117 replies to this topic

[Cattra Kell]

The sound of orders being issued, heavy machinery operating, and tools such as welders and grinders echo through the large mechbay as techs hurry about to get their jobs done in a timely matter.

A short tech picks up a clipboard sitting on the table off to the side of mechbay number three. The clipboard contains a large stack of papers detailing all the work that needs to be done on the Quickdraw; which rests in the hanger, resting after a day of combat. Its hull scarred from the fighting.

Walking towards the front of the Quickdraw to get an idea where all of the members of his tech unit are working he feels like is someone beside him. Removing his sound canceling headset from on his head and letting it rest on his neck he look over his shoulder to see the familiar MechWarrior Ivy Upsalom standing there. She was already talking to him about something he was unable to hear before.

“Sorry Pilot Upsalom, could you please repeat that? I was unable to hear you due to these.” he taps the headphones, which allowed for communication between the techs as well as basic hearing protection for the loud environment with the clipboard.

“So do you think you can have forty-four back up and running in time?” Ivy asked him as they stand at the feet of her Quickdraw.

“For sure ma’am. Though I must say if you would stop going out of your way to pick fights with specific individuals we wouldn’t have as much work to do.”

The tech flips through a few pages of the clipboard hes holding. Over the years the tech had the pleasure to become good acquaintances with Ivy Upsalom when he was assigned to overlook the repairs for her battlemech. As such he could get away with saying some of the things he does to her that he couldn’t with some other pilots.

“So how far along are we anyways?” Upsalom queried, looking curiously at the clipboard that the tech holds. “Its not going to take too long is it? We have to go out again in a few days.”

“Hmm well the 240XL took a bit of minor damage but that is easy to repair. Ammo for the AC5’s and the torso mounted SRM6’s are being reloaded. The left arms AC5 is having its barrel replaced and the right arm AC5 is getting cleaned.” He flipped a page.

“Both lenses for the medium pulse lasers in the center torso are being replaced as well.”

“Overall not the worse shape you have brought forty four back in, but by far not the best.” The tech flicks through a few more pages. “At least this time there was no major damage to the internal frame, just a few things we have to weld back in place and after that its just replacing the ferro fibrous armor and making sure the jump jets still function properly.”

“I’m going to need your signature here...” He fingered one of the large red X's.

“and here...” Another...

“And finally, here.” He motioned to the final X. “Just the usual long winded tripe that explained what we were doing to your mech.”

She quickly signed the lines and returned the clipboard to him before turning to leave.

“Pilot Upsalom, if I may inquire. Why do you call him forty-four?” he gestures with his thumb to the Quickdraw which now has a few techs crawling on it. “I've always been curious about the name.”

“Its actually something pretty simple.” she says before turning around to face the tech.

“Back on old Terra there use to be a firearm called the gun that won the west. It was a .44 caliber repeating rifle and it was idolized by many. It was even used in the holovid’s at that time by great heroes and villains alike. Just like that gun, forty-four here will be the mech that will go down as the mech that helped raid the successor states, and just like those villainous ladykillers, I will be the one who uses forty-four effectively to make the best name for myself.” with that Ivy Upsalom continued her strides to the back of the mechbay where the lifts are located.

The tech stands for a minute before turning towards the Quickdraw and gives a bit of a smile as he places the headset back into its place atop his head and continues to monitor the progress of the repairs being made by his team.

Mech info:
Name: Quickdraw QKD-IV4
Cost: 4500 MC
Tonnage: 60
Engine: 240 XL
Top Speed: 64.8 kph (71.3 kph with speed tweak)
Armor (Ferro Fibrous):
Head: 18
Center Torso (F/R): 44/16
L/R Torso (F/R): 40/16
L/R Arms: 32
L/R Legs: 34
Internal Structure: Standard

Weapons & Equipment:
Left Arm: AC/5
Left Torso: SRM6, SRM Ammo, AC/5 Ammo, Jump Jet, Double Heat Sink
Center Torso: Medium Pulse Laser x2, 240XL Engine
Right Torso: SRM6, SRM Ammo, AC/5 Ammo, Jump Jet, Double Heat Sink
Right Arm: AC/5

Hardpoints:
Left Arm: 1 Ballistic
Left Torso: 1 Missile, 1 AMS
Center Torso: 2 Energy
Right Torso: 1 Missile
Right Arm: 1 Ballistic
Heat Sinks: 11 Double
Jump Jets: 2

Finally; Big thanks to Strum Wealh and all of the NGNG / MWO community for helping design this mech!

Edited by Egomane, 06 May 2014 - 12:25 AM.

[Butane9000]

Interesting. What about that hero Blackjack?

[Deathlike]

All I can say is the engine cap is what really ruins its potential than anything else. It amounts to suffering from "Slow Golden Boy Disease" and considering that 300XL is effectively a "mandatory minimum" on every 60 tonner, it will indirectly suffer because of it.

That and the lack of popularity of Quickdraws in general doesn't help its cause.... particularly scaling.

