136 replies to this topic

[Orkimedes]

I'm reasonably sure he's just catastrophically misspelt 'catapult'. The comparison is only drawn because people generally just don't try/expect to win in a brawl against a kitty or phract who isn't a trial or LRMboat, whereas a Dragon has no such status. When I see a hunch pop up close to my cent I go 'whoopsiedaisy*'. If it's a dragon it's usually just target practice. (unless I'm in my dual-PPC c9-AL, in that case any mech popping up close provokes explicatives, uttered or otherwise).

That being said, a decent dragon can utterly curbstomp a decent/good centurion build if they're both kitted for (and reasonably skilled at) skirmishing. Most dragons are curiously kitted out though, and very often piloted by people unable to use those arms at a mobile target while remaining mobile themselves. However, what matters more is that their team is trading a kitty/phract (with a high chance of high-yield direct fire) for a skirmisher, whereas a centurion is, in terms of firepower/durability, replaced at most by a hunchie. The strength of the centurion chassis lies in that it's the lightest weight-category heavy weapon platform available that will actually travel at speed AND doesn't have paper armour.

[roastpuff]

I've had great success with both a AL and a YLW, so I wouldn't say that the Centurion is "bad" - it takes a different mindset rather than simply wading in and start hitting people with alpha strikes. It is a versatile 'Mech that is a bit slow un-modded, but used in an intelligent manner can be quite good in a team battle.

The best results have been when I roll with friends (obviously) but PUG games in my AL can be quite good as well as I long as I remember that I'm not an Atlas and I can't stay in the thick of things without dying very soon. The YLW is a good 'Mech for hit and run attacks, and I usually flank to the side and try to find those who are engaged with another 'Mech already - then hit them in the side or back with the AC/20 a couple of times. If they have backup, the best thing to do is to run through, hitting every opportunity target you can get, and ****** off before trying another approach. The YLW is also very good for cleaning up if you have AC rounds left - landing shots on target = dead 'Mechs.

[Gremlong]

I have had great success with my CN9-A

Why all the comparison between the dragon and the Cent ? They both have 3 standard variants each with 6 weapon hard points, And even the weapon hard points are pretty similar.

The dragon has a 10 ton weight advantage on the Cent, but seems to die faster. I have piloted both, and with the dragon I die all the time with my torso's and arms left and just get cored. With the cent I almost never get cored unless I loose my arms and torso's first. The dragon weigh heavily on not loosing its arm, more so I feel than the Cent. The dragon also has to run an XL, the Cent does not have the draw back I feel.

It has been said before the cent is designed to support its bigger buddies. It doesn't go run off on its own. It keeps lights off the bigger slower mechs and help focus fire down enemies in team fights.

Once better match making gets out in, and the weight between the teams is balanced, the Cent will be even better than it is now.

[AvatarofWhat]

Garth Erlam, on 28 November 2012 - 11:29 AM, said:

o_0

I feel like just a short while ago the Dragon was considered 'awful'.

Haters gonna hate.

I know someone with a 11:1 K/D ratio who almost exclusively uses a dragon, and I use my centurions to great effect. What anyone else says about centurions being garbage is their opinion and I couldn't care less. Obvious result is result.

[Selfish]

Garth Erlam, on 28 November 2012 - 11:29 AM, said:

o_0

I feel like just a short while ago the Dragon was considered 'awful'.

I've always had success with the DRG. I'm betting most people didn't like it because it doesn't come ready to use out of the box--and that's what you got for trials. It's an advanced chassis since you need to completely refit the stock designs (~5-9 million extra cbills), adopt a rather strange skirmish playstyle that melds into opportunistic brawling, and use three different weapon systems at once. It's a lot to take in.

As for the CN9, it's a sturdy little mech. It zombies better than the HBK, and can mount absolutely wicked setups. The 138 kph CN9-D is hilarious, and the old standby A mounts serious punch even after it's lost its ballistics. I'd rather fight a Hunchback over a Centurion every day of the week. Odds are good you just need to take out the hunch or get behind an HBK for an easy kill/neuter. You can't neuter most Cents by removing one torso. You have to core its CT or take out both torsos.

[Ragz]

Sorry if this was covered. No, the shield arm isn't useless its quite awesome actually,

You have to torso twist to your right and all incoming fire will hit your useless/shield arm, not that its drawn to it, just most people especially at range, and even close, try to at least aim center mass, which when twisted with your shield facing them, means they hit your sheild, not your awesome clobbering arm, .

