![]() Although lacking a cooling jacket and liable to overheat, the massive autocannon gives the Atlas the firepower to take on an entire 'Mech company. For close range combat the 'Mech is armed with a Defiance 'Mech Hunter Autocannon/20 in the right torso with two tons of ammo. Unable to fit a full twenty-tube system on the 'Mech, the FarFire instead launches the missiles in waves of five over the course of ten seconds and carries two tons of reloads for twelve such salvos. For long ranges, the 'Mech carries a FarFire Maxi-Rack LRM-20 in the left torso that allows it to both fire directly at an enemy target at long range, and to give indirect fire support when needed. The Atlas is armed with a multitude of weapons for both long and short range combat, all designed specifically to be as visible as possible so as to strike fear in the hearts of its enemies. ![]() ![]() Despite its age, well into the end of the thirty-first century there were no plans to replace the Atlas, and even the most cutting-edge designs will stop and pause when faced with the prospect of an Atlas bearing down on them. The Federated Commonwealth also briefly began production of their own model, the AS7-S, although following the civil war that line was discontinued and further variants have been introduced by the Lyran Alliance and Draconis Combine. The new AS7-K model was released in 3049, just in time to fight off the Clan Invasion. Most commanders were loath to tamper too much with such a successful 'Mech, but the recovery of the Helm Memory Core resulted in a number of ancient designs being updated with lostech, and the Atlas was no exception. These units were spread among the Successor States and Atlas factories on Al Na'ir, Hesperus II and Quentin would continue production of the 'Mech through the Succession Wars. After this conflict it was therefore with little surprise that the General wished for all of these 'Mechs to accompany him on Operation EXODUS, but ironically of those MechWarriors who refused his summons fully two-thirds were Atlas pilots. Though General Kerensky is well-known for being the one who kicked down the palace doors of the Usurper in his Orion, it was his close friend Aaron DeChavilier who, in his Atlas, weathered the storm of enemy fire and breached the protective wall surrounding the complex. The Atlas' first combat trials came during the Amaris Civil War, where it served an instrumental role as a powerful command vehicle. The mere sight of an Atlas had been known to make even a veteran MechWarrior break out in a cold sweat, and theoretically a single Atlas can take on and wipe out an entire battalion of Stingers in exchange for minor armor loss. With the largest amount of armor of nearly any 'Mech, crippling firepower, and the foreboding skull-shaped "Death's Head" cockpit/head assembly, the Atlas lived up to its reputation. Though the inexorable arming of the Great Houses continued, the Atlas proved itself to be everything General Kerensky requested. Designed with specifications from Aleksandr Kerensky himself in 2755 in the midst of the Cameron Edicts, the Atlas was originally intended to ensure SLDF superiority over the Star League member states. The Atlas is probably the best-known BattleMech to ever set foot on the modern battlefield. A 'Mech as powerful as possible, as impenetrable as possible, and as ugly and foreboding as conceivable, so that fear itself will be our ally.
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