar's Head and I quickly got improved alot with it.

Edited by Nocifer Deathblade, 28 May 2015 - 10:14 AM.

[Void Angel]

The Boar's Head is the odd duck of Atlases - the only Atlas that should ever consider an XL engine. Arguably, the Boar's Head can be a liability, since it sacrifices the Atlas' only absolute advantage (tanking damage) in favor of mobility - but if you play it like the fast super-Heavy it's designed to be, you can really bully enemy Heavies and Mediums that are just not expecting a towering engine of destruction to be pushing at them along with the fast movers.

It's not very meta, and its firepower will be lackluster compared to other options - but it's definitely a fun 'mech to play if you get its style down right (and have a team that supports you.)

[Nocifer Deathblade]

Void Angel, on 28 May 2015 - 11:10 AM, said:

The Boar's Head is the odd duck of Atlases - the only Atlas that should ever consider an XL engine. Arguably, the Boar's Head can be a liability, since it sacrifices the Atlas' only absolute advantage (tanking damage) in favor of mobility - but if you play it like the fast super-Heavy it's designed to be, you can really bully enemy Heavies and Mediums that are just not expecting a towering engine of destruction to be pushing at them along with the fast movers.

It's not very meta, and its firepower will be lackluster compared to other options - but it's definitely a fun 'mech to play if you get its style down right (and have a team that supports you.)

I don't have any clans so I play 100% in Pugs and My Boar's Head has best stats with highest K/D than any other mechs I have in my 2 months experience of playing. I find that I perform much better in Boar's Head than any other Atlases. My weakest point obviously is XL engine but I usually survive after each battle thanks to high DPS I got than any other Atlases can do so I can move in to assault fast to catch mechs off guard then retreat fast before they realize and tried to shoot at me. I usually am in top 3 or 4 in match scores as Boar's Head. I actually have few 5 kills per match in BH that I couldn't even do that with any other Atlases.. 2 to 3 kills are most common that my BH can score. As BH, I can go to front line as soon as possible. Teams never left me behind as I did in other Atlases moving too slow and other lights caught me and kill me off. I don't experience that in BH at all. Heck, I could deal with lights lot better in BH as I torso twist pretty fast to hamstring them then kill them off after that. Lights are having their day to deal with my other slow moving Atlases. I hate that..


Mech' Matches Played Wins Losses Ratio Kills Deaths Ratio Damage Done XP Earned Time Played 8,122 34,680 04:25:04 THE BOAR'S HEAD 265 139 113 1.23 234 175 1.34 91,892 316,766 1 day 05:25:52

Keep in mind that first about 50ish Match, I did so horrible because I was just noobie during my first month learning the ways of MWO and got quickly improved from there into fearsome brawler that I fell in love with. Also all 265 matches are PUGs too. The stat keeps getting better as more matches that I will get more skilled with. I just begun to get 5 kills per match bit more often lately.

Oh, my Boar's Head actually is bit modified than it's original loadout tho to fit my style better. I got 6x pulse med lasers, 1 AC 10 and 1 SRM6+artemis. 3 pulse med lasers+AC10 linked together and another 3 pulse med lasers + 6 SRM+Artemis linked together as well as weapon group 2. There is no 3rd weapon group so I treat weapon group 1 as left arm and weapon group 2 as right arm so I can know which one to shoot from depends on obstacles or fire both if the target presents easiest aim for me and obstacles are in any way like in brawl quarter. I also added AMS to BH to deal with pesky LRMS. I add gyro as module to reduce shakeout feel so I can still hold my aims well while under fire. I'm working toward radar deprivation for 2nd module unless you have better suggestion?

Edited by Nocifer Deathblade, 28 May 2015 - 11:31 AM.

[Void Angel]

Radar deprivation is a very good module. I'd also suggest getting Seismic Sensor, and the weapons that you use most.

As for the Boar's Head - when you played last, there wasn't any Elo, and your initial foray back into the game probably seeded you low. As you progress in ranks, you'll find that your performance with the Boar's Head will level off. Still, as long as it's working, don't change it! Just keep on blasting people in the face.

