Atlas

 (A Book of Road Maps that Fights Back)

Introduction:

The Atlas has long been recognized as one of the workhorses of Inner Sphere assault-mechs. Since before the Exodus, this 100 ton beast has stalked the battlefield, making its presence known. It is an impressive command mech and its height, speed, and firepower always ensure that it can not be overlooked in a fight. Here today, we shall take an in depth look at this ancient and powerful beast of battle.

Chassis Analysis:

The Atlas, when you can find it, has one of the most easily identifiable profiles of the assault mechs. We at Knights Templar say “when you can find it” for a very good reason as the Atlas has the best variety of available components in the game. BAP, ECM, LAMS, IFF Jammer, and Adv Gyro are all available to the Atlas pilot…making it hard to kill and even harder to find. Let us now take a look at the workings of the Atlas and what makes it such a tough assault mech…

Components:

 As previously mentioned and listed, the Atlas has the best component selection in the game. ECM, BAP, and IFF Jammer allow the Atlas pilot to be incredibly stealthy for a tall, 100 ton battlemech. When in combat, LAMS and Adv Gyro play a large role in the Atlas’ success by eliminating much of the missile threat and keeping the mech upright and steady when receiving heavy fire.

Speed:

While not the fastest assault mech by far, the Atlas still retains respectable speed for a 100 ton battlemech. Stock speed is a modest 57kph. For an additional 12 tons, it is possible to upgrade to the Atlas’ top speed of 75kph or one can downgrade the engine to 45kph to free up 3 tons of space.

Armor:

The Atlas is a very strong mech. A stock Atlas comes equipped with an amazing 18.5 tons of Ferro Fibrous armor while being able to max out at 25 tons. Specialty armors can bring this monster’s total up to 37.5 tons of protection…permitting this mech to be one of the most protected of any in the game and matched only by super-mechs such as the Behemoths, Warlord, and Annihilator. With armor counts like this, it is no wonder as to why the Atlas lives so long in a fight and can walk through some of the fiercest firefights to take down its prey.

Weapons:

While not the deadliest or hardest hitting of the Assault class, the Atlas still maintains capabilities worthy of respect. Atlas has an impressive total of 23 weapon slots: two 4-slot energy hardpoints (one in each arm), a 1-slot energy hardpoint in the head, a 2-slot ballistic hardpoint in the left arm, a 4-slot ballistic hardpoint in a special hip-gun, and three 2-slot missile hardpoints (one in each side torso and one in a special slot on the left leg).

With so many slots and around 40 tons of default space to work with, it is no wonder that the Atlas can pack as much firepower as it does. This mech is capable of mounting every weapon system in the game with the exception of four (Heavy Rockets, Rail Gun, LRM20+Artemis, and the various Arrow IV systems).


As a note for those few who have not piloted the Atlas at all or very much, remember that it is a 100 ton assault when handling the controls. It is not the fastest or the most nimble mech available. Here is a fairly accurate analogy for those football fans out there: While some mechs might handle like Reggie Bush, able to start, stop, or change directions on a dime, the Atlas handles more like Jerome Bettis…not as fast as its competition and not able to turn all that fast, but more than capable of plowing ahead and staying upright. 

Tactical Analysis:

While the Atlas may not be able to mount as many large weapon systems as the Awesome, Hauptman, or Gladiator, it is still capable of mounting powerful and diverse loadouts to handle many different situations. There are very few maps or situations where there isn’t a spot that an Atlas could potentially fill.

One role that this chassis has proven itself capable as is a long-range sniper and direct fire-support mech. The ability to mount BAP, ECM, and IFF Jammer makes this mech an ideal long ranged dealer of death. With its variety of weapon slots, the Atlas is more than capable of staying at the edge of visual range, hiding with its electronics, and pouring in missile fire or using direct fire weapons like UAC2s, RAC2s, or Light Gauss. Use of this chassis for those purposes has been proven time and again on maps such as Alpine or Defiance where the ability to stay hidden or stay back and pour in fire has tipped the scales on numerous occasions.

Another job that the Atlas is typically given is that of a direct combatant armed with medium to longer range weapons. This is more of a standard for Atlas configurations…seeing pilots choose this chassis and stock up on PPCs, Large Lasers, MRM/LRM missiles, or even mounting Gauss, Heavy Gauss, or cUAC10s is fairly commonplace. It is at this position that the Atlas generally has its greatest versatility and flexibility in the selection of ranges and weapons, because many times an Atlas can come looming out of the distance and unleash some surprise that the pilot has snuck into his or her arsenal.

A sometimes overlooked role that the Atlas is well stocked for is that of a Brawler. Many may think this mech too large, too slow, or too poorly equipped as a brawler, but this author has personally piloted and seen many powerful and truly effective close range Atlases. While not able to mount more than a single LBX20 or UAC/AC20, the Atlas is able to mount up to 3 LBX or UAC10s and its plethora of beam and missile slots makes this mech unbelievably lethal inside 250-300 meters. “Why would anyone want to take an Atlas as a brawler?” You may ask, well here’s why. As mentioned already, one of the highest armor counts in the game is guaranteed to make sure you live long enough to put down almost any mech and make sure they know you are lurking around. Electronics can hide you long enough to get very close before anyone realizes you are around, especially in an urban environment; and the surprise burst of speed that the Atlas can mount for a few small tons will be more than enough to startle most opponents.

Conclusion:

The Atlas, though old, is still a valuable and powerful mech to have on the battlefield. Bringing one into combat can make you feel like you yourself are the Titan Atlas as you tower over targets and plod through the death and destruction around you. This tough and strong Jerome Bettis of Battlemechs is sure to help you, or your team, plow its way forward for success and glory.