Arrow IV

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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

Weapon Min Range Max Range Lock On
Range
Lock On
Time
Splash Damage/Shot Damage
Type
Sec. Splash
Damage/Shot
Sec.
Damage Type
Splash Radius
(prm/sec)
Shots
/min
Sustained
DPS
Max Speed
(m/s)
Heat
/Shot
Ammo
/ton
Ammo cost
/ton
Arrow IV ~500m 4300m 1000m 10s 4 x 175 Missile 4 x 117 Missile 9.5m / 50m 7 131 150 240 32 1000
Clan Arrow IV 1200m
All stats are current as of release 0.14.10

Gameplay & Hints

Cougar about to get hit by 2 Arrows

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. The Catapult had to strip nearly all its support weapons in order to handle ArrowIVs. The only vehicles fielding this weapon are the Huit , Demolisher and Regulator; 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. When dumb-fired, ArrowsIV's have an effective range of 3000m, and will travel to a point directly over the targeting reticule, before descending at a steep point and landing almost exactly where they're aimed. 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.

  • ArrowIV salvos are impossible for a single AMS system to destroy


Canon

Arrow IV Artillery.png

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:

(C)Arrow IV
  Inner Sphere
  Clan
All lists are current as of release 0.14.10