Also, if you love brawling, check out the Thunderbolts as your next chassis.

[Nocifer Deathblade]

Void Angel, on 28 May 2015 - 12:40 PM, said:

Radar deprivation is a very good module. I'd also suggest getting Seismic Sensor, and the weapons that you use most.

As for the Boar's Head - when you played last, there wasn't any Elo, and your initial foray back into the game probably seeded you low. As you progress in ranks, you'll find that your performance with the Boar's Head will level off. Still, as long as it's working, don't change it! Just keep on blasting people in the face.

Also, if you love brawling, check out the Thunderbolts as your next chassis.

I don't really have any real issues with LRMs cuz I move around fast to dodge (while my AMS works to minimize number of missiles toward me) most of them anyway but I seems to have more issues with radar-invisible lights/meds sneaking up to my back to back stab me while I am busy brawling so seismic sensor module seems is best module that would serve me better. I feel that immediate 100% awareness in close quarter brawl space up to 250 m in 360 degree arc would improve my brawling re-positioning better than simple radar deprivation.. Hmm. Thanks for the suggestion. I already have all weapon module equipped (all mpls range+cooldown) to sync its range well with ac10/srm6 for optimal damage range and can fire 6 mpls more frequently. I also have AMS range extender module but am thinking of switching over to faster AMS rop of 10%. Would that perform better?

Edited by Nocifer Deathblade, 29 May 2015 - 10:44 AM.

[Void Angel]

Seismic sensor is extremely good - it's my favorite module overall, even after the nerf. (Which goes to show you how much it needed it, but I digress.) As you advance through various strata of the player base, you may run into many, many LRM boats - just be aware of it.

I'd go for the AMS Overload module, honestly. With the number of people who don't vaccinate their dang 'mechs, I find that extending the envelope of my AMS is worth less than making it fire faster. If you're a forward scout, I'd say the range is better, since if the enemy is firing over you, you often get to "double dip" on the range. On that subject, I must give you... Mirth.

[Nocifer Deathblade]

Void Angel, on 29 May 2015 - 11:52 AM, said:

Seismic sensor is extremely good - it's my favorite module overall, even after the nerf. (Which goes to show you how much it needed it, but I digress.) As you advance through various strata of the player base, you may run into many, many LRM boats - just be aware of it.

I'd go for the AMS Overload module, honestly. With the number of people who don't vaccinate their dang 'mechs, I find that extending the envelope of my AMS is worth less than making it fire faster. If you're a forward scout, I'd say the range is better, since if the enemy is firing over you, you often get to "double dip" on the range. On that subject, I must give you... Mirth.

Thanks for the warning on many LRM boats down the road.. I do have LRM boat on one of my King Crabs (4x LRM10 with TAG and it's pretty fun. Other KC with 2/AC20 is ok as brawler. I find BH lot more fun and more reliable).. That video is very funny. 2 AMS on that locust? I didn't know that we can carry 2 AMS on certain mechs.. How can Catapult not notice that Locust is eating up his missiles upon launch? That is nice tactic tho! When I launch missiles, I almost always see missiles trajectory with proper number of missiles. If I see smokes of destroyed missiles very close to me then I would know that something is wrong. I do have 5760x1080 resolution at max quality so I would see sides easily if they try to sneak from sides and better animations of something going wrong.. I'll keep that locust in mind to sneak up to LRM boats and eat their missiles if that tactic still works today heh especially if they got no seismic sensors. I definitely will go for seismic sensor on my Boar's Head then and also go for AMS overload just to protect myself more from missiles as "offset of no radar deprivation".

Edited by Nocifer Deathblade, 29 May 2015 - 12:06 PM.

[Void Angel]

He couldn't notice because he's zoomed in and staring downrange - plus he's probably not sporting a Seismic Sensor. There is a criticism of LRMs that's been bandied about recently - that players who use them end up using them as a FOO Strategy, and do not develop skills that they will need as they rise in Elo ranking. Skills like marksmanship, and situational awareness; too often, LRM boaters respond with learned helplessness when confronted by a close-range enemy. They simply feel that being caught by a 'mech at close range is the "rock" for their LRM "scissors," and may even blame their direct-fire teammates for not "doing their jobs" and protecting the boaters. It doesn't follow - as the critics advocated - that new players should be driven away from using LRMs by fire and fear. But it is something to be aware of as you progress in skill - and do learn to use and even boat LRMs.

PS: To know what 'mechs can use what gear, and which hardpoints they come with, use Smurfy's Awesome Reference Site. It is seriously the best reference I have ever used for any game.

[Boulangerie]

This is all still relevant, and more players should learn how to support the Assaults on their team, especially Atlas, which benefit from teamwork more than the DPS assaults.

[Keep yer hands off my TBR]

Boulangerie, on 28 August 2016 - 11:24 AM, said:

This is all still relevant,

I'd say it's nostalgia.

Boulangerie, on 28 August 2016 - 11:24 AM, said:

and more players should learn how to support the Assaults on their team,

Totally. Every backstanding LRM-Assault should get his own ECM-Light to support him...

[Void Angel]

There's ways to play an Assault LRM boat - camping in the back waiting for the enemy's Lights to arrive isn't one of them. And in all skill tiers, you can do well with LRM Assaults - they're great for leveling up chassis, for example - even if they get progressively more difficult to use well. But if you're not willing to move with the group and use all that armor to help the team, you're not doing the right thing.

[Void Angel]

Shameless bump, because still relevant.

[Wintersdark]

As relevant today as it was the day it was written. Which was, incidentally, just when I started playing!

[Torezu]

Void Angel, on 28 August 2016 - 05:43 PM, said:

There's ways to play an Assault LRM boat - camping in the back waiting for the enemy's Lights to arrive isn't one of them. And in all skill tiers, you can do well with LRM Assaults - they're great for leveling up chassis, for example - even if they get progressively more difficult to use well. But if you're not willing to move with the group and use all that armor to help the team, you're not doing the right thing.

I run a MLR-1R with 3 ALRM-15s (1620 missiles) and 2 LPLs, and an XL 325 - in Tier 2. Success has been a bit situational, especially since I don't have the Elite skills or a Target Decay module yet, but I've cracked 1k damage and 5 kills in it a couple times already (not necessarily in the same match), and in a couple matches have finished the match with orange-red CT and STs. It's all about sharing armor.

Edit: Ammo count above (was 1460) and engine size (was XL 300), design for those interested, armor balance to suit.

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...249c54d2bf562f6

Edited by Torezu, 29 November 2016 - 11:53 AM.

[Black Lanner]

I like to tell folks that my Night Gyr is the Brawling Assaults' best friend... of course, the speed makes is suicide to do anything else.

[jper4]

well looks like according to the Dec. patch notes it even has its own mode now

[Steel Raven]

Tanar, on 10 December 2016 - 05:00 AM, said:

well looks like according to the Dec. patch notes it even has its own mode now

Congrats, you must now protect the biggest, slowest target in the game... oh, and it's controlled by a AI so it will be walking right into enemy fire. Have fun being it's meat shield.

[Void Angel]

Heheh. It's fun, now that it's out. People are still adapting, but it makes people actually fight, which is a welcome change.

[Wintersdark]

Void Angel, on 14 December 2016 - 02:00 PM, said:

Heheh. It's fun, now that it's out. People are still adapting, but it makes people actually fight, which is a welcome change.

it's a lot of fun, actually. I enjoy it quite q bit.

Nice to have actual missions.

[Void Angel]

It really is. The mode is still being tuned, both in-game and in people's tactics. So many people have had corner-peek camping conditioned into them that they can't get their heads around how they need to behave. I had one enemy team settle into their camper spots as their VIP trudged dutifully past them and into our line of fire. They didn't even get in our faces until it was nearly destroyed, and by that time it was way too late. I've been on teams that have done that, too.

Reminds me of this: