Atlas not so tough?

[Liberius]

Is it just me, or does the Atlas seem a little too easy to kill? I mean, in all my years reading Battletech(depending on the author) and playing Mechwarrior, the Atlas has never really struck me as a mech that could be easily overwhelmed. From what I remember, the armor on an Atlas was so thick, that you had to just keep laying on the firepower to kill it. in MWLL, a few salvos of LRMs and some well placed gauss rounds take an atlas down.

in MWLL, it seems like whenever an Atlas shows up it's not really a big deal. It doesn't seem powerful. It doesn't seem impenetrable. everyone just plinks away at it, and it's dead, before it can close to any meaningful range.

I'm no fan of the Atlas, it's probably one of my least favorite designs, so I rarely pilot one. However, I do think it is lacking as an opponent. I don't feel the shear terror I should feel upon seeing this "king" of the assault mechs. I think the Atlas could use significantly more armor or an anti-missile system(when it is released). Your Thoughts?

[TheANIMAL]

Anti missile systems will even up the battle field.

[Nitro_R]

I think its relatively well balanced.
If I communicate with my teammates and tell them where I am and ask them to support you in your Atlas, I tend to get about 5+ kills.
If I run in alone hoping that my armor will last a while, I get chewed up so quickly.

Maybe it would be good to strengthen up its armor a little more but make its back armor weaker.  It would encourange you to get teammates to cover your flank.

[Profane Arbiter]

The Atlas's weakness is how easy it is to headshot.

[KingLeerUK]

The Atlas's weakness is how easy it is to headshot.

Fixed this for you:

"The Atlas's weakness is how most players pilot it."

[Rally]

Yeah, it isn't.

And it will always be like that because it's too slow. Too slow to get into a good firing position to deal maximum damage to the enemy and too slow to evade enemy fire well. On top of that it's just a too easy target for aerial bombardment.

But it does have a place, it shines in a group with team mates supporting it. I've even found that even pairing it with a single other mech, like the Timber Wolf, dramatically improves it's chances. That's why I often follow an Atlas around wherever it goes.

[wonderboy2402]

I play the atlas like I do with the Awesome.  Unfortunately not as a linebreaker or necessarily in the Assault class role is was designed for. =/

[Flyingdebris]

you can't really rambo with any mech, especially not with an atlas, which is a huge "look at meeee" target

what atlases and other tough assaults do really well however is form the backbone of groups.

Other team mates provide enough of a threat where the enemy can't just focus on the assault, but the enemy can't just outright ignore the withering firepower of the assault either.  This is the sweet spot you wanna have,

What you don't wanna do is wander about by yourself expecting to kick whatever ass comes your way without backup, cause you are gonna appear in a lot of crosshairs

[Kadreal]

This is what I call tiger syndrome. You think you are this monstrous tank that nothing can stop, so you charge in basically alone. Sure you can take most mechs one on one (assuming they aren't pop tarting or LRMing from long range) but when it's you and 6 or 7 of them, you go down pretty fast.

But yes the AMS should help the atlas out in open maps like clearcut and sandblasted where you tend to draw an overwhelming amount of LRM fire from outside your effective range, even with smart piloting.

[Freakazoid]

I think you'll find that when it comes to defense, bumping up from light to medium, medium to heavy, and heavy to assault does not provide any significant defensive boosts. I assume it's because the devs would rather have mech combat be more skill related than feel like rewarding skill with easy-mode mechs.

The atlas does seem more vulnerable than others though. I'd have to say the placement of the head is the key factor right now. LRMs (not clan ones)  travel in a straight line down to the target. Since atlases can't move fast, these missiles often hit just the head, shoulder, or arm. They're effectively gauss rifles sometimes.

The other problem is more social. Everyone that sees an assault almost immediately turns their attention to it. It's the biggest and (theoretically) most threatening target, so they get dog piled very quickly. On servers with more than 16 people, this pretty much turns assaults into jelly.

Finally, I noticed the atlas prime's srm6 is missing from the leg. I'm under the impression not all of the weapon spots have been sorted out on mechs, though I doubt a simple srm6 is going to make the difference with atlas. Still, once those are sorted out, we may see more firepower for assault mechs, which may or may not improve their situation.

[Haunted]

The Atlas's weakness is how easy it is to headshot.

Fixed this for you:

"The Atlas's weakness is how most players pilot it."

Bad piloting is a problem with assaults, yes. But the big head pf the atlas is a problem. Since its slow a lot of LRMs hit it. Most of those LRMs will hit from above. I often see the head armor of my target (atlas) being eaten away fast.

[Flyingdebris]

might be a good idea to have the top of the head count as being part of the CT damage location, and have the head damage location only count from eyes to chin.  that might help with the hits landing on top

and, one more thing, just a peeve, but why is so much of its head transparent?  i understand the need for a wide field of view, but how does having the upper part of the cranium see through add to that, namely the areas outside the player's FOV?  kinda makes the atlas's head seem really hollow and fragile.

[(TLL)Sky_walker]

Well... atlas had exposed head and eg. in MW4 it was IHMO one of the easiest mechs to kill.

Anyway - Atlas is suppose to have it's head quite well armored, with nearly no glass at all.
Take a look:
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/File:Atlas_crosssection.jpg

[(TLL) Heretic]

Is it just me, or does the Atlas seem a little too easy to kill? I mean, in all my years reading Battletech(depending on the author) and playing Mechwarrior, the Atlas has never really struck me as a mech that could be easily overwhelmed. From what I remember, the armor on an Atlas was so thick, that you had to just keep laying on the firepower to kill it. in MWLL, a few salvos of LRMs and some well placed gauss rounds take an atlas down.

in MWLL, it seems like whenever an Atlas shows up it's not really a big deal. It doesn't seem powerful. It doesn't seem impenetrable. everyone just plinks away at it, and it's dead, before it can close to any meaningful range.

I'm no fan of the Atlas, it's probably one of my least favorite designs, so I rarely pilot one. However, I do think it is lacking as an opponent. I don't feel the shear terror I should feel upon seeing this "king" of the assault mechs. I think the Atlas could use significantly more armor or an anti-missile system(when it is released). Your Thoughts?

The main problem here is this is not 2750-3050.

In 3025 the Atlas was all that and a bag of crisps, by the 3050s it was showing it's age with the arrival of the new Clan 'mechs. By the 3070s it was still an old faithful, but was increasingly overshadowed by newer machines with better tech, even the updated Atlas did not have sufficient capabilities to shine like it did in the old days.   Being slow with thick armour and a heavy punch made the Atlas a 3025 posterboy by 3075 the Atlas is too slow, too meh armed and while the armour is still thick many more modern machines carry enough firepower (Gauss rifles did not exist in 3025) to negate the thick hide advantage.  These days an Atlas sacrifices a lot of speed to be able to take one big hit more than a Heavy 'mech in most armour locations but lacks the speed to exploit the armour advantage effectively as a pure brawler might.

The MWLL Atlas is too easy to headshot, so much so that people usually mostly aim for the head, if that was made more difficult then the old warhorse would shine more IMHO.

[~SJ~ Blhurr]

I would give up a lot of weapons to beef the armor up on an Atlas.  Will mechlab allow for this?  The reasons are obvious to me.  It's a huge 'kick me' sign and if you can soak up some damage while your company mates take out opponents that would really increase the Atlas' usefulness in teamplay.