67 replies to this topic

[Arcturious]

I've gotten all three variants into Elites and am working on masters now. I still find the 5N to be my favourite. Torso mounted hard points for lasers are wasted on me, probably because of the lag and having to be able to quickly adjust to lead and lag shoot the targets. The torso mounted weapons never hit and end up being a waste of tonnage.

I find I get good results when pugging using the more versatile builds designed for long engagements - LRM10's, Ac10 or Guass and med lasers for staying power (or LL if tonnage allows). The softening up and support you can provide with the LRM will allow you to stick with main group and suppress lights with the ML. The Gauss / Ac10 provides solid damage on the approach. Finally when you are out of ammo, the lasers can finish off all those exposed internals that should be all around you.

It's not my favourite build (that goes to brawler builds with SRM, LB10 and Pulse) but it is far more reliable and likely to be able to adapt to any situation. Of course this applies to pugging - if you drop with known lance mates then a more specialised build would obviously be better.

Edited by Arcturious, 13 November 2012 - 02:37 PM.

[Jasta]

Unfortunately the only thing 3 x Machine Guns is good for is making a hell of a noise - which is actually kind of funny when enemies focus fire on that fiendish chain gun of doom in your right arm rather than the 2 x Heavy Pulses in the left that are actually the only things doing any damage. I mean it's loud and shooty and bullets are going everywhere... it's gotta be dangerous right?

Sadly the reality is that even with three MG's... they do almost NO damage at all armor or no armor it doesn't matter. MG's need a buff and the 5N is the best reason for it. I still haven't really read anything on here that makes the 5N better than the other two options. What use is the third ballistic slot?

[Selfish]

Jasta, on 13 November 2012 - 08:36 PM, said:

Unfortunately the only thing 3 x Machine Guns is good for is making a hell of a noise - which is actually kind of funny when enemies focus fire on that fiendish chain gun of doom in your right arm rather than the 2 x Heavy Pulses in the left that are actually the only things doing any damage. I mean it's loud and shooty and bullets are going everywhere... it's gotta be dangerous right?

Sadly the reality is that even with three MG's... they do almost NO damage at all armor or no armor it doesn't matter. MG's need a buff and the 5N is the best reason for it. I still haven't really read anything on here that makes the 5N better than the other two options. What use is the third ballistic slot?

There really is no use for the third slot sans triple AC/2. The only strength the 5N has is if you want to have a build that houses 2 Energy and 2 Ballistics in the arms at the same time. It's the 5N's unique selling point. If you want 2 Energy and 1 Ballistic, or 1 Energy and 2 Ballistic, in the arms then the other variants are your best bet.

[Perkunas]

Selfish, on 13 November 2012 - 08:56 PM, said:

There really is no use for the third slot sans triple AC/2. The only strength the 5N has is if you want to have a build that houses 2 Energy and 2 Ballistics in the arms at the same time. It's the 5N's unique selling point. If you want 2 Energy and 1 Ballistic, or 1 Energy and 2 Ballistic, in the arms then the other variants are your best bet.

And what about triple AC/2? If I put 3 of them at the right hand and chain shoot them, will I have 6 shots per second? If so, isnt that awesome?

[prox]

Perkunas, on 14 November 2012 - 02:27 PM, said:

And what about triple AC/2? If I put 3 of them at the right hand and chain shoot them, will I have 6 shots per second? If so, isnt that awesome?

No, because losing your arm means you're out. Get a gauss instead.

[RealSteel1981]

Perkunas, on 14 November 2012 - 02:27 PM, said:

And what about triple AC/2? If I put 3 of them at the right hand and chain shoot them, will I have 6 shots per second? If so, isnt that awesome?

I tried this, three AC/2. In chainfire they don't Act Faster as 2 AC/2.
This is not effective.

2 AC/2 + AC/5 could be an option but ... tonnage ist critical even with 3 AC/2.
And putting all my firepower in one arm would be stupid.

It tried 2 AC/2 and a Machine Gun for distracting the Enemy constantly.

Grouped it with a Flamer in the other Arm so i got my meele distraction Tool.
Thats pure psycholgical Warfare.

[Mithos]

Perkunas, on 14 November 2012 - 02:27 PM, said:

And what about triple AC/2? If I put 3 of them at the right hand and chain shoot them, will I have 6 shots per second? If so, isnt that awesome?

RealSteel1981, on 14 November 2012 - 03:18 PM, said:

I tried this, three AC/2. In chainfire they don't Act Faster as 2 AC/2.
This is not effective.

