2
- First and foremost, make sure your trigger setup is firing your guns at FULL SPEED. This is the biggest problem with Dragon pilots that I've seen. Chain fire does not work well for AC2's, it robs them of most of their firing rate. There are MANY creative ways to set your triggers to circumvent this, so use one. When you have your triggers set properly you will be able to fire a round every 6th of a second, doing 12 damage per second which is pretty monster damage that you can sustain the entire match. Spoiler alert: you will need to use two or three triggers to do this. But, this is the bread and butter of the AC2 Dragon pilot and it's what makes it so you can go toe to toe with almost anything 1on1 and come out on top. Being absolutely tenacious when attacking is key, and the highest cycle rate possible is part of this.
- Make sure only 1 enemy can shoot you at a time, and shoot back at them. You have a giant center torso that is easy to hit. Luckily you can mitigate how well your opponent can aim, because you're rocking the **** out of their cockpit. But that only works on one target at a time, so juggle your targets by ducking between buildings, around walls, over hills, whatever it takes to make sure only 1 person is shooting at you at any given time. I've juggled 2 streak cats and a hunchback in a cave at once, and killed all three because of how I used the corners to make sure only 1 could see me at once. Sadly, I don't have a video of that. It's actually what made me get a recorder and started me recording every match after that.
- If the odds aren't in your favor, RUN AWAY! Tenacity is a key element to this mech, but not to the point of suicide. When you realize you can't get cover from the 3 enemies around you at the same time, turn tail and go somewhere else! You can move at 80-90kph with a 300XL engine (depending on your pilot trees). You can outrun a LOT of mechs, and can ditch most everything by running past a group of friends. Your pursuer will almost always change targets to the closer mech and when they shoot at your ally, chances are the ally will shoot back at them. Then you can introduce yourself back in to the situation, pick what you want to target, and rock out more damage.
- You want to (almost) always aim for the cockpit! You produce a steady stream of point-damage. 2 damage per round every 6th of a second. Always try to put them into people's cockpits, it is by far the fastest way to kill. Catapults and Awesomes are extremely susceptible to this. And when you miss you almost always tend to hit their center torso, which is a very good thing to do, because center coring is the second fastest way to kill. If a mech shuts down in front of you and you're not being shot at by anything else, STOP, and then zoom in and fire at their cockpit. It only takes about a little over a second and a half to core a mech's cockpit with AC2's. That is, conveniently, about how long they shut down for when they overheat. The only time I do not aim for cockpit is against Hunchbacks with a powerful hunch weapon, Dragons with a powerful arm weapon, and Centurions with a powerful arm weapon. First I take out that part, THEN I get to work on their faces. Of course there will be other times too, like when you come up to that streak cat who's ears are almost dead, and that Atlas who's right torso (with all his guns) has no more armor. But, make it a habit to zoom in on faces and punch them.
- When the missiles and hate fly in toward you, turn your torso so they hit your left side. Your right side is your gun side, protect it at ALL costs, because that's what makes you a raging monster on the field. If you lose your AC2's you're usefulness mostly expires with them. Also, use your left side to protect you when you run away from something, so that it's harder for them to hit your rear armor. And if your left side is getting cored and you're running away, don't be afraid to let the enemy have a few shots at your rear armor instead of your right side. Just make sure it's not going to get you cored!
- And, speaking of missiles, watch for those missile boats on the horizon! If you can see them (with or without heat vision) you can hit them! The AC2 round travels for over 2km before losing all damage potential! At 1000m they do about 1.5 damage, and at 1500 they still do 1 damage. Plus they shake the crap out of cockpits. So, every chance you get fire away at LRM boats on the horizon. You're probably never going to kill them like that but they will always take cover from you, giving your team a break from enemy missile volleys.
This first video demonstrates what a beast you can be damage-wise when only having to fight 1 enemy at a time and are left alone for most of the match. It also shows off the flanking ability of an AC2 Dragon.
The second video demonstrates some early scouting/LRM harassment that turns into brawling, evading, and target juggling.
Edited by Valder, 07 November 2012 - 08:01 PM.
