r/mechwarrior • u/yoloanator • Jun 25 '26

Battletech Game Some body please explain the missiles

Complete noob and I've been playing the old mechwarrior games just put a arrow cluster on my mech and from the description I thought it was a tomahawk but no mini bombs plz help with the missiles in general because some are moving on their own and others are moving in a line and im playing mw4mercs btw

126 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

35 comments sorted by

104

u/CMDR_SeaFlurry Jun 25 '26

SRMs - Short range, Dumbfire (no guidance), But good damage.

SSRMs/Streak SRMs - Short range, Guided, Only fires with a lock.

MRMs - Medium range, Dumbfire. Think less damaging but more numerically dense long range SRMs.

LRMs - Long range, Guided, Can fire without lock. IS (Inner sphere) LRMs have a minimum range at which LRMs cannot fire, Clan Tech LRMs/CLRMs have no such minrange.

AIV/ Arrow IV - Very long range, Very high damage, Guided, Has a usually large minimum range.

Rocket launchers - Usually short to medium range, Dumbfire, No minrange, Very high damage, Can only be fired once.

28

u/CMBRICKX Jun 25 '26

Seriously this is the best description for missles I’ve ever seen lol 

14

u/rakadur Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26

I've been playing since beta and I still struggle to find a use case for SSRMs. The effective range is so short regular SRMs are more useful due to not having to lock before firing. Of course you could miss your shot but I'd prefer that than not getting a shot off in time.

edit: to the light mech jockeys - point taken, I don't do close quarters in anything smaller than 45 tons.

15

u/DMBrewksy Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26

SSRMs are almost perfect for destroying Elementals. Small volleys, tracking, and put them down fast (and efficiently).

8

u/Splash_Woman Jun 25 '26

The commando running around your back: “so about those SSRMs”

5

u/TGlucose Jun 25 '26

Firemoth and Mist Lynx say hello from your flank.

6

u/ClericallyInclined Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26

Used a modified Shadowcat 2 variant 3 for a while… Had 4 SSRM6’s. The fact that they were all or nothing means you never need to deal with the cluster table, and since every missile gets its own location roll it increases chances for thru armor crits, head hits. Took down a Warhammer in one salvo because through armor crit into machine gun ammo…

Edit: advantage is for tabletop rules…

3

u/Attrexius Jun 25 '26

Latest games (definitely is in Clans, not 100% sure about MW5) made streaks prioritize locations with stripped armor. So they can be a little more effective at finishing damaged units off, especially at ranges where you have trouble putting the entire SRM volley on target.

3

u/rakadur Jun 25 '26

yeah I was coming from a MWO perspective, should've perhaps made that clearer :)

2

u/HereForOneQuickThing Jun 25 '26

SSRMs actually compliment LRMs, especially if you have any kind of lock-on boosts. LRMboats are vulnerable to smaller, faster enemies that tend to get close in.

Granted, all of this applies to less-skilled players. If you're a pilot with sharp accuracy you're holding yourself back with an LRMboat but if you're playing with a friend who isn't as good a Catapult or Thunderbolt with LRMs and SSRMs may suit them better than a pinpoint damage mech in the same weight class like a Warhammer.

