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The Dragon?


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#1 Bigbacon

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Posted 08 July 2014 - 09:23 AM

SO...does any one actually use this mech? I didn't even know it existed until yesterday and only because I was in Crimson Straight in the testing grounds.

i had a total WTF mech is that when I saw it.

the variants seem kinda bleh in the weapon hardpoint department but was just curious.

#2 Firemage

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Posted 08 July 2014 - 09:29 AM

The Dragon was the 2nd heavy to come out during beta. I used them quite a bit before the Phoenix pack gave me the thunderbolt. Before the gauss charge nerf, you'd often see people using gauss and the dragon's mobility to get into good shooting angles. Before the hit box changes they used to be really good for XL engines, they still have harder to hit sides but not as hard as before.

When we had knockdown, due to their shape weight speed and low center of gravity we had the advent of dragon bowling where you'd see dragons knocking down other mechs and then team mates shooting them before they could stand again.

I still take my mastered dragons out for a spin here and there but largely stick with the Thunderbolt or my new Timber Wolves.

#3 GunnyKintaro 01

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Posted 08 July 2014 - 09:32 AM

Love my dragon's

#4 Bigbacon

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Posted 08 July 2014 - 09:37 AM

i've just NEVER seen one used which is why I asked.

Kind of intrigued now

#5 Modo44

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Posted 08 July 2014 - 09:38 AM

I love my Flame. It is a lot of fun, and can be deadly if you play carefully. That being said, it is generally worse than most mechs around its tonnage, especially the 55 ton mediums. The lack of jump jets, huge CT and limited torso slots all hurt it pretty badly. This is a mech for advanced players, masochists, or noobies who do not know better (like me a year ago :P ).

#6 Xeno Phalcon

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Posted 08 July 2014 - 09:42 AM

Dragons desperately need a tummy tuck, their massive CT strongly counters its speed and in this day and age of clan mechs its a walking tomb. (Not to mention all the SRM boat mediums who could probably hit nothing but CT the moment the dragon pilot turns in their direction)

#7 Koniving

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Posted 08 July 2014 - 09:43 AM

View PostBigbacon, on 08 July 2014 - 09:23 AM, said:

SO...does any one actually use this mech? I didn't even know it existed until yesterday and only because I was in Crimson Straight in the testing grounds.

i had a total WTF mech is that when I saw it.

the variants seem kinda bleh in the weapon hardpoint department but was just curious.

I own them all.
The hardpoints are fairly limited and generally favor the arms. People don't like it because akin to Clan mechs, it has a particularly large center torso. Compared to some Clan mechs however it's a bit harder to hit.

In the tabletop where stock means something, it's got incredible armor that rivals a stalker (mainly the Dragon 1C) and some of the top notch armor of 60 ton battlemechs. In tabletop, a single Dragon 1C could stand up to 8 Shadowhawk 2D2s and lay waste to 4 of them before taking any meaningful damage in a stand-still shoot 'em up.

In MWO... stock armor means nothing, so it's horrifically gimped as a result with its greatest trait robbed from it.

In return? It gets pretty much nothing. But slap in an XL 340 engine, some streaks and some arm mounted weapons and you have an incredible mech.

Here's 4 vids in random order.
(This vid takes a little while to get to the action due to some round about precautions in a trial mech, skip to about 4:30).

(The rest of these should get to action fairly quickly).





Edited by Koniving, 08 July 2014 - 10:22 AM.


#8 Koniving

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Posted 08 July 2014 - 10:31 AM

View PostFiremage, on 08 July 2014 - 09:29 AM, said:

When we had knockdown, due to their shape weight speed and low center of gravity we had the advent of dragon bowling where you'd see dragons knocking down other mechs and then team mates shooting them before they could stand again.

Actually based on a line in Sarna, PGI simply gave Dragons the ramming power of an 80 ton Awesome... but considering how most Dragons are faster than Awesomes... the only thing that could compete is an Awesome going 81+ kph.

"A close assault 'Mech, its versatile design allows it to be used in both offensive and defensive operations. It boasts above-average firepower and plenty of ammunition for extended combat, while a Vlar 300 fusion engine gives it a faster-than-normal top speed. Armor coverage for the Dragon's ten tons is thick around the torso, and especially the rear, for when it is surrounded by opponents, while the squat design gives it a smaller profile and makes it harder to knock over."

By squat, they meant the Dragon was supposed to be an especially short mech, maybe 9 meters in comparison to the actual height scale, so in actuality it would barely be taller than a Hunchback (which in MWO is 10 to 10.5 meters, but in BattleTech is 8.5 meters; ironically a Commando is roughly 8.4 meters in BT, but about 7 meters in MWO).

A much smaller height would have made up for its long belly.

The Cauldron Born is another squat mech; actual concept art depicts it as barely two to less than three stories tall (6 to 8 meters) with a body that is Stalker length, and thicker than a Catapult. Companies other than FASA who took over the BT franchise have since made the Cauldron Born considerably larger. One might note that these extra heights also include a pelvis and torso twist; two things the Cauldron Born did not have.

