17 replies to this topic

[Alioth Sternfeuer]

Hey Mechwarriors,

I have just recently started playing MWO, and have had a great time piloting my 3 Hunchbacks through Elite. I am now looking to branch out and work on my next set of three.

So far, I am leaning towards the Dragon. I always loved Dragons in the old video games and BT, and love the new Flame design.

My questions for you are all, would the Dragon play much differently from the Hunchback? My Hunchbacks are all close range brawlers, and my understanding is that Dragons are more of a mobile mid-range support platform.

Also, if I do decide to go down the Way of the Dragon, which two C-Bill variants should I purchase to complement my Flame?

I apologize if there is already a thread to this effect. If so, links would be appreciated. Searching the website didn't turn up anything very helpful.

Thanks, and Merry Christmas!

[sarkun]

Dragons may not be the greatest brawlers, because they pack similar amounts of armor as hunches, but have gigantic, easy to hit Center torso. They may be faster however, and can carry an XL engine safely. You probably will have greater success trying to be a striker, not brawler.

For flame-like variant, you can take the 1c - identical hardpoints, just different layout. The second one is up to you

[nungunz]

Dragons carry a great combination of firepower and speed. You won't be doing a ton of brawling, though. Use your speed to circle and flank enemies and pour your firepower into rear armor.

They are very tricky to play, but can put out a lot of hurt.

[Wrenchfarm]

I like the Dragons, I like to think of them as up-scaled medium mechs. You get more speed, a bump in firepower, and maybe a bit more armour than you would from a Hunchie, but not an overwhelming jump like the Catapult or Phract. While that might sound like a bad deal, remember that it is often the more adaptable mech that can turn the tide of a battle, not the guy who can boat the most LRMs or mount ridiculous cannons while slugbutting around at 52kph.

I'm a big fan of XL engines in Dragons. They will let you have that famous Dragon speed while bringing more weapons than you would on a Hunch or Cent. Don't worry about them becoming a liability, the way the Dragon's torso is designed you take way more hits in the centre and arms than you ever do the sides. In all my time playing multiple Dragons, I've only ever been notably side cored a handful of times.

My favourites include the 1C with an XL320, 4 LLAS, as many DHS as you can cram in there, and somewhat reduced armour. You get a fast mech that hits like an Awesome. 4 LLAS might sound humble, but can be absolutely devastating. You can fire for awhile without overheating and when you get near that point, the Dragon's speed with let you disengage as you choose versus most other heavies and mediums (lights can of course stay on you, little blighters)

The 1N I run is a bit stranger. I like an XL350 engine, shaved armour, 2 LLAS, 1 SRM6, and 3 machine-guns, with DHS, AMS, 1 ton ammo for the guns and 2 for the SRMs. It sounds funky, but it works wonders. The XL350 will have you FLYING, the LLAS provide concentrated damage at range, the SRMs a nasty punch up close, and the MGs are a pestering nuisance. To be clear, the damage you get off them is minimal, and their effectiveness as "crit seekers" is debatable, but remember that they offer FREE firing. No heat, and with 2000 rounds you can hose all day. You don't have the tonnage for any other ballistic, so why not? Besides the harassing constant close range nature of the MGs fits the rest of the build better than a slow cannon. Use the LLAS for concentrated damage, flank the enemy with your speed to hit them in the back with SRMs, use the MGs to fluster. Good times.

[Finestaut]

As others have said, dragons are more about speed and positioning than endurance.

For variants, you want the 1C and 1N. Most 5N builds can be replicated on one of those, but they both give you a lot of flexibility the 5N lacks. The 1C has the best all around layout, and the 1N can do fun stuff with 2ssrm launchers. The one thing the 5N does best is 3 ac2s, but if you want to boat ballistics, there's a couple cataphracts for that.

[Alioth Sternfeuer]

Thank you all for the incredibly helpful replies! So far, I have absolutely loved playing as a Dragon. I am running a Flame with 300 XL, Endo, DHS, AC-10, 2 LLAS, and an SRM 4. Really enjoying the mobility the Dragon gives me in bringing all that to bear, and the flexibility to adapt dynamically to changing needs in combat.

