443 replies to this topic

[Skaroth]

I love my Fang. 1 Gauss, 1 SRM 6, and 3 med lasers, with an xl 335. Does 99.5 with speed tweak and has a versatile damage role at all ranges. Brilliant flanker and wicked support for assault mechs. I can chase and kill lights, run to cap if need be or roll in the brawl. This mech is the Jack of all trades mech and I love the versatility.

I realize the flame is supposed to be 'better' but I really like the gauss in the arm and this build in general.

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...9e72ac086eb6a50

Edited by Skaroth, 24 March 2013 - 02:59 PM.

[Khobai]

Dragon is 100% viable now IMO since the missile nerf. Now its possible to design a Dragon that can actually compete against Centurion-As and Catapult-A1s.

[Korlandril]

The dragon isnt a bad mech, like any mech you just need to learn to utilize it properly. i personally like the 1c a lot. I had a srm 4, gaus and 4 medium lasers on it. Thats good firepower!!.

It had a 320 xl engine in it, with speed tweak it was going 95 km/h.
This was a great mech and I really enjoyed it a lot. It can brawl quite well, just rotate your torso consistently to spread that damage out and you wont get cored. The whole dragons get cored myth, isnt really valid once you learn the chassis. I found it can outfight mediums, and consistently out manouver anything heavier than it as well. You are part of a team right, utilize your team, and dont stand still!!!. Look for the opportunity's to use that speed to flank, to potentially run behind them and take out there LRM boats...that totally gives your team the chance to do better if the missile rain stops.

I personally pilot a flame, ( same loadout as the 1C ^). It is a great machine and on average it is relatively easy to get a couple kills and 500 damaga in a match.

It is a mech that can compete with anything else out there really, and it the right hands is a mixture of speed and forepower than its actually quite unique. No, it is not an easy mech to pilot, or an easy mech to brawl with. But if you can learn how to use them...they can really scew anything up pretty quickly.

[FarEYE]

At one point while pugging I could not loose with my Fang. 400+ damage games every time. At this same time I could not get a win for me at all with anything else. I just kept getting caught and being unable to get away. I swear my dragons walk into some ugly situations, then somehow circle out of it, only to came back around and clean up on everyone my team is now engaging.

I can't get Flame to really kill, yet I still can't loose with Fang!

[ParasiteX]

Hope this will shut everyone up about the Dragon being terrible. Currently on the heavy tournament the 2 top players are Dragon pilots.
In fact. Dragon players hold 5 spots in the top 15 position. More than the rest of the heavy classes.

[Mavairo]

ParasiteX, on 25 March 2013 - 07:50 AM, said:

Hope this will shut everyone up about the Dragon being terrible. Currently on the heavy tournament the 2 top players are Dragon pilots.
In fact. Dragon players hold 5 spots in the top 15 position. More than the rest of the heavy classes.

They'll just go right back into denial mode and blame the mech for their short comings.

[Grayseven]

As I said in this post, the Dragon is a jack of all trades and master of none.

I don't think it is a terrible mech, I simply believe that you have to play to its strengths to minimize its weaknesses. It is a fast heavy with versatile hard points that requires a style of piloting different from any other mech out there. It isn't great at any one thing but it's good at a few and in the hands of the right pilot the Dragon can be effective.

If anything, because it is often overlooked as a "weak" mech, it is frequently ignored by enemy mechs in favor of more "dangerous" targets. Just don't be the only mech visible to shoot at and you should be all right.

[armyof1]

ParasiteX, on 25 March 2013 - 07:50 AM, said:

Hope this will shut everyone up about the Dragon being terrible. Currently on the heavy tournament the 2 top players are Dragon pilots.
In fact. Dragon players hold 5 spots in the top 15 position. More than the rest of the heavy classes.

While I like the Dragon and feel people underestimate it because it has less firepower than other Heavies, this tournament of "syncdrop with a friend and tag/narc like a madman after shooting every opponent at least once" doesn't really say a lot about whether the Dragon is any good or not.