Despite the official size charts, Fireflies are 30 ton lights that are depicted frequently as less than 2 stories tall (6 meters or less) though if the MW3 version was straightened out with the nose of the torso raised toward the sky they would be about 9 meters tall.

Edited by Koniving, 08 July 2014 - 10:37 AM.


#9 Tim East

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Posted 08 July 2014 - 01:33 PM

I loved my Dragon back in the day. I keep telling myself I'm going to get one again, and then I keep putting it off for more light mechs and trinkets for them.

#10 BOWMANGR

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Posted 09 July 2014 - 02:26 PM

My favorite mechs are the Dragons. Mainly the 1C. It's the only Heavy I pilot. I also have the Catapults but I don't use them anymore. So Dragon.

You need to clock many MANY hours piloting a Dragon to learn to use it effectively but if you do learn its tricks then you can seriously wreck some unaware "pros". Especially those who chase you around thinking that they can get an easy kill fast before getting back into the 'real' fight. Those guys are fun. :P

P.S. It also feels good to be the unique mech on the battlefield. 29 out of 30 matches I'm the only Dragon around. Good times.

Edited by BOWMANGR, 09 July 2014 - 02:28 PM.


#11 Cranial Enigma

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Posted 09 July 2014 - 04:42 PM

The Dragon has to be one of my favorite looking mechs, and since I perfer to use fast mechs the Dragon fits that role pretty well. My DRG-5N runs 2 Large pulse lasers, 3 machine guns, goes 106.9, and runs cool. One of my favorites, besides the huge center torso that makes it die pretty fast At least it means that XL engines are a good choice for Dragon pilots.

#12 Angel of Annihilation

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Posted 10 July 2014 - 10:52 AM

Used to love my Dragon. Initially it was a great combination of speed and agility and could mount and very effectively use a Gauss Rifle in a brawl for close range, precision, high damage shots. I used to be a head shotting king in this think. Get in close, do 15 damage to the head with a Gauss round then follow up with 2 MPLs to the head to finish him.

Then they nerfed the Gauss Rifle which made it useless to the Dragon and really reduced its effectiveness. Also new mechs came out that were much better suited to the role that the Dragon previously held. Finally due to these above reason and its extremely vulnerable CT which can be easily targeted and hit from half way behind the mech, the Dragon was rendered obsolete. Honestly they are just so ineffective there is no reason to bring one into a match unless you are just so skilled that you need a severe handicap just to make the game challenging.

Wish it wasn't the case, because unfortunately I own a Flame which happens to be the only cash purchase I have made that I truly regret.

#13 Bigbacon

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Posted 15 July 2014 - 03:48 PM

kinda of upset...I hate heavies and I bought one...

Can't stand those low slung arms like you can't hit anything unless you are totally exposed

#14 Keeshu

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Posted 15 July 2014 - 09:30 PM

When I'm done maxing out all the mechs masteries these are the mechs that have my attention:

Catapult - Some of my favorite memories in Mechwarrior Online were in the Catapult, especially when Splatcats were all the rage long ago. Favorite Inner Sphere design, Dragon is in 2nd place for favorite design
Jenner - 3rd favorite Inner Sphere design, and I love fast things with jumpjets. Though, I will need a better computer before I can play the Jenner and other lights effectively.
Mad Dog - It has a loadout I love, I worry constantly about whether it'll have the classic design or the MW4 design. I'm hoping for the classic design though so it will become my main mech. I looked through all the battlemechs on sarna, and the Mad Dog is still my #1 Favorite mech design (Osprey is #2, it's too slow for it's weight though)
Shadowcat - Fast jumpjetting mech based around using the Gauss Rifle and has medium laser backup, and it has my third favorite mech design in battletech.
Timber Wolf - A bigger, better Mad Dog, and is jumpjet capable. However, I don't like it's design anywhere near as much as Mad Dog, but it is still sexy. However, the fact that everyone uses it, and it's pretty much the "meta mech", it drives me away from it a bit.


The Dragon will definently get some use though. It made me a much better pilot.... until I used the Cataphract 4x to melt people. Though now the Dire Wolf will probably replace the Cataphract 4x for that now. I generally avoid such things since then though.
Playing the Dragon for me, is like trying to play the firemoth or elemental in Mechwarrior 2. You are horribly outclassed by everything, but with enough skill you can defeat anything. Afterall, it's dishonorable to bring absurdly powerful weapons to defeat someone of less skill than you.
Also, the dragon is what made me really appreciate the looks and hums of all the cockpits in MWO. Dragon has one of my favorite cockpit hums in the game, and I love seeing that massive nose.

#15 Quxudica

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Posted 16 July 2014 - 03:22 AM

View PostBigbacon, on 08 July 2014 - 09:37 AM, said:

i've just NEVER seen one used which is why I asked.