I will be referencing these replies as I build out my other two Dragons!

[AllOuttaBubbleGum]

Good choice. After piloting Atlases for the majority of my time in MWO (founders). The dragon was a breath of fresh air. I have three variants in my bays. I love going 106kph in a heavy mech. I typically stay at full speed and never stop moving unless there is just one enemy mech and they have shut down. I try to target mechs already engaged and try to finish mechs off. It is not strange for me to get 2-3 kills a game steady. Although my atlases are super killy, the dragon can get to areas of the battle field quicker and engage more enemies in doing so.

[Spectre999]

Flame plays the most similar to a hunchback 4SP, because of the quad arm laser mounts. Since you played 4SP, you know how good this is. You get more speed and armor, but sacrifice one missile slot.
Another good thing is the shoulder mounted ballistics, it may be just me, but I find ballistics easier to aim at this slot.
Unfortunately, it's cbills only.

Rest of the band requires a totally different approach. 5N is arguably the worst of the lot, so save that for last.

Rule no. 1 for dragons is that they're no fun without an XL engine, take your pick, XL 300, XL 340 or XL 360, you can push this baby over 100 kmh if you need to do so.

Learn to do long range support. Large Lasers, LRM 10, PPC are all your friends. Use speed to position yourself well and strike from the flank. In theory, you can try to brawl with the 1N (LBX + 2x SSRM2 + two lasers of your choice), but I didn't have much luck with that.

The missile slots on the dragon are really badly placed, the center torso only leaves you with 2 critical slots to play with, which means LRM 10 or dual SSRM2 is the best you can hope for.

Overall, I found the setup: 2x Large Lasers and 1x LRM 10 to be a pretty solid foundation - plays to the strengths of the chassis, did lots of kill assists, lots of spotting. Kills are possible if you flank correctly. Unfortunately, the ballistics will be underutilized with this setup, so you can just go wild with the gun arm, a gauss goes in nicely, dual ACs aren't too bad either.

[Cerlin]

I play my dragons as a mid to close range brawler. It can get in and get out seriously fast, delivering damage where needed.

The flame is an amazing dragon that you can play around a lot with. I think mine has 4 mlas, Ac10, srm 6. It is the most balanced of the dragons. I run it with an XL315.

My n1 and c1 both use an xl 340. The C1 has 4 mlas, srm6, ac5. The 1n has srm 4x2 and 2MLas a ac10. While the C1 has a decently balanced setup and more range, the n1 can really brawl people down with 8 srms and that AC10.

I think my best advice is build it the way that matches your play style. I like to have one mid/long range weapon then mostly brawling weapons. If you are more of a kiter i would shrink the engines and get longer range loadouts.

[ICEFANG13]

I really enjoy the 5N myself, but its only really good with 3A/C-2s. I would consider the 1N good, but limited to lighter ballistics and it can't use too many missiles. The 1C is probably the best, because you aren't likely to need more then 1 ballistic or 1 missile on the torso, but it depends on what you want to pack of course. I like 3 A/C-2s.

[Thunder Lips Express]

i don't have anything to add to this, but i do love playing my dragons. i just wish i was good with them lol. i have a build with my flame that i like, i guess it just takes time to find the proper build that suites your play style, as long as that play style isn't brawling

[Kreisel]

The 1C is the Dragon for laser boats. The one thing you want to pay attention to over flame is the difference of the shoulder/arm mount. Arm weapon have more flexibility in close quarters, but they are mounted low and wide, so they hit walls a lot when your just popping out from cover for a quick second to get a single shot off. The shoulder mount is much more useful for cresting hills firing a shot and fading back. I suggest placing your long range harassment in the side tosro and your brawling weapons in the arms. Or you have to think about always giving yourself a lot of clearance on a single side when you duck out of cover to fire, and the lower half your mech can't still be behind cover when you snipe.

