Difference between revisions of "Arrow IV"

Latest revision as of 19:34, 21 August 2022

The ArrowIV (also called Arrow 4, A4, Arrow), is a missile artillery weapon system that launches four guidable AOE missiles.

Overview

The Arrow missiles are capable of reaching targets from over 3500 meter distance but the weapon's own targeting system is only capable of locking at targets at 1000m (1200m clan counterpart) range. Due to the arcing trajectory, the minimum range of the missiles is about 500m. ArrowIV missiles have high damage potential, but the most notable quality of the Arrow missiles is the large explosion (splash) radius, which can be used to hit cramped enemy formations or dumbfiring for area denial effect.

Large slow projectiles, brightly colored exhaust flame, thick smoke trail and high ballistic arc make ArrowIV's visually distinguishable from the other missiles.

Weapon Stats

Gameplay & Hints

Cougar about to get hit by 2 Arrows

• ArrowIVs have a very, very long lock on time. Even longer when targeting something with GECM. It is recommended to crouch or deploy to reduce the lock on time.

• Thanks to the missile's large splash effect, a salvo of A4s can easily reduce all of a Mech's components to "yellow" status.

• Because of it's very characteristic damage spread, the A4 user cannot concentrate it's firepower on a single part, and instead, the A4 user is forced to burn through all of the target's armor.

• One 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 (1200m for Clan), its long, 4300m maximum range allows it to travel fully across the strategically relevant portion of most maps, allowing the A4 user to stay well behind the front lines. Just remember that ArrowIV missiles will only track NARC and TAG once the missile comes within 1000m of the designated target, take note of this when trying to flick ArrowIVs.

• Missiles can be also be dumb-fired (that is, fired without lock) towards stationary units from beyond the A4's lock-on range, allowing an easy hit without triggering the target's missile lock warning. When dumb-fired, ArrowsIV's have an effective range of over 4000m, and will travel to a point directly over the targeting reticle, before descending at a steep angle and landing in a spread pattern. However, the missiles' smoke trail is highly visible, which may give the target ample warning to take evasive action.

• Another more niche way to use ArrowIV is to scare off Aeros or VTOLs, with the missile lock warning forcing the enemy perform multiple dodge maneuvers over a lengthy period, thanks to the missiles' ability to approach a target up to three times. For this tactic its best to chain-fire the ArrowIVs (in the case where the pilot has more than one launcher), this lengthens the total time that 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.

• It is impossible for an entire ArrowIV salvo to be destroyed by a single LAMS. And Cluster ArrowIV salvos are even harder for LAMS to deal with.

• Both Clan and IS ArrowIV missiles destroy NARCs on impact. Thankfully, Cluster ArrowIV missiles do not destroy NARCs in this way.

Canon

The Arrow IV is a stand-alone, missile based, artillery system, designed to augment conventional systems such as the Long Tom and the Sniper. It was first introduced by the Terran Hegemony in 2600 and became a staple of the Star League Defense Force. Although the technology to create Arrow IVs was lost during the Star League's collapse, it was recovered by Capellan Confederation engineers in 3044 working off of surviving examples and the Helm Memory Core.

BattleTech reference

Usage

The following assets equip Arrow IVs: