54 replies to this topic

[Zervziel]

A fast assault. Ah the fun that could be had with that. One of the things I enjoyed about MW4 mercs. I could get an Awesome up to 90kph. Ran hot enough to count as a sauna, but damn if it wasn't worth it when the slower lights and medium realized the 80 tonner was keeping up.

[Elizander]

You might want to go 380XL instead of 400XL.

You can do a 380XL Pretty Baby with lasers and SRMs unless you want to push the 400XL version or a 380XL 9M. They all move pretty fast and have decent damage, but you're still gonna have to outmaneuver an Atlas if you want to win.

[Trauglodyte]

PB is just weird. You only have 2 heavy energy options, 2 4 tubes on the left arm (which is odd anyway), and 1 heavy missile on the RT. Doesnt' feel right.

[operator0]

Royalewithcheese, on 20 April 2013 - 12:49 PM, said:

The issue is that a 100+ kph Dragon is sacrificing a lot in terms of heat/loadout to be able to do that, and it's not exactly going to be dodging anything with those hitboxes.

I don't really want to make this a Dragon thread, but I have to reply.

The point isn't to dodge anything, the point is that you are able to keep yourself outside of the brawl. I use the speed to escape bad situations, and trust me, 104kph can extricate itself out of bad situations very well, thank you. Fortunately, the mech doesn't have medium armor, it has heavy armor. I run with 60 points of front CT armor. This allows the mech to take damage a medium could never take. The range of the 4 LL allows the mech to stand off and deal tremendous damage, almost as much as an AC40.

Here's some videos to demonstrate what I'm talking about.





Admittedly, the meta game has changed since then, but the Dragon is uniquely positioned to excel in the new game as well...at least in pug matches. It's speed gives it the ability to back cap while the 7 Highlanders on your team brawl it out with the 7 Highlanders on the other team. All you have to do is deal with the Trebuchet that comes back. I've won many games like this. Smaller maps are more of a wait and see approach.

What the OP wants, as it sounds to me, is the ability to have a fast mech that he can play as a striker. There are lots of mechs in the game that can carry out that mission, but he also would like it to be a hero mech for the Cbill farming properties. There's only four mechs that fit that description, and among them, the Flame is the one best suited for it. The PB is too slow and the side torso hit boxes are too easy to hit, the X5 doesn't really carry enough armor or firepower to do the job and the Fang has **** weapon hard points.

[GumbyC2C]

So here is the one I run regularly that I was talking about

Baby

Like I said, it was way better before the missile nerf. It can still be effective, just not as good as it was.

[Ialti]

So. To summarize, if you want your Hero boost and aren't too picky about which weight class you get, go for the flame. If you want your hero boost and a speedier assault class, go for the PB. If you want the assault class and Hero boost, but don't care too much about speed, go for the Heavy Metal.

Otherwise, buy a jager or highlander or a K2 or DDC. No Hero boost, but they're fun mechs in their own right.

[MonkeyCheese]

My 9m aws I am obsessed with

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...e880aa71ddf62e4
The 3 Large lasers give it some decent range for the larger maps
Moves at 85kph
51 alpha - I find it very good for ripping the arms off mediums while circling with them.
xl isnt really that much of a problem as most of the damage is always to the center torso.
Heat efficiency is 1.21 good on cold maps, but still manageable in the hotter ones.
I did run this with 2 srm4s in the center torso before the nerf.

Basically I treat it like a giant hunchback, you can do circles around the other 3 assaults but you are rarely going to win a 1 on 1 chargedown. I rarely lead the charges and always try to wait to strike from behind on distracted mechs with my 51 points of damage.

Its not going to be a godmode mech and works best in a coordinated team. Im not the best pilot but I have managed to get into the top 100 for the aws list for this solo torney (but thats all very random being a pug teams and I assume most aws this weekend are ppcs) but if you are up for the challenge the 9m can be a blast.


And yes if you want speed/firepower/armor/hero bonus go for the flame and stuff it with large lasers.

Edited by MonkeyCheese, 21 April 2013 - 01:07 AM.

[Ralgas]

MonkeyCheese, on 21 April 2013 - 01:03 AM, said:

And yes if you want speed/firepower/armor/hero bonus go for the flame and stuff it with large lasers.

