Difference between revisions of "Awesome"

Latest revision as of 18:09, 27 July 2023

Awesome
Class:	Assault Mech
Faction:	Inner Sphere
Ticket cost:	11 upon destruction
Tier:	12
Tonnage:	80 tons
Speed:	64.8 km/h
Torso yaw:	180°
Torso pitch:	-35° to +45° while standing -35° to +55° while crouching
Variant Armament
Variant	Weapons	Equipment
Prime: Price: 103 650 CBills Total armor: 75 076 Engine Size: Pitban XL 240	3x ERPPC 1x MPL 1x SSRM4 1x B-Pod	EOptics BAP LAMS 10 DHS 1 free tons 15.5t Armor
A: Price: 94 000 CBills Total armor: 73 471 Engine Size: Pitban XL 240	3x ERLL 1x LRM15 1x LtGauss	EOptics 7 DHS 2 free ton 15t Armor
B: Price: 98 500 CBills Total armor: 75 076 Engine Size: Pitban XL 240	2x UAC10 4x MPL	EOptics GECM 5 DHS 2 free tons 15.5t Armor
C: Price: 96 900 CBills Total armor: 75 076 Engine Size: Pitban XL 240	4x PPC	GECM EOptics 1 LAMS 14 HS 0 free tons 15.5t Armor
D: Price: 99 500 CBills Total armor: 78 920 Engine Size: Pitban XL 240	3x LXPL 1x MRM20	EOptics 15 DHS 1 free tons 16t Armor
E: Price: 99 750 CBills Total armor: 73 471 Engine Size: Pitban XL 240	2x ERPPC 2x LtGauss	EOptics BAP 4 DHS 2 free tons 15t Armor
F: Price: 97 500 CBills Total armor: 73 471 Engine Size: Pitban XL 240	4x RAC2 3x LRM5	EOptics GECM 3 DHS 4 free ton 15t Armor
G: Price: 95 200 CBills Total armor: 75 076 Engine Size: Pitban XL 240	2x RAC5 2x PPC 1x B-Pod	EOptics 7 HS 4 free tons 15.5t Armor
Armor Points Distribution
BT HD LA LL LT CT RT RA RL INT 6677 2760 6399 6399 8514 7234 11129 7234 6399 8514 5108

All stats current as of release 0.16.1

The Awesome is a fast Inner Sphere Assault Mech with a focus on medium to long range combat. The characteristics of the Awesome, with a lower price point and good speed for its weight class, may be better compared those of a Heavy Mech. However, it distinguishes itself with exceptional armor coverage, featuring a smaller than average profile for it's weight class and more armor than even some Clan Assault Mechs. The Awesome's firepower is usually based on a heavy reliance on Energy Weapons, backed up by large arrays of Heat Sinks to enable it to lay down continuous barrages with little worry for ammo depletion or heat buildup. Combined with specialized Ballistics or Missiles, and its good speed and armor, the Awesome makes for a rugged and adaptable Mech. However, this is not without some weaknesses. The Awesome has a limited torso twist and somewhat poor maneuverability, leaving the Mech open to being easily flanked by fast vehicles. Combined with a substandard weapon array compared to it's Assault class cousins, an over-confident Awesome pilot may find themselves hopelessly swarmed if caught flat-footed. To be most effective and mitigate these problems, the Awesome should be piloted with cunning, maintaining maximum range when possible and utilising Guardian ECM and Passive Radar to remain hidden while punishing enemies from afar with sustained barrages, and treating it's superior armor as a tool to outlast counter-fire rather than as a battle-line juggernaut. It should be noted that the Awesome's weapons are mounted in a horizontal line spread across arms and side torsos making it more difficult to render an Awesome combat-ineffective, but this also means that the Awesome can be vulnerable to enemy fire before it can fire back due to the relatively low placement of its weapons.

