8 replies to this topic

[Aratan Aenor]

So, since we know consumable artillery and airstrikes are coming, how about adding a little canon flavor to the mix? Arrow IV Homing Missile. You buy and carry the module just like regular artillery and airstrikes, with one difference, in order to use the Arrow IV homing feature you need to be carrying TAG. Also, keep in mind you are not going to be carrying an Arrow IV launcher yourself. The launcher is self-propelled and stationed a safe distance away from the battfield with the other artillery units.


The following is available to a player who purchases the Arrow IV Strike module:

• Cost: 40,000 CB
  
• Requires 1 module slot
  
• Can only be used once per match.
  
• If used, the module must be repurchased for the next match.
  
• There is a 6 second flight time between the call for support and impact of the missile.
  
• 1 missile is fired.
  
• The missile will fly directly overhead of the target and then straight down into it, avoiding terrain and buildings.
  
• A player designates a mech for an Arrow IV strike with TAG. If the firing unit is destroyed or loses the TAG lock before the Arrow IV reaches its target, the missile strikes a random location with 50 meters of the last position designated by the TAG.
  
• The missile does 40 damage to its target and 5 splash damage.
  
• The missile has a damage fall off of 5 meters from its impact point and damage falls to 0 at the outer edge of this radius.

The following is available to a player who purchases the Priority Arrow IV Strike module:

• Cost: 15 MC
  
• Requires 1 module slot
  
• Can only be used once per match.
  
• If used, the module must be repurchased for the next match.
  
• There is a 4.5 second flight time between the call for support and impact of the first missile.
  
• 2 missiles are fired and land within 1 second of each other.
  
• The missile will fly directly overhead of the target and then straight down into it, avoiding terrain and buildings.
  
• A player designates a mech for an Arrow IV strike with TAG. If the firing unit is destroyed or loses the TAG lock before the Arrow IV reaches its target, both missiles strike random locations within 50 meters of the last position designated by the TAG.
  
• Each missile does 40 damage to its target and 5 splash damage.
  
• Each missile has a damage fall off of 5 meters from its impact point and damage falls to 0 at the outer edge of this radius.

Players who have purchased the Artillery Strike Upgrade for 15,000 GXP gain the following benefits to the standard Arrow IV Strike module:

• Flight time is reduced by 1.5 seconds.
  
• An additional missile is fired.

Edited by Aratan Aenor, 14 March 2013 - 08:44 AM.

[Tice Daurus]

Aratan Aenor, on 14 March 2013 - 05:40 AM, said:

So, since we know consumable artillery and airstrikes are coming, how about adding a little canon flavor to the mix? Arrow IV homing missiles. You buy and carry the module just like regular artillery and airstrikes, with one difference, in order to use the Arrow IV homing feature you need to be carrying TAG.


The following is available to a player who purchases the Arrow IV Strike module:

• Cost: 30,000 CB
  
• Requires 1 module slot
  
• Can only be used once per match.
  
• If used, the module must be repurchased for the next match.
  
• There is a 6 second flight time between the call for support and impact of the missile.
  
• 1 missile is fired.
  
• The missile will fly directly overhead of the target and then straight down into it, avoiding terrain and buildings.
  
• A player designates a mech for an Arrow IV strike with TAG. If the firing unit is destroyed or loses the TAG lock before the Arrow IV reaches its target, the missile strikes a random location with 50 meters of the last position designated by the TAG.
  
• The missile does 20 damage to its target and 10 splash damage.
  
• The missile has a damage fall off of 10 meters from its impact point and damage falls to 0 at the outer edge of this radius.

The following is available to a player who purchases the Priority Arrow IV Strike module:

• Cost: 12 MC
  
• Requires 1 module slot
  
• Can only be used once per match.
  
• If used, the module must be repurchased for the next match.
  
• There is a 4.5 second flight time between the call for support and impact of the first missile.
  
• 2 missiles are fired and land within 1 second of each other.
  
• The missile will fly directly overhead of the target and then straight down into it, avoiding terrain and buildings.
  
