MECH OF THE WEEK: AWS-** AWESOME
Apologies for the late MOTW.
Imagine our surprise to find that the venerable AWESOME, of all beasts, does not have an up-to-date MOTW entry with the previous article lost to the mists of time. ‘Tis truly a fate unbecoming for one of the most venerable, respected, and yes, awe-inspiring Mechs of Battletech history. Strap in therefore and prepare to be awed all over again; away we go!
The original Ye Olde
Awesome is the classic AWS-8Q we all know and love, and most if not all of us will be familiar with the basics. But forgive me as I dwell lovingly for a moment on this old warhorse of literal decades and fictional centuries past.
AWS-8Q Awesome, 2665 – Moving 3/5/-, covered with 15 tons of armour or 97% of maximum, the 8Q is a plodding slab of steel built with singular intent and purpose; to bring its 3 PPCs and 28 heat sinks to bear on the enemy. Mentioning the Small Laser is barely relevant, forget I ever said it.
To properly appreciate the magnitude of this monstrosity, one must look at its peers of the time. The 80-ton weight class in the halcyon days of 3025 comprises the
Victor,
Zeus, and a little later, the
Hatamoto-Chi. These all belong in the category of “fat heavies”, moving 4/6/x with trade-offs in armour (
Victor, Zeus) or weapons (
Hatamoto). Speed, armour, firepower, pick two; the former two Mechs mount 2/3rds the armour of the AWS-8Q, the latter 2/3rds the firepower, thus making the
Awesome the only “true assault” of the four at the cost of speed, naturally.
Because of this, the 8Q (and many
Awesome variants) relies on teamwork to keep enemies off its back, where it can only bring a single PPC to bear on a backstabber. This makes the 8Q a fire-support turret, a fullback in American football parlance, placed behind the brawler line to rain charged-particle death on the enemy. Incidentally this makes the AWS-8Q a decent company commander’s ride, its thick armour and long range weaponry keeping him out of danger while still being able to contribute significant fire to the fight.
Did I say thick armour? Yes I did, as the
Awesome’s protection is only half a ton shy of maximum. The layout is fairly bog-standard except for the Center Torso, which carries 30 points forrard and 19 points aft. This is less than optimal – I’d have preferred at least 5 points shifted front – and is carried on to all descendants of the
Awesome family, which rather puts a chink in the
Awesome’s, well, armour, come the era of Gauss Rifles and Clan ER PPCs.
For those of you who play in the Star League era or have a historical bent, Technicron Manufacturing of Savannah in the Free Worlds was commissioned by the Star League to build a successor to its STR-2C
Striker assault Mech, another 80-ton that joins the
Victor et al in being of the “oversized heavy” class of fast Assaults and with a diverse array of weapons. The Awesome debuted in 2665, the same year as the CGR-1A1
Charger, which must surely have shone a spotlight on the latter’s shortcomings… and Technicron’s legacy (and the fortunes of its directors) was thus secured for the next six centuries.
Notably, the 119th Heavy Assault Regiment, 162nd Mechanised Infantry Division, XLVI Corps of the SLDF possessed two full battalions of
Awesomes. Posted to the Taurian Concordat, the unit was destroyed during the Periphery Uprising, likely during the initial attack, and many of its
Awesomes apparently salvaged by Amaris’ forces.
AWS-8R Awesome, 2683 – I wish I didn’t have to do this, but I have to. The Free Worlds League constantly struggled even as early as the 27th Century in the twilight of the Star League to manufacture enough PPCs to supply its military. The AWS-8R was the result of this shortage, an attempt to make an LRM fire-support Mech out of a PPC direct-fire Mech, unfortunately without bothering to rework the
Awesome’s cooling systems as well. Yes, you see where I’m getting at. Keeping all 28 heat sinks intact, the 8R replaces the 3 PPCs with a Large Laser and two LRM-15 racks with a “generous” 8 salvoes of missiles each. This variant is ludicrously oversinked, especially given its limited ammo load and lack of backup weapons.
AWS-8T Awesome, 2815 – Over a century later, the 8T appeared to at least replace 5 heat sinks from the 8R with another Large Laser, though keeping everything else the same including the limited LRM supply. This variant actually makes some sense compared to the utterly bizarre 8R in that leaving out the second Large Laser every other turn balances the heat dial more or less perfectly. The 8T works reasonably well if one likes LRMs, and the Free Worlds League does, indeed, love their LRMs, but I say the true
Awesome purist should not deviate one inch from the true path of
Awesome-ness.
AWS-8V Awesome, 2980 – Based on the 8R, this
Awesome drops one LRM-15 to add a PPC, giving the Mech four different weapons (counting the Small Laser) with four different range bands for Mechwarrior and player to keep track of, yay. At least both tons of LRM ammo are retained, giving the LRM rack 16 shots. Using this Mech is IMHO a discreet way to announce one’s superiority at computing to-hit for a wide variety of weapons.
The general consensus as far as the pre-Helm Upgrade
Awesomes is clear – stick to the 8Q.
