I'm really tempted to get a centurion or a dragon mech, as I do not currently own a medium mech and I love being mobile! I know a dragon is actually a heavy mech but I feel it should be played like a medium!

Never tried a Centurion but Dragons are one of my favs. My usual rides are Fang and Flame but these are good. The first is actually an identical build to what I run on the Fang:

DRG-5N: http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=23&l=da4195180e06d58a84e6eff32d423ba877e3db86

or

DRG-1C: http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=11&l=19ae1b722d703280d931b0a24ae63cd6cbb26b83

one of the champion/trial mechs a while back was a Dragon with Gauss & 2 Large Lasers. All of the Dragons can run that build with an XL300 engine and it's a good loadout.

I would never run anything less than a 300 engine in a Dragon, personally. That gives you 81/89 kph speed.

I liked my AC20, 4ML build. It had a STD engine so it was pretty tough. Can't remember what engine, but it still ran in the upper 70's IIRC.
Only the Flame can run that though. A Blackjack can have that build too though and move faster, albeit with an XL engine.
The only problem with the Dragons that huge center torso target.

What does one do with a 400XL engine? How about this:

http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=119&l=d81d8b2df1abed7cdf72a9d50ba4df38a736f906

Nothing says "OH SH!T" like a 84kph Battlemaster

Brawling with flamers and machine guns at point blank in a mech with an XL engine? PURE BALLS.

More fun with 400XL engines... this time in a Banshee

http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=145&l=b88337415cab78f471b1ea916e369554cd55bf91

46 point all-energy alpha strike with no ghost heat.

Pro tip : bring a cool shot!

the LRM Vindicator! This was the third of three Vindicators I picked up and quite a bit of fun:

http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=206&l=4204e9170a7079a9152d6d7e57a2bbeae433cb26

I've got the med lasers in two firing groups for left and right arms, really effective for shooting around corners with minimal exposure.

Artemis LRM15 with 6 tons of ammo and TAG is no joke.

I haven't shared a 'mech build in a while, but here is a SHD-2H I am thinking of building:

SHD-2H Triple Dakka

It combines my love for dakka with my fondness for my favorite MW1 medium 'mech.

Shadowhawk 2K

http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=154&l=87868262758b4605781d0cd78842573d1169ada0

Very effective and very cheap to build. Stock 275 STD engine. You can lose both arms and right torso and still be 100% combat effective. Laser hardpoints are high enough to snipe over most obstacles including the debris at the terra therma volcano ramps.

I see what you did there.

Here is a similar build I ran for a while. Same speed, but a touch more fragile:

http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=2&l=60e969e2a5eb7ba3a51f2651f1c73ff8f3a9fc7a

Hmm... built a neat Banshee 3E last night that I did not expect to work and turned out far better than expectations.

Relatively fast for 95 tons, great on heat, and deadly with crit-seeker ballistics:

http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=144&l=fa6b09ea020c122fe82a76118970d806ac7dd9bc

Ghost heat be damned, I was alpha-ing those 3 large lasers all night and never shut down. Played a few rounds with Sinner, Tsumetomo, and Rolynd and was pleasantly surprised.

Here's a slight variation of the Atlas-S build I had posted in the other thread.

Basically the same but stripped the armor and ammo down a bit to fit a larger engine ( STD 340 vs STD 325 )

http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=216&l=e1ce75791cbcde25059de34641bc941e6bf3fbd3

As Ranger5 said, chain-firing the SRM isn't bad on heat and the Gauss is always there for when a very low heat weapon is needed. I suspect this mech will be even better after the quirk system is implemented as PGI has indicated a willingness to toughen the Atlas side torso internals for better durability.

I'm enjoying Timberwolves with an LB5X lately, so I stuck one on my laser boat. This one is working out pretty well. It's a little on the hot side, but alternating fire between the LL's then LB5, then ML, then LB5 and so on, you can keep the fire going very nicely. JJ's too.

TBR-C

How about some Warhawk builds!

A variant, easy to build. 3xCLPL, 1CLB20X, 1 DHS (purchased).
Split the LPL's into 2 groups, 2 in one, 1 in the other.
This is one of those builds that's surprisingly effective. 2 back to back 900+ rounds for 6 kills.

WHK-A



Your basic build, but I'm enjoying the Streak 6's.

WHK-PRIME

A couple of Dire Wolves.

DW-A
Pretty fun, but watch the heat! 100 dmg, but heat efficiency is a 1. LOL
4xERLL, 4xMPL, 2xStreak 6....max armor
DWF-A


Prime.
The standard 2xgauss, 2xERLL, 4xERML...80 dmg, 1.14 heat.
DWF-PRIME

My hunchback HBK-4P (4ERLL) my first mech for johnny five

HBK-4P

HBK-4P Drops 2 ERLLs and adds a UA5.
HBK-4H

Hey strikeshadow welcome aboard!

Chainfiring the ER lasers on your 4P would be effective but you might run into some heat issues up close. You could drop down to 3 ER large and then run 4 mediums with an extra heat sink with the same tonnage. Also adding endo-steel will buy you some tons for leg armor and arm armor.

The 4H looks good but will benefit greatly when you can get double heat sinks on there.

What's your player name on MWO? We've got a fairly large group from SimHQ on my friends list, I'll add you if you want.

Feel free to send a FR, MWO name is in my sig. If we see you on we'll send you an invite when we have a group going. We still solo sometimes too though, no pressure.

I've been playing with the Ebon Jaguar lately, and this has been a pretty decent build for me.

EBJ-A

Cheap, fun, effective build for the poor neglected Blackjack 1-DC

Just got 6 kills with it on River City

http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=78&l=465582528a70683147a22e1d6fc43aa0ed3b715e

New King Crab build I'm liking so far:
heat 1.31
alpha: 87
XL360 engine

KGC-000B

Or, drop 2 of the 4 MG's and a ton of ammo in favor of 2 more DH's and heat is 1.36.