• A player designates a mech for an Arrow IV strike with TAG. If the firing unit is destroyed or loses the TAG lock before the Arrow IV reaches its target, both missiles strike random locations within 50 meters of the last position designated by the TAG.
  
• Each missile does 20 damage to its target and 10 splash damage.
  
• Each missile has a damage fall off of 10 meters from its impact point and damage falls to 0 at the outer edge of this radius.

Players who have purchased the Artillery Strike Upgrade for 15,000 GXP gain the following benefits to the standard Arrow IV Strike module:

• Flight time is reduced by 1.5 seconds.
  
• An additional missile is fired.

With the other consumables, I don't see why they couldn't put this in there as well. But the MC cost is low. I'd say 15 MC for the upgraded version, not 12 MC.

[Karl Streiger]

well you have combined two aspects. of homing and conventional ammo.
However a single damage of 20 points sounds odd to me.
Like the artillery strikes to come damage has no relation towards its cost.
Actually a single catapult and a TAG spotter could deal much more damage.

i would say improve homing missile damage towards deadly 40 points and remove splash dmg.
to be effective the target has to be painted by TAG that has no communication interruption by ecm.

alternative conventionel missiles. deal splash damage or use ICM. that detonate above the ground

[Aratan Aenor]

Karl Streiger, on 14 March 2013 - 05:59 AM, said:

However a single damage of 20 points sounds odd to me.
...
i would say improve homing missile damage towards deadly 40 points and remove splash dmg.

I was using numbers straight from the TT rules. The fact that in MWO mechs have double maximum armor and increased missile damage compared to the TT game slipped my mind when I was working on this. I've edited the original post to reflect that.

[Torquemada]

The difference is the Arrow IV is a mech mounted weapon, while airstrikes and this type of artillery are communication based strikes.

While I would like to see heavy artillery Mech weapons like the Long Tom and Arrow IV, these are Mech mounted. Modules are zero weight, zero heat and simply space limited.

[Eddrick]

I would prefer to use my own BattleMech mounted Artillery Weapon. But, an Artillery Strike is an ok substitute for now. Unfortunetly, without Critical Slot Splitting. Arrow IV can't be mounted.

The stock Catapult-C3 mounts two Arrow IV Artillery Missile Launchers.

Edited by Eddrick, 14 March 2013 - 08:31 AM.

[Aratan Aenor]

Torquemada, on 14 March 2013 - 08:18 AM, said:

The difference is the Arrow IV is a mech mounted weapon, while airstrikes and this type of artillery are communication based strikes.

While I would like to see heavy artillery Mech weapons like the Long Tom and Arrow IV, these are Mech mounted. Modules are zero weight, zero heat and simply space limited.

http://www.sarna.net...Field_Artillery

Arrow IVs and other artillery weapons are not strictly mounted on mechs, they can be mounted on self-propelled or towable units that conventional forces bring to the battlefield to provide support for battlemech units. Mechs like the CPLT-C3 and the HEP-2H which actually mount artillery pieces are far rarer than tanks like the Marksman or the Thor which carry artillery weapons as their main armament.

The Arrow IV in this case is being used as an off-board artillery piece. The module just allows you to use your TAG to designate a target for an off-screen Arrow IV launcher and call in a single strike. The idea is to create a precision artillery strike alternative to the dev's planned area-saturation artillery strikes.

Edited by Aratan Aenor, 14 March 2013 - 08:55 AM.

[General Taskeen]

Turning more BT Weapons and Tech into consumables, I see.

Let's cheapen the Mech Lab experience moar pls.

[Aratan Aenor]

General Taskeen, on 14 March 2013 - 08:42 AM, said:

Turning more BT Weapons and Tech into consumables, I see.

Let's cheapen the Mech Lab experience moar pls.

Artillery strikes were already consumables in BT... "Players may decide to assign off-board indirect artillery to one or both sides during game setup." (Classic BattleTech Master Rules, Revised Edition) Off-board indirect artillery include: Arrow IV (regular and homing), Long Tom, Sniper, and Thumper. The only difference is that in BT, artillery had unlimited uses per game, in MWO they will be one-time use per player per game.

Edited by Aratan Aenor, 14 March 2013 - 09:16 AM.