AWS-9M Awesome, 3049 – The first of the upgraded
Awesomes, the 9M is pretty decent. An XL engine pushes the 9M up to 4/6 to compete with other 80-ton Assaults at last, while yet leaving room for 20 double heat sinks, powering three ER PPCs and some desultory short-range weapons; two Streak SRM-2s, a Medium Pulse Laser and upgrading the customary Small Laser to a Small Pulse, all the better now post-Total Warfare for varminting infantry squads. Oh, and an extra half-ton of armour to bring the 9M up to maximum, just for kicks.
The one major downside is the location of the Streak ammo – unCASEd, in the left leg. Not really the best place – especially for those of us who get more than our fair share of leg crits – but considering the XL engine’s fragility, partial cover rules, and if you feel your luck is better than mine, it’s not the worst either. The heat curve is much the same as the 8Q, which must have been nice for old-timers switching to the new machine.
AWS-9Ma Awesome, 3051 – The advanced 9Ma is a Commander’s Edition of the 9M, dropping all the backup weapons except the three ER PPCs – reintroducing the Small Laser, but in the left arm – for a Command Console, a Guardian ECM Suite and 2 tons of Communications Equipment. Note that for Tac Ops ability purposes, the 9Ma is considered to have 3 tons total of Comms Equipment including the “free” ton given to Mechs. Not only does this mean the 9Ma can make Satellite Uplink checks, it can also switch to generating an additional ECCM field, or do that while the ECM Suite generates Ghost Targets.
I’m an admitted sucker for Mechs which can make use of Tac Ops rules and this is a better Command Mech than most – relatively fast, well-protected, equipped to deal with C3/C3i spotters, and possessing enough guns and gadgets to contribute materially to the battle and make life difficult for headhunters. Odds are on that critics of the 9M’s leg-mounted “ammo bomb” would gag for any excuse to take the 9Ma instead – how often can you say that for a Mech mounting a Command Console or Communications Equipment, never mind BOTH? Ten out of ten, would recommend.
AWS-9Q Awesome, 3057 – At last, we come to what many would consider the jewel of the AWS lineup, or, well, peak
Awesome as it were. The AWS-9Q applies those Helm Upgrades most intelligently; leaving the fragile XL engine behind to revert to a 3/5 movement profile and eschewing the high-heat ER PPCs for the standard models, carrying not two, not three, but FOUR of the bee-yoo-tiful things.
Coupled with enough double heat sinks (19!) to run and gun without immediately suffering adverse consequences, and a Guardian ECM just because, the 9Q is a throwback to the 8Q, with more gun and less heat. Who wouldn’t love it? The 9Q remains highly relevant all the way through the fires of the Jihad and is a must-have for any 3060s+ Free Worlds formation – do not leave home without it!
AWS-10KM Awesome, 3068 – The 10KM is a Jihad-tech variant of the 9Q, moving 3/5, but mounting a pair of Heavy PPCs and a Snubnose PPC – courtesy of a collaboration with the Draconis Combine – to give the 10KM the “head-capping” ability that many Mechwarriors desire and has long been denied to Mechs mounting all but the biggest ballistic weapons. The 10KM still pushes out a gross 40 points of damage at optimum ranges, still carries 18 double heat sinks and still mounts the Guardian ECM that makes swatting Toaster Worshipers so much easier on the battlefields of the Jihad, so what’s there to gripe about, you ask?
Well, it’s the Endo Steel, Compact Fusion Engine and Compact Gyro that was used to bring this about. On paper reducing the susceptibility of the 10KM to critical hits and making it even more of a zombie than
Awesomes usually are, IMHO the effect is rather much lessened by filling just 3 of 5 slots thus freed with a Double Heat Sink, and stuffing the rest of the frame with Endo Steel. The CFE is too heavy; an identical weapons config is achievable with standard components, and with judicious use of, say, Light Ferro-Fibrous, there are a couple other pieces of useful equipment that could have been mounted.
This rather tiny fly in the ointment notwithstanding, the 10KM does rightfully earn the title of the toughest Awesome to crack, perhaps a little more suited to mid-range brawling than its brothers.
AWS-11M Awesome, 3079 – Diving further down the Experimental rabbit hole, we come to XTRO Marik’s 11M
Awesome. The result of a failed attempt at an 11-series of late-Jihad
Awesomes, the 11M is built on the 8Q, save with a Compact Gyro (Standard Fusion Engine this time) and twenty Clan Double Heat Sinks. The 11M is armed with a total of eight Light PPCs, four with PPC Capacitors attached.
An important point to grasp is that Capacitored PPCs take 1 turn to charge, generating 5 heat, and fire on the next turn, generating 5 additional heat and damage. The PPC cannot fire and charge on the same turn. They also explode. This makes the 11M frankly an Assault-sized
Nova Prime, really unable to use all of its guns to full effect, only slow and prone to blowing itself up to boot. As such the 11M is really nothing more than a waste of precious Clan Double Heat Sinks. All four prototypes were explosively dismantled by the Robes… phew.
