28 replies to this topic

[auniqueid]

Looking at the stats of the dragon, if you consider it more of a medium and not a heavy, it looks pretty impressive... it's faster and has more armor than a hunch and almost all cents....
If I treat it like a medium, is this a good first mech?

(I'm going to be stuck with stock for a while.. still only have about 1mil c-bills.)

[p4r4g0n]

Not sure if they have one for dragon in the Battlemech section of the Guides forum but did you check there?

[Oriius]

It has some issues, it's center torso is really big and easy to hit being one such issue. Honestly if ya wanna play as a med, i'd roll cent or hunchie.

Not to say it's bad though, ive seen well played ones rock the field! (had more than a few blow my face off) It just seems to me as if it doesn't quite have a niche of it's own yet.

Edited by Oriius, 16 November 2012 - 10:56 AM.

[Imagine Dragons]

The Dragon... is a rather tricky mech to fit out... especially for new players...

Mainly because the Dragon can't hold the heaviest weapons of the missile and the heaviest ballistic types. Where as the other medium mechs can.

All Dragons can hold all three of the weapon types.

It typically runs hot.

Basically it offers a lot choices at first glance. But can turn into a fustrating experience if its your first paid mech.

Edited by XenomorphZZ, 16 November 2012 - 10:57 AM.

[Locan Ravok]

I tried to start the game with the Dragon and found it difficult to play with. You can not boat a dragon and is difficult to manage 3 different weapon groups.

I would go first for a Hunch or a Catapult and only go for a Dragon once I got good with the game.

[Wrenchfarm]

I have a buddy who runs three Dragons to good effect. Tricky, but if you like the idea of moving a lot of armour quickly, it may be the mech for you.

I'm told they can fit XL-engines well. The huge centre torso of the Dragon is the first thing to get blasted anyway so the vulnerable sides are less of an issue. Slap one in and you can blaze around like a Raven. Although spending that much money to fit out a "maybe" mech might not be the wisest choice.

Gotta say, I'm a fan of the look if not the performance

[TG Spoonman]

I like my Dragon. I find it to be an effective brawler with the LB 10x, SRM 6, and some lasers, but it does run a little hot until you get DHS.I bound my third weapon group to my middle mouse button and that helped a lot.

[Selfish]

The Dragon is a good mech, but it's not for everyone. While its loadout and hardpoints appear impressive on paper, you will need to make many concessions to make any one build work. I'd recommend it as an 'advanced' chassis after you have a mech to solidly grind cbills with. It isn't that it's super hard to pilot or anything, but you need to think ahead when building/planning or you'll waste a lot of money. Also, in three days the Cataphract is entering the fray, so you'll be in a bracket that now has a mech that can blow your firepower out of the water. That could ruin a new player's experience.

If you do go for it, I'd recommend either the 1C or 1N. You'll also need money for the XL engine (300-350), and DHS+ES whenever possible. If you run a dragon in its stock form, you're not really going to "get" the chassis. It's underwhelming without speed, but can be quite formidable with it.

For the record, I have an absolute blast piloting the dragon. Wasn't expecting it at all.

[Herbert Daring Dashwood]

I run two dragons, both with LBX, SRM and laser setups.

you don't want to fight laserbacks, awesomes and Atlases, at least not fully armored ones, they outgun you, you want to chase kitties and the other hunchies, because you are walking death to them, when they implement crits properly builds like this will be off the hook.

[Eggs Mayhem]

As others have said, it's a difficult mech to use. The large CT pretty much prevents your from brawling, and its weapons pretty much require sustained fire to maximize their usefulness. For a first mech, I'd say go with a hunchback. No hunch has 3 weapon types, so there's not as much to think about and it makes learning the different weapon types easier.

I actually like stock dragons more so than any other type, and I've found that they excel against support fire mechs and lonely assaults. Best environment to use one in is in open terrain, using a sort of zig zag pattern as pictured:



Maximum speed on the straight sections, about half speed on the three sharp turns. You can face your target during the entire path (with the exception noted in the picture) meaning you can constantly hammer your target with LRMs and your AC, which is even more imperative with the dragon equipped with the AC/2 (i think 1N?). Takes a bit of practice to learn how to adjust your aim with your movement but it pays off nicely.

A very specific method to use it, but there you go. Russ said that he's loaded up a dragon for a sort of striker role, poor heat efficiency but lots of closer range firepower allow him to quickly get in, do damage, and back out. Also a bit tricky to use since you need to know when to commit and when to bail.

