Quickdraw

[Iron Legionnaire]

This is one mech on which I am curious to see how the hardpoint inflation works out. As mentioned, it's on the wrong side of the power curve for those jumpjets, so depending on what goodies you can put on it, it could be worth ditching the JJs for more tonnage.

Stock, I'm not a fan of the 4G, period. It's just too unfocused with the LRMs. I actually rather like the 5A - it is a respectable threat with 6x ML and the SRM4, and with JJs you can stay very mobile. It still suffers from falling under the heavy initiative step, though, and its melee is garbage relative to its weight. With AoD it was a pretty gnarly DFA machine in the beta, but remains to be seen how that will work out once the game is released.

 

[Cyttorak001]

The QKD-4G is practically the poster child for the BattleValue system. It's a 'Mech that doesn't add up to the sum of its parts.

 

[Ozymandious]

I kinda feel like "there are no bad children, only children who haven't made it to the mechlab... Er neurosurgeon yet.". I just really wanna make it useful stock. Probably becouse, as I mentioned earlier, tactical ability of an uncooked turnip and I like pain.

 

[Juodas Varnas]

I kinda feel like "there are no bad children, only children who haven't made it to the mechlab... Er neurosurgeon yet.". I just really wanna make it useful stock. Probably becouse, as I mentioned earlier, tactical ability of an uncooked turnip and I like pain.

Wait... Uncooked turnip?
Isn't that how you're supposed to eat them anyway?

Was i eating turnips wrong my whole life?

 

[Gronk311]

I think I’m going to try my own version of an Ironman run, in that I will be trying to keep the mechs as close to stock as possible. Basically all modifications will be driven by the need to keep them in the fight, not by my personal choice.

No adding JumpJets, no moving ammo, no modification until it needs to be repaired.
Good luck to me.

 

[OathOfFealty]

In the framework of the beta v2 PvP the QKD 4G was one of my favorite mechs.

Why?

1. It was fast for its weight class
2. It had a punch.
3. It had JJs > Evasive!!!
4. There was no medium weight mech that could fill its role. The SDK was to slow (JJs). The Griffin was to specialized and running hot. None had a similar punch.
5. It was able to move in phase 2 or 3, depending on the pilot.

Result: The QKD had it's niche!

Now, in the game...

1. People had the tendency of waiting at their end and cluster my mechs with missiles. Most, if not all, where surprised by how fast I was able to reach their side of the battlefield with my mechs. A typical fast lance of mine was 2x QDKs, 1x Locust, 1x Jenner.
2. Most OpFors spread their lance. I was able to pick out one mech after another and took them down. Speed, specifically THE speed of the QDK, was key to MY strategy.
3. Let's not forget the abilities of the mechwarriors. They played a HUGE role. I was not a fan of those abilities. They came with the pilots and they did too much. But they let mechs like the QKD perform splendidly.
4. In general I was able to harass, hunt and annoy Opfors with the QKD. Either from afar or close up.
5. JJs! I am stunned by the fact that we can had JJs to everything in the final game. It was unbelievable how much of an advantage they were in the beta.

In the end the QKD was one of the Mechs with which I had the most success. (The most successful mech for me was the Locust.) Did it work all the time - no. But it worked more times than even I thought.

Sidenotes ...

1. We know nothing yet. It remains to be seen how abilities work out in the final game. And it also remains to be seen how JJs work out. I don't expect huge differences but there might be some.
2. The QKD ingame is different than the one from the lore - it has no rear facing weapons. Thus, it might run hot faster.
3. It has hands(!)
4. From the ingame mechs the Enforcer or the Wolverine could potentially be the competition.
5. Let's not forget availability. If you have everything at hand ... sure make your pick. But if not ... the QKD might be your next best thing.
6. Forget what you know about the "LORE mechs" and maybe even the "TT mechs" - this game is different - in a positive way.

EDIT: Forgot to add. In regards to OP question ... play it right!

 

[Packrat]

I think I’m going to try my own version of an Ironman run, in that I will be trying to keep the mechs as close to stock as possible. Basically all modifications will be driven by the need to keep them in the fight, not by my personal choice.

No adding JumpJets, no moving ammo, no modification until it needs to be repaired.
Good luck to me.

