167 replies to this topic

[Red squirrel]

Lightfoot, on 26 January 2013 - 02:10 PM, said:

The Awesome is in a game that never arrived. It was most likely balanced around DHS 2.0 where it would be a glass cannon, but firing 6xLLAS or 4 ERL with minor overheating. We got DHS 1.4 and the Awesome was abandoned in the other game. It's too bad, it was never fixed, but if it can't be the DHS 2.0 cannon it needs to be alot tougher. Meaning a smaller CT hitbox like the other two Assaults have.

Actually the Awesome is one of my favorite rides.
Quite difficult to play, but fun!

IMHO the death of the Awesome was/is the Stalker.
There is nothing you can but on an AWS that would not fit into a STK.
Just the arms of the AWS are much cooler.
Still I love it. But when the ELO system arrives you should be paired with worse players if you use an Awesome

[CarnifexMaximus]

Untill recently I have not cared to pilot atlases. The speed was just too slow for me to stay competitive and support my team. I shelved my atlases (I have acquired all 4 variants over the course of OB. Lately my atlases have been enjoying a renaissance of sorts.

I have come to the conclusion that I find them very fun and effective to pilot by addin endo+DHS and upgrading the engine to a 350. I usually find that if I sacrifice weapons in one part of the chassis (i.e. no weapons on either the left or right torso) to take fewer more powerful weapons.

With the 350 engine the beast hits 62.4 kph after speed tweak and the torso twist is excellent. I am having to adjust to piloting it. A power walking atlas does not exactly stop on a dime.

I am however struggling to find a build for my atlas K. I just cannot find a worthwhile build for it and I am failing to see a reason that makes it special other than dual AMS. Really if it wasn't for my founders atlas the only two that I care for are the DC and RS.

I do really wish that there was an atlas with more than 2 ballistic hardpoints. If there ever is a hero atlas I imagine it will very expensive but it will be a sure buy for me if it offers more ballistic slots than any of the 4 variants.

Edited by CarnifexMaximus, 26 January 2013 - 04:00 PM.

[Vlad Ward]

Honestly, the AS7-K is probably the most sensible Atlas in the overall scheme of things.

As our Mech roster starts to pad out a bit more, we'll be seeing a lot more heavy hitters like the Stalker on the Assault stage. The Atlas just wasn't designed with offense in mind, and it only really excels in a defensive role.

I can see a double AMS AS7-K being quite respectable for point defense in larger maps. The AS7-D and AS7-RS will likely fall out of use by launch, and ECM is probably the only thing saving the D-DC from a similar fate.

Edited by Vlad Ward, 26 January 2013 - 03:01 PM.

[Mr 144]

All the K needs is a solid 1-hardpoint missle option such as Arrow IV or even a large MRM rack (or clan LRM with no min-range). That would solve it's firepower issues and enable the perk of dual AMS.

Mr 144

[Khobai]

Quote

IMHO the death of the Awesome was/is the Stalker.

You are exactly right. Stalker is better than every Awesome except for the Awesome-9M. The Stalkers and the Awesome-9M perform different roles though since the 9M is the only truly fast Assault. Because the 9M can go like 80kph I think its very much a viable mech.

Quote

Honestly, the AS7-K is probably the most sensible Atlas in the overall scheme of things.

The AS7-K is complete garbage. It has terrible hardpoints. It doesn't have ECM. And all it gets is an extra AMS which is totally useless. The only good build for the K is 3 large lasers and a gauss which does significantly less damage than other Atlas builds (only does 42 damage per alpha strike compared to a D-DC brawler which can easily do 70-75 damage per alpha strike in addition to bringing ECM to the fight).

Im not quite sure why the D-DC is also the Atlas with the most module slots, that makes no sense at all. To balance the variants, the AS7-K should get +1 module slot and the AS7-D-DC should get -2 module slots. The D and RS are fine and don't need changing. And of course then all we need are some modules that are actually USEFUL for assaults.

Edited by Khobai, 26 January 2013 - 03:37 PM.

[Adridos]

Lightfoot, on 26 January 2013 - 02:10 PM, said:

The Awesome is in a game that never arrived. It was most likely balanced around DHS 2.0 where it would be a glass cannon, but firing 6xLLAS or 4 ERL with minor overheating. We got DHS 1.4 and the Awesome was abandoned in the other game. It's too bad, it was never fixed, but if it can't be the DHS 2.0 cannon it needs to be alot tougher. Meaning a smaller CT hitbox like the other two Assaults have.

DHS on 2.0 efficiency simply elliminate any kind of heat-play from the game, that's why they are gimped in this game.

I think Awesome can still be decent, given the fact Stalkers don't have the arms and also have that terrible torso twist. It just needs to be discovered in a build that isn't something centered around being a Stalker of sorts, which was completely written off once the Stalker got in to do it himself.

[Monky]

Atlas is strong, but relies on the team. I enjoy picking off a novice atlas pilot by himself, I hate fighting an atlas with even 1 mech for backup.

