Thunderbolt

The Thunderbolt, or TBolt, is a powerful, precision-fired Missile mounted only on a handful of units. Thunderbolts can be guided to a target by TAG Laser, but can have trouble hitting oddly positioned or fast-moving targets as their turn speed is very low.

Two TBolts are capable of devastating most Light Mechs with precise hits to the Rear Torso Armor, and can also heavily damage the majority of Medium and Heavy Mechs. It is also possible to kill the Pilots of Mechs by hitting the Cockpit, although in most cases it is pure luck. TBolts also have significant splash damage, allowing them to deal damage to several Armor components at the same time.

Upon impact, TBolts create large explosions and an intense flash, which can be blinding in Night Vision, and can also cause severe Cockpit shake.

The most effective way to use TBolts is to fire them at Tagged Heavy or Assault Mechs from 1000 meters, allowing the TBolter to avoid most enemy fire. These units are too slow to effectively dodge the TBolt, thus increasing the chance of a hit. One can also unleash a sneak attack by performing a dumb-fire of a TBolt barrage while in passive radar mode, as long as your target is either stationary or moving slowly and can't see you coming.

Air Thunderbolts work a bit differently from their ground-based siblings in that they are very effective against larger, less maneuverable aircraft but deal almost no damage at all to ground assets. In this way, it is best to treat Air TBolts strictly as an air-to-air missile weapon.

Only Inner Sphere units may make use of Thunderbolt launchers.

Weapon Stats

All stats are current as of release 0.9.3.

Weapon	Lock Range	Max Range	Min Range	Ammo/ton	Heat	Damage	Damage Type	Secondary Damage	Secondary Damage Type	Splash Radius	Shots/min	Mech Damage/sec	Heat/sec	Ammo Cost/ton	Max Damage/ton Ammo	Notes
Air Thunderbolt	???	6000	---	20	50	115	MGun	115	---	1.5m / ---	10	32.58	8.33	800	3910	---
TBolt5	750m	6000	0m	20	50	326.89	Missile	108.96	---	1.5m / ---	10	72.64	8.33	800	8717	Will follow TAG & track NARC
TBolt10	750m	6000	0m	10	80	653.78	Missile	217.93	---	1.5m / ---	10	145.28	13.33	1000	8717	Will follow TAG & track NARC
TBolt15	750m	6000	0m	7	110	980.66	Missile	326.89	---	1.5m / ---	8.33	181.6	15.27	1000	9152.85	Will follow TAG & track NARC
TBolt20	750m	6000	0m	4	140	1307.55	Missile	435.85	---	1.5m / ---	7.5	217.93	17.5	1000	6973.6	Will follow TAG & track NARC

TBolt5

Thunderbolt 5 launcher fires a single missile that inflicts slightly less damage then a Autocannon/5 but has significant Secondary Damage.

TBolt10

Thunderbolt 10 launcher fires a single missile that inflicts almost as much damage as an LtGauss and with 1/3rd Secondary Damage.

TBolt15

Thunderbolt 15 launcher fires a single missile that inflicts as much damage as a UAC20 and with 1/3rd Secondary Damage.

TBolt20

Thunderbolt 20 launcher fires a single missile that inflicts as slightly more damage than a Gauss Rifle and 3/4 less Secondary Damage.

Canon

First developed by the Federated Commonwealth in the mid-3050s for the Solaris arenas, the Thunderbolt launcher is an offshoot of standard LRM technology. Instead of firing a group of missiles, the Thunderbolt launchers fire a single missile that inflicts as much damage as an Autocannon/5, an Autocannon/10, a Gauss rifle or an Autocannon/20, respectively. This increased damage is made up for by the slightly reduced range and increases to the weapon's heat and weight. The Thunderbolt missile is also more vulnerable to anti-missile systems.

In CBT, Thunderbolt missile launchers cannot use Artemis IV or Narc guidance systems, but operate like LRMs in every other way.
BattleTech reference

Usage

The following vehicles equip these weapons:

TBolt5	TBolt10	TBolt15	TBolt20	AirTbolt
Anubis Argus Atlas Bushwacker Chimera Hollander_II Mauler Uziel Warhammer Goblin Harasser	Atlas Bushwacker Osiris	Hollander_II Hawkmoth	Fafnir Regulator	Hawkmoth SparrowHawk