The fact it took the DCMS until the Fourth Succession War to be like, "Hey, we're House Kurita, we fucking love PPCs. We should put one on the Dragon." is kinda crazy.
The basic chassis is good, fast heavy without going too fast. But the Combine was the mooks of early Battletech. So they got less than ideal mech load outs. But then the upgrade started, Grand Dragon. Love that mech, but we would pull a ML for more armor. Then the tech revolution, so glad for double HS. And the lack of DHS for the Combine just shows that they are still the mooks.
There are two things to give the stock 3025 Dragon for tabletop game play. 1.) You will not run out of ammo for primary weapons. 2.) You are virtually guaranteed to not overheat (barring multiple engine hits).
It's really not that bad overall "in the era", but the first version of the Grand Dragon, even though it might overheat, I think is more relevant as a threat on the field.
15:12 Faster than the Wyvern IIC or the Corvus, those are old IS Style 4/6 troopers. But intended for cityfighting and not bad at it wince the Wyvern IIC is 4/6/4.
The Dragon is a mech that is hard to sell. As a 60tonner, its inbetween solid medium mechs and stronger/tougher heavy mechs, making it a Master of None. It actually makes me appreciate the Shadow Hawk which has 3 Jump Jets to the Dragons' 0 JJs. 3025 is a particularly flawed era as so many units have autocannons on various sizes but little in the way of a benefit. The lack of ammunition for a Primary weapon is just silly. AC-2s and AC-5s are particularly inefficient in terms of damage. The Grand Dragon fixes a key problem, swapping the AC-5 with a PPC and adding2 Heat sinks. Now at least it can run and shoot its PPC. Lostech heavily favors bad designs from 3025 by allowing double heat sink, extended range Large Lasers and PPCs, and possibly Extralight Engines to have high speed without sacrificing firepower or armor.
@@ProfessorHeyTeeEn I concur. The DRG-1G is my bully Mech supporting my Panthers, which I will field companies of in our big games. My favorite mod is the drop the LRM10 for three LRM5’s, and to move the rear ML to the left arm. It increases its through weight while also increasing endurance as you can lose two launchers and still keep lobbing missiles. But just having a PPC increases the Dragon’s endurance by a lot, with the added benefit of doubling its main weapon firepower.
@@robrib2682 BattleTech has always been a game with customization as viable for game play. It’s only been over the past few years that I’ve noticed a bias against customization, which seems dumb given the entire point behind Omni’s is regulating customizations. There seems to be this need for people to dictate what I can play, for no reason. If we are agreeing to a standard amount to build to for play, it shouldn’t matter what I or you do to mod our mechs as long as it’s legal and within our agreed upon limits. The mod I talked about out above an easy field refit that anyone can do, and specifically with the medium laser is mod that’s in the Tech Readout.
@@jeffersonian000 dude, I was trying to poke fun at people who seem to think that you can't break out those rules and say that you had a nice mech variant. Like seriously the dragon doesn't get as much love as I believe it should just because of how undergunned it is from the official variants
It works okay as cavalry, like a fat medium mech supporting the DCMS light mech formations; either providing fire support with Panthers, or moving to engage enemies to draw attention off of Panthers or to supplement Jenners. Though in my experience you have to be comfortable with the idea of melee combat to get the most use out of the Dragon in the Succession Wars era. Some of the later variants can get pretty nasty, such as the Gauss dragon and the 12K Grand Dragon. A fast gaussboat is always useful, and a clantech weapons platform that can run up to 12 hexes can outflank heavier assets pretty easily, or kick/charge lighter mechs that underestimate its speed.
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
The fact it took the DCMS until the Fourth Succession War to be like, "Hey, we're House Kurita, we fucking love PPCs. We should put one on the Dragon." is kinda crazy.
The Dragon is one of those mechs that doesn't look very impressive on paper, but it performs very well.
The Grand Dragon is a scary machine.
The basic chassis is good, fast heavy without going too fast. But the Combine was the mooks of early Battletech. So they got less than ideal mech load outs.
But then the upgrade started, Grand Dragon. Love that mech, but we would pull a ML for more armor. Then the tech revolution, so glad for double HS. And the lack of DHS for the Combine just shows that they are still the mooks.
There are two things to give the stock 3025 Dragon for tabletop game play. 1.) You will not run out of ammo for primary weapons. 2.) You are virtually guaranteed to not overheat (barring multiple engine hits).
It's really not that bad overall "in the era", but the first version of the Grand Dragon, even though it might overheat, I think is more relevant as a threat on the field.