[LordBraxton]

Cyclonite, on 18 March 2013 - 09:46 AM, said:

Arm mounted ballistics are terrible and you can't mount any missile launchers that are worth a damn.

First point completely wrong

Second point spot on

Im waiting for the highlander just so I have an assault with arm ballistics

If you can aim NOTHING beats arm weapons

[CeeKay Boques]

armyof1, on 25 March 2013 - 08:26 AM, said:

While I like the Dragon and feel people underestimate it because it has less firepower than other Heavies, this tournament of "syncdrop with a friend and tag/narc like a madman after shooting every opponent at least once" doesn't really say a lot about whether the Dragon is any good or not.

All mechs can syncdrop and tag/narc. This doesn't negate 5 of the top 15 are Dragons. Dragon is badass.

[armyof1]

Technoviking, on 25 March 2013 - 08:44 AM, said:

All mechs can syncdrop and tag/narc. This doesn't negate 5 of the top 15 are Dragons. Dragon is badass.

Well I think it has to do with the speed advantage of Dragons, so you can get around to tag, shoot at all opponents and get away easier. Frankly I was surprised it wasn't a Dragon up top for a majority of this contest.

Edited by armyof1, 25 March 2013 - 08:50 AM.

[SilentWolff]

The Dragon 1C is one of the best mechs in the game. If you think Dragons suck, you are definately doin it wrong.

[Valrin]

SilentWolff, on 25 March 2013 - 08:47 AM, said:

The Dragon 1C is one of the best mechs in the game. If you think Dragons suck, you are definately doin it wrong.

Agreed. Seeing as how players who played Dragons posted the 1st, 2nd, and 4th highest scores during the heavy tournament(I assume these are final numbers). In any case, if you suck in a Dragon.. it isn't the mech. It's you.

[MeatForBrains]

The dragon's role is to move in and out of cover quickly, but it's design doesn't let it do this well.
Pros:

- Big engine lets it move quickly. Only viable if you use an XL engine, which severely limits it's survivability.
- Laser mounts are really wide, and low, which means if you don't get WAY out of cover you can only shoot with one arm, and even then you will probably hit a tiny hill in front of you.
- The Big NOSE lets you git the front CT in a 180 degree arc. The only way to not let the nose get hit is to expose your back.
- You can fit an AC20, a STD300, 4 medium lasers, and an SRM 6, if you buy a FLAME but you'll most likely get cored before 300 damage dealt if you make one mistake. (plus it's bright red)
- The missiles are on the nose instead of the LT or RT, and you only have 4 missile tubes.

[BLUPRNT]

Got Fang and Flame over the weekend and after a few matches had some thoughts on this as well. They seemed to get cored easily.
I realize each time I run a new mech it takes a bit to become efficient with it, which is why we level them up through pilot trees until we become masters.
But I gotta admit I'm a bit dissapointed and in the future will pay attention more to the shape of mech.
Still very fun to run as you get to play with all weapon types (as few mechs allow) and at a faster pace but it just can't seem to take much of a beating as much as the rest of the heavies.

[Gevurah]

MeatForBrains, on 25 March 2013 - 09:50 AM, said:

The dragon's role is to move in and out of cover quickly, but it's design doesn't let it do this well.
Pros:

- Big engine lets it move quickly. Only viable if you use an XL engine, which severely limits it's survivability.
- Laser mounts are really wide, and low, which means if you don't get WAY out of cover you can only shoot with one arm, and even then you will probably hit a tiny hill in front of you.
- The Big NOSE lets you git the front CT in a 180 degree arc. The only way to not let the nose get hit is to expose your back.
- You can fit an AC20, a STD300, 4 medium lasers, and an SRM 6, if you buy a FLAME but you'll most likely get cored before 300 damage dealt if you make one mistake. (plus it's bright red)
- The missiles are on the nose instead of the LT or RT, and you only have 4 missile tubes.

