Difference between revisions of "Arrow IV"

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Overview

Cougar about to get hit by 2 Arrows

The ArrowIV (also called Arrow 4, A4, Arrow), is the most powerful guided weapon available. It can fly up to 3000 meters and, depending on where it hits, is capable of disabling many units in a single twin-missile salvo. ArrowIVs are also nearly impossible for a single AMS system to destroy, requiring at least 2 to reliably block a single missile, and 4 or more to have a chance to disable the usual 2 missile salvo.

Weapon Stats

All stats are current as of release 0.9.3.

Damage per second shown is only theoretical maximum value.

Gameplay

Thanks to the missile's large splash effect, a salvo of A4s can easily reduce all of a Mech's components to "yellow" status, thereby making the ArrowIV's overall damage third highest, with the Long Tom taking the lead and Bombs being second, with the Tbolt having roughly similar (but more focused) damage. When a Tbolt hits a target at the same angle as Arrows it does less damage, though with a more horizontal approach or back-armor hit, Tbolts can inflict higher total damage -- the overall result varies depending on the situation. Because of it's very characteristic damage spread, the A4 user cannot concentrate it's firepower nearly as effectively on a single part, which could quickly cripple the target's firepower or movement capability -- instead, the A4 user is forced to burn through all of the target's armor to reduce the enemy's strength, or aim at units with already damaged parts.

ArrowIV launchers are extremely heavy and are usually mounted in pairs, making very few units capable of bearing them. Catapult had to strip all it's support weapons in order to handle ArrowIVs, while the only unit capable of bearing additional weapons is the Madcat MKII. The only vehicles fielding this weapon are the Huit and Demolisher; notably, no Aerospace or VTOL is capable of using this weapon.

The preferred way to use ArrowIVs is to have a friendly unit designate targets using a NARC or TAG while the ArrowIV unit shoots the missiles from other location -- while the ArrowIV can only achieve a lock out to 1000m, it's long flight time allows it to travel from one base to another, allowing the A4 user to stay well behind the front lines.

Missiles can be also be dumb-fired (that is, fired without lock) towards LRM campers or other stationary, long-range units from beyond the A4's lock-on range, allowing an easy hit without triggering the target's missile lock warning. However, the missiles' smoke trail is highly visible, which may give the target ample warning to take evasive action.

Another possible use of the ArrowIV is to scare off Aeros or VTOLs, with the missile lock warning forcing the enemy to involve in multiple dodge maneuvers for quite some time, thanks to the missiles' ability to approach a target up to three times. For this tactic it's best to fire the two missiles with few seconds delay between each, lengthening the time enemy will be threatened by the missiles, and increasing the hit probability. However, as with LRMs, an air unit is only likely to be struck by missiles if it takes no evasive action; in this case, the missiles serve as a distraction, making both offense and fleeing more difficult for the targeted unit, and perhaps giving friendly AA more time to shoot it down.

Usage

The following vehicles equip these weapons.