AWS-11R Awesome, 3133 – The Dark Age
Awesome hearkens all the way back to the missile-armed 8T/8R/8V with a smorgasbord of shiny new toys. The 11R runs 3/5(6) with the help of an XL Engine and Supercharger, and carries a Guardian ECM Suite powering 13 tons of Stealth Armour. A Light Gauss Rifle, Extended LRM-15 and LRM-15 make up the 11R’s primary battery, with the traditional head-mounted Small Laser upgraded to an ER Medium Laser as its only weapon without minimum range limitations. CASE II protects the Gauss and LRM ammo bins, and a Coolant Pod helps with the heat.
The 11R is pure fire-support, very much the 8V’s younger kid brother with the same eclectic range bands. I’ll leave someone else to comment on this since I don’t really have much to say about it – I’m sorry, I’m not going to break my brain deploying this thing even in Megamek - plus, refer again my comments on
Awesome purity. I mean, Gauss, for heaven's sake.
AWS-11V Awesome, 31?? – An AWS-11V exists supposedly based on the 11R, but save for a singularly non-descriptive mention in TRO 3150, nothing is known of this variant.
Custom VariantsAWS-8Q Awesome Barton – The commander of the 2nd MAC rides a very simple field mod
Awesome, replacing the superfluous Small Laser with half a ton more armour to max out the chassis.
AWS-8Q Awesome Smith – The
Awesome Smith comes from a brief mention in the original Field Manual Mercenaries, and simply replaces the three main guns with a pair of Clan ER PPCs and a Clan Ultra AC/5, presumably with two tons of ammo, and, markedly, no CASE.
AWS-8Q Awesome Buck – This 8Q custom runs 5/8 on an XL Fusion Engine, XL Gyro, and 16 double heat sinks, removing the Small Laser and replacing the standard armour with 13 tons of ferro-fibrous for a hair more protection. The XLFE is regrettable, but in the hands of a skilled pilot this turns a plodding turret into a cavalry Mech that continues the
Awesome family’s founding tradition of embarrassing the living hell out of
Charger pilots.
This mod is actually not bad, being able to truly alpha-strike with no heat worries, and compares well with vaunted "Clanbusters" like the
Falconer.
AWS-9Q Awesome Klatt, 3071 – This Jihad-era field mod is based on the personal ride of a Kell Hound and removes the Guardian ECM for a C3 Slave and to upgrade the Small Laser to a pulse model for anti-infantry work. In most other places I’d say this is an improvement, but in the Jihad? Against rampaging tech-worshiping fundamentalists connected more 24/7 than a Generation Z teenager? Come now, there are other, better ways to do this.
AWS-10KM Awesome Cameron, 3070 – The last Precentor Martial of the Word of Blake Militia, Cameron St. Jamais (unlike much of the WOB leadership) stuck to his guns and made his last stand on Terra as the Coalition closed around him, even duelling Devlin Stone in his custom 10KM.
Running 3/5 on a Standard Fusion Engine (see what I mean?), the Compact Gyro and Snubnose PPC is the only 10KM-standard equipment St. Jamais’s variant retains. Two sleeker Clan ER PPCs replace the Heavies – cooled by nineteen Clan Double Heat Sinks – a Targeting Computer and the de rigeur WOB C3i Computer adds to accuracy, and the Small Laser is even an ER model. The Fusion Engine, Compact Gyro and Cockpit are even Armoured, so each equipment slot can tank a critical hit before failing. Its still not really a match for Stone’s 20-ton-heavier
Atlas II custom, especially as the CT armour layout is not optimised, but the Tarcomp in Aimed Shot Mode might just help St. Jamais take advantage of existing battle damage… for an alternate universe… perhaps…
Notable PilotsIn addition to St. Jamais, none other than Adam Steiner piloted what appears to be an AWS-9Ma during the first Clan invasion. There’s even a propaganda holovid about it with pretty good holo-graphics that only appears blurry and low-resolution because of the poor fidelity of back-compatibility protocols with legacy 2-D display systems. Good choice for a unit commander – remember kids, information is ammunition!
MiniaturesThere’s a vast and delightful gallery of
Awesome minis in this thread which is a treat to flip through, kudos to all who contributed:
http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=56727.0;allFinal ThoughtsWithout as many variants as some Mechs which shall not be named, the
Awesomes in general are single-minded save for a couple of (heretical!) exceptions – pack as much PPC-throwing power as possible in as survivable a frame as possible. It’s hard to argue with a design philosophy like that. Really.
Naturally, I like the AWS-9Q best of all, the 10KM too with a little reservation, and at Intro-tech level the 8Q – and that’s really it. I've deployed the 8Q and 9Q often, the 10KM once or twice, and they've generally never failed me in pulling their weight every time. Though its not that these variants come free of flaws either. So if you’re so inclined, dig into Tac Ops and Int Ops and see if you can improve on near-perfection. I might suggest thoughts along the lines of Jump Jets, Light Fusion Engines and Radical Heat Sinks…
What do you think?