Yeah, 'coz the 1st AC/2 cools down faster, than 2nd and 3d fires. The trick is to put 2 AC/2 in one weapon group, setted for chainfire, and put 3d in another group. Use 2 buttons to fire and you'll get your shiny 6 bolts per second.

[John MatriX82]

I really don't bother the triple ballistic mount. I throw a gauss, 1SRM4/6, ENDO, DHS and dual MPLAS with a fast engine (xl 300 or 325). Great and fast brawler, useful at long range support as well.

However I like 1N much more and I think 1C is still better than the 5N; the latter I'm planning to sell it asap once I've unlocked the master lvl for the 1N.

[MadPanda]

This topic still going on? Well, in that case I'll throw in the update how my Dragon-5N is doing.

My views on the dragon have changed that I see him as the "big brother" of light mechs. Keeping this ideology in mind, I've strapped him in with an XL 350 giving me the top speed of 94.5. The ballistic arm I have equipped with LBX10 and the laser arm with two large lasers. The torso has a single missile point so I put in a streak srm2 in that slot. I have 1 ton of ammo for streak and 3 ton of ammo for LBX10. I have also equipped endo steel structure AND ferro fibrious armor (you can fit both in with ease). The FF armor only gives you like 1.4 ton of free space, but hey since you aren't using the slots for anothing else it's a worthy pick up. I also have double heat sinks.

So overall this guy is pretty expensive and not really worth the investment, but if like me you already have him and have plenty of CB's then you can do these upgrades and he will be 'pretty good'. I play him like he is a light mech, darting in with my lasers blazing and going behind cover as fast as I showed up. Because of his great speed he is very suitable for chasing down light mechs and that's what I have mostly focused on.

[Merrick King]

If you're quick with unjamming, an Ultra-AC 5 plus an AC 2 actually makes a nasty combo. I broke 1k damage running that setup in Closed beta just because of the rate of fire. Still leaves some space for 2 MLAS and maybe some SRMs with Endosteel.

[New Day]

TheRealSkar, on 04 November 2012 - 11:56 AM, said:

Hi,
i have no dragon, so don't know if you can put two Ultra AC5 on it. But i have two of them in my Yen Lo Wang and most people just back off Heat generation is pretty low!
You need 10 Slots and 18 Tonns adding 5 Tonns of Ammo (125 Shots). Range and DPS is quite awsome, but you should aim quite well. Ah and they have 90m min range. To fit these in i needed to downgrade my engine

But im having lots off fun playing a support, and getting people switch in full reverse.

TheRealSkar, on 04 November 2012 - 11:56 AM, said:

Hi,
i have no dragon, so don't know if you can put two Ultra AC5 on it. But i have two of them in my Yen Lo Wang and most people just back off Heat generation is pretty low!
You need 10 Slots and 18 Tonns adding 5 Tonns of Ammo (125 Shots). Range and DPS is quite awsome, but you should aim quite well. Ah and they have 90m min range. To fit these in i needed to downgrade my engine

But im having lots off fun playing a support, and getting people switch in full reverse.

You have lower arm actuators on a dragon which take up 1 crit slot that you would need for double UAC5

[Maniakos]

Weeell i was pretty happy to finally buy an XL300 engine for my dragon 5N, it now have :

300XL engine
394 armor
12 shs (not even dhs yet no money)

2xLL
guass rifle

Endo steel and FF armor

Holy repair bills ! I I had a 103k repair bill on a loss and a 62k on a win .. ! This fancy stuff is pricey ! Not even dhs yet ! I lose money on losses unless im lucky to shut down because of the xl engine. I run free account but still ... Heavies and assault are premium only i guess

[Dewil]

Ferro-fibrous isn't very good. The weight savings are miniscule and the repair cost skyrockets!

[Mordegar]

Since i tend to avoid XL Engines like a plaque, i build my Dragons to be more like a Thunderbolt in terms of speed and downgrade the engine to a 240 standard with 64,6kph.
I love my 2 PPC, 2 MPulse Dragon 1C because of that. I can't count how often i survived with my PPC stills intact and the right side completly ripped off my mech.

Speed and lagshield is nice, but the survivablity of a standard engine can be the nail on the coffin for the enemy team sometimes and you can built a way better armed combat mech instead of the speedy harasser that goes boom once it got it's sidetorso ripped off.

Edit: I have built my 5N with a 240 Std., 2 LPL, 1 SRM 6+ 2 tons, 1 AMS+1ton and DHS+Endo and 17 DHS.
It kicks *** in a brawl and hurt lights alike.

Edited by Mordegar, 18 November 2012 - 05:25 PM.

