Awesome 8T failed builds discussion - What went wrong?

#440

The MPL did not pack enough punch at close quarters.
I read somewhere on these forums that the ammunition in the CT gets used first, and after it's empty, it doesn't cause damage if it's destroyed. 6 shots and your CT has no ammo in it.

#441
Perhaps you would like 5 pulse lasers?

This one seems good until you realize your lasers have the same alphastrike damage as a Jenner.

#442
Downgrade the engine to stock and take Large Lasers?
Not enough heat sinks to use those lasers to defend yourself at close quarters.


#443
An XL 300 only gives you 15 heatsinks, which is still not enough to really use the Large Lasers effectively.


#444
Taking 4x 7-ton-weapons leaves you with too few heat sinks again, if you try to keep the LRM 15's.. and with the state of missiles, it's pointless to take anything less than at least 2x15. Harsh language might be more effective than LRM 10's.


#445
This one seems like it would sort of work because the limited heat sinks only have to support 2xLL at close range, and at distance you should be able to take time to cool off behind cover.
However, it sacrifices a ton of LRM ammo (only 18 shots), and it has an XL engine, which is basically suicide in an Awesome (9M and PB excluded).

 

I'm not quite sure what I am looking at here? Multiple builds all rammed into one post?

 

Nobody else was using the 8T forum (it seems to be the ugly stepchild of mechs?), so this is a brainstorming session for the only other user in here to comment on.

These are failed builds, with the reason listed, with the intent that people who are actually piloting the 8T may see something that will lead to a better build idea. This intent was implied in the other 8T thread before these were posted.

 

Mkay, I'll move it to the general Awesome forum and rename it for discussion to keep the build section clean.

 

Thanks a lot for sharing these Praslek2.

I still think that 8T chassis is better suited to a "support brawler" role, rather than direct/indirect fire support... which is a shame, really. If I am not wrong, the tabletop Awesome is a fire support 'Mech.

Yes, the Awesome chassis has its limitations, like the huge brick-like CT, slow arm speed, etc. but if you pair it with an Atlas or a Stalker, or maybe even a Hunchback 4SP with MPLs and SRM6s, I believe it would perform better.

I was playing with my AWS-8V build last night (trying to fulfill a similar role) and defended the Theta capture point with an Atlas on the River City Night map. 1 ER PPC, 1 LPL, 2 ML, 2 SRM 6 with Art IV. We lost the game, but I had 1 kill, 4 assists and 600+ damage and the Atlas had 4 kills 900+ damage.

Not bad for an Awesome, and 8T would probably fare even better during such a fight.




Addendum:

I mean, until LRMs return back to MWO in full force... which they'll do so eventually if I am not wrong.

I tried a Stalker 5M build a couple of nights ago and even with 2 LRM15s firing almost constantly, the damage output seemed to be a bit meh.

 

I mean, until LRMs return back to MWO in full force... which they'll do so eventually if I am not wrong.

I tried a Stalker 5M build a couple of nights ago and even with 2 LRM15s firing almost constantly, the damage output seemed to be a bit meh.

 

The Unclean. The Bastard Child. The Outcast.

Behold the 8T.

 

The Awesome just doesn't seem very... awesome.

Every time I drop with an Awesome, my brain goes "Aww, dammit...", because that could have been a Catapult, Stalker, Jager or Cataphract. Then we start playing, and even before the Hunchbacks have died, the Awesome gets 2-volleyed by a PPC boat that just cannot miss the CT (because really, who could?).

So I'm a bit down on Awesomes in general. Maybe with LRMs unnerfed you'd have a decent direct/indirect fire support mech.

 

I wonder if the Mad Cat/Timber Wolf that everybody is so eagerly waiting will satisfy the expectations. It carries two huge missile racks on the shoulders and with all the sniping going on in the game, it would be rather easy to take half of its firepower down by destroying one of the torsos. Or worse, if it is running an XL engine, instant death.

Yeah, the Awesome CT is a big disadvantage, but trying to come up with a functional design is (for me) more fun than slapping two AC/20s on a Jager.

 

Good post - looking at all those builds and their descriptions is pretty informative. Would like to see more "failed builds" for other mechs :smile:

And yeah - i have never been impressed with what Awesomes do in general. They don't pack the punch and they can't take a punch. Pretty Baby also seems meh.

 

This seems like the most logical build, IMO:



Max standard engine, barely any armor shaved off, plenty of ammo. Has TAG, has Large Laser mid-range punch, has Medium Lasers for close up. Heat efficiency is what it is, but while up close you won't be firing your LRMs anyway, which pushes your effective heat efficiency up to 45%. At range, you won't be firing your mediums, so it's 42% there.

Dunno, anything I'm missing? Seems like if you wanted to run the 8T, that's what you'd run.

 

Keep 'em coming; let's turn this thread into viable 8T builds, lol.

 

I would try something like this with Dwergi's build:


If you go down to 45 on the legs, you can get another DHS in there. I've noticed that nobody (even me!) targets the legs on an Awesome because the torso is so easy to hit that there's no point in shooting anywhere else. Also, if you put both LL in the same arm, you can use the other arm as a shield to soak up damage in order to preserve the large lasers longer.

It still feels like 2xLL + 2xML would leave you seriously undergunned at close range.

Overall, it suffers from the problem that was pointed out in the general discussion section (it may have been moved to guides?) about optimal weight: you can make the same build on a different chassis, and potentially do it better (eg. a Catapult C1 would sacrifice TAG and take an XL, but in return it goes faster and it has jump jets).



I'm actually very surprised that 13xDHS would give such high efficiencies. The engine heatsinks must be more effective than the ones added after?

#446
I actually tried this one. It had pretty good heat dissipation, but it didn't have enough burst damage in a brawl. If you could draw out the fight it would do okay. I still think a Stalker would do a better job.


This is a modification to ScatterBrain888's build above. It seems promising. I'll try it later today.

 

Regarding the Awesome with 300 STD vs. Catapult with 300 XL, please remember that you are comparing Green Apples to Red Apples. The Catapult is more optimal not because of its weight, but rather because you placed an XL engine in it.

 

Let me know how the double ER PPC + MPlas 8T fares in combat. I don't have the c-bills or the mechbay for it yet.

 

In that particular instance I don't think the Catapult should be dismissed as too different to compare because of the XL engine.
The speed from the XL and the mobility of the jump jet add a lot of survivability to the Catapult. The Awesome on the other hand gets more armor and the ability to withstand losing a side torso. What is the point of armor if not to increase survival time and soak up enemy fire? The XL engine and jump jet in the Catapult allow it to do both of those by using cover and maneuvering. Effectively the two get a similar result. They are still different. It just seems that the Catapult's combination of features and limitations is much better than the Awesome's.

 

That's why I said red apples to green apples, instead of apples to oranges.

I'll also point out the Catapult loses ARTEMIS and a DHS in addition to tag.

 

I am guessing the 8T didn't do well in actual combat... :/

 

The Catapult version definitely makes tradeoffs, but I believe the lack of mobility in the 8T version makes it inferior overall.

 

While this is true, if you put in a 300 XL you could have a lot more spare tonnage in the Awesome than you do in the Catapult (although, yes, the Catapult will be a smaller target and will still be slightly faster). One could look at your post the other way, and see that you can use a STD engine to get slightly more free weight in the Awesome than you can with an XL in the Cat.