[Mr Mantis]

only if it is alone.

Also the atlas is from 2755, so it is pretty old.

[Khobai]

Quote

DHS on 2.0 efficiency simply elliminate any kind of heat-play from the game, that's why they are gimped in this game.

Heat-play isnt supposed to play a huge role in Battletech though. The only purpose of the heatscale is just to prevent you from spamming ungodly amounts of lasers. Its not supposed to prevent you from using reasonable loadouts like it does in MWO where you cant even fire a single ERPPC non-stop without overheating.

[Budor]

They are good enough. The term "Assault" might be missleading depending on what you make out of it.

[Novakaine]

Hell yeah it is and I'm not an Atlas pilot.
The Assault mechs should be a game decider not a walking gingerbread man.
A freakin Raven should not able to do the circle of death around an Atlas and take it down.
Not by itself and I've seen it.
I'm sure some clown would love to pop off a rifle and take out an Abrams but let be real.
An APC would not take on a main battle tank no way no how.
I don't care how fast the APC is.
This need to be redressed.
A certain amount of class balance is need I understand that, or everyone would drive an Assault Mech.
But this is verging silly.
"Well Sgt. what do ya think?"
"Well sir that's a mighty big Atlas standin in the middle of that pass."
" But I think the 4 of us can take him no problem."
"The four of us Sgt?"
"Er yes sir 4 lights vs 1 Assault not easy but doable."
"Well Sgt. I'm not about to have my arse chewed up by HQ again over battle damage."
"But...."
"Battlemechs don't grow on tree's you know."
"But Capt........."
" We're gonna send in Perkins and his Raven he can use his superior speed and manuverability
to offset the Atlas tonnage and firepower."
"But Capt I gotta say."
"Sgt!"
"Sir?"
"Just get it done!"
"Yes....sir"
A few minutes later.....
"Hmm well that didn't proceed as planned did it?"
"Yes sir it didn't"
"Poor Perkins I hope paid his premiums."

[Huntsman]

While the D and K are garbage, and I would choose a Stalker 5M over a D-DC for brawling, I would so so only marginally because the D-DC is a dangerous brawler in its own right, and topping this off with ECM makes the D-DC quite viable. For sniping, the matchup is between the Atlas RS and the Stalker 3F. Here, the Stalker is able to deal marginally more burst damage with 6 PPCs, but that mech is laughably hot to the point of not really being entirely practical. The RS is probably the pinnacle sniper in the game ATM.

[Red squirrel]

Novakaine, on 26 January 2013 - 04:08 PM, said:

Hell yeah it is and I'm not an Atlas pilot.
The Assault mechs should be a game decider not a walking gingerbread man.
A freakin Raven should not able to do the circle of death around an Atlas and take it down.
Not by itself and I've seen it.
I'm sure some clown would love to pop off a rifle and take out an Abrams but let be real.
An APC would not take on a main battle tank no way no how.
I don't care how fast the APC is.
This need to be redressed.
A certain amount of class balance is need I understand that, or everyone would drive an Assault Mech.
But this is verging silly.
"Well Sgt. what do ya think?"
"Well sir that's a mighty big Atlas standin in the middle of that pass."
" But I think the 4 of us can take him no problem."
"The four of us Sgt?"
"Er yes sir 4 lights vs 1 Assault not easy but doable."
"Well Sgt. I'm not about to have my arse chewed up by HQ again over battle damage."
"But...."
"Battlemechs don't grow on tree's you know."
"But Capt........."
" We're gonna send in Perkins and his Raven he can use his superior speed and manuverability
to offset the Atlas tonnage and firepower."
"But Capt I gotta say."
"Sgt!"
"Sir?"
"Just get it done!"
"Yes....sir"
A few minutes later.....
"Hmm well that didn't proceed as planned did it?"
"Yes sir it didn't"
"Poor Perkins I hope paid his premiums."

I'd love to read that BT novel...
"A tale of Perkins the fearless Raven pilot: How I conquered Terra thanks to my ECM"

Edited by Red squirrel, 26 January 2013 - 04:46 PM.

[Adridos]

Khobai, on 26 January 2013 - 04:01 PM, said:

Heat-play isnt supposed to play a huge role in Battletech though. The only purpose of the heatscale is just to prevent you from spamming ungodly amounts of lasers. Its not supposed to prevent you from using reasonable loadouts like it does in MWO where you cant even fire a single ERPPC non-stop without overheating.

I highly disagree with the former, but agree with the latter statement.

Yes, the heatscale of ERPPC is over the top here and it does refrain you from using even reasonable loadout. However, heatscale is pretty much a signature feature that was diminishing from era to era, but still plays a huge role. Seriously, can someone even iomagine Battletech without heatsinks?

[Wintersdark]

The Atlas is still, overall, the strongest mech in the game. It's a damn wall, with plentiful firepower.