I will probably also do this, but merely because in my first run I know I'll be paranoid about my cash flow and will be very hesitant to take on unneeded expenditures.

 

[Axlatl]

I used to play MWO and I foolishly made a Free account to see what it was like and chose the Quickdraw as my starting mech, man was that painful even with lots of time and effort I was only able to find a few reasonable builds and my Kills to death ratio was by far the worst of any mech I ran in MWO. Still it can be useful against certain opponents and can be improved in mechlab just not something I would ever buy or make my first choice with any other options

 

[Amechwarrior]

Play the QKD-5A like a giant Commando. Reserve your move and creep up along the sides of the battle, trying not to grant LoS until ready. Then, when the time is right, run or jump in to hit the enemy in the rear arc. The QKD-5A has the mobility the HBK-4P lacks and its uniquely suited as a rear arc flanker due to its lack of Stability causing weapons. The brace of lasers means you aren't relying on one big shot that may miss or hit a leg/arm instead of the rear torso. The ML's do enough damage alone that about 2 in the same rear location will breach through, which can take +5 SRMs to do equivalent damage to one location. The lack of armor due to its suboptimal engine and JJ mass means if we can get a 55t unit with enough energy hardpoints it could be overshadowed in a customs PvP, but in stock play none of the 55t trio packs everything in to a single package like the QKD-5A. If we were to get a Master Tac/Evasion pilot in PvP, this would be a great combination.

 

[Curuno]

Play the QKD-5A like a giant Commando. Reserve your move and creep up along the sides of the battle, trying not to grant LoS until ready. Then, when the time is right, run or jump in to hit the enemy in the rear arc. The QKD-5A has the mobility the HBK-4P lacks and its uniquely suited as a rear arc flanker due to its lack of Stability causing weapons. The brace of lasers means you aren't relying on one big shot that may miss or hit a leg/arm instead of the rear torso. The ML's do enough damage alone that about 2 in the same rear location will breach through, which can take +5 SRMs to do equivalent damage to one location. The lack of armor due to its suboptimal engine and JJ mass means if we can get a 55t unit with enough energy hardpoints it could be overshadowed in a customs PvP, but in stock play none of the 55t trio packs everything in to a single package like the QKD-5A. If we were to get a Master Tac/Evasion pilot in PvP, this would be a great combination.

How you use it also changes hugely depending on the game mode. It's one of the mechs I can't get to quite mesh with my tactics, but in MP I made a point to take QKD's out first because ignoring them means eating a flank attack or DFA.

 

[Cynwulf]

The Quickdraw is a great mech to put in a mobile fire support lance especially in rugged/broken terrain.
Think Quickdraw QKD-4G, Dervish DV-6M, Trebuchet TRT-5J x 2. Your quickdraw has a bit more armor and can certainly brawl with 4 ml and srm 4 if the enemy threatens the unit. The dervish can help in this role with ml x2, srm 2 x2. even the trebuchets have 3 ml each.

The lance support weaponry is 3 LRM 10 and 2 LRM 15. a total of 32 rounds of LRM 15 and 48 rounds of LRM 10.

Its fast enough to keep away from support elements with superior fire power and can punish anything fast enough to catch it at range then finish them off with close range firepower.

 

[Jade_Rook]

I like the Quickdraw and prefer it with LRMs. It plays more like an oversized medium than a heavy mech, but I still find it is a reasonable flanker.

 

[Mojo Amok]

I, for one, am not a big fan of the way Quickdraw's in-game model looks, but that's probably because of how much better the Concept art looked.
So much more sleek and dynamic, while the in-game model is very chunky (especially the arms)

You're right - the concept art is definitely better than the finished in-game model, though I'm still quite smitten with them both.

Hmmmm...rework the arms?

Spoiler: In progress...

 

[KDubya]

Another positive for the Quickdraw is the ability to get 6 pips of evasion. Its not the best mech or even a good one but it makes it difficult to hit one and if you ignore it it can do some damage with DFA or rear arc firing enhanced by its great mobility.

A highly mobile light can also have the six pips of evasion but a lance can focus fire or sensor lock it into the hittable range and wax it in a single round if you leave it exposed. The Quickdraw is tough enough not to go down that fast if they choose to try.

Not getting hit and sucking up all the opfors attacks in an attempt to drop the pips of evasion helps the rest of the lance to operate without interference.