With its design guided by General Aleksandr Kerensky, the Atlas was built to be a powerful assault ’Mech for the SLDF. While it did not make use of cutting-edge components like some of its contemporaries, it was a rugged and powerful design.
When Kerensky left following the end of the Star League Civil War, the Atlas AS7-D proliferated throughout the Inner Sphere. MechWarriors from the SLDF brought their formidable ’Mechs into service for the Great Houses, mercenaries, and even Periphery nations. It remained a common sight throughout the Inner Sphere into the Republic era even though more modern variants had been produced. Even at the dawn of the ilClan era, the AS7-D can still be found serving in the militaries of the Periphery.
Read This First
- Advance towards your enemy and crush them when they are close
- At long ranges, you’ll be outgunned by many other designs
- For some reason, Kerensky didn’t mandate CASE in the AS7-D, so be wary of taking internal damage to either side torso
- Hold fire with the LRM at shorter ranges to preserve ammunition and control your heat levels
Atlas AS7-D
- Role: Juggernaut
- Tech Base: Inner Sphere (2755)
- Chassis: 100 tons
- Movement: 3/5
- Armor: 304
- Heat Sinks: 20 (20)
- Weapons:
- LRM 20 (ammo: 12)
- AC/20 (ammo: 10)
- SRM 6 (ammo: 15)
- Medium Laser × 4
- Design Quirks:
- Command ’Mech
- Distracting
- Improved Communications
- Battlefists
- Cost: 9,626,000 C-Bills
- Battle Value: 1,897
Mobility
The Atlas AS7-D moves with the speed expected from a 100-ton ’Mech. Its 3 walking MP and 5 running MP mean it will be slower than most other units on the battlefield. At a run in clear terrain, it can achieve a +2 target movement modifier, but in most cases it will be lucky to manage just a +1 modifier. Its limited hitting power at range though means that it will generally need to use what mobility it has to close with the enemy rather than finding favorable terrain to fire from.
Durability
The Atlas is a durable design. It has just shy of the maximum armor protection for a 100-ton chassis. It also uses a standard fusion engine which means it can survive the loss of a side torso and keep fighting. Under that armor though, its lack of CASE makes it more vulnerable than it could otherwise be. The right torso has 17% of its critical slots filled with explosive ammo, and the left torso is worse at 27%. Any of those slots taking a critical hit will destroy the entire ’Mech.
Weaponry
The AS7-D has a diverse armament. It carries an LRM 20 that allows it to engage targets at ranges up to 21 hexes. At just under half that range, the rest of its weapons come into play. The largest of these is an AC/20 that can put holes straight through the armor of many ’Mechs. That autocannon is supported by an SRM 6 and two medium lasers in the Atlas’s arms. Two more medium lasers protect its rear arc.
With most of its firepower not coming into play until targets are within 9 hexes, an AS7-D needs to get close to be effective. Ideally, it will be able to spend most of a battle at 6 hexes of range or less. Unfortunately, its speed doesn’t necessarily make that easy. Against a more mobile enemy or long-range snipers, an Atlas can easily be outgunned until it is finally able to get close enough to bring its might to bear.
With its largest weapons mounted in its torso, the Atlas needs to keep its enemies in front of it. The only weapons capable of firing to its sides or behind it are its medium lasers. Those lasers can be enough to deter light skirmishers, but aren’t going to be enough to threaten the Atlas’s heavy peers.
Most of the AS7-D’s weapons require ammunition. It can only fire its SRMs 15 times, its LRMs a dozen, and its autocannon 10 times. While that should last through most engagements, in a longer battle, a MechWarrior may need to be careful about which shots they take in order to have the endurance to last through the fight.
Heat Management
The AS7-D doesn’t have the heat sinks to stay cool when firing all of its weapons, so a MechWarrior should focus on firing their most effective weapons at a given range. It has 20 heat sinks, and its front-firing weapons produce 23 heat. Movement and the pair of rear-firing lasers can add 8 more heat. In practice though, a MechWarrior can run fairly cool by dropping the LRM 20 once targets are closer since the shorter-range weapons will be more efficient inside the minimum range of the LRMs.
Brawling
The Atlas AS7-D is dangerous in a brawl. It benefits from the Battlefists quirk, so it can throw fairly accurate punches for 10 damage each. That’s enough to break through the head armor of another ’Mech, and the only weapon that needs to be given up to throw a punch is a medium laser. Alternatively, the Atlas can kick for 20 damage which can be a great option if it catches a faster target in melee range since a hit that size can easily damage the internals of a leg and give a chance of scoring a critical hit that will slow down their opponent.
Other Capabilities
When playing with quirks, the Atlas gains several abilities. The biggest impact will come from Command ’Mech which improves the initiative of its force. Improved Communications gives it the ability to more easily establish a satellite uplink or ignore ghost targets. Finally, the Distracting quirk can make MechWarriors with the Demoralizer ability more effective or provide a bonus when using rules for morale.
Cost & Upkeep
Thanks to not using any advanced components, the Atlas is not as expensive as some of the other assault ’Mechs that were in use during the last decades of the Star League. It does require a steady supply of ammunition though.
When using the Warchest Point system, these are the expected costs for the Atlas AS7-D:
| Action | Cost |
| Purchase | 1,000 SP |
| Armor Repair | 100 SP |
| Structure Repair | 200 SP |
| Reload | 15-25 SP |
Miniature
There are plastic miniatures of the Atlas AS7-D included in both the Inner Sphere Direct Fire Lance and Hansen’s Roughriders Battle Lance force packs.
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