85 replies to this topic

[Dishevel]

My SP with 4xMLs, a 255 STD engine, 2 points short of full armor, endo and awesome heat efficiency can and has chewed up dragons. It is a simple build. Cheap, and if they bring back R&R it is relatively cheap to repair.

I love my SP.

[Apoc1138]

the dragon is better having a massive nose meaning it's much easier to consistently land CT shots on it... if that is what you mean by better then yeah, sure

[Sayyid]

Dragon is a good mech, it was a good mech in the TT, but it isnt a brawler like the HBK is.

You can sit back in ambush in a HBK and cause a LOT of damage in a short amount of time for your weight. The biggest advantage that the HBK has over the Dragon is the fact that its varients allow so many more options.

To be fair the best comparison would have been the CN9 vs the DRG.

[jshill78]

HBK-4G comparable Dragon Build

Gains over the HBK-4G:
62 Armor
0.31 Sustained DPS
4% Cooling efficiency

Everything else exactly the same.

HBK-4G

Edited by jshill78, 08 January 2013 - 08:50 AM.

[Fat Samurai]

Denno, on 08 January 2013 - 08:15 AM, said:

Why bring a Hunch when you can bring a Cat or Dragon, both probably faster and more versatile?

So the other team doesn't bring another heavy and they are restricted to a medium. In 8-men teams, bragging rights when you beat 8 assaults with a more balanced force. I also enjoy punching above my weight, and blasting an Atlas with a Hunch is fun.

Finally, if my side torso is blown off it means I get to keep half my weaponry and keep pouring in an enemy. If you are running a dragon with XL (wich you basically need for the weight saving), getting you LT blown off means you become a pretty fireworks display.

Different mechs, different uses.

[CDLord HHGD]

jshill78, on 08 January 2013 - 08:47 AM, said:

HBK-4G comparable Dragon Build

Gains over the HBK-4G:
62 Armor
0.31 Sustained DPS
4% Cooling efficiency

Everything else exactly the same.

And none of that means a darn thing if you're a cool stick landing your shots where they count. It really comes down to the pilot. Dragons do out weight and out armor my 4G, but my 4G packs more punch per ton than the Dragon. Have I been killed by dragons? Sure. Have I killed a Dragon 1v1? Yup. Dragons, Phracts, Pults, Mandos, Cents, other Hunchs, they have all fallen before me. And I to them.

[Joseph Mallan]

OP, My answer is No. The Dragon is not better in every way. It's faster and can carry more armor.

[jshill78]

CDLord... I'm making the same point you are. I'm trying to show the OP's observation is incorrect. Does the Dragon gain a bit over the HBK-4G, yes. Only a tiny bit. It's not faster, it doesn't have more firepower, and it doesn't have a significant amount of survivability.

[CDLord HHGD]

jshill78, on 08 January 2013 - 08:54 AM, said:

CDLord... I'm making the same point you are. I'm trying to show the OP's observation is incorrect. Does the Dragon gain a bit over the HBK-4G, yes. Only a tiny bit. It's not faster, it doesn't have more firepower, and it doesn't have a significant amount of survivability.

Fair enough. Though I didn't mean to oppose your post, just add to it.

[Khobai]

More like the hunchback is better than the dragon in every way

[J4ckInthebox]

Quote

Is The Dragon Better Than The Hunchback In Almost Every Way?

Yes, potatoes are definitely better than bananas in almost every way.

[Low351]

I agree with the OPs obvservations, it does appear that the Dragon is very similar to the Hunchie but better. But for cost and playstyle I've gravitated to the Hunch, it's the first one I maxed out and only kept my 4SP. I haven't touched the Dragons yet, played them in closed beta when dragon bowling was king but not since.

I'd love to see the stats from PGI on survivability by mech type and variant. That would be the last word on how long a dragon lasts versus a Hunchie.

[Denno]

*shrugs*
Pugging?
Sure, it's viable, most everything is. Hell, I saw a 6 ppc stalker blowing enemy arms and legs off in a 500 meter disaster zone around him until folks got up on him and made his life miserable.

4 man?
Again, anything mostly works. Pilot skill level and coordination can cover a multitude of sins.