It can get the feeling of weakness, however, because one on one a Stalker should generally win. This is for several reasons, but the most significant: The Stalkers' largest disadvantage is it's extremely poor mobility coupled with it's lack of articulated arms. This leaves it much more vulnerable to fast and small mechs.

The Atlas, on the other hand, can pinpoint fire rapidly from it's arms. This is a huge advantage vs. things like Mediums and Fast Heavies (as a Dragon pilot, I fear Atlases far, far more than Stalkers) but is worthless against the Stalker, where you're going to be trading fire pretty evenly.

[Orgasmo]

The Atlas is not weak by any means. Use cover, torso twist and coordinate your movement with your team to increase your survivability. Its battlefield presence is unmatched. Last match in my Atlas D, I walked into a group of 5 mechs in River City in the upper portion. All of them immediately aimed for me when they saw me, and I backed away using buildings as cover. They were so busy trying to chase me around corners that my teammates were picking them off one by one. While I didn't end up with any kills, I finished the match with 5 assists. One Stalker in particular, chased me around a corner only to eat an alpha to the face, stripping his entire right side off.

[Aaron45]

Here we go again an up or op topic. Begin to "love" those guys.

Basically, if ya use the atlas as a charging bull you can be cut into pieces at least if ya heroic charge. If ya drive an atlas choose your way wisely as you cant run away.

Mechs are almost well balanced- No need to change anything.

Topic can be closed- Thx

Moenrg, on 26 January 2013 - 01:33 PM, said:

I pilot a lot of atlases (or is it atlai), for what is does (damage sponge) it isn't bad, I would like to see the side torso hitboxes reduced about 10% (and that value added to the arms) as you really need to torso twist about 90 degrees to get the arms to be hit at all, but I usually am pretty good at spreading around damage. The trick with stalkers is to spread their damage and make your heavy shots count. The key is the ballistic, almost all my builds sport an ac/20 or a gauss - something the stalker can't use.

The atlas (and for that matter most assaults) is pretty unforgiving. You can't really recover from a positioning mistake, nor can you quickly shift around the battlefield. The key is to read the others and make sure you're in the proper area (at the proper time), and yes comms help that. But even pugging I fould it's easier to pull off if I tell the others what I am doing, once people know what one pilot is doing, most tend to move to support him.

This.

Warskull, on 26 January 2013 - 12:46 PM, said:

The D-DC is probably one of the best mechs in the entire game.

Nope its the k2, Ilya , the ctf 3d and the Atlas D. Maybe the Stk 5M aswell, but who cares.lol

Red squirrel, on 26 January 2013 - 12:28 PM, said:

Mhh .. have you ever faced a Cataphract 4X with 4xAC5 ?
When I use this mech and meet an Atlas I tend to stand still for a few seconds core the Atlas ... then walk away.
But maybe there are too many people using the Atlas as an LRM boat and the previously suggested 3ASRM6 variant is a stronger brawler....but still CTF-4X is a real thread to an Atlas. ANd I think it should take two of them to bring down an Atlas.

I wish you would stand still against my 3 ppc 1 gauss atlas. 2 volleys and your avatar already pressed the jump-seat-eject button .

Attalward, on 26 January 2013 - 05:47 PM, said:

Because specially the AC side always gets wasted really fast and before everything else.

Thats where Skilled players aim at first.

Edited by Legolaas, 26 January 2013 - 06:04 PM.

[Attalward]

The thing that bothers me of my atlas, is the strange weakness of my side torsos.
My arms are fine, my central torso is fine but my side torsos seem to be made of paper. and i try to protect them but even receiving shoots from the sides the hit my arms and still manage to hit my side torsos.

I wouldnt mind either increasing side torso max armor or either widening the biceps and shoulders so they hide a bit better my torso from the side.

Because specially the AC side always gets wasted really fast and before everything else.

[IceSerpent]

Vlad Ward, on 26 January 2013 - 12:15 PM, said:

Right now, the Stalker is mildly overpowered due to how they designed missile bay doors. 10% bonus damage reduction on their side torsos is huge.

I honestly don't know what made me chuckle more - you not knowing that launcher doors are on Stalker's arms and thinking that non-existant bonus DR on side torsos "is huge", or Ragor liking that fairy tale you wrote...

[Odins Fist]

The only real choice for all around goodness for the Atlas is the RS, or the D-DC, the other two have disadvantages that make them more of a headache to use both in firepower, and survivability.. Atlas K is not worth the time, even to buy 3 to level up to master pilot efficiencies... Buy the D for that... The two balistic slot Atlas sounds good, but it limits it's Energy weapons loadout, and creates a time-bomb for hitting it's ammo, just too easy to surgically cut it apart...
.
The Awesome can lay down some really good damage, faster speeds help, but the torso, and XL engine make for quite the fireworks show... It also lacks the appropriate armor to stand toe to toe with a decent Atlas pilot with a bare minimum of aiming skill for concentrating damage.. It's close, but not close enough to be really scared of on a one on one..

Edited by Odins Fist, 26 January 2013 - 06:07 PM.