[thantos911]

yeah solid build but speed is king on the 60-65 tons that is too slow to get in and out fast enough to compete with the current meta of poptarting and lrm/direct focus damage. You want a direct striker and that does not offer enough front loaded damage ability to be a poptart contender either.

[Craig Steele]

Deathlike, on 05 May 2014 - 05:15 PM, said:

All I can say is the engine cap is what really ruins its potential than anything else. It amounts to suffering from "Slow Golden Boy Disease" and considering that 300XL is effectively a "mandatory minimum" on every 60 tonner, it will indirectly suffer because of it.

That and the lack of popularity of Quickdraws in general doesn't help its cause.... particularly scaling.

All you can say? Have you got nothing positive to say on it? Constructive criticism is all valuable and all but a bit of positive reinforcement for a job well done wouldn't go astray.

@OP, nice job, nice back story, I can see this in the NGNG cartoon with a cowboy hat. Quickdraw could certainly use a shot in the arm

[A banana in the tailpipe]

2 AC5 2 SRM6 2ML makes for a lovely medium mech.

[Deathlike]

Craig Steele, on 05 May 2014 - 05:27 PM, said:

All you can say? Have you got nothing positive to say on it? Constructive criticism is all valuable and all but a bit of positive reinforcement for a job well done wouldn't go astray.

I like Quickdraws despite their issues, but this variant doesn't solve actual problems with the mech.

1) Scaling makes the mech's hitboxes problematic. One of the natural things about the Quickdraw is that it gets legged often, as a result of lots of JJ use. This doesn't help when JJs are 1 ton, so that in itself can be somewhat problematic.

2) The mech hardpoints scream brawler. The Quickdraw other variants are OK for brawling but not necessarily optimal. Even if we debate whether or not it is a good or bad brawler, the lack of a "fair engine cap" will limit its potential. What you want is speed to capitalize loadouts that will generally use large ballistics (AC5, UAC5, AC10) and SRMs. Now it's possible that the missile tubes woulld be at least 10 tubes (Quickdraw-4H is used as a reference), but even then those builds actually lend to SRM/Streak boating.

3) I have actually thought many hero mechs were good/interesting on debut. The Ember was at the top of the list recently. You know a potentially good mech when you see it, but that's combined with experience (I've mastered all 3 Quickdraws). Judging from my experience, this mech will resemble something like the Pretty Baby in the sense that its potential cannot be realized as designed, so it does need some help in order to make it successful.

If there was something nice to say about it, I would have said it already. The fact that I passionately LIKE the mech is one thing, but I'm not BLIND to what it will end up being.

It is not a random event that the Quickdraw is not fielded very often. This will be self-evident until issues with the Quickdraw are corrected or at least an increased engine buff is instituted on the hero mech so that it doesn't suffer a sad fate.

[Livewyr]

What, no ECM?

Waste.

[Jun Watarase]

Its a cool idea but it doesnt work in MWO itself.

This is why :

-The quickdraw is too large, it is a 60 ton mech that is the size of the victor (80 tons). Not exaggerating : http://i.imgur.com/E5R9IUO.jpg

-Its supposed to be in the same league as mediums, but since its technically a heavy, you end up giving your opponent a ballistic boat jager/cataphract. Guess which is way more effective in the current meta? Same problem with the Dragon.

-Its just not fast enough. 64 kph, 60 tons of weapons/armor is just asking to die horribly. Not to mention its the same size of an Assault, so hitting it is not exactly hard. 240 base engine size will only mean you cant make it go very fast due to engine caps.

-The default loadout is terrible. 11 DHS for what is a very very hot loadout is asking for trouble. A good rule of thumb is if you want to brawl : Have at least 1.6 heat efficiency (After efficiencies) if you dont want to be constantly overheating.

-2 JJs. Thats only good enough for poptarting, not for the kind of fast mobile mech the Quickdraw is supposed to be.

-Multiple ballistic slots on a mech without the tonnage to mount them. Also another reason why the Dragon is terrible, but at least the ballistics are spread out in this one.

If it was me i would have at least dropped the SRMs entirely because, lets face it, you have two AC5s and two med lasers, you dont need SRMs at all and they will just make you overheat.

But you are not going to see many people use this after the initial "omg new mech!!!!" craze wears off. Quickdraws will just remain terrible until their problems are fixed.

Edit : JM6-A is still superior, barring the lack of jumpjets. Top mounted weapons is king, which the quickdraw does not have.

You can easily get 2 AC5s, 5 tons of ammo and 2 large lasers and still end up with 1.54 heat efficiency after efficiencies. And be slightly faster with a XL 250.

Edited by Jun Watarase, 05 May 2014 - 05:47 PM.

[Khobai]

too slow to be useful

[GizmoGecko]

Deathlike, on 05 May 2014 - 05:15 PM, said:

All I can say is the engine cap is what really ruins its potential than anything else. It amounts to suffering from "Slow Golden Boy Disease" and considering that 300XL is effectively a "mandatory minimum" on every 60 tonner, it will indirectly suffer because of it.

