12 replies to this topic

[DannDruid]

Is it some sort of sin to hve an lrm build in an atlas?my dc is a short range brawler but i am now getting xp in my rs and i like 2 artimislrm15's with four large lasers-last match I was the last man standing and the dead pilots were all calling me ********...

[Lonrem]

The problem here comes from the fact that your Atlas being in the match means there's another assault on the other team. That's another assault in the front lines taking a beating. If you're the last man standing with an Atlas and are sitting at 100% armor, you might as well have been a catapult or something else lighter. The big heavy armor that you've got was wasted. If you want to heavy long range Assault, take a Stalker which can be better kitted out for it IMO.

[Goose]

Ignore them.

I will say it'd be nice if you did damage sooner rather then later, but as long as you are contributing …

[Ewigan]

Yeah well.
I was "calling names" to an Atlas noob pilot a few games ago, dunno if it was you, but let me tell ya what annoyed my complete team:

We were all pugs, it was a good and extremely close game.
At some point it was 6:4 for us, with the survivors of our opponent team being an extremely damaged hunchback (center torso nearly gone) and a trainwreck of an atlas with one of his torsos (and half of his weapons) gone.
But they managed to work together REALLY well (props to those guys) and tore the rest of our team apart.
All but of one: a 100% armor Atlas RS who was happily moving (and at some point standing) at the enemy cap.
He was armed with 2 ER LLs, 1 LRM20 and 1 LBX AC. I didn't think much about the loadout at first, because i never played/owned atlai so i have no clue there. ER LLs looked strange though.
And then i noticed the first thing that really got me worried: The AK ammuntiion. I do not know if he already fired some shots, but he had like 200 rounds of it.
2
0
0
rounds
!!!!!!!!

But you know, it was a undamaged atlas, he could still do it!
So we wait and see what our guys does till we see them coming. Important fact to note: the other atlas was a D-DC with working ECM.
So the first thing our guy does is let loose with his LRMs. he wasn't even close to hitting of course. and even when he could get a lock, he just kept on firing without it. of course even on close combat. cause it are rockets you know? the ALWAYS HIT!!!! :sadpanda:
we kept screaming at him to use his other weapons because of LRMs being useless under 180m, and at some point he started using his other weapons and blew the other torso side of the atlas apart. yay us!
But well, he managed to get torn apart while doing that.

The hunchback pilot, who was definitely an experienced player, by now knew that he was playing against a noob who didn't listen to the rest of his team who were trying to help.
He just ran around the basemarker/station, landed an occasional shot while our guy didn't manage to hit him at all.

of course we lost


So dan: yeah, a long-range atlas is a viable build. as long as you help your teammates, and if it gets close, try to waddle in with your 20+ tons of armor and try to keep your team alive.
If you basically fail on doing anything for your team, your team will tell you that you and your atlas are useless.

[CECILOFS]

Yep nothing wrong with a long range Atlas as long as you are contributing a lot.

Keeping in mind that sitting 1km away spamming LRMs is always a bad idea - at least get into LL range and LOS.

[DannDruid]

Thanks for the answers-I reconfigured to 4larg lasers,uac5 and 2 srm6 for up close punch, no complaints yet...

[Cannibal Cat]

Your mech, your loadout. Play it any way you like it.

[PocketAces]

Yeh, I play a LRM RS Atlas with TAG, but carry 2 LL and 1 ML for anything in close. The important thing to be aware of as a LRM boat is to move with your team, about 200m to 500m behind them. That way your LRM's don't take so long to hit their target, you can see for yourself if it is effective and most times you can keep lock. Many times I see LRM's fly over head only to hit buildings or hills. Also as an Atlas you tend be become a priority target so being a bit further back can help you stay alive or draw the enemy closer so yuor team can concentrate fire.

Edited by PocketAces, 08 February 2013 - 08:57 PM.

[Wizard Steve]

It's your game. Play it your way.

[Skadi]

Atlai*

That is all.

[Mordin Ashe]

Long range Atlas is the most usefull Atlas! Little overappreciation and a flamable statement, I know, but not as much as it may appear.
The thing is, Atlas has a lot of armor and isn't particularly fast, to put it softly. You can pack many tons of weapons, but limited hardpoints make you mount rather diversified weaponry instead of cheesy shotgun builds, for which Stalkers are much better. Atlas is also the only Mech that can mount 4xLL and still have enough heat efficiency to fire them for a long time (my old jenner-hunting RS build). While this doesn't apriori force you to take long range weapons, it pushes you to use big, heavy weapons - and except for the AC20 all those weapons are for long range combat. You still can boat ML, SRM and AC20, but you will never be as effective as Stalker doing the same thing due to the extra speed and better LT/CT/RT placement.

Also don't forget that having a long range build doesn't mean that you won't eventually brawl. You can peek'n'boo for much longer as well, resulting in serious damage to enemy sniper Mechs and any bystanders. You have to learn to do that thought. It isn't easy to master long range Atlas, but once you do, I can promise you 600+ dmg every match.

As regards the original build (4xLL + 2xLRM15), it is a good one. In general I prefer reasonably diversified loadouts, and Atlas can take some LRMs - in some situations a very powerfull weapon - with much less sacrifice than any other Mech. Heck, doing that with for example Catapult will mean it will have heat issues in prolonged battles when using lasers, but you can mount these and still afford to fire your LLs reasonably often. So yeah, your build is a good one and if you learn all it can offer, it will be very rewarding as well.

TL, DR:
You're fine.

[Flapdrol]

DannDruid, on 03 February 2013 - 10:20 PM, said:

2 artimislrm15's with four large lasers-last match I was the last man standing and the dead pilots were all calling me ********...

Why not 3 LL and a tag? Probably more effective. Being the last man standing probably means you were far back shooting lrm's and not hitting much. Go with the group, an atlas can take a lot of punishment and still be combat effective

[FerrolupisXIII]

Nothing wrong with an LRM atlas, i run a D-DC with 2x LRM-20 w/ Artemis. works a charm. people just get mad when they perceive someone as having not done enough for the team. i've regularly done 500+ damage in that LRM D-DC. then again i play with some friends who know that im at my best with an LRM mech *shrugs*