Roles and Gameplay Hints

Prime

The Awesome Prime carries a trio of ERPPCs as its main array of weapons, allowing the Mech to inflict serious damage out to 900m. The large burst damage and long recharge time for the ERPPCs allow the Awesome pilot to slip in and out of cover and deal damage easily, though pilots should be aware of the Mech's sluggish acceleration and opt to circle in and out of cover rather than moving backwards and forwards with the throttle alone. When caught in the open, pilots should torso twist away from the enemy in between ERPPC barrages to make best use of this Awesome's superior armor coverage. With an array of 10 Double Heat Sinks, the Prime can fire its ERPPCs nearly continuously, barely inching over the critical heat line. The Prime mounts a Beagle Active Probe, extending the Mech's radar range, allowing pilots to detect targets well before reaching firing range and giving them time to find a vantage point. Furthermore, enhanced optics allows easier sniping. At short range, the Prime can bring a Medium Pulse Laser and a Streak SRM4 to bear. While only a small deterrence to most vehicles, these weapons, along with B-Pod, help protect the Awesome against Battle Armor - A blast of four SRMs at a Battle Armor's feet as it lands are certain to kill it.

Variant A

One of the cheaper Awesomes, this variant is geared towards long range combat aided by its Enhanced Optics and is particularly effective against faster targets and aircraft. Three ER Large Lasers forms the bulk of this Awesome's equipment, and can deliver highly accurate damage at a maximum range of 800m. This is backed up with a single LRM15, which can lock on to moving targets. These weapon systems combined allows this Awesome to easily deal considerable damage to lights and mediums, though requires some additional battlefield awareness on the behalf of the pilot - LRMs require time to lock on and travel to their target, who may enter cover before they arrive, and lasers require time on target to discharge their full damage potential. Thus, pilots should deploy this Awesome in open areas to make best use of its weapons systems. The load-out is rounded out by a single Light Gauss Rifle, enabling it to gain first strike against most other enemies and punish those trying to escape it's most effective range.

Variant B

The B variant is a capable short and medium range brawler that breaks from the Awesome's typical support role profile. The mech's primary armament is a pair of Ultra AC10s. While lacking the sheer stopping power of true brawler autocannons like the Ultra AC20, it makes up for the lost damage output with greater range, fire rate and shell velocity, allowing it to place the first strike before entering short range combat and making it able to better engage fast moving targets like Light Mechs and aircraft. After blowing holes in the enemy armor from afar, the Awesome B can close and engage with four accurate Medium Pulse Lasers that can sear off components with ease. A Guardian ECM suite allows this Awesome to remain hidden until just before it reaches firing range, and protects the ungainly Mech against LRM assets. Five double heat sinks are adequate under most circumstances, though desperate firefights will require pilots to use small amounts of Coolant to stay below critical levels.

Variant C

This variant uses low-tech equipment and carries a simple but deadly loadout of four PPCs and an array of 14 Single Heat Sinks, making for a powerful mid-range support vehicle. The low heat of the standard PPCs (compared to ERPPCs or Clan ERPPCs) combined with the large array of heat sinks allow this Awesome chain-fire constantly, and permits patient pilots to an occaisional alpha strike. Pilots should opt to use chain-fire to maximise screen shake, reducing the enemy's ability to fire back and cause damage. Pilots should circle and angle their undamaged torso sides to the enemy while waiting for their PPCs to recharge in order to spread what damage the enemy manages to inflict. When operating as a support Mech for other Heavies or Assaults, the Awesome C should make use of its Guardian ECM suite or Passive Radar and attack stealthily from the flanks. Pilots should be careful not to reach a critical heat level by firing too readily, as the heat spike will reveal their location on Radar. To counter this, pilots should use the time in between volleys to relocate to remain hidden, cooling down on route.

Variant D

The Awesome D is a mid-range attacker that exemplifies the Awesome's role as an energy-heavy, sustained-damage support asset. This Mech's primary armament is a trio of Large X-Pulse Lasers that can shear off significant armor over time at a decent range. To enable sustained firing of these massive heat generators, a staggering array of 15 Double Heat Sinks can dissipate tremendous amounts of heat, massively reducing the time spent between bursts and even enabling continuous fire in cold environments. Rounding out the armament is a single Medium Range Missile Launcher 20, capable of sandpapering off decent amounts of armor at a time and exposing weaknesses in armor to focus upon with laser fire. The key to using this asset is to take the flank of the main firefight under Passive Radar and exploit weak, distracted or stationary enemies, sapping their armor and assisting friendly brawlers. Do not try to take the brunt of the fight yourself - while this variant sports an extra ton of armor over most other Awesomes, this is not sufficient to counter its inability to spread damage while staring with X-Pulse fire.

