========================================== MechAssault (Xbox) - Atlas Guide Author: Frank Provo (frank@frankprovo.com) GameFAQs Username: mosaic Version: 1.1 Date: September 19, 2003 ========================================== Table of Contents [1] Introduction [2] Basic Specs [3] Atlas Psychology 101 [4] Weapons In-Depth [5] Vs. Other Mechs [6] Game Type Tactics [7] FAQs [8] Best Skin Colors [9] Acknowledgments --------------- 1. Introduction --------------- Currently (Sept. 2003), there aren't many mech-specific guides for MechAssault. This guide to the Atlas is my contribution in the effort to fix that. Knowledge is power in MechAssault. The best players know exactly how fast their bots' weapons recharge, how long heat takes to dissipate, and what weapons to use in various situations (close vs. long range, for example). I don't mind if other sites reprint this guide, provided my name stays with it and none of the text is altered. If you care to disagree with anything I've put in the guide or have changes to recommend, feel free to e-mail me and I'll do my best to incorporate them. For instance, I don't really have a map-specific section, which many CTF players find useful. I play the Not It and Destruction modes mostly, which don't really force players to learn the locations of power-ups. If you have strategies for CTF in an Atlas, I'd love to add them to this guide. -------------- 2. Basic Specs -------------- Mech Name: Atlas Class: Heavy / Assault BattleMech Weight: 100 tons Armor: 6000 Size: Huge Speed: 20 mph Cooldown: 12 seconds Offense: (energy) Pulse Laser x4 (ballistic) Autocannon x4 (missile) Javelin Missile x2 Defense: AMS (Anti-Missile System, aka "Chaff") After a core breach, the Atlas leaves behind 2040 units of armor, as well as Ballistic and Energy power-ups. ----------------------- 3. Atlas Psychology 101 ----------------------- The Atlas isn't the fastest mech in the game, nor does it have the "best" weapons. It also doesn't have a clear Alpha Strike Attack like many of the other strong mechs do. Nonetheless, there are many reasons to pilot this big beast. Primary among them, the Atlas has the most armor of any mech in the game -- 6000 units, as opposed to 5500 for it's brother, the Prometheus. The Ragnarok, for all of it's bulk, carries 5000 units of armor. A core breach, the explosion that occurs when another mech is destroyed, deals 3000 points of damage. If you're in an Atlas with full armor, you should risk charging in for the power-ups that an exploding mech leaves behind. Like the Prometheus, the Atlas is a Heavy BattleMech. These kinds of mechs do best at mid-range, although you should never underestimate their sniping abilities -- especially in a "Not It" match. The primary weapon package of the Atlas is the Autocannon x4, which can both damage and knock down opponents. The Autocannons on the Atlas are more useful at LVL 2 than at LVL 1, since the odds of knocking down a light or medium mech increase drastically. Autocannons do less damage over long distances, but their dispersion radius makes it easy to land a hit that may finish off a far-off mech. If you're closing in on an opponent, it's certainly not a bad idea to use a few Autocannon and Javelin attacks to whittle them down until you're close enough to land meaty hits. Thanks to the high fire rate of the Atlas' quad Pulse Lasers, combined with the punch of the Autocannons, you're pretty much taking 4000 units of damage into any situation you get into. There are only four mechs in the game that can comfortably go up against that. Light, fast mechs are a problem for the Atlas, especially at close range. Some attacks may fly over the opponent or miss because they're too short or just running all over the place. And if they're moving around a lot, you probably won't connect with all four shells from your Autocannon. Tip: Back away and fire. Another great thing about the Atlas is its heat dispersion. The Ymir, Ragnarok, and Prometheus take roughly twice as long to cool as the Atlas. In a max heat situation, an Atlas will cool down completely within 12 seconds. The Rag takes 18 seconds, and the Promee and Ymir take 20. For anyone who isn't a master at mathematics and heat management, the heat disperion of the Atlas means that you can fire more shots than the other heavy mechs. Sure, you don't have dual Warhammers, but at least all three of the Atlas' weapon packages are in the top 10 of weapons. Once you learn how to avoid the splash damage of a Warhammer, there's no reason to avoid making the Atlas your mech of choice -- if that's your desire. ------------------- 4. Weapons In-Depth ------------------- Unlike a lot of mechs where each weapon varies wildly in terms of damage over time, the weapons on an Atlas are actually fairly similar to one another in this regard. On the downside, that means you won't have a clear "killer" like the Prometheus (Warhammers) or Ragnarok (Lava Gun). On the upside, however, you also won't be punished too badly if you're in a firefight and too preoccupied to switch weapons. This balancing act also gives you great flexibility for a variety of situations: knock downs, sniping, dogfights, etc. ** PULSE LASER X4 - Energy Weapon Pros: High Rate of Fire, OK Heat Cons: Close Range, Low Damage per Shot, Low Accuracy LVL 1 - Amount: ---, Damage: 60 , Damage Per Second: approx. 