Shiva

Shiva
[[ | 350px]] [[ | 350px]]
Faction	Inner Sphere
Ticket cost:	12 upon destruction
Tier:	{{{Tier}}}
Variant Armament
Variant	Weapons	Equipment
Prime: Class: {{{Class Prime}}} Price: {{{Price Prime}}} CBills Total Armor: 31 000 Maneuverability: {{{Maneuver Prime}}} Max Speed: Opt. Turning:	{{{Weapons Prime}}}	{{{Equip Prime}}}
Armor Points Distribution
B LW RW E T 10941 4559 4559 6382 4559

All stats current as of release 0.15.3

The Shiva is an Inner Sphere heavy variable-sweep wing Aerospace. It's slower and bigger than any other ASF currently in game, though in exchange it mounts heavier armor and more weapons, giving it serious punch to ground and airborne targets. Though unsuitable for dogfighting, the Shiva excels in the role of tactical bomber or air support unit. It is known as well for its deadliness as it is for its tendency to handle similarly to a flying oil tanker. When flying at high speed and altitude, its wings fold back to allow for decreased air resistance.

Roles and Gameplay Hints

Variant C

This variant has garnered the nickname "Nuke Shiva", and rightly so. It carries four Fire Bomb launchers, which when used with precision can annihilate heavy Mechs with ease. However, its firepower comes at the enormous cost in Cbills (and don't forget another 8k for ammo) - more than the starting funds given at Khan rank, making it difficult to acquire and very painful to lose. When faced with a Shiva C, fielding dedicated AA units sometimes becomes a necessity.

Variant E

You've been Thunderstruck when one of these launches it's full 2 Thunderbolt 20 and 2 Thunderbolt 15 salvo at you. TAG helps ensure a hit on these missiles, though their fairly poor maneuverability discourages top-down shots on anything but stationary targets. Zero free tons for ammo, and only 2 shots per Tbolt20 and 3 on the Tbolt15 means a skilled pilot is called for in order to make those hits count. A good electronics suite in the form of EOptics and GECM helps find to targets and evade detection.

Variant F

The mighty Flying Beat Stick. The Shiva F packs on it two frighting LBX20s backed up by two LBX10s giving it horrifying close range fire power that is able to critically damage a mech if it gets close enough or to one shot lighter assets. This variant is able to cause havoc to anything that isn't able to shoot back and decimate other planes that are not maneuverable enough to stay away or if they are get caught in its cross hairs. The real draw back to this variant though is even though it has terrifying damage potential it has to get almost point blank for its weapons to do there full damage to one spot which really puts the plane in danger, even with its moderate armour there is a strong chance that it'll be shot up once it gets in its gun range. There is also the chance that the plane will not come out of its pass all together because some times it will crash when the pilot isn't careful. The planes BHP lets it pick a unfortunate target from range then choose if it wants to close the gap to critically damage it.

Variant G

The Agent Orange is the least expensive Shiva variant, and the most fun - at least from the perspective of "Wow! I just shot 140 missiles at someone". Mounting 2 MRM30 and 2 MRM40s, the Agent Orange fields an incredible array of inaccurate missiles. However, paired up with a scout who NARCs targets, the G can bring an incredible amount of pain to bear. EOptics help to spot targets somewhat, and 3 DHS reduce, but don't offset the heat generated by this weapon loadout. Chain firing two successive MRM30/MRM40 salvo's is recommended to keep the heat in check, also helps with convergence to fire only the left side or right side weaponry.

Variant Evaluations

These charts are supposed to give a rough evaluation on how useful the Variant in question is in different situations, and to show a more visible impression of its strengths and weaknesses.
For an explanation of the terms used visit the Evaluation Charts help page.

Variant		vs. Ground	vs. Air	vs. BA		Short Range	Med. Range	Long Range	Extreme Range		Support	Efficiency
Prime
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I

History

The Shiva has been available since the first beta version of MWLL and has undergone few changes in its role since then. It has the distinction of being among the first units to receive more than four variants with the release of version 0.3.0.

Canon

This 85 ton OmniFighter takes its name from the Hindu god of death. The Shiva was designed by the Free Worlds League with help from the Word of Blake, and it was a cutting-edge Aerospace fighter of its time. It was seen operating mainly from carriers, though because of its high maintenance costs it was given only to elite units.

Battletech Reference