The Sidewinder is pretty great refit really like it. It is a fast hunchy at that point so yea good.
It is better than most "modern dragons" and most modern Hunchbacks, which is sad.
True at least when it comes to Hunchbacks they cost less but yea the "modern dragons" make me kinda sad.@@ProfessorHeyTeeEn
15:12 Faster than the Wyvern IIC or the Corvus, those are old IS Style 4/6 troopers. But intended for cityfighting and not bad at it wince the Wyvern IIC is 4/6/4.
That's an era I haven't played in a lot to be honest.
@ProfessorHeyTeeEn I mean, they're just old clan mechs. (Though from the 3060 book) sadly not many seem to have made it sphereward.
The Dragon is a mech that is hard to sell. As a 60tonner, its inbetween solid medium mechs and stronger/tougher heavy mechs, making it a Master of None.
It actually makes me appreciate the Shadow Hawk which has 3 Jump Jets to the Dragons' 0 JJs.
3025 is a particularly flawed era as so many units have autocannons on various sizes but little in the way of a benefit. The lack of ammunition for a Primary weapon is just silly. AC-2s and AC-5s are particularly inefficient in terms of damage.
The Grand Dragon fixes a key problem, swapping the AC-5 with a PPC and adding2 Heat sinks. Now at least it can run and shoot its PPC.
Lostech heavily favors bad designs from 3025 by allowing double heat sink, extended range Large Lasers and PPCs, and possibly Extralight Engines to have high speed without sacrificing firepower or armor.
The Grand Dragon is generally much better than the regular Dragon. If you have access to LosTech, Sidewinder is actually a scary brawler.
I always used the Dragon the way you'd use a heavy medium mechs. Griffins, Wolverines and Improved Shadow Halks are it's running mates.
As a Command 'mech for a Cavalry or heavy scout Lance, it works quite well.
You sound Norweigan, dontchaknow. You from Rasalhague?
Nah, originally French Canadian now residing with other Travellers in the rimward periphery.
Oh Canadian, eh. Take off, hoser! Or is that so 1980's
Grand Dragon > regular Dragon.
Very few people would disagree with that. Even the primitive Grand was better than the Dragon.
@@ProfessorHeyTeeEn
I concur. The DRG-1G is my bully Mech supporting my Panthers, which I will field companies of in our big games. My favorite mod is the drop the LRM10 for three LRM5’s, and to move the rear ML to the left arm. It increases its through weight while also increasing endurance as you can lose two launchers and still keep lobbing missiles. But just having a PPC increases the Dragon’s endurance by a lot, with the added benefit of doubling its main weapon firepower.
@@jeffersonian000 well if we're allowing custom mechs you can make the shadowhawk into a viable weapons platform, but that does sound good :p
@@robrib2682
BattleTech has always been a game with customization as viable for game play. It’s only been over the past few years that I’ve noticed a bias against customization, which seems dumb given the entire point behind Omni’s is regulating customizations. There seems to be this need for people to dictate what I can play, for no reason. If we are agreeing to a standard amount to build to for play, it shouldn’t matter what I or you do to mod our mechs as long as it’s legal and within our agreed upon limits. The mod I talked about out above an easy field refit that anyone can do, and specifically with the medium laser is mod that’s in the Tech Readout.
@@jeffersonian000 dude, I was trying to poke fun at people who seem to think that you can't break out those rules and say that you had a nice mech variant.
Like seriously the dragon doesn't get as much love as I believe it should just because of how undergunned it is from the official variants
Ah, the fast heavy... Cool idea, seldom works for crap.
Unless you have an XL engine, it generally isn't worth it, to be honest.
It works okay as cavalry, like a fat medium mech supporting the DCMS light mech formations; either providing fire support with Panthers, or moving to engage enemies to draw attention off of Panthers or to supplement Jenners. Though in my experience you have to be comfortable with the idea of melee combat to get the most use out of the Dragon in the Succession Wars era.
Some of the later variants can get pretty nasty, such as the Gauss dragon and the 12K Grand Dragon. A fast gaussboat is always useful, and a clantech weapons platform that can run up to 12 hexes can outflank heavier assets pretty easily, or kick/charge lighter mechs that underestimate its speed.
Fast Heavy mechs are not all that good, Fast Assault is Very Good. Battlemaster is Excellent.
At 4/6 under 90 tons, it's not really "fast assault" and more "mobile assault". Fast Assault would be those 5/8 80 tonners or those 4/6 100 tonners...