53 replies to this topic

[Gevurah]

Try as I like, I just can't manage a hit with airstrikes. Artillery though consistently hits 2-5 times and is bad as **** right now with the improved michael-bay ism

[Nehkrosis]

i find them to be pretty effective.
i use both on my locust and ravens.

A great place is Terra Therma, when the enemies start walking in to the centre in a line.
place an airstike just behind their cover barrier, and watch it just plow into them.

the upgrades also drop additional bombs, and faster too, there totally worth it.

[Geek Verve]

NRP, on 04 November 2013 - 02:43 PM, said:

I unlocked the upgraded Artillery Strike module recently. What a total waste of GXP. First of all, the placement mechanics are awkward and not intuitive. Second, it places a huge, bright, and totally obvious smoke signal right in the target area about 4-5s before the strike hits, allowing plenty of time for enemies to move. Finally, it does practically no damage at all, even to dumasses who stand right in the middle of it. Quite possibly the most useless module in existence.

Try popping smoke where some/most of the group won't see it, like directly behind or to the side of the bulk of them.

[ho1mes]

Only have experience with the arty strikes, but when you hit it's awesome. Does pretty good damage too. Takes some practice to land in the correct spot in the heat of battle though. Kinda stinks when you drop a 40K dud. Better to place it from a distance when the enemy is busy not paying attention to you.

[travelbug]

what exactly is the radius and length of the arty and air strikes respectively

[Nehkrosis]

I think it sez it in the description in-game

[Gremlich Johns]

Teela Zain Elmes, on 04 November 2013 - 01:43 PM, said:

... hey PGI what about orbital strikes?!

Dust514 and EVE

[travelbug]

Nehkrosis, on 08 November 2013 - 05:08 PM, said:

I think it sez it in the description in-game

the mechlab description only gives the number of shells and not the length or radius of area. do you actually see a circle or line in game when you press the arty/air strike button?

[Nehkrosis]

nope sadly not

[Kieran Carns]

Selfish, on 04 November 2013 - 01:18 PM, said:

The placement is wherever your arm (the circle) reticule is targeting. If you place it on a mech, it will usually drop it right at their feet.

This would be useful information to have in-game; for me it was the most noticable omission. I figured this was the most likely targeting mechanism, but at 40,000 C-Bills a go it's nice to hear it rather than find out the trial and error way. Especially when your Locust is running away rather than spectating after you've 'fired' it. Thanks.

[Rushin Roulette]

Usually Artillery Strike is the better variant.

However, if you can get the enemy team into a line, then Airstrike is great. The best example would be teh cave exits in Forest Colony (including the canyon next to the cave [blocked on the snow version]). Wait till they start pushing through and place the air strike infront of them... I guarantee that they will all stop and bunch up because they think that they are about to run into an Artillery strike zone. You will hit the whole group perfectly with the complete back half of the air strike.

The main reason for this is... there is no visual differentiation between the air and artillery strikes. Both smoke colours are the same from what I remember.

[Selfish]

Kieran Carns, on 12 November 2013 - 05:24 AM, said:

This would be useful information to have in-game; for me it was the most noticable omission. I figured this was the most likely targeting mechanism, but at 40,000 C-Bills a go it's nice to hear it rather than find out the trial and error way. Especially when your Locust is running away rather than spectating after you've 'fired' it. Thanks.

It would be. The only way I know of to test it is by firing it off in Testing Grounds. You'll find it still in your inventory after you leave.

[Kieran Carns]

Selfish, on 12 November 2013 - 05:51 AM, said:

The only way I know of to test it is by firing it off in Testing Grounds. You'll find it still in your inventory after you leave.

Ah, thanks! I hadn't thought of that.

[TercieI]

Normal modules don't work in TG. Do consumables?

[Alekzander Smirnoff]

i was playing a conquest match on crimson straits and launched an arty strike from kappa over to theta, what ever was over there had been untouched by enemy fire and i got a component destroyed message on my hud from just the artillery strike. I was sold (btw already had the artillery strike upgrade but not the accuracy one so that i can pepper a slightly larger area). To me its worth the 15k gxp and 40,000cb a use, i fire them off all the freakin time now. Plus the upgraded graphics for it are sweet.

Info on how they work: (damage numbers not updated in these posts)

ARTILLERY STRIKE
http://mwomercs.com/...trike-feedback/

Quote

New Consumable Modules:

- Each team has a separate global cooldown timer governing their use of artillery and air strikes
- No one can activate an artillery or air strike while their team's cooldown timer is counting down
- At the start of the match, each team's cooldown timer counts down 60 seconds
- When a player activates an artillery or air strike, his team's cooldown timer starts to count down for 10 seconds

- Artillery Strike
- Calls in a barrage of long range artillery.
- Press [Home] to target the area under your crosshairs with an artillery strike.
- After a 5 second delay, 6 shells drop into a 50 m radius around the targeted area. Each shell does 10 points of damage.
- Consumed on use.
- Cannot be equipped to a Mech that already contains an Artillery Strike, Improved Artillery Strike, or Priority Artillery Strike module.
- Upgradable to Improved Artillery Strike.

- Priority Artillery Strike
- Calls in a barrage of long range artillery.
- Press [Home] to target the area under your crosshairs with an artillery strike.
- After a 4 second delay, 10 shells drop into a 50 m radius around the targeted area. Each shell does 10 points of damage.
- Consumed on use.
- Cannot be equipped to a Mech that already contains an Artillery Strike, Improved Artillery Strike, or Priority Artillery Strike module.

