Mech design decisions that make no sense

[Colt Ward]

Ain't a bad design. A smidgen inefficient, but reasonable as long you aren't afraid of losing a bit mobility to heating up, something the design can afford to do.

It is ugly to be sure though. I'm gonna assume DI marketing department relies on stats and photoshopped images.

What photo-shopping will be required?  The shimmering waves of heat emanating off the Atlas is great to make the mech stand out from a blurry background.

[Empyrus]

What photo-shopping will be required?  The shimmering waves of heat emanating off the Atlas is great to make the mech stand out from a blurry background.

It has tiny main gun, terrible buck-teeth, feet that look like they belong to a WorkMech.

[Colt Ward]

Oh that . . .

[grimlock1]

Ain't a bad design. A smidgen inefficient, but reasonable as long you aren't afraid of losing a bit mobility to heating up, something the design can afford to do.

It is ugly to be sure though. I'm gonna assume DI marketing department relies on stats and photoshopped images.

The base 4/6 movement keeps it serviceable.  Kinda like a Marauder -3R, you just accept that you can get to the fight at 60 kph, but accept that you're going to spend most of the day stuck down at 3/5. Certainly better than the Atlas -K, where using both ER larges and ANYTHING else puts you down into Urbanmech speeds!

[Empyrus]

Oh that . . .

Seriously, what kind of self-respecting Lyran would buy something with that tiny gun?
(Once they have it, they ain't gonna complain because no self-respecting Lyran will admit it is tiny, nor would they demand refund because that would imply they made a bad deal.)

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

It doesn't have buck teeth, it has a hockey mask! (overheard at a Defiance Industries board meeting)

[grimlock1]

Oh that . . .

Wasn't there a Dark Age Atlas with horns or fangs for some other ridiculousness?

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

Yes, the original Atlas from the very first Dark Age set was covered in spikes and horns.  And tusks.  It was remarkably silly looking.

[Colt Ward]

Come on, I thought everyone loved the Darth Vader Atlas II?  I now cannot find the picture, or even remember the name, but someone did up a great Darth Vader using one of the MWDA Atlas IIRC.

[Empyrus]

The original Atlas looks good. Ugly but in good way.
Atlas II looks good too. Especially if Darth-Vaderized, i recall the pic.
I like Atlas III too, despite its hockey-goalie-esque looks.

But that DA Atlas (got turned into Atlas K2 for CBT) looks terrible.

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

Honestly, I prefer the K2 over the Atlas II's look.

[grimlock1]

Honestly, I prefer the K2 over the Atlas II's look.

Are we talking the CBT-K2 or the MWDA -K2?  The CBT -K2's waist and torso are a bit better proportioned. And the Atlas II does have a bit of a bug-eye thing going on.  But if you're talking about the MWDA version, then I think you and I will have to agree to disagree.  Either that or meet one morning on the quad with Nerf guns for two and coffee for... two. 
Didn't think that one all the way through...

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

I'm talking about the artwork from TRO 3085, not the spiky blob of a mini from Dark Age.

[Sartris]

Seriously, what kind of self-respecting Lyran would buy something with that tiny gun?

One of the few that isn’t compensating for other deficiencies ^-^

[Empyrus]

One of the few that isn’t compensating for other deficiencies ^-^

There are Lyrans who don't do that?

If there are, i'd assume they're the ones piloting Commandos or other light 'Mechs.

[Sartris]

Yeah the other ones get blitzkriegs

[Starfury]

I like the K-2. I just found it hilarious that every faction has access to it, just like various Wasp or Stinger variants.  I still don't see why intentionally capping theAtlas K to single heat sinks was needed given the horrors of the Clan Invasion like the Mad Cat, the Masakari, and the Dragonfly (ok maybe not so much on the last one.)

[Sartris]

LAW is the SAFE of manufacturing

[The_Caveman]

The single HS are less of a sin in my eyes than the XL engine. The Atlas is a machine designed to wade into Hell and come out the other side. You don't go making it extra fragile just to cram some bigger lasers in (especially when it can't afford to shoot them all that often).

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

The same thing happened with the Imp and Marauder II, as well.  Didn't make sense in any of them.

[Starfury]

Those were expansions the Dragoons put into gain more firepower so they could go fight the Clans, and have Blackwell prep for Star League and Clan tech production.  The Imp isn't too bad since it added in better ranged and close in capability, but the Marauder II is pretty bad. It's the same reason why the Annihilator became closer to its Star League era model, but forgot to put in DHS to add armor, which a defensive mech like the Annihilator needs.  I'm not a big fan of the real late Annihilator variants, especially the dual Improved Heavy Gauss, since it has no real back weaponry.

As a side note, I'm working on a homebrew update for the remaining Dark Age intro/secondary and primitive tech units to get some modern upgrades, as some of the Periphery States can't afford to have older assault mechs like the Ymir or the Marauder II-H around given the proliferation of tech across the galaxy.  The Devastaor 1-D that the Taurians have is the first one on my list.

[Kit deSummersville]

LAW is the SAFE of manufacturing

 ;D

[Luciora]

Actually, has TPTB actually commissioned a mech deliberately in canon to meet the topic at hand?  I do remember various writers telling us that for certain products, certain tech had to be used or excluded and weight limits placed on the mechs for fluff reasons.

[Kit deSummersville]

Actually, has TPTB actually commissioned a mech deliberately in canon to meet the topic at hand?

I wrote a whole XTRO of poor decisions.

[Luciora]

Hah, I love that TRO for a reason.

I wrote a whole XTRO of poor decisions.

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

I'm not a big fan of the real late Annihilator variants, especially the dual Improved Heavy Gauss, since it has no real back weaponry.

That variant was an experimental testbed for the iHGR.  It wasn't a production unit.

[SCC]

That variant was an experimental testbed for the iHGR.  It wasn't a production unit.

The problem is that most people will treat it as if is was a production unit and say it shouldn't ever go extinct, when really it should.

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

That's a problem with people, not with the design itself.

[grimlock1]

Something to add to the pile.  Mechs with two different melee weapons. Thankfully there aren't too many, just the Violator(Claw+mining drill), Cudgel(claw+mace) and Volkh(2 x lances).

Although for some reason, I keep thinking that a mech with 2 matched melee weapons can use them both.  So if that's not just a brain fart, then the Volkh is off this particular naughty list. Torso cockpit's +1 PSR may not affect your melee attack rolls but it will certainly be noticed when that Archer you just skewered responds with a page from the Kobra Kai playbook!

[Weirdo]

Although for some reason, I keep thinking that a mech with 2 matched melee weapons can use them both.

Only if the weapons are claws. Double punch is the only double melee attack allowed(barring SPAs or similar), and claws are not their own attack, they merely modify a punch.