230 LVL 2 - Amount: 400, Damage: 67 , Damage Per Second: approx. 300 LVL 3 - Amount: 268, Damage: 64 , Damage Per Second: approx. 400 The quad Pulse Lasers don't do much damage per hit. To put things in perspective, a single hit from the LVL 1 quad Autocannon will deal 400 points of damage if all 4 shells hit. Regardless, the firing rate of the quad Pulse Lasers makes up for their weak damage per hit. If you look at damage per second, a one to two second volley from the Atlas' quad Pulse Lasers is similar in effect to a single hit from an Autocannon x4 and Gauss Rifle x2, especially if you're wailing on a mech you've knocked down. Against a mech that's laying on the ground, you're actually better off using all Pulse Lasers on them until they get up. If they get up. The Pulse Laser has limited targeting abilities, but is most accurate at close range -- just not 100% close. Once you're more than ten or fifteen steps away (Atlas steps), one or two of your four shots will miss. That's kind of annoying. In cases where an enemy isn't really close or laying down, you can use your Pulse Lasers as a backup for when your Autocannons are recharging. To use this strategy effectively, fire an Autocannon burst and quickly tap X to switch to Pulse Lasers. Fire off 5 quick volleys with the Pulse Lasers and tap Y to switch back to the Autocannons. Repeat. You'll build up heat faster since you're still firing while the Autocannon is recharging, but that's the price you pay for continuing your attack. Pulse Lasers also do a nice job of "lighting up" cloacked mechs -- e.g. mechs that have a Null-Signature defense. In CTF and Team Destruction, you can light up a mech with your cheap Pulse Lasers and have teammates finish it off with their mightier weaponry. Perhaps the best thing about the Pulse Lasers is that a brief burst won't generate as much heat as an Autocannon shot, especially if your weapons are at LVL 3. At LVL 3, a second or two of Pulse Laser will generate one bar of heat. At LVL 3, a single Autocannon shot will generate 3 bars. Under continual fire, though, you can overheat from Pulse Lasers because their rate of fire is so freakishly high. You need to weigh that heat generation with the odds of destroying the enemy. If you think the odds are in your favor, go wild with Pulse Lasers or do the Autocannon / Pulse Laser swap mentioned two paragraphs above. If you're unsure, stick to Autocannon shots, which use a lot of heat, but also give you time to cool. If you're overheating, you're probably using the Autocannon / Pulse Laser switcharoo a wee bit more than you should. ** AUTOCANNON X4 - Ballistic Weapon Pros: Decent Damage, Decent Accuracy, High Knockdown Rate Cons: Slightly Sluggish Fire Rate, Damage Decreases as Range Increases LVL 1 - Amount: --, Damage: 400 , Knockdown Odds: 13% LVL 2 - Amount: 80, Damage: 545 , Knockdown Odds: 25% LVL 3 - Amount: 60, Damage: 667 , Knockdown Odds: 50% Even though they're not as punishing as Warhammers, the Atlas' quad Autocannons are its weapon of choice in situations where the enemy isn't laying down. At near to mid-range against another heavy mech, you can take away a bar of health per shot with LVL 1 and two with LVL 3's. Against a light or medium mech, you're taking between 2 and 5 bars per shot. Unlike the Pulse Lasers, which shine at close range and become useless further away, the Autocannons are useful in varying degrees at all distances. Their accuracy isn't as bad as a lot of people say either. They have limited auto-targeting abilities and still do damage across long distances, even though the dispersion rate cuts down the overall damage you land. An upshot of the dispersion rate, however, is that you can still hit smaller mechs that tend to move erratically -- even if the target isn't in the targeting reticule. You won't do as much damage, but if they're smoking or you're playing a "Not It" game, that's not really a big issue. The fire rate and recharge time (1.5 seconds) of the quad