[ElcomeSoft]

Rhaegal
DRG-5N

300XL
Endo Steel
Ferrofibrous
12 DHS

2 Large Lasers (arm mounted) (pair both LL's into one weapon group)
1 Gauss Rifle (4 tons stored in the torso, arm mounted)

Most rounds I do over 400 damage, even the losses. Last round I played with this build was a 5 kill, 2 assist, 1007 damage round on Caustic (yes, hot map, 12 DHS can cope with 2 LL's if you're cautious), where I headshot one Catapult (stood still), took out a Hunchback, abused my speed to split an Atlas and a Catapult so I could demolish the 2nd Catapult of the match and the last 2 enemies (me and a friendly Cat left) were both AS7-K's and combined use of my mobility and the accuracy of the weapons, I side cored them both. Sandwiched somewhere in there I removed the back of a Hunchback who decided to show me the openings I needed to open him up.

Please bear in mind that I always PUG, I have never teamed up since early CBT. This is the only Dragon variant I have used thus far so it is not Elite and it is not even 8/8 on the basic skills yet.

I run a Premium account at the moment. Despite this, I have analysed my income and removed the Premium Bonus (ty PGI for the breakdowns at the end of a match) and even with FF, Endo, Ammo, DHS and my XL engine... I would still make a profit in every match, of course making good profits if I survive and don't end up looking like swiss cheese,

Use your mobility to keep at range. If you're forced into a close range fight then use cover and twist your torso to spread the damage (yes, your arms get hit but with max Armour on them, you're safe and saving your more vulnerable CT). Light mechs are the bane of this build but really, 2 LL's lay down some decent hurt and of course, the occasional Gauss slug teaches them not to mess with you.

Ideal at ranges exceeding ~450m so you can lay down fire and Medium Lasers (a common choice) can't reach you at all. Fast enough to stay at range against many mechs and often agile enough to pop between cover, blast a gauss slug at someone and score a nice line across their torso with the lasers.

I love it but I know one of my BT friends does not like it one bit.

[Random Incarnate]

Most effective I've seen is triple AC2 with dual LL. I'd assume XL, IronChance uses it while singing as he drops 'Mechs...

[Elizander]

Maniakos, on 18 November 2012 - 10:38 AM, said:

Weeell i was pretty happy to finally buy an XL300 engine for my dragon 5N, it now have :

300XL engine
394 armor
12 shs (not even dhs yet no money)

2xLL
guass rifle

Endo steel and FF armor

Holy repair bills ! I I had a 103k repair bill on a loss and a 62k on a win .. ! This fancy stuff is pricey ! Not even dhs yet ! I lose money on losses unless im lucky to shut down because of the xl engine. I run free account but still ... Heavies and assault are premium only i guess

It's mostly the FF armor. I don't get that stuff on any of my mechs.

[Hellkyte]

3 AC2 build is the bomb. I run it as follows:

XL 280
DHS
Endosteel (may not need this I bought it on accident)
3 AC 2 w/ ~6-8 tons of ammo
2 medium lasers.

This thing cranks out absurd damage (12 dps from the ACs alone, on par with Atlas or Swayback). It can fire at very long ranges and is very fast allowing you to peek out, fire some rounds at a gauss cat and then duck back. Or you can use it as a mid range brawler, running around near your heavies and looking for rear arc shots. The medium lasers kind of feel like a waste since the AC 2s already generate sommich heat, and I've been trying to find a better alternative but so far I haven't. I can usually top 600 damage on a map no problem.

Also the knocking affect from these really should not be underestimated. In a general sense this build provides a degree of defensive bonus for your team from the missed shots due to knocking.

[pont]

I use nearly that same build, Hellkyte. (XL 300 instead). The 2xML are essential, actually. First of all, it always pays to have something a) that will still have ammo at the end of the game and to take potshots at light mechs without wasting your limited ammo. More significantly, however, is the psychological factor. If you have everything in your right arm, enemies will go out of their way to take out your right arm. Simply having something halfway respectable elsewhere results in your right arm getting focus-fired less.

[Maniakos]

oookay !

I was kinda bummed out to waste 2 ballistic slots while using a gauss ... but im now a believer of the triple ac2 !! I just tried my first game with it and scored about 450 dmg. I did run out of ammo and finished the game on the 2 med las. Now im packing more ammo and ready to go again.

Do you chain fire at all ? I just sick'd em with triple shots everytime.

And ya tks for the suggestion on dropping the FF. However by shaving off about 8 armor and FF you get a woopin 2 tons extra. Im at 14 shs and only 2 slots left tho.