The 1N stands out as the Dragon to take if your want SSRM2 over an SRM6 or LRM10, as it's the only Dragon that can mount 2. You can mount 2 LRM 5 as well, though this is less of an advantage since chain firing 2 LRM5 for screen shake isn't a thing anymore, still it's 1 less ton for the same overall missile rating and a faster firing rate. Also it has 1 of it's laser mounts in the torso the other in the arm, which makes a functional difference in the kind of weapon you want to place in them, vs the 5N.

Maybe the 5N will have a nitch once Machine guns get buffed, but the 3 ballistic slots doesn't offer any kind of advantage right now. It's too much a liability to put that much of your weight in a single arm to take advantage of them. Both it's laser mounts are in the arm which is a strength over the 1N when it comes to brawling/circle strafing, but it also means this chassis has no firing point placed high on the mech.

Fang plays more like the other Dragon's than Flame. It has the c-bill boost and the flexibility in it's hardpoints to play like almost any of the non-hero dragons. 2 energy in the arm, 1 in the shoulder, 2 ballistic in the arm is very well rounded. Gives the flexible brawling spot for the AC, the shoulder mount good for a ppc or LL, and room enough to stack some laser hurt in close quarters on the other arm.

Edited by Kreisel, 26 December 2012 - 11:56 PM.

[Irvine]

The triple AC2 5N is a nasty build. It goes great with how dragons are great at flanking heavier opposition. My Flame does that job well. I just follow Atlai to the brawl.

[Eisenhorne]

One build I've actually been having a good deal of success with is my DRG-FLAME PPC build.

XL300 engine,14 DHS, Endo Steel, slightly reduced armor (from max anyway, more than most stock configs)

2x PPC, one in each arm
2x MPL, 1 in each arm
SRM4, w/ 2 tons ammo

Heat efficiency isn't great from mechlab, but consider that you basically have 2 distinct weapon systems... the MPL's and the SRM's are for anything closer than 90M, PPC's for sniping. You can do a LOT of damage with this if your patient, place your shots, and wait until everything is nearly dead before moving in to finish things off with your pulse lasers and SRMS.

You can do the same build in the DRG-1C, just put the PPC's in the shoulder. Would actually work better, probably, because the shoulder PPC's would be able to fire better over terrain for hull-down sniping.

[Alioth Sternfeuer]

Thanks again everybody, for the extremely helpful replies. I have been toying around with the Flame, and I love it. I bought a 1C as well, and my build is starting to emerge, although that mech is still gimped because I don't have the C-Bills for the proper XL engine yet. I kind of wish you could use MC to purchase XL engines, given that they are in many cases more expensive than the mech chassis and loadout itself...

[Eisenhorne]

Alioth Sternfeuer, on 27 December 2012 - 11:55 PM, said:

Thanks again everybody, for the extremely helpful replies. I have been toying around with the Flame, and I love it. I bought a 1C as well, and my build is starting to emerge, although that mech is still gimped because I don't have the C-Bills for the proper XL engine yet. I kind of wish you could use MC to purchase XL engines, given that they are in many cases more expensive than the mech chassis and loadout itself...

Eh, your better off buying a Dragon hero mech + some premium time anyway. The 80% combined cbill bonus means it will take almost half the games to get the money for an engine. I played maybe 1:30 today, about 10 games... made nearly 1.5 million c-bills. very fast and easy to get the money for an XL engine this way.

[Zen Hachetaki]

There is one way to buy an appropriate Dragon engine with MC - you can buy an Atlas K for it's 300XL - please note I am not recommending this; simply saying this is one possible option if you wanted a short cut through MC rather than grinding Cbills. Then you pass the engine around like a [REDACTED] of Jenners and Dragons...

Edited by Viterbi, 29 December 2012 - 09:04 AM.
Removed suggestive language

[BerryChunks]

you can also lower the engine and then have just as much armor as other heavies, and the same weapons.

The guy above me is basically proving my point about MC = parts. I did the same with dragon engine. Bought dragon. Passed engine down to cicada.

Edited by BerryChunks, 28 December 2012 - 09:52 PM.