The XL engine isn't a problem in most cases since your main CT will take the brunt of your punishment. This ends up being a net advantage since you can carry more weapons without worry of a cheap 'Left/Right' torso kill. Unless you're in the flame. While I like the gauss on that, it simply is too much of a liability. Even still using the 4ML(well 3+TAG for the tournament >_>), 1srm6 and 1 gauss build I got to 17th pretty easy on the first night. Dying happens from CT kills on your dragon. This is why it's an excellent 'stand off range' brawler. Up close it loses to Jagers due to superior ballistic slots in MOST cases on jagers/phracts.



As such, I run 60/20 (60 front, 20 rear) armor for the CT on all my dragons. Note: I peaked at 7th, ended up tied for 15ths in dragons this recent tournament EDIT: so I'm kind of sure I know what I'm doing. I was using the Flame and the 5N exclusively. This allows you to absorb a LOT more damage than usual. Realize your mechs weaknesses and use them to your advantage. Your high speed in a dragon will usually prevent someone from getting behind you. 85-105 KPH is the norm in a good dragon build and it's totally worth it. Run like the dickens, hit hard, fire from cover. Use your arms to fire out from cover without exposing your torso. It's really simple. Even more simple on the flame with it's very high chest-mounted ballistic slot. Firing from cover in that is simple as heck.

Most dragons have 10 tubes in the nose. Some have 5. Given I don't run LRM's, it's not even a consideration for me. SRMs or bust.

That said, it's a preference thing. It has some disadvantages sure but they're mostly mitigated by play style.

Edited by Gevurah, 25 March 2013 - 10:08 AM.

[Tallon J]

I've been here since CB and piloted the "trash chasis" and well i got good at it .Getting 1000 dmg everyother game and a ridiculous amount of kills. You just have to know what your doing with what build you have, because a "brawler" Dragon isn't a brawler but a close range fire support and heavy flanker.


Sincerely-
Tallon J

P.S. Don't stop moving either...

Edited by Tallon J, 25 March 2013 - 10:21 AM.

[Mister Blastman]

Dragons aren't nearly as bad as people say they are.

They're a damn fine mech. The problem is they require a lot of skill to pilot well since they can't rely on high alpha single shots.

Maybe now people will give them more respect.

Edited by Mister Blastman, 25 March 2013 - 10:26 AM.

[Tallon J]

Quote

[color=#A4A4A4]Posted [/color]Today, 07:26 PM[color=#959595]
Dragons aren't nearly as bad as people say they are.

They're a damn fine mech. The problem is they require a lot of skill to pilot well since they can't rely on high alpha single shots.

Maybe now people will give them more respect. [/color]

Edited by Mister Blastman, Today, 07:26 PM.

So true ... it was pain learning to pilot it back in CB.

[Desist]

Made 5th in Dragons and 9th overall.

Confirmed. The Dragon is pretty good at getting up close and tagging stuff.

My favorite Dragon is the 1N, but for the tournament I was wishing I was playing the 1C. Those laser slots on the 1N are too valuable for me to have to put a tag into it. The missile nerf also hurt the 1N, but the version I normally run doesn't care too much. I know for a fact the top guy/guys were piloting 1Cs.

I don't think the tournament highlights the usefulness of the Dragon compared to other heavies. No Dragon pilot is going to put tag on their mech unless maybe they're running LRMs, but even then, I just haven't seen it. Dragons are good and can hold their own though. You just have to play them different from the other heavies.

XL engines aren't that much of a problem. I'd say having a big center torso is more of a problem, because dual AC/20, 4 PPC, and standard poptart builds core you pretty quick and speed isn't gonna make your center torso smaller.

I was actually surprised that Cataphracts didn't score higher. It seems like all of them quit like a day before the tournament ended. I was playing my dragon sortof like a poptart a decent bit of the time and I was thinking to myself that it'd be hella easier if I had an additional PPC and jumpjets. With the nerf to missiles, speed isn't even quite as useful as it was. You don't even need to run from splatcats because you can just core them/headshot them before they can kill you.

Edited by Desist, 25 March 2013 - 10:38 AM.