That and the lack of popularity of Quickdraws in general doesn't help its cause.... particularly scaling.

You want it faster than 86.1kph? Having lower actuators and arm-mounted ballistics and speed is all the Dragon has left, and this thing has jumpjets for crying out loud, which I'm not too happy about, but hey ho.

I'm nevertheless tempted, and I do declare what a wonderful camo that is, wish that was interchangeable.

[A banana in the tailpipe]

GizmoGecko, on 05 May 2014 - 05:47 PM, said:

I'm nevertheless tempted, and I do declare what a wonderful camo that is, wish that was interchangeable.

Personally I wish they would have gone with a "poison ivy" motif over wearing your guts on the outside.

[luxebo]

The one thing I'm a bit interested in is that while the slowness would restrict it greatly, it still has the capability of doing stuff like dual gauss or dual ac10s, which means quite the powerhouse here, even with the low mounted arm points, it has JJs to be changed out with. Overall, interesting hero mech in my opinion, even with the limited engine sizes.

[Deathlike]

GizmoGecko, on 05 May 2014 - 05:47 PM, said:

You want it faster than 86.1kph? Having lower actuators and arm-mounted ballistics and speed is all the Dragon has left, and this thing has jumpjets for crying out loud, which I'm not too happy about, but hey ho.

I'm nevertheless tempted, and I do declare what a wonderful camo that is, wish that was interchangeable.

Well, there's no 55 or 60 tonner with ballistic hardpoints in 2 sections. Only the Jagermech (JM6-A) comes close if you need to simulate something (it won't be with AC20s).

Making it go 89.1kph max (300XL) is not a bad thing. Right now, it's potentially crippled as is.

luxebo, on 05 May 2014 - 05:53 PM, said:

The one thing I'm a bit interested in is that while the slowness would restrict it greatly, it still has the capability of doing stuff like dual gauss or dual ac10s, which means quite the powerhouse here, even with the low mounted arm points, it has JJs to be changed out with. Overall, interesting hero mech in my opinion, even with the limited engine sizes.

I believe it will kinda struggle getting dual gauss on it (it'll be really slow, not that DHS is a concern). Compared to something like a Gaussjager, at least the Gaussjager can still run a Standard engine... . to run any semblance of tonnage at this point (even if you remove the JJs from the equation), you would actually have to run XL.

Edited by Deathlike, 05 May 2014 - 06:08 PM.

[Majorfatboy]

As a guy who's primary mech was a QD-5K for a long time, I'm not all the impressed with this one.

The low engine cap isn't the problem for Me. even if it had an engine cap all the way up at 400, considering how heavy ballistic weapons are, accounting for ammo, a couple of med lasers for backup, jump jets, endo, and even FF armor (If there's still room), you're probably not going to be able to squeeze anything bigger then a 295 or 300 engine in there, so a cap at 290 is fine.

My problem is two-fold:
1: "With a little compromise, the other guys do it better":
If I wanted a mech with these hard points with the intention of using all hard points, and was willing to give up jjs, I could get a Jager-A, or a Thunderbolt. Need the jets? Shadowhawk-5M can just about do this, with a bigger engine. If I needed jets and wasn't planning on using missiles, I could get a phract-3D. If I prioritized beams as My main weapon, The Jester, QD-5K, and hell, the Trebuchet-5J fill the roll nicely.

Combine this with the following:
2: "Real money, for this?"
If this was just another c-bill variant then sure, I'd slap down the c-bills as soon as the client was patched. I'd turn it into a grossly-over sized, jump-capable, left-handed (Like Me) Centurion and have some lulz in it. But to pay for it? Egads no!

So, basically this:

[SweetJackal]

Does this hero have the Itty Bitty Weapon Syndrome?

It looks like the ACs on the arms are the same size as the tiny ACs on the Thud.

[PanzerMagier]

PGI, I'd like to claim on my bet

[luxebo]

Deathlike, on 05 May 2014 - 06:07 PM, said:

I believe it will kinda struggle getting dual gauss on it (it'll be really slow, not that DHS is a concern). Compared to something like a Gaussjager, at least the Gaussjager can still run a Standard engine... . to run any semblance of tonnage at this point (even if you remove the JJs from the equation), you would actually have to run XL.

True, but the fact that you could put on dual gauss with JJs would make it quite the interesting fighter.

[Eddrick]

The Mech is tempting. But, I don't really like the camo pattern.

Same goes for Jester. Wish I knew for a fact if I could make the camo pattern not visible by painting the Mech all one color.

[Deathlike]

luxebo, on 05 May 2014 - 08:02 PM, said:

True, but the fact that you could put on dual gauss with JJs would make it quite the interesting fighter.

I dunno, what do you project it to be vs the AC40 Cicada?

Note that there are a few mechs that have 2 ballistic hardpoints in different sections (that can attempt to field "ludicrous loadouts") include the BJ (1 and 1DC), the Jager, and the Catapult-K2.(and the lol Cicada-3C). So... it's something to think about.