7 replies to this topic

[Kushko]

What is the difference between the two and is either one superior? Thinking of getting one and improving it in the pilot skill tree but cant decide between the two.

[Samziel]

Artillery strike hits a single large area, while airstrike hits in a line starting from where you aimed towards that direction. Artillery strike is great against enemies in a group while airstrike is good for a line of enemies. I think their damage is the same.

[IraqiWalker]

identical damage, different dispersion

Arty hits a circular area, while air hits a line.

[Pekiti]

Both are useful under different specific situations, but neither is reliable damage.

Artillery strikes a circular area, centered on the smoke marker that you drop.

Airstrike drops its bombs in a rectangular path, starting at the point where you drop the smoke marker, and then moving in a straight line away from that marker, out to about 180 meters distance. The line it travels is based on the direction your mech's torso is facing at the moment you drop the smoke marker. So if you want to drop a line of bombs up a road (on Alpine for example) if you want them to go straight up the road, you need to be facing straight up the road when you drop the smoke marker.

Artillery is better used for dispersing a crowd around a specific point (a resource node in Conquest, a big rock pillar on Canyon, etc). Airstrike is better for clearing a ridge or hitting guys behind a linear obstacle, like the saddle on Crimson.

Note that dropping the smoke marker in an underground area (like HPG, or in one of the tunnels on Crimson or Forest Colony) will cause the artillery air strike to land outside, on the surface. I have done serious harm to enemy targets on the upper platform (Crimson map) by dropping my markers underneath them.

There is no practical limit to the range of either - if you can put your torso crosshair on something, you can put your smoke marker on it and trigger the arty/airstrike. They are best used against slow mechs (assaults and heavies), mechs that are crippled and unable to run/flee the impact area, or mechs that are unaware of the incoming threat (they are focused on something in another direction, you are dropping smoke behind them, below them at a cliff edge, underneath in a tunnel, etc).

At 40k or 15MC a pop, though, they are not to be wasted frivolously.

Edited by Pekiti, 23 June 2014 - 02:26 PM.

[Pekiti]

Kushko, on 23 June 2014 - 07:45 AM, said:

What is the difference between the two and is either one superior? Thinking of getting one and improving it in the pilot skill tree but cant decide between the two.

If I had to choose between the two, I'd pick Air Strike. You have more control over the beaten zone (the area where the shells will land), and it is easier to use without the enemy realizing you have dropped smoke on them. With practice you can drop one on the edge of a big melee and hit only the enemy brawlers and not your guys (this is always a risk, but much less so than trying it with the Artillery Strike).

[Magos Titanicus]

Pekiti, on 23 June 2014 - 02:19 PM, said:

There is no practical limit to the range of either - if you can put your torso crosshair on something, you can put your smoke marker on it and trigger the arty/airstrike.

I've tested a range limit by reaching 2 to 2,5 kilometers on alpine peaks. if you see the infinite range marker and you hit fire, the flare goes up straight under the pointer.

[Arn0ldSchwarzenegger]

Airstrikes are also great for hiding the smoke in some cover so the enemy do not know what is coming as it rolls over the terrain away from the smoke and you. whereas arty you have to put in the middle of the pack and they can often react to it.

[Elizander]

Clans can only use Airstrike. If you want to unlock it for both then go Airstrike.