8's? No. You just don't see meds hardly at all and there are plenty of good reasons.

[Martini Henrie]

XL engines are very valid in a Dragon, I'm more likely to loose my CT than any other. Dragons have a different role to hunchies in my opinion, I run mine fairly fast, without a huge amount of fire power. It is possible to run them with more weapons, but speed kills for me.

It's not a very valid comparison, personally, but the Dragon can be a lot better due to weight allowance.

[Roland]

I will ALWAYS take a Hunchback 4G over a dragon... Always.
The fact that a dragon can essentially simulate a 4G's loadout is laughable... I mean.. so what? I can simulate that loadout with an Atlas, too... but it's a much heavier mech.

The Hunchback has a tonnage advantage over the dragon.. it also means that a hunchback will be matched against cicadas and centurions, rather than catapults and cataphracts... and, finally, its hitboxes are far better than the dragon and it's giant freaking CT.

[Ryokens leap]

So tired of these discussions, it depends on ur play style, if ur pugging or team dropping. It's like an auto racing team, put 2 drivers in identical cars with identical setup and they will produce different lap times. Is the opinion of a group of random people really how u choose ur ride? Build the most popular chassis in mechlab and look at the damage and heat effic and speed. It takes time to find a build that suits ur style, that's kind of the fun part of mechlab. Ur not going to get instant gratification from others opinions. Good luck!

[Serapth]

Ryokens leap, on 08 January 2013 - 09:46 AM, said:

So tired of these discussions, it depends on ur play style, if ur pugging or team dropping. It's like an auto racing team, put 2 drivers in identical cars with identical setup and they will produce different lap times. Is the opinion of a group of random people really how u choose ur ride? Build the most popular chassis in mechlab and look at the damage and heat effic and speed. It takes time to find a build that suits ur style, that's kind of the fun part of mechlab. Ur not going to get instant gratification from others opinions. Good luck!

It's a conversation, nothing more, and that was clearly stated in the OP. If you are tired of these discussions, stay away, everyone is happy then.


To use your driver analogy, MWO is much more like Formula 1 than NASCAR. Assuming a good pilot, the car/mech they are piloting makes a gigantic difference. That's exactly the point of MWO, Mechs are very different and not necessarily balanced. Its more like GT racing to keep the car analogy alive, except of course in GT racing, each class is racing only against other cars in their class, while in MWO, it's every man for himself.

Roland, on 08 January 2013 - 09:24 AM, said:

I will ALWAYS take a Hunchback 4G over a dragon... Always.
The fact that a dragon can essentially simulate a 4G's loadout is laughable... I mean.. so what? I can simulate that loadout with an Atlas, too... but it's a much heavier mech.

The Hunchback has a tonnage advantage over the dragon.. it also means that a hunchback will be matched against cicadas and centurions, rather than catapults and cataphracts... and, finally, its hitboxes are far better than the dragon and it's giant freaking CT.

But you cant though. A Hunchback cant even come close to carrying the weapons load of an Atlas. A Dragon on the other hand can carry EXACTLY the same weapon load out of the HBK-4G, and much more.

[CDLord HHGD]

Denno, on 08 January 2013 - 09:16 AM, said:

8's? No. You just don't see meds hardly at all and there are plenty of good bad reasons.

Fixed this for ya. No ECM = lose 90% of the time and that's bad. Hunch got a pile of coal from the ECM Santa and it's hurt the Hunch's viability.

EDIT: Spelling

Edited by cdlord, 08 January 2013 - 10:01 AM.

[Khobai]

Quote

A Dragon on the other hand can carry EXACTLY the same weapon load out of the HBK-4G, and much more.

Yes but no one uses the HBK-4G because it sucks. People who know what theyre doing in Hunchbacks use the HBK-4SP because of dual SRM6s which a Dragon can't mount.

The whole reason the Dragon sucks is because it has awful missile slots and missile weapons are the best weapons.

[Joseph Mallan]

J4ckInthebox, on 08 January 2013 - 09:15 AM, said:

Yes, potatoes are definitely better than bananas in almost every way.

Unless you're making Pie. Then bananas are way better!