Autocannons are sluggish, which can make it difficult against light mechs. Thankfully, the fire rate of the Pulse Lasers compensates for this drawback somewhat. You can use the Pulse Lasers as a tracer to help you follow an opponents path for a shot with your Autocannon. After you fire a shot with the quad Autocannons, switch to Pulse Lasers for 5 or 6 bursts while the Autocannons are recharging. Depending on the location of the enemy mech, it can be like getting another Autocannon hit for "free." At mid- to long distances, use Javelin Missiles to fill in the recharge time. Unlike any other weapon, the quad Autocannons have an awesome knockdown rate. At LVL 2 or 3, you can knock down light and medium mechs anywhere from 25 to 50% of the time. Aiming at your opponent from an angle seems to increase the odds of a knockdown. From the beginning of a knockdown until the enemy is able to move again, you have 7 full seconds to wail on them. Any strategy you choose will be fine for this situation. My favorite is to keep the button held for Pulse Lasers and cap it off with an Autocannon burst when the enemy gets up. Autocannons generate the most heat per shot of the Atlas' weapons -- 2 to 3 bars per shot -- so keep that in mind. Their recharge time does provide a bit of a forced cooldown period though. ** JAVELIN X2 - Missile Weapon Pros: Excellent Accuracy Mid to Long Range, Low Heat Cons: Slow Recharge Time, Terrible Accuracy at Close Range LVL 1 - Amount: --, Damage: 200 , Heat Per Shot: 1 bar LVL 2 - Amount: 16, Damage: 273 , Heat Per Shot: 90% of 1 bar LVL 3 - Amount: 8, Damage: 333 , Heat Per Shot: 75% of 1 bar Compared to the combination of quad Autocannons and Pulse Lasers, the dual Javelins seem like a let-down. They're handy in specific situations though. First, DON'T try using them if you're within 10 steps of an enemy (Atlas steps). They'll fly over most mechs at that range. At mid to long distances, the Javelin x2 is much more accurate than either of the Atlas' "primary" weapons, and often more effective. While the Pulse Lasers and Autocannons both have dispersion issues, you're always going to score 200 pts (LVL 1) of damage if both Javelins hit. At long range, the Autocannons and Pulse Lasers will dole anywhere between 67 and 400 points of damage per hit -- usually somewhere in the low end. At LVL 3, the dual Javelins are roughly equal to a direct hit from a Gauss x1, Autocannon x2, or Laser x3. All things considered, that's actually just a hair above average. In long distance battles against mechs that have Chaff or Target Jamming, you'll still need to use your Autocannons from time to time in order to keep whittling them down. Of course, you ought to be closing the distance to your opponent all the way too -- because the Atlas isn't meant to be a dedicated sniper. The recharge time on the Javelins is bad, but they generate so little heat, even at LVL 3, that it's almost like you didn't fire anything at all. There are all sorts of useful applications for this, not the least of which involves finishing off a smoking mech with Javelins in order to ensure the best heat conservation. ** AMS (Chaff) - Defensive Weapon Chaff isn't as nice as Target Jamming, but it's better than nothing. It's basically a bright, hot flare designed to attract standard missiles, such as Crossbows and Javelins. It won't help you against Warhammers though. Chaff won't help if you drop it after an enemy fires off a salvo of missiles, so it's a good idea to drop one when you know a missile-equipped enemy is gunning for you. Also, don't sit too close to the chaff flare. Your cooldown rate will slow down and you might still get hit by incoming missiles. ------------------ 5. Vs. Other Mechs ------------------ ** Belial Normally, I wouldn't consider the Belial a big threat, even though it is pretty fast. Still, a lot of experts tend to choose Belials for a change of pace, and that makes the mech's twin Gauss an even more formidable weapon. A Belial has 3214 units of armor and you can knock it down -- those are the important things to know. A Belial wants to back up a little to hit clean with its Gauss, which also puts you in position to hit with your Autocannon. Then again, your opponent will probably use the Belial's speed to move around erratically in order to lessen your chances of a clean shot. Aim carefully and don't take risky shots. As long as your opponent isn't using a hilltop to perch on or building as cover, you should be fine with normal Atlas tactics. ** Bowman Again, like the Belial, I wouldn't consider the Bowman anything special -- if not for the fact that experts like to use it. It has dual Warhammers and Chaff, which