Have you used them? How do you like them as part of the game? How do you like their use? Would use use them offensively or for support? I've been fiddling with tacking on one of these to my Super-Capture Raven, and want to see what folks think of the things.
Their effect is quirky. Don't aim at a mech aim at the ground they are at. The damage potentially generated just doesn't seem worth the money and certainly not worth the GXP expenditure on the skills. While I have seen them used effectively I have yet to see one used in such a way that wowed anyone. In short they are very underwhelming and not as useful as a cool shot in my opinion. The effect seems backwards or messed up as you will have the air strike or artillery strike strike THEN the smoke flare marking where it should be appears. Thats just backwards no matter how you look at it but OK whatever. Even when used to drive mechs off of a position (such as a point) the effect and damage dealt is so negligible odds are the scout capping will never notice the strike even if it hit him. Therefore it lacks any shock value to scare anyone off. If you wish to see for yourself you can use the modules in the testing ground without expending them. They will be on your mech and fine when you leave the testing ground after use.
Well they are both still "works in progress" I would imagine. Honestly? I don't really use them nor do I find them useful right now. They are more an annoying distraction and a waste of a module slot.
Tried to use them a couple times with my Spider. Never even noticed them going off, let alone having an effect. So no, not going to use them. Certainly not going to spend the GXP on them.
I think the damage could certainly be upped a notch, 10 damage per bomb and 6 bombs is 60 damage total. But there's no way you'll be hit by all 6, and it's the same damage as two gaussapult strikes, but less accurate. BEsides that I think that the 100 m area is really pathetic, you have 4 seconds to react. If this was supposed to be effective against scouts, they'll easily clear out of the area (if it would actually be scary). What happened to 20 damage large AoE Longtom artillery?
I won't use them, I always hated those air-strike features in games. So I'm pretty happy about how they are balanced right now (ie almost useless).
I have been the one in our little group to do most of the testing and have had very mixed results. I couldn't really figure out a way to be effective with the Airstrike, so after just two matches with it I switched to the Artillery Strike. I found there was just too much going on already in combat and trying to worry about the strike's direction of travel was just one more thing... On to the Artillery. At the basic level Artillery Strike is absolutely useless as a damage dealer, six rounds scattered over one hundred meters just isn't very impressive. As a distraction it can work well at getting the enemy to scatter once that red smoke erupts in their midst, an enemy that bunches itself up at any rate. I have never seen the smoke come after the rounds, there is always a delay after the smoke pops before the rounds are inbound. After upgrading the Modules the Artillery Strike became somewhat better, having ten rounds impacting in the same one hundred meter area. The rounds however weren't really centered on the smoke and as someone else already mentioned, most 'mechs can get out of the way before the first round hits home. Buying the $4,000,000 Artillery Accuracy Module made a marked difference in the proximity the rounds had to the smoke and if you could ensure that the smoke popped behind the enemy 'mech targeted it could be quite devastating to lighter targets. I wish the Strikes could be called in on TAGed targets, it would be so much more effective. Overall, I like the Artillery Strike for specific purposes. Like causing a distraction, people tend to look to where they are moving, so if you give them a reason to move away from you it's reasonable to believe they aren't looking at you for the next ten seconds. If you can become practiced enough to land that smoke behind targets then it can cause damage (or what sounds like damage) apparently coming from behind etc... another distraction. I have used it a number of times now to push snipers off of their roosts long enough to safely change position etc... When it comes right down to it, Air and Artillery Strikes are not really worth it for the individual 'mech pilot but what if all four members of a light wolfpack were carrying the Improved/Extra Accurate Strike. Skirting in behind the Heavy Support Lance of the Enemy...What if they all release the smoke at the same time just in behind the enemy 'mechs...what if? Four Hundren points of indescriminate damage in a one hundred meter area...what if? Mythweaver
My issue with using this as a distraction is that the majority of the time you don't even notice the smoke. If I don't see it, I can't run away from it. They need to make it like nuclear launches in Starcraft (okay, maybe not that overt, but pop up "incoming artillery barrage" and ping the map) so that the team knows to get away from it or not. As it is, the module is basically taking up a module slot to deal extra very-not-pinpoint damage. Your wolfpack strat wouldn't work as the strikes incur a team-wide cooldown of 10 seconds.
I wasn't aware of the 10 second Team-Wide Cool down, it doesn't really make any sense to me. In regard to the smoke issue, if you don't see it, you are likely to get hit. I agree that these weapons definately need to be worked on before they will be truelly viable. Myth.