New Support Modules:

- Artillery Accuracy
- Decreases the length of the bombardment zone by 20%.

New Consumable Module Upgrades:

- Improved Artillery Strike
- Upgrades the Artillery Strike module.
- Increases artillery shell count by 4, and decreases flight time by 1 second.
- Does not need to be equipped to a BattleMech.

So it drops in a 50 meter radius from where you point it and i think each bomb has a 10 to 15 meter explosion radius starting at 40 in the center and dropping to zero at the edge.

AIR STRIKE
http://mwomercs.com/...trike-feedback/

Quote

New Consumable Modules:

- Each team has a separate global cooldown timer governing their use of artillery and air strikes
- No one can activate an artillery or air strike while their team's cooldown timer is counting down
- At the start of the match, each team's cooldown timer counts down 60 seconds
- When a player activates an artillery or air strike, his team's cooldown timer starts to count down for 10 seconds


- Air Strike
- Calls in a fighter air strike on a targeted zone.
- Press [End] to target the area under your crosshairs with an air strike.
- After a 5 second delay, 6 bombs drop along a 100 m strip, starting at the targeted area and moving away from your location when you activated the strike. Each bomb does 10 points of damage.
- Consumed on use.
- Cannot be equipped to a Mech that already contains an Air Strike, Improved Air Strike, or Priority Air Strike module.
- Upgradable to Improved Air Strike

- Priority Air Strike
- Calls in a fighter air strike on a targeted zone.
- Press [End] to target the area under your crosshairs with an air strike.
- After a 4 second delay, 10 bombs drop along a 100 m strip, starting at the targeted area and moving away from your location when you activated the strike. Each bomb does 10 points of damage.
- Consumed on use.
- Cannot be equipped to a Mech that already contains an Air Strike, Improved Air Strike, or Priority Air Strike module.

New Support Modules:

- Air Strike Accuracy
- Decreases the radius of the targeted area by 20%.

New Consumable Module Upgrades:

- Improved Air Strike
- Upgrades the Air Strike module.
- Increases air strike bomb count by 4, and decreases flight time by 1 second.

- Does not need to be equipped to a BattleMech.

Starts at the point you target and the strike will start at the point you placed it and move away from that point in the same direction you are facing when you dropped it. So if you were standing on and staring along the bridge in river city, activated it on the middle of the bridge, it would follow the bridge away from you to the end.

Edited by Alekzander Smirnoff, 12 November 2013 - 12:29 PM.

[NRP]

I've been using the Improved Artillery Strike module on my Death's Smell, because at 171 kph I can charge right into the enemy forces and place it where I want. Also, the enemies are usually too focused on "Kill the Commando!" to notice the smoke signal. I haven't scored any kills, only a few destroyed components, so I can't say it's super effective. Probably best to use it either mid or near the end of the round after mechs are a bit beat up.

However, effective or not, there is something oddly satisfying about dashing in and leaving a present for the enemy a-holes.

[-Muta-]

Terciel1976, on 04 November 2013 - 09:08 AM, said:

I'm aware of the costs. I have unlocked every other module I wish to and would like to try them out. I play enough that 40k cbills here and there doesn't bother me.

I usually use 1 every 2 matches

[Nehkrosis]

Had a particularly devastating game in Alpine last night.

My Friend and I loaded up with Airstikes and Arty's, and ran for the back cap.

We were over-looking the entire enemy team on what we call "Battle-Mountain", the ridge that oversee's the compound base.
The ENTIRE enemy team was on top of that mountain.
290 damage with one airstike.
and i know it was that much because soon afterward i was Guassed into oblivion and couldnt fire any of my other weapons.


oh and yeah, we were in locusts

Edited by Nehkrosis, 15 November 2013 - 06:57 AM.

[NRP]

I think Air and Artillery Strikes should a bit more powerful than they currently are. The explosions look absolutely freakin cool, but the damage is just pathetic more often than not. I'm not sure it's worth 40k C-Bills.

[JigglyMoobs]

I use one almost every single match. On my DDC I put both airstrike and arty and use them both. It gets a little C-bill intensive but is hella entertaining if done right.

There's some moment in every match when the enemy are clustered together or advancing towards you enmass and the perfect opportunity presents it self to strike.

If the enemy is advancing towards you at some choke point just the red smoke alone is disruptive to their push. Then you take advantage of the disorder and pounce.

Last night playing Terra Therma the red team took theta and tried to advance on us via that winding mountain path as we circled around. We let a few of them through then I dropped an arty strike. The red smoke and UAC5 dakka from my dakkatlas stopped their advance dead in its tracks. Guys at the front tried to back up the pass only to run into guys coming down the pass from the back. Arty hits for effect, dakka is right on, and then I drop the air strike with more dakka. This causes total panic on the path with enemy mechs jumping in to lava to get away. Those guys got shot by teammates standing around the lava stream. We won the battle at the pass with extreme prejudice. However in the end we lost the war to the two wily assault mechs who stayed back..

Then tonight in terra therma we started hitting enemy teams with arty and air strikes right as both teams are walking into theta. Total confusion and panic ensue on the other side and they all die clustered behind the boxes at the door or while trying to break out one by one to escape. They sent a few strikes back but crucially we had the advantage then and didn't panic.

Some really good players in a 4 man on that team too but we wiped the floors with them even though we were PUGs only.

So, I think there are key moments in the game when the strikes can make a great deal of difference, more from their psychological value then the actual damage they do. If they got stronger, I don't know. They might get overpowered in the hands of people who know how to use them well.

Edited by JigglyMoobs, 15 November 2013 - 11:03 PM.