can put the hurt on an Atlas. It's armor also isn't bad at 3750, and the jump jets will allow an expert to sit atop hills and rain down Warhammers. Thankfully, the Bowman doesn't have a good weapon other than the 'hammers, so take aim with your Autocannons and work about 10 to 15 Atlas steps away. If your aim is good, you'll still have a good 2500 armor left after the battle ends. If your aim isn't that good, what did you expect would happen taking on an expert Bowman pilot? ** Catapult Talk about a baffling matchup. With Javelin x4 and Target Jamming, the Catapult seems to have been designed with the Atlas in mind -- except for the fact that the Atlas has Chaff, which lessens the effectiveness of the Catapult's missiles. A good Catapult player starts a battle from a distance. The 'pult's Javelins will take off anywhere between 400 and 667 of damage if they hit you. However, your armor is vastly superior and you can deploy Chaff to distract the missiles while you close the distance. The most annoying thing about the Catapult is its Target Jamming, but at four or so mech lengths away, you can hit with the meat of your Autocannon and Pulse Laser shots if your aim is halfway decent. And if it isn't, you'll still probably win once his Target Jamming wears off. ** Kit Fox, Puma, and other small mechs A close-range battle will test your nerves. Try to back up enough to fire your Autocannon and to improve the accuracy of your Pulse Lasers. If you knock down the opponent, he's basically done for. The heaviest small mech has 3000 points of armor, and you can pretty much obliterate that with the Pulse Laser / Autocannon combo before you overheat. Thankfully, the smaller mechs that have Warhammers tend to need to avoid close-range battles so as to avoid eating their own splash damage -- which works in your advantage. ** Loki In direct comparison, the Loki's weapons are about half as effective as an Atlas'. Nonetheless, a Loki has three things going for it: speed, Null Signature, and armor. A good Loki player will hit their NullSig and move around like a rabbit on cocaine -- which makes them a pain in the ass to hit. You're strong, so they won't damage you much, but they're too fast for you to damage them much either. Since the Loki is almost impossible to overheat, this battle can actually tip in the Loki's favor. You need to rely on your Autocannon for this battle, in the hopes that enough shells will connect to slow your opponent down. On the upside, the Loki is probably the easiest of the large mechs to knock down. ** Mad Cat Thanks to the dual PPC's, you don't want to take on a Mad Cat at a distance. Unfortunately, the Atlas does it's best work between 10 and 40 steps away, which also happens to be prime kill range for a PPC. Your best bet is to keep the enemy at an angle and hit him with repeated Autocannon shots. You might knock the mech down or blow off one of its arms, which will shift the tide of battle considerably. Another viable strategy is to close in and use Pulse Lasers. The rapid fire tends to disorient some opponents, and you have the option to move in real close to dodge the PPC. ** Prometheus This battle comes down to how well the opponent can time those Warhammers. If he's skilled with them, you need to either stay real close or attack from just outside his (and your) optimal middle range. In close, and with some luck, he overshoots the hammers or gets hit by the same amount of splash damage as you do. From afar, you have a chance to dodge. Either way, you want him to overheat before you're too damaged to hit back. That's where the Atlas' 500 extra armor points can come in handy. Once he's hot, back up and use your Autocannons or Pulse Lasers. You don't want to take on a Promee long range without some cover to back you up, due to the tracking ability of the Gauss. Hide behind a hill or building and hope he veers off -- then hit him with Javelins and run up. ** Ragnarok The Ragnarok can overheat easily, but between its shield, Lava Gun, and dual Gauss, you know you're in for a tough fight. This is the kind of battle I'd try to start as a surprise, from behind the opponent, or at a long distance. You can run up firing Autocannons and Javelins, then switch to Autocannons and Pulse Lasers as you get close. The key to this, though, is your opponent firing off a Lava Gun shot -- or two if you're lucky. Get him to overheat! You can usually dodge a Lava Gun volley from a modest distance. Time your shots so you don't waste them on the shield. ** Summoner If the Summoner has 3929 armor units and no defensive capability other than jump jets, why should you worry about it when you're in an Atlas? Two