Can anyone suggest a build for Awesome 8Q in base game with no Lostech?

[Ketamarine]

PPCs just seem like the worst weapon in the game. Terrible heat to damage ratio. I may throw one +10 damage on it. But even large lasers (don't have any good ones) are kind of garbage. So maybe 1 PPC++, 1 large laser and 5 mediums?

Seems super underwhelming for an 80 ton assault mech... what is that 215 alpha strike?

[wesnef]

Hmm, I've never actually used an Awesome before. My usual pre-HM 75 was an Orion (2xLRM15, LLas), and above that I generally end up with Highlanders, Stalkers, Atlases, and Crabs.

(And if I wanted to field a whole bunch of Medium Lasers, it'd be on a Grasshopper with jumpjets, not an Assault.)


If I had to build an energy Awesome, I'd probably end up filling it with as many Large Lasers (+10dmg) as possible, plus the heat to survive. No jets, but I rarely use jets in the first place.

[MechBFP]

Don’t underestimate the sensor impair effects and stability damage. Sometimes damage isn’t everything in a battle.

[danko9696]

Yep, like @wesnef says try something like a 4xLL+++ setup[i.imgur.com]. You can act as spotter (with the Rangefinder), quite good as a harasser and finisher firing from near your maximum range. Personally I'd go with zero rear armor and two more heatsinks but the above loadout I think it's quite balanced.

Originally posted by MechBFP:

Don’t underestimate the sensor impair effects and stability damage. Sometimes damage isn’t everything in a battle.

Stability is not very useful late game and sensor debuff, unless you can mass those PPCs, is negligible.

[MechBFP]

5 PPC’s is enough to make a King Crab go running for cover lol.

[Sentient_Toaster]

If you're *not* running multi-slot or heavy energy weapons, or producing a lot of heat and using lots of tonnage on heat sinks -- all of which point to LLs, PPCs rather than MLAS), there's not a great deal of reason to run an AWS-8Q instead of an HBK-4P.

AWS-8Q has more free tonnage and more max armor, but if you're running just plain MLAS -- well, assuming that you put something other than an MLAS in the head, you'd only be mounting 6. 6 MLAS => 72 heat; with 14 heat sinks and the built-in heat sinks of the engine, you'd be heat neutral on neutral biomes. Even an HBK-4P can fit that with 11.5 tons for armor/JJs, and you can generally get away with not being heat-neutral esp. once you have more than 6 mechbays and can thus have some alternate mechs suited for lunar and Martian landscapes.

And the above-noted Grasshopper makes for a punchier MLAS/SL mech, and it still has better initiative than the Awesome.


You might like the "Sleepy Awesome" build, though. 6x PPC, no need for cooling, because there's no difference between "enough heat to shut down" and "multiple times enough heat to shut down" -- either way, you shut down, take 5 structure damage per non-head component, and spend the next activation powering back up and removing all heat in the process.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Battletechgame/comments/8j9jsb/you_havent_lived_until_youve_witnessed_the_sheer/

[Ketamarine]

Originally posted by Sentient_Toaster:

If you're *not* running multi-slot or heavy energy weapons, or producing a lot of heat and using lots of tonnage on heat sinks -- all of which point to LLs, PPCs rather than MLAS), there's not a great deal of reason to run an AWS-8Q instead of an HBK-4P.

AWS-8Q has more free tonnage and more max armor, but if you're running just plain MLAS -- well, assuming that you put something other than an MLAS in the head, you'd only be mounting 6. 6 MLAS => 72 heat; with 14 heat sinks and the built-in heat sinks of the engine, you'd be heat neutral on neutral biomes. Even an HBK-4P can fit that with 11.5 tons for armor/JJs, and you can generally get away with not being heat-neutral esp. once you have more than 6 mechbays and can thus have some alternate mechs suited for lunar and Martian landscapes.

And the above-noted Grasshopper makes for a punchier MLAS/SL mech, and it still has better initiative than the Awesome.


You might like the "Sleepy Awesome" build, though. 6x PPC, no need for cooling, because there's no difference between "enough heat to shut down" and "multiple times enough heat to shut down" -- either way, you shut down, take 5 structure damage per non-head component, and spend the next activation powering back up and removing all heat in the process.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Battletechgame/comments/8j9jsb/you_havent_lived_until_youve_witnessed_the_sheer/

Holy eff, I kitted out the assassin grasshopper with the 6 small lasers and the 4-6 MLs (can't remember exactly how many) and it is INSANE. Jump behind pretty much any mech with a decent pilot and some +'s kicking around your laser pool with precision shot and they go DOWN.

Thanks for the recos on here - I definitely pass on that reco to others!

[Scathe]

I think in general, mechs in the bottom weight of a weight class have a hard time competing with the mech that is 5tons lighter and gets 1 better initiative. I'd almost always rather have 1 initiative than 5tons.

If you want to use a mech with energy weapons, I'd rather have a marauder for sure even though it only has 4 hardpoints for energy. but I'd even rather have somewhat more of a direct comparison like a black knight. grasshopper is pretty great too as you've noticed.

Another energy weapon mech I'd rather have is Warhammer-6D. I am pretty sure the firepower evaluating tool fails to factor in it's optimized capacitor.

in general in the base game I'd often rather have missile hardpoints than energy. Orion V I'd rather have than any of those mechs except the marauder. if I had to use an 80 ton mech, I'd rather have the Victor-9S or Awesome-8T.

Sorry that doesn't help you use your Awesome-8Q, but a bad mech is a bad mech.

[Ketamarine]

Originally posted by Scathe:

I think in general, mechs in the bottom weight of a weight class have a hard time competing with the mech that is 5tons lighter and gets 1 better initiative. I'd almost always rather have 1 initiative than 5tons.

