Bomb
Bombs are a specialty weapon found only on certain subtypes of aerospace fighters (ASFs), namely the Attacker and Bomber variants. These weapons were first introduced in the 0.8.3 patch as a part of a general ASF update and replace the old Fire Bombs found in previous versions of the game. Bombs come in three different categories: High Explosive, Laser-Guided and Cluster.
Weapon Stats
| Weapon | Min Range | Max Range | Lock On Range |
Damage |
Damage Type |
Secondary Damage |
Sec. Damage Type |
Splash Radius (prm/sec) |
Shots /min |
Sustained DPS |
Heat /Shot |
Ammo /ton |
Ammo cost /ton |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bomb (CL) | --- | 1500m* | --- | 5 x 54 | Kinetic | 5 x 106 | Missile | 26.5m / 40m | 2.8 | 37 | --- | 5 | 2000 |
| Bomb (HE) | 400 | 400 | 17.5m / 25m | 3 | 40 | 1 | |||||||
| Bomb (LG) | 100m | 1500m | 7.5m / 10m | 4.3 | 57 | 100 |
| *Max drop altitude | All stats are current as of release 0.11.1 |
High Explosive
High Explosive (HE) bombs are dumb-fire area-of-effect weapons that bear the most resemblance to the old Fire Bomb. They deal heavy damage to units caught within its blast radius, which is usually only wide enough to hit a single asset at a time. Of all the bombs, HE are the easiest to avoid and thus require some skill to score consistent hits, especially against a moving target.
Laser-Guided
Laser-guided (LG) bombs deal similar amounts of damage as HE bombs, but are capable of tracking a target that is painted with a TAG laser or a NARC beacon. When fired without an active TAG or NARC, LG bombs will instead fly where the crosshair was pointing upon launch, causing it to behave like a slow-moving thunderbolt missile; this means that even without external guidance, laser-guided bombs are much more reliable and precise, even if they deal less raw damage.
Cluster
Cluster bombs (CL) are dumb-fired like their HE siblings, except have a far greater area-of-effect radius at the cost of direct damage. Instead of dropping a single bomb, cluster bombs are dropped as five bomblets at a time; spare clusters are then reloaded as separate payloads, if spares are available.
Cluster bombs are ideal for saturating a number of opponents in a confined space and performing area suppression/denial. With some skill, they can even be quite dangerous to single enemies as well. Cluster bombs are also highly potent against Battle Armor owing to their large splash radius, as their submunitions are strong enough to one-shot any BA caught outside of cover.
Canon
High-Explosive Bombs are one of several common bomb types that can be carried by aerospace and conventional fighters. They are typically carried on external hardpoints common to military aircraft.
BattleTech reference
Laser-Guided Bombs are a special type of High-Explosive Bomb which can be directed against a specific target through special equipment such as Target Acquisition Gear. They are typically carried on external hardpoints common to military aircraft.
BattleTech reference
Cluster Bombs are a special type of High-Explosive Bomb which can cause damage over a wide area. They are typically carried on external hardpoints common to military aircraft.
BattleTech reference
Usage
The following aerospace fighters equip bombs:
| Bomb (HE) | Bomb (LG) | Bomb (CL) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Inner Sphere |
Clan |
Inner Sphere |
Clan |
Inner Sphere |
Clan |