reasons: (1) A Summoner rarely, if ever, overheats. (2) The Summoner's missile weapon is a single Warhammer, which can do 429 to 750 a hit even if you're merely caught in the blast area. The combination of these two means that 'hammers will be flying furiously in this battle. If your aim is sound with the Autocannons, you'll do fine since trading blows will come out in your favor. If you're up against an expert Summoner pilot, stay at a further distance than normal and use your Javelins along with the Autocannons. Anything you can do to cut him down a little before he's in effective range to aim his Warhammer is a good idea. ** Thor A Thor has a bit more armor and speed than most large mechs, and its 4X Machine Guns can do more damage per second than even dual Warhammers. Thor pilots like fighting an Atlas, because the Thor is a close-range mech with Target Jamming capability. This can murder the accuracy of your weapons, and is a double whammy in close-range battles. You need to do whatever you can to keep yourself at least ten steps away from your opponent, and twice that if possible. A Thor is a great mech to engage from a long distance, because you can take off half its health long before it's in range to use its machine guns. If a Thor can't use its machine guns, it's toast. Also, while a large mech, you can sometimes knock a Thor down with LVL 2 or LVL 3 Autocannons. -------------------- 6. Game Type Tactics -------------------- In all modes, the most important advice is to avoid close battles and to power-up when you can. ** Destruction Since much of this guide applies just fine to both the Destruction and Team Destruction modes, there isn't much else to add. Attack from a distance that's comfortably mid-range and try to avoid engaging other heavy mechs -- unless they're smoking. Light and Medium mechs are fodder for your Autocannons, especially if you can power them up. If you join a room and see that it's going to be all fast / light mechs, all Mad Cats, or all Rags / Promees, you may want to pick another mech or join another room. It's not that you won't get kills; it's that you'll be working hard for them and may find the frustration level too high. A room that has at least one or two light mechs among the rest is a good choice. ** Team Destruction Team modes tend to involve a greater emphasis on sniping and co-ordinated attacks. With that in mind, a lot of people would prefer you chose a Promee and were able to use it well. Still, it's not a bad idea to have one teammate that isn't overheating, right? The one thing I will say is that you have no business fighting close with an Atlas in this mode. Stay back and use your Autocannons at a range where they're most effective. ** Last Man Standing Frankly, I don't think mech choice matters here. A smart person stays out of the way until at least a couple opponents are eliminated. And regardless of the mech you choose, you're toast if two or three people choose to gang up on you. ** Team Last Man Depending on the composition of the enemy team, an Atlas can be very useful due to its knockdown power alone. ** Not It! I play Not It! a great deal and do fairly well with the Atlas. If you're not familiar with this mode, it's basically like a reverse game of tag. One player is it and tries to score as many kills as possible. Everyone else tries to kill the mech that's it. Whoever lands the kill-shot scores a point, becomes it, and then tries to earn more points by destroying everyone else. Also, when you become it, your weapons are automatically powered-up to LVL 3. This seems to be a mode where skilled Promee pilots tend to rule, however, mostly because their sniping is excellent and because their weapons are so brutal at LVL 3. Stay back of the central battle area and use your Autocannons to nail whoever is it. Then try to find smokers and go for the knockdown or wail them with your Pulse Lasers. ** Capture the Flag Experts will likely prefer that their base / mid-range defender be a Promee or Ragnarok, but there's plenty of room for an Atlas to fill these roles and excel at them -- especially if you snag the power-ups near your base. Use Pulse Lasers to light up any invisible runners and hit them with your Autocannons. Runners tend to be light, which usually means a knock down. In CTF, a knockdown usually means they're not taking your flag. For a beginner, or someone who just can't get the hang of the timers on Warhammers, the Atlas is a really good choice in CTF. Don't try to assault the enemy's base with an Atlas, though -- your armor can't stand up to the firepower of three other mechs bearing down on you. ** Giant Killers I don't recommend the Atlas for Giant Killers. Even though they're all Elementals and even though the Crossbow x2 only does 100-150 of damage, that's still between 700-1050 damage per 1.5 seconds with 7 opponents. The Atlas isn't good up close, and wise Elementals in this mode will swarm an Atlas in close. You'll have trouble hitting with your weapons. They won't. The Prometheus, with its Warhammer splash damage, is a better option if you want to use a heavy mech. ------- 7. FAQs ------- Q. You often use the phrases "close-range," "mid-range," and "long- range." What do they mean in human terms? A. To me, close-range is a mech length or two and mid-range is anywhere from 10 to 20 steps away from your target. Long-range is even further away. A good way to measure this yourself is to go into the Colosseum and position yourself at the corner of the hill -- standing next to it on the side closest to the entry portals. From where you're standing, any point from the middle of the hill to a short distance past the other corner is mid-range. Long-range is further than that. Q. If the quad Pulse Lasers fire so fast and generate so little heat, isn't it better to use them and score anywhere from 3500-4000 points of damage on an opponent before you overheat? A. In a perfect world, sure. Unfortunately, the accuracy of the quad Pulse Lasers makes this scenario merely a best-case hypothetical situation. If you knock down an opponent, then by all means wail on him with your Pulse Lasers until he gets up. Otherwise, use your Autocannons as your primary weapon. Q. What maps is the Atlas good on? A. Anything that doesn't have a lot of hills for light mechs to perch on and hide behind. Rock Solid, Icepack, and Frosty tend to be a pain. Likewise, Demolition Town, Hell's Kitchen, and Number 51 can be annoying from time to time, but they're not all that bad. I wouldn't recommend fighting from the middle of Demolition Town though. Junkyard is fine. River City, Colosseum, and Stone Cold are good maps for an Atlas. In River City and Icepack, you'll cool down 30% faster while sitting in water. Q. I just played a Destruction (or Not It, or etc.) match against 7 light mechs and got owned, WTF? A. A match full of light mechs, or Mad Cats for that matter, is an Atlas' worst nightmare. They're darting about, moving all nimbly bimbly, and your best weapon takes more than a second to recharge. Worse yet, only 50% of the shots from your backup weapon are landing. It's not a good idea to play an Atlas in a room full of fast mechs. Then again, it's no fun to play any heavy mech against 7 fast opponents -- because you know they all want your hide. Q. I'm having a tough time against opponents with jump jets that can perch on hills. A. Yeah, when a small mech is on top of a hill, it's tough to hit them with anything but Javelins. If it happens to be the hill with the vents in Colosseum, they'll use them as shields. The two ways to cope are to go around and climb up the hill if it has a path to do so, or to just walk off so far that your Autocannons can make it past the top of the hill. Bowman and Uziel players use this strategy, because they can get a good hit with their Warhammers or PPCs by the time you can counter. Still, if you pick one strategy and see it through, your excess armor should keep you alive and on the winning end. Q. Does the Atlas have an Alpha Strike / Alpha Attack? A. An Alpha Attack is a move where you fire off all of a mech's attacks in quick succession, usually starting with the strongest. For example, the Ragnarok's Alpha Attack involves selecting the Lava Gun, and then using taps of the L trigger to fire a single volley of the Lava Gun, Gauss, and Missiles -- all in rapid succession. Due to the versatile nature of the Atlas, I don't suggest that it has an Alpha Attack. If it does at all, then it's Autocannons into Javelins into a volley of Pulse Lasers. ------------------- 8. Best Skin Colors ------------------- The Atlas always has a yellow undercarriage, which makes it one of the least attractive mechs in the game. For best results, choose dark colors that contrast the f-ugly highlights. Best: Green, Purple, Blue, Grey OK: White, Arctic, Woodland Ugly: Anything Else Being a fan of the University of Washington Huskies, the Purple and Yellow scheme resembles my alma mater's purple and gold hues. The Green and Yellow scheme is a close match for the Michigan State Spartans. ------------------ 9. Acknowledgments ------------------ Thank you FASA Studio, Day 1 Studios, and Microsoft Game Studios for making this game. I'll add contributors names / emails / whatevers here once I get a few emails. FAQ Copyright (c) 2003 Frank Provo. All Rights Reserved.