Greetings, Commanders!
We continue to talk about various game aspects and mechanics in alphabetical order in our traditional Encyclopedia segment. We hope that the information from this section is equally useful for both experienced commanders and beginners. We will do everything we can to help each Commander in such a complicated thing as conquering the Arena.
And the letter of this week is M again! This time we will tell you in detail about the last of three weapon types – Missiles!
So, Missiles is one of three weapon types. The other two are Lasers and Ballistic.
You can unlock the first Missiles weapon on the 3rd level (Rocket Launcher module, to be exact). According to the latest infographics data for the past 3 months, Missiles weapons modules are not so popular among Commanders but still builds with such weapons lose rarely than builds with laser and ballistic weapons. In the game, Missiles weapons are presented as classic weapon modules with a certain fire cone, and in the form of turrets that fire at 360 degrees. The Missiles armament can be conditionally subdivided into three sub-types of projectiles: rockets, mines, and torpedos. Let’s look at each one of them in detail.
Rockets – one of the Missiles armament sub-type. Each rocket has these parameters: lifetime (if the rocket does not reach its target after a certain period of time it will explode), dealt damage, start speed, and acceleration. Rockets can either fly strictly to their target or can have non-straight, random fire cones. It is also known that some of the rocket modules can shoot several projectiles at the same time. If the shot was successful and reached its target, then the opponent’s ship would have been pushed away at a certain distance.
Commanders should also keep in mind such parameters as flight time and rocket explosion radius. The first one means that the amount of time, at the end of which the rocket will explode unless it won’t reach its target. The more the flight time parameter value, the longer the traveled rocket distance will be.
The rocket explosion radius parameter means the explosion radius of the rocket that reached its target. The damage of this rocket will be dealt to all cells that are located near its target (it will happen only if the rocket explosion radius parameter value > 1). The radius itself has represented a circle. It is measured by cells.
If the rocket hits a few cells of the same module, then this module will receive damage only once.
If the rocket hits cells of a different module along with the first one, then the cells of the second module will receive damage too. However, the amount of this damage will be less than 100%.
And here are some rocket additional features:
The same Point Defense Turret can’t shoot multiple times at the one and the same launched rocket.
If the rocket hits a crossing point of the two active shields, then the damage will be dealt to only one of them. This shield will be selected randomly. However, if the rocket explosion radius parameter value is > 1, then the damage will be dealt to two shields instantly. This feature concerns other weapon modules that deal damage to more than one cell.
Mines are slow-moving explosive projectiles that are launched around the ship as a packet from the Mine Launcher with some delay. Each mine has a lifetime parameter – if it does not reach its target after a certain period of time it will explode. Mines also have such a parameter as an explosion radius. The radius itself is represented as a circle. It is measured by cells. Additionally, it is to be noted that the Mine Launcher does not deploy mines when there is no opponent’s ship nearby. So, Mine Launcher functions only if the opponent’s ship is within a module range and fire cone. Otherwise, Mine Launcher won’t deploy any mines.
Torpedo – third sub-type of Missiles armament projectiles. Each torpedo has these parameters: lifetime, dealt damage, torpedo speed, and turning speed. Torpedos can either fly strictly to their target or can have non-straight, random fire cones. It is also known that some torpedo weapon modules can shoot several projectiles at the same time. Torpedos have an explosion radius parameter too. Unlike rockets, torpedos deal more damage but fly slower.
Like every weapon type, Missiles have their own strengths and weaknesses. Speaking of strengths, Missiles are effective against all types of armor and in some cases even against shields. Plus, effective Missiles weapons become available at early levels for a pretty low Credits price: Missile Launcher – at 13 lvl for 70000 Credits; Mine Launcher – at 14 lvl for 55000 Credits; Torpedo Launcher – at 20 lvl for 230000 Credits.
Missiles’ current weaknesses are shields and Point Defense Turret modules.
Shields protect from all three sub-types of projectiles. As some top players have noticed, it is better to have a shield with a high “Shield Strength” parameter value rather than a shield with a high “Regen Speed” parameter value.
However, other players prefer high “Regen Speed” over high “Shield Strength”. But the thing about what is better – disputable, because we have a thing like overkill/overdamage.
For example, a shield with 10 points of strength left may block a Warhead torpedo with 100 damage, so, of course, the shield falls down, but in addition to 10 damage blocked by shield strength, you got 90 damage blocked as an extra, and your shield is still there and already started to regenerate.
Opposite situation – you have War Shield with 100 points of strength, you also block this torpedo, but your shield is no more there and you blocked whole flat damage done.
Point Defense Turret modules have a chance to disrupt all three sub-types of projectiles as well. Each sub-type has its own disruption chances values. The chance itself triggers once per a certain period of time, which equals < 1 sec. That means the Point Defense Turret has a little delay between its actions.
Turrets can easily disrupt mines and torpedoes because of their slow movement speed. Rockets often fly in large numbers and at a high speed, so turrets don’t have time to disrupt them.
Also, some top players believe that if you turn on the standard (1x speed) during the battle, then all Point Defense Turrets will function more efficiently compared to a 2x speed battle. It is also believed that torpedo-spam builds are effective even against a large number of such turrets. These builds ignore the low speed of torpedoes because the emphasis is put on the number of launched projectiles.
So, it is possible to make the following assessment: the best way to counter Missiles weapon modules is to equip a lot of shields and Point Defense Turrets.
That’s all for today! We look forward to your feedback and we will be happy to hear your opinion about this Encyclopedia issue. Tell us what you would like to improve and what aspects of the game would you be most interested in hearing about in the future?
We wish you a great day and bright victories!
And as always – see you in the Arena!