So say your attacking a hunchaback, ooh scary right? HAHAH nooo, just twist right take his shot, untwist to him shoot him in face, rinse repeat. this works when your being chased too, Say, you get pinched by two or three mechs, turn tail, torso twist to the left so shield arm is facing them use mini map to steer around stuff till they give up or help arrives, It's as easy to bait mechs into an ambush with a cent as it is for a Jenner, and with a standard engine your left torso is just another part of your shield. you can kite them straight into your heavy's who will gladly core your chasers while the chasers fail miserably at downing you. (in this situation i like to use my gun arm if i loose all my leftside so the heavys have more time to core the clueless chasers), you still have 2 laser slots in the middle, AND they'll generally get sick of taking heavy mech fire to fruitlessly chase you, or they will die trying, it happens A LOT. (not all the time but a lot, say around 17 out of 20 times from full armor and structure) if you get caught in circle of death, make sure your shield arm is facing the inside, if your gun arm is, no amount of twisting will save it.

Cent over cata? absolutely.. twist, take that gauss/missle salvo to your useless arm turn back and pop cockpit. it happens and it works, (not necessarily all the time head shots are a tricky thing they are but you can usually destroy their CT before they get to yours),then go take on something else.atlas coming at you, keep running at him twist, take shot in "useless arm", untwist shoot him, twist back, close gap, run past stop turn around drill atlas back while waiting for atlas to turn around start moving in same direction, continue to drill as atlas continues to try turning around. thiis does work too.

It does take some getting use to, but its definitely one of the few mech's that benefit from using torso twisting for more than aiming. Not every match is gonna work out great, but they're far more useful than most people give credit. if your can't figure out how to use the shield to help you, don't bother using a cent. its the only way it makes them great. the mini map is your friend, get use to using that to steer while your mech is twisted somewhere else.

[Wrenchfarm]

As much as I enjoy torso twisting and taking shots in the junk arm, lets be careful not to overstate its value. I love the Cent, I like the shield arm, but I don't think it is the best thing since sliced bread. It is a useful minor bonus of the Cent that is heavily skill indexed and situational to use.

[Chameleon Silk]

Ryft, on 28 November 2012 - 11:21 AM, said:

Way to bold unique and then point out that, oh wait... the Atlas has it too. And you forgot the Commando, which also has a 3M variant. And two Awesomes. And don't forget Catapults that can mount 4 or 6 missiles.

Someone doesn't grasp the definition of unique, I guess.

your missing the ballistic hard point.. and you guys are clowning me?

that leaves just the atlas and it can't be compared to a ninja SRM centurion, the catapult can boat missiles of course but it also does not have the ballistic hard point, the commando yes can also have 3 missile hard points but guess what no ballistic hard point.

if the centurion sucks i don't see it, the haters gonna hate... played right this is one nice mech as you can see in the video.

http://youtu.be/_CjpDUOUgX4

Edited by Chameleon Silk, 29 November 2012 - 08:19 AM.

[Ragz]

Wrenchfarm, on 28 November 2012 - 04:15 PM, said:

As much as I enjoy torso twisting and taking shots in the junk arm, lets be careful not to overstate its value. I love the Cent, I like the shield arm, but I don't think it is the best thing since sliced bread. It is a useful minor bonus of the Cent that is heavily skill indexed and situational to use.

Im not necessarily implying it will win every toe to toe battle and its the end all be all, BUT there are many that over look the usefullness of the arm, or just don't know how to use the mech effectively, and using that empty arm is a big part of piloting it effectively. So i figured i'd mention scenarios to help folks out. And yes the situations above have and can occur. Does it take extra effort? yes you dont just look at people shooting you in your gun arm and expect to come out on top shooting back until it falls off, But you absolutely can best mechs over your head with a cent. People that hate on it are probably getting the gun arm blown of 5 seconds into a fire fight and not savy to how to keep their main weapon well into a battle. Also getting surrounded is not a good idea but that really pertains to all mechs.

[Stingz]

Ragz, on 01 December 2012 - 08:43 PM, said:

Im not necessarily implying it will win every toe to toe battle and its the end all be all, BUT there are many that over look the usefullness of the arm, or just don't know how to use the mech effectively, and using that empty arm is a big part of piloting it effectively. So i figured i'd mention scenarios to help folks out.

Just watch out for people that pack smaller weapons alongside larger ones. I often S.Las the shield, L.Pulse the main body.

Edited by Stingz, 02 December 2012 - 07:30 AM.

[LordDante]

with yen lo wang its all about flanking and making ur shots count ... AIM GOD DAMMIT and the good old ac/20 will whipe em out

stay low and on the move and ambush the crap out of people easy !

[Eisenhorne]

I'm a huge fan of the CN9-A and the CN9-D.

My A variant uses 2 MPL's and 3 SRM6's, with a STD225 engine. Let me tell you, that thing often does 800+ damage in a game. I get behind an assault mech or heavy, and lay into it. I can take a frankly disturbing amount of damage with it, as well... as long as the CT is left, it lives.

The D variant is basically the Ferrari of medium mechs... moving at 110 kph with good armor, it packs a Gauss rifle, 2 ML's, and 2 streaks. Very potent loadout. Of course its also INSANELY expensive to use, packing FF armor, an XL300 engine, and Endo Steel. However, I can't think of a mech (other than the streakcat) I couldn't go toe to toe against in it.