Variant E

The Awesome E is configured for extremely long range combat, boasting a pair of Light Gauss Rifles mounted in each arm and a pair of torso mounted ERPPCs. This Mech's Light Gauss Rifles enable it to strike targets from 1250m, out-ranging many other assets in the game, and a Beagle Active Probe enables pilots to identify potential targets at this extreme distance. Two additional tons of Gauss ammo allow the Awesome E to lay down a decently long barrage upon the enemy. At slightly shorter ranges the ERPPCs can provide powerful punch, useful for closing and knocking out targets after whittling them down with Light Gauss Rifle fire. Pilots should be careful using the ERPPCs too often though, with only 4 Double Heat Sinks to help dissipate the immense heat these weapons generate. This variant fares poorly at short range, as the long recharge time for its two weapon systems and its lesser armor can be exploited by assets carrying short range and fast firing weaponry. While its burst firepower is enough to dissuade most light vehicles, pilots should always opt to use this Mech at maximum range to avoid being jumped upon by larger assets, and use the Awesome's decent speed for its size to retreat into friendly formations once within 800m of the enemy.

Variant F

This Awesome is another permutation of the A variant, downgrading it's energy weapon compliment to add tonnage to its ballistic and missile armaments. Replacing the EPPCs with a quad RAC2 & triple LRM5 provides a comparable damage output while trading range for better heat management. With a more heat and ammo efficient build, more tonnage is devoted to defensive capabilities, bringing the variant up to the standard 15 tons of armor and fitting a GECM unit. These refits bring some unique benefits to the Mech to help it excel in its support role. The LRM trio can be chainfired to frustrate attackers with screenshake while the GECM suite protects against counter-LRM fire. Four Free tons will keep it well-fed.

Variant G - "Nutcracker"

The aptly named "Nutcracker" is a medium to short-ranged Awesome variant that sustains high damage output over time. At 700m the Awesome G is able to open up with a pair of torso mounted PPCs, useful for softening up damaged targets before closing to unleash a pair of deadly Rotary AC5s, which do the brunt of the high DPS shredding. This combination of weaponry is extremely potent, as the Rotary ACs can burn through torso sides with focused fire, while the splash damage of a follow-up PPC blast can still hit destroyed torso sides even if the enemy attempts to hide their damaged components. Against heavier targets, pilots can exploit the screen shake caused by PPCs by chain-firing them with the Autocannons, maximizing damage output while reducing the enemy's ability to return it. 4 free tons for Autocannon ammo allows the Mech to fire with impunity, though with only 7 additional low-tech Single Heat Sinks, firing the PPCs too readily will lead to dangerous heat buildup. Lacking any other electronics, the Awesome G is unsuited to flanking maneuvers. Instead, it should form part of a main battle line during base assaults, using its heavy armor and significant DPS to overwhelm and destroy defenders. B-Pod helps finishing off hurt Battle Armors.

Canon

Originally designed during the Star League era, the Awesome is a powerful Assault Mech built around an impressive array of Energy Weapons. It can operate for extended periods of time both as a defensive Mech and offensive Mech because it doesn't rely on ammo. This allows it to win battles by bleeding it's enemies ammo stores dry.

The Awesome as represented in MWLL is based off of the AWS-9M model introduced in 3049, just prior to the Clan Invasion. Featuring an upgraded XL engine and double heat sinks, the 9M was faster than the original 8Q model and replaced the original armament with three ERPPCs, two Streak SRM2s, a Medium Pulse Laser and a Small Pulse Laser.

Date Introduced 2665 during the Era known as "Star League" (2571 - 2780) - Unit Role: Sniper

BattleTech Reference