If you want to use a mech with energy weapons, I'd rather have a marauder for sure even though it only has 4 hardpoints for energy. but I'd even rather have somewhat more of a direct comparison like a black knight. grasshopper is pretty great too as you've noticed.

Another energy weapon mech I'd rather have is Warhammer-6D. I am pretty sure the firepower evaluating tool fails to factor in it's optimized capacitor.

in general in the base game I'd often rather have missile hardpoints than energy. Orion V I'd rather have than any of those mechs except the marauder. if I had to use an 80 ton mech, I'd rather have the Victor-9S or Awesome-8T.

Sorry that doesn't help you use your Awesome-8Q, but a bad mech is a bad mech.

That is what I am realizing from these posts. Was just what i got as one of my first heavies. Clearly some mechs are way better than others based on what hard points they have and where they are located! (along with dry weight considerations).

[Coyote]

Nothing but large lasers and heat exchangers all over it.
It does disgustingly good damage.

[danko9696]

Originally posted by Scathe:

Another energy weapon mech I'd rather have is Warhammer-6D. I am pretty sure the firepower evaluating tool fails to factor in it's optimized capacitor.

in general in the base game I'd often rather have missile hardpoints than energy. Orion V I'd rather have than any of those mechs except the marauder. if I had to use an 80 ton mech, I'd rather have the Victor-9S or Awesome-8T.

The WHM is better because it's a "new wave" mech with a quirk. Other than that it's not nothing out of ordinary. Then, the AWS is okish if you don't count HM, but the Victor in plain bad. Why would you use it over a 70-75t heavy? 6-7 energy hardpoints is better than 2 energy + 3 missile and the Victor doesn't get increased available weight. The AWS is not a very good mech but at the very least has something extra over the top tier heavies (ignoring M3R, which is in a very different leagues).

Originally posted by Ketamarine:

That is what I am realizing from these posts. Was just what i got as one of my first heavies. Clearly some mechs are way better than others based on what hard points they have and where they are located! (along with dry weight considerations).

More than that is some mechs they're just very bad, the worst offenders probably the Dragon & Quickdraw.

[Scathe]

Originally posted by danko9696:

Then, the AWS is okish if you don't count HM, but the Victor in plain bad. Why would you use it over a 70-75t heavy? 6-7 energy hardpoints is better than 2 energy + 3 missile and the Victor doesn't get increased available weight. The AWS is not a very good mech but at the very least has something extra over the top tier heavies (ignoring M3R, which is in a very different leagues).

what you quoted did in no way reflect my full opinion I tried to convey with the full post you took the quote from.

I did not try to imply I'd rather a Victor-9S than a 70-75 ton heavy, only that I'd rather a Victor than a awesome. I agree Victor is pretty bad, but my opinion is that that Awesome is worse. speaking only of the base game with no DLC. Victor could be given a LRM40 or LRM45 build. would be a passable missile boat. rather have an Orion V for that, but I see no builds I'd want to use an awesome for at all. none of the builds suggested in this thread for the awesome interests me.

[danko9696]

Originally posted by Scathe:

what you quoted did in no way reflect my full opinion I tried to convey with the full post you took the quote from.

I did not try to imply I'd rather a Victor-9S than a 70-75 ton heavy, only that I'd rather a Victor than a awesome. I agree Victor is pretty bad, but my opinion is that that Awesome is worse. speaking only of the base game with no DLC. Victor could be given a LRM40 or LRM45 build. would be a passable missile boat. rather have an Orion V for that, but I see no builds I'd want to use an awesome for at all. none of the builds suggested in this thread for the awesome interests me.

I don't agree. Victor is very bad and the AWS is okish imo, 40-45 LRM for an assault mech is very poor, while the 5xLL+++ you can make with the AWS is actually quite decent even in the endgame.

[MechBFP]

The victor has some impressive amounts of armour. I just got one and while not the greatest it definitely is useful for taking punishment so my other glass cannon mechs don’t.

[Mudpony]

Awesome has the same armor potential, though, so that would be a wash.

Anyway, a Victor with 45 LRMs...that's 270 damage if they're ++ damage types. So more damage than 5x +++ LLs. Though, obviously, the LLs benefit from called shots more, have a nice accuracy bonus, and won't run out of ammo, while the LRMs have longer range and can be fired indirectly. But for an LRM boat in that weight range, I'd rather run the other version of the Awesome or a Stalker.

With the Victor, I'd be more inclined to go with a 3xSRM 6 and LL/ML set up, in a non-HM world. Take advantage of its 4/6 speed to close faster, then let it exploit holes in armor brought about by something like an Awesome armed with lots of larges.

Originally posted by danko9696:

More than that is some mechs they're just very bad, the worst offenders probably the Dragon & Quickdraw.

Cicada, the 8/12 version ;) Less weaponry than a Locust, same armor, lower initiative phase, and +2 easier to hit.

The Dragon and Quickdraw definitely sit at a bad spot, too, though. Jump jet weight aside, you're looking at a lower initiative phase and the loss of the medium defense bonus, in exchange for a little bit more armor/structure. And then there's the Victor, Zeus, Cyclops (though one gets it back thanks to its quirk), and Battlemaster, who also are in that same situation, giving up an initiative phase while not gaining a lot of free weight to work with in exchange. Oh, and of course, two of the Banshee versions, who are basically medium mechs that go in the assault phase.

That's why I've implemented a DLL mod to change initiative to base the phases on walking speed, rather than weight class. Liking it much better than the weight class system.

[Scathe]

Originally posted by Mudpony:

Awesome has the same armor potential, though, so that would be a wash.

but the victor is faster, more evasion, therefore slightly better at taking attacks.

agree that 3 x 6 SRM and a mlas and an mpulse would be a good victor build too.
.