Wow, what a week! Ask The Devs 3 - Answers went up, with three questions answered, and even a nice personal thank-you from neodym. After that we had the surprising Cataphract announcement, and so far the response from you guys is overwhelmingly positive on it. After that we had the fourth Weekly Screenshot go out, and the debate still rages as to whether Team Catapult or Team Atlas pulled off the victory. We had the vignette Freedom of Speech: Price Never Too High to fill our canon universe quota, and last but not least, Closed Beta is happening!
Now, the Beta Patch news: Out came version 2.0.26 this week, featuring new variants and most importantly, the Dragon in all its glory. We all immediately set about trying to make the best variants possible. While not the best, this was my personal build: Modified Dragon DRG-5N:
- Add an extra Medium Laser to the left arm: total 2x Medium Lasers
- Remove the LRM-10, add an SRM-4 and 1 ton of ammunition.
- Max out all armour possible.
- Add heatsinks to the left shoulder (total heatsinks: 14)
- Add a ton of UAC-5 ammo: 2 tons total.
This ‘Mech is all about medium range – with 86.4 km/h speed and maxed out armour, the Dragon is a disturbingly tough ‘Mech. While not possessing nearly the direct killing power of an Atlas or Hunchback, the Dragon is capable of staying at medium range, arcing shots down range to frustrate and quickly shred apart opponents. Once they are heavily damaged, you can move into short range and finish the job with your two Medium Lasers and SRM-4. It’s a very tough build to use, and works best in groups of 3 or more. You can keep the LRM-10’s if you like, but it makes the ‘mech less heat neutral, though it increases skirmishing potential (it also makes close-up fights much, much harder.)
We hope you enjoyed this review, and thanks for being the awesome fans that you are!