Kind of intrigued now


Dragons have always been pretty limited in their usefulness even at the best of times.The arm mounted Ballistic is extremely easy to tear off and they typically don't have great punch left once it's gone. I think the only time they truly shined as a chassis was during the knockdown exploits heyday, but there are other chassis that do what the dragon does but do it better. Even in early closed beta when there were very few mechs in the game I was never worried about seeing a Dragon.. they weren't exactly free kills, a good pilot can do well with one (though a good pilot can do well with almost anything), but they were never overly dangerous beyond the exploit. As a Light pilot at the time many times I'd just tear the arm off and then ignore a Dragon in favor of more dangerous platforms.

Edited by Quxudica, 16 July 2014 - 03:24 AM.


#16 Linolea

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Posted 16 July 2014 - 06:38 PM

Maybe it's because I like underdogs, and maybe it's because I played one a lot in MW2:Mercs... but I like the Dragon. I mastered every variant of it, even the pay ones. Becuase I like it. It's never a sure thing, and sometimes it isn't even the right thing. But it teaches you patience, restraint, and critical thinking. You have to strike at the right time in exactly the right place, and when you can do that it's actually pretty damn effective. But it's easy to get carried away, and you get smashed when you act reckless. So it's a fantastic mech to learn how to actually pilot with calculating patience. Plus it's a blast with a XL360 and speed tweek. people really do not expect it to move that fast.

I love my Timberwolf. Gobs of fun to play. But it makes me soft. So I still fire up my Flame frequently to remember that tactics really make a difference. Then my next dozen or so rounds in a Timberwolf are that much better.

FWIW, the Nova playstyle reminds me a lot of the Dragon. A lot more firepower obviously, but you have to be careful about when and where you pop out.

#17 Deathz Jester

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Posted 16 July 2014 - 07:09 PM

View PostKoniving, on 08 July 2014 - 10:31 AM, said:

Actually based on a line in Sarna, PGI simply gave Dragons the ramming power of an 80 ton Awesome... but considering how most Dragons are faster than Awesomes... the only thing that could compete is an Awesome going 81+ kph.

"A close assault 'Mech, its versatile design allows it to be used in both offensive and defensive operations. It boasts above-average firepower and plenty of ammunition for extended combat, while a Vlar 300 fusion engine gives it a faster-than-normal top speed. Armor coverage for the Dragon's ten tons is thick around the torso, and especially the rear, for when it is surrounded by opponents, while the squat design gives it a smaller profile and makes it harder to knock over."

By squat, they meant the Dragon was supposed to be an especially short mech, maybe 9 meters in comparison to the actual height scale, so in actuality it would barely be taller than a Hunchback (which in MWO is 10 to 10.5 meters, but in BattleTech is 8.5 meters; ironically a Commando is roughly 8.4 meters in BT, but about 7 meters in MWO).

A much smaller height would have made up for its long belly.

The Cauldron Born is another squat mech; actual concept art depicts it as barely two to less than three stories tall (6 to 8 meters) with a body that is Stalker length, and thicker than a Catapult. Companies other than FASA who took over the BT franchise have since made the Cauldron Born considerably larger. One might note that these extra heights also include a pelvis and torso twist; two things the Cauldron Born did not have.

Despite the official size charts, Fireflies are 30 ton lights that are depicted frequently as less than 2 stories tall (6 meters or less) though if the MW3 version was straightened out with the nose of the torso raised toward the sky they would be about 9 meters tall.




Also the "real" nova was short and stout, as it did not have a torso.

#18 Tim East

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Posted 16 July 2014 - 08:53 PM

Ah yes, I distinctly recall their twist in at least one game being something like 30 degrees and relying on jump jets for any kind of abrupt maneuver. Was that MW2?

#19 Tarriss Halcyon

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Posted 16 July 2014 - 09:16 PM

The Dragon is not a mech for novices, that much is certain. But it's one of the ones I own, and I still roll with regularly, thanks in part to the fact that I RNG which mech I use per kill, and I own just as many Dragons as I do Timber Wolves and Summoners - three. I don't even use the common logic of "XL is a must" - both of my hero Dragons run standard engines. My Flame is ER PPC, LPL & 2xML, while my Fang has an LB10X and three ML. Could they work well with XLs? More than likely they'd be more dangerous. Am I willing to upgrade them now? Eh... I'm used to the surprise factor of an enemy taking off my side torso, expecting an easy kill, only to be fragged by whatever weapons I have on the other half of my mech. I'm not saying that I'm discounting the idea, but it's not a priority.

Back in Closed Beta, I recall Dragon being a light hunter - Streaks, lasers and a large engine to chase down lights. Considering it's stock speed is identical to a stock Raven (IIRC, at least, I refuse to use Raven), it did brilliantly in the role. Now, it's more of a highly mobile but land-locked sniper/skirmisher. Although, my Flame does kill a lot of Ravens still...

#20 Destructicus

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Posted 16 July 2014 - 09:27 PM

I used to love this mech and ran it with great success before the gauss had a charge.
After that I set it up on the shelf
It was one of my favorite mechs though when we didn't have much to choose from.





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