[Carrioncrows]

My Favorite Cent build right now is the AL

x2 PPC's
x2 Medium lasers
x16 DHS
Endo
AMS x1 ton of ammo

Absolutely ever slot is taken up on this beast.

Really it's the 3 sec cycle time on the PPCs. You can push out a frightening amount of damage in a short time. Since the PPC fires instantly unlike the continuous beam of a Large laser the cycle time starts instantly. The cycle time on large lasers are closer to 4 secs.

6-9 secs into the fight and I've cored most battlemechs from 700+ ranges.

I've looked at the ERPPC to snipe with that instead of the regular PPC but honestly the ERPPC just seems like a big waste. Keep in mind it generates 4 additional heat per cycle but the Damage drop off from the PPC isn't that extreme.

PPC Range is 580m with a max range of 1080m
ERPPC Range is 810m with a max range of 1620m

Sure at 800+ meters I am only doing like 10-12 damage for both PPC's but the closer they get the more damage I do while keeping my heat as low as possible.

The 16 DHS's are almost enough to keep both PPC's running continously, backing off for a few secs every few shots is more than enough to keep you from shutting down.

Up close and personal fights rely on your Medium lasers, plan on 2 cycles of Medium lasers then a cycle of Dual PPC's, back and forth you go. You will stay exceptional cool and take massive chunks of armor out your target.

[Hatachi]

going on with the Dragon vs Centurion arguement. I think the Dragon gets a bad rap as its big CT makes it the best make to put an XL engine in. In beta I run one that had a PPC in one arm, Gauss Rifle in the other, TAG high on its shoulder for tag peeking over a hill, and 2 Streak SRM 2s in the CT. It was the perfect anti scout mech. It couldn't keep up completely but was fast enough to keep in SRM range for a good while and it takes them quite a good time to out range the PPC and Gauss Rifle.

[Stingz]

Hatachi, on 03 December 2012 - 01:37 PM, said:

going on with the Dragon vs Centurion arguement. I think the Dragon gets a bad rap as its big CT makes it the best make to put an XL engine in. In beta I run one that had a PPC in one arm, Gauss Rifle in the other, TAG high on its shoulder for tag peeking over a hill, and 2 Streak SRM 2s in the CT. It was the perfect anti scout mech. It couldn't keep up completely but was fast enough to keep in SRM range for a good while and it takes them quite a good time to out range the PPC and Gauss Rifle.

PPC + Gauss is definitely good for tearing up big targets, but those streaks will start failing you soon. I will still try the setup when I get the 1N, though with some changes.

Edit: Man, now I get why I only used Gauss+PPC on Assault mechs (or a Clan heavy). 22 tons of gun is not easy to fit on anything lighter than 80 tons.

Edited by Stingz, 03 December 2012 - 06:35 PM.

[Wrenchfarm]

Ragz, on 01 December 2012 - 08:43 PM, said:

Im not necessarily implying it will win every toe to toe battle and its the end all be all, BUT there are many that over look the usefullness of the arm, or just don't know how to use the mech effectively, and using that empty arm is a big part of piloting it effectively. So i figured i'd mention scenarios to help folks out. And yes the situations above have and can occur. Does it take extra effort? yes you dont just look at people shooting you in your gun arm and expect to come out on top shooting back until it falls off, But you absolutely can best mechs over your head with a cent. People that hate on it are probably getting the gun arm blown of 5 seconds into a fire fight and not savy to how to keep their main weapon well into a battle. Also getting surrounded is not a good idea but that really pertains to all mechs.

Word. Like I said, I love using the shield arm myself. I just don't want to talk it up to an unreasonably lofty level. Good torso twisting and arm awareness definitely separates the good Cent pilots from the bad though.

[Das Wudone]

i have the same mechs as u OP. ur right in a sense that it doesnt stand up to some mechs (*cough* streak cats *cough*) but it doesnt mean its a terrible mech. i LOVE the AL and the A. YLW is there to make money for me and its a great sniper mech. my AL rips lights apart with its lasers, streaks and its speed. i can usually take on 2 mechs at a time provided theres enough cover. my A is a sort of heavy/assault mech killer with its 3 srm 4, lbx-10, 2 med las loadout. it can also do easy headshots at close range.

its actually very rewarding to use a mech that not everyones capable of utilizing effectively. the left arm is there as free armor to soak up damage when ur running away or when ur going toe to toe with another mech. and the best thing about the cents is that its a bloody good zombie mech. usually when im only left with 2 med lasers most enemies just turn away and think im useless which costs them the match.

my last bit of advice would be to not mount an XL on it... unless u decide to play as a sniper mech. the side torsos are just too huge and especially vulnerable with an XL. just give it endo steel, ams, double heatsinks and a fast engine which should give u some better matches (i cant guarantee a win with just pugging but the aforementioned upgrades will definitely help).