It's been a while since I piloted an Atlas, but yesterday it was about time again. Of course I took the ride in my Evil Dude III, one of my most favorable builds I ever created. But It was not to be. The need to double tap the Ultras allthewhile waiting for Streak locks and controlling the LLas in two different weapon groups was a bit too much, especially when taking hits by clan weapons. It took about 2 or 3 games until I realized I had to return to the drawing board for this mech again. As the Atlases torso jaw are pretty limited I definitely wanted some strong punch coming from the arms. PPCs were an option, but I settled on keeping the LLas for the moment. Instead of the high DPS of the double UACs I wanted a much better burst damage, allowing me to twist the mech a lot more when taking fire, so the AC20 it was. And finally, the blasphemy. Only using 2 of the 3 missile launchers? Are you mad? No, I am not. The configuration shown simply allows to mount a kind of second AC20 to the left torso. SRM10 instead of a higher amount also allows to trim back on the ammunition needed, so after deciding to skip on one of the missile launchers, all the other parts fell into their place. Increasing the speed by using a STD 340 was nice when building a working loadout for my Boar's Head, and the agility granted to the DDC is noticeable as well. AMS might not be necessary in the days of combining ECM and Radar depriviation, but it's another small part of supporting the group besides the ECM and the weight & slots needed won't hurt this build at all. Thinking about it, there are some variants which probably work pretty good as well, but some of them might be a bit hot for a brawling oriented mech in my view. Lowering the engine size and skipping the AMS are the most obvious changes and result in even more brutal close range punch. The alpha strike provided by some of these variants is pretty impressive if you ask me and I'll probably test some of those as well later on. -> Removing one DHS and upgrading to SRM12+A while keeping the STD 340: -> Upgrading to SRM12+A by lowering the engine to a 335 sized one (includes minor armor buff): -> Reducing the engine size even further and going for SRM14+A:
Probably a minor mistake while copy/pasting, but in the scond u told is a 325 and u mount a 330, but only slotting the heatsinks that would fill in a 325. I think u tried to paste this: The extra ton went directly to arms and legs armour
I run a build very similar to this, trading the 340 for a 335 (losing 0.9 kph is very acceptable) and AMS (the Radar Deprivation module becomes a necessity though) for another SRM rack. THe heat is not significantly higher that good heat management can't overcome. I find that the extra punch makes the difference.
Trust me, this thing already hits like a truck. An additional SRM launcher sounds sweet in theory, but probably needs another ton of ammo. A third launcher also means Ghost Heat as long as you didn't mean to include a SRM2+A? I guess not. Also, going nearly 61 is very sweet in an AS7 ( currently using a STD 340 in my BH as well), and besides ECM this is one of the main advantages that are left for this chassis now that the Dire Whales are walking the battlefield, as even mounting that extra SRM won't get you in the DWs' range of firepower. The AMS are a mere 1.5 tons for another tool for supporting your group. It'll lower incoming damage even for those not directly affected by your ECM bubble. As the close range punch provided by AC20 + SRM10+A already is very strong I'd really have to test your propoasal, but my gut feeling tells me I'll like my version better for being more rounded and granting additional utility. However, I'll add your proposal to the list of the possivle variants for all thise that prefer an even bigger punch.
Really nice concept, and speed is needed nowdays so that 340 is very interesting. I'd just go with 3x SRM4 if running this build, with more ammos. A 3rd launcher isn't triggering heat penalty unless they changed it in the very last patch.And the spread on SRM4 is similar to SRM6+A so it's ok. But I do like the increased fire rate, even at the cost of heat, but close range you can just fire the AC20 and the SRM...43 sec of continous fire(so you can actually use the LLAS too), with 45 firepower. or remove the ton the 1T of AC20 and 1/2T of SRM and use AMS.
Yep. Additionally, the agility gained is very noticable as well. This will probably work as well. It's on the border for a brawler heat wise, though, at least for my taste. I hate shutting down in the heat (literally) of a battle. Regarding the AMS: lowering the AC20 ammo from your build is probably OK, but going down to just 200 SRMs considering the SRM4s' firing rate can get you to a very low ammo level quickly. To be tested... Ghost heat: Indeed. I somehow thought ghost heat would already trigger for the third launcher... but it turned out you're right: weapon heat scale @ Smurfy's. Must have been misled. Added some variants to the OP.