I'd argue the illya/cataphract 3d would do better,

280xl
2 x gauss 5 ton ammo
3 x mlas

If you dont brawl it hits as hard as anything, will still do ok dmg outside of a ppc'ers max range and moves @70+km/h (with speed tweak)

[Murku]

In answering the OP's original 'what fast n big' query the best line so far has been the 'how' to play such a mech:

'Play it like a medium'.

Speed does not mean circle-jerking anymore, since HSR circle-jerking will get you killed weither you're in a Light at 150kph or an Awesome at 80. Speed means peek-a-boo skirmishing, lateral roll-forward-roll-backward sniping, and rapid repositioning for advantage.

Therefore any faster heavy/assault needs a fairly decent mid to long range alpha, ideally based on hard points that either close in height to the cockpit or mounted largely on a single side so the full mech outline need not be exposed.

100kph+: Flame 350Xl with 2 PPCs (both in 1 arm) and whatever current meta suggests,
90kph+: K2 or Jager DD,
90kph-: PB or HM

Edited by Murku, 21 April 2013 - 01:31 AM.

[Appogee]

Just wanted to say thanks for all the interesting responses.

I have to say I'm leaning to the Flame at this point. I looked at and mucked around with all the PB builds that have been suggested (thank you!).

When I think about the way I like to play - flank, do damage from medium distance, relocate fast when the heavies start slinging gauss and PPCs at me, but be able to fight off the lights that try to circle me - the Flame seems to offer more speed and hitting capability than the PB.

My only regret is that I can't seem to get an AC20 onto either a Flame or a PB. It would be so nice to be able to do that much damage in one hit when I pop out from behind cover

Edited by Appogee, 21 April 2013 - 01:35 AM.

[MonkeyCheese]

Ralgas, on 21 April 2013 - 01:18 AM, said:

I'd argue the illya/cataphract 3d would do better,

280xl
2 x gauss 5 ton ammo
3 x mlas

If you dont brawl it hits as hard as anything, will still do ok dmg outside of a ppc'ers max range and moves @70+km/h (with speed tweak)

Sounds good just depends if people prefer the 85kph of an aws or the106kph of a flame, they all have respectable weapon and armor possibilities.

Im still undecided, this build keeps tempting me http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=56&l=a63ef23dae85fae1ab250b57a68c6b3af7bd9a77

But 106.9kph would require me to buy and work on 2 other dragons. ='(

[SirLANsalot]

AWS-9M

Only going to get 6 ML out of it, but it dose have a STD 385....man those things are HEAVY.

AWS-9M

And here it is with the XL 385. (I do run this build personally, works very well since you CAN get behind other assaults and 5 ML there rear with a PPC.....Hint: They don't live long)

[MonkeyCheese]

SirLANsalot, on 21 April 2013 - 01:50 AM, said:

AWS-9M

Only going to get 6 ML out of it, but it dose have a STD 385....man those things are HEAVY.

AWS-9M

And here it is with the XL 385. (I do run this build personally, works very well since you CAN get behind other assaults and 5 ML there rear with a PPC.....Hint: They don't live long)

My god that non xl 9m just looks terrible.

[operator0]

Murku, on 21 April 2013 - 01:19 AM, said:

In answering the OP's original 'what fast n big' query the best line so far has been the 'how' to play such a mech:

'Play it like a medium'.

Speed does not mean circle-jerking anymore, since HSR circle-jerking will get you killed weither you're in a Light at 150kph or an Awesome at 80. Speed means peek-a-boo skirmishing, lateral roll-forward-roll-backward sniping, and rapid repositioning for advantage.

Therefore any faster heavy/assault needs a fairly decent mid to long range alpha, ideally based on hard points that either close in height to the cockpit or mounted largely on a single side so the full mech outline need not be exposed.

100kph+: Flame 350Xl with 2 PPCs (both in 1 arm) and whatever current meta suggests,
90kph+: K2 or Jager DD,
90kph-: PB or HM

Just an FYI; Neither the Jagger nor the Catapult can go faster than 86kph.

[Ashnod]

Clan Executioner