[Kurayami]

Dragon is not a very good choice for a "first mech" for starters dragon need much work and c-bills to put it up to level. and of course no matter what config you will use - dragon is a very challenging mech to pilot. so i suggesting to use something simpler for starters - maybe cent.

[Eisenhorne]

I pretty much exclusively pilot dragons, and almost always have the highest kills / damage done in pugs. The problem with the dragon is that it needs a LOT of work to make it a good mech, but once you put in the money, its easily my favorite.

Because it has a huge CT, an XL engine is perfect for it. Because it has so few weapons hardpoints, you'll have plenty of space left over, so Endo Steel and Double Heatsinks work perfectly with it.

But when you add those costs up... your looking at like 12 million C-Bills base, before adding in weapons.

[Thirdrail]

I would probably recommend that hunchback with the AC20 as a first mech for someone who wants to play fighty. If you're looking to zoom around, and still have some decent firepower and armour, the cicada is worth looking into.

[Redoxin]

I love this mech, by far my favorite. Often highest damage / most kills in PUGs.

But its true, you need to invest a lot of money into it to make it really good.
Hunchback is probably a better beginner mech as its more straightforward to use and has less different weapons usually.

[Tremendous Upside]

Redoxin, on 17 November 2012 - 04:27 PM, said:

I love this mech, by far my favorite. Often highest damage / most kills in PUGs.

But its true, you need to invest a lot of money into it to make it really good.
Hunchback is probably a better beginner mech as its more straightforward to use and has less different weapons usually.

HBK is DEFINITELY the better beginner mech. It's a lot cheaper - especially with the 4p. The DRG is a very solid mech when you outfit it right - but it'll never be cheap on repairs It's the kind of mech you want to run after you've earned some extra cash.

[Obadiah333]

It is a good mech, if you can afford to build it right, that is. I would say it is definately not a good starter mech. It's role varies and changes throughout the battle and it can't really boat so it takes some experience to know what to do with it. I put the biggest xl engine in mine (360) and with speed tweak, it hits 104, but that engine costs. 5.8 million c-bills. Anyway, it's set up as a light hunter with 2 med lasers, 2 srm 2's, lbx 10 with endo and double heat sinks. All of that adds up to one expensive mech. it's fast for a heavy, and basically shreds lights if they are slow or don't leave when engaging me.

The real deal with the dragon is - don't go head to head with anything bigger than you. It's a heavy mech, but it's not really built to last toe to toe. Use it's speed to flank and harrass. It's really good at getting into the backfield and bringing down missile boats. Speed is the key. Use it. Like the commando, NEVER STOP in one spot and start blasting. Heck, don't even back up. Always keep moving forward and turn. Especially turn to keep your big gun arm intact, as it will be targeted immediately.

[John MatriX82]

The dragons are rather fine mechs, although not advisable to unexperienced players; you can almost brainlessly mount XL engines on them (side torsoes are so small and CT is so big that everyone will aim for it). Shift some rear armor to the CT, you'll last longer than any Centurion or hunchback. Take advantage of being a heavy harasser and the speed is an important factor.. Slap a 360 on it, light mechs will start running from you, only to realize that they won't be able to shake you off!

Other nice engines are 300 or 325 (the latter is a nice investment, this is the bigger engine that can fit an Highlander, and imho the only useful engine for the Cataphract.. you can't go higher than a 340 on most of its variants, and 325 allows to mount 3 DHS within the engine).

I use to ENDO steel and Double heatsink my builds too and i love 1N with dual SRM4. 1C is good with a bunch of mlas or Mplas, most of my builds feature a gauss too, with at least 3 tons of ammo.. or try a 5N or 1N with dual AC2 or AC5 for fun.

[Logi]

well the dragon was developed to replace the medium Shadow Hawk as a scout commander (reference). so originally you are piloting a better medium.

[Mordin Ashe]

It needs a lot of tweaking before it can be considered good. Not good in absolutes, but good in how you feel the mech is performing. Some even say Centurion is a better Dragon than Dragon can ever hope to be. Still, it is a good choice and you can do wonders with it. But only after the tweaking and learning its weaknesses, which may take a while.

[RazorWare]

The DRG can be scout, brawler, sniper, support, you name it. I disagree with people that say it's not a good mech, it really depends on the pilots skills and playstyle, and of course I'm talking about the stock version.
I recently bought one, last night, and it's like a CNT on steroids.
In the end the DRG might be or not for you. When it will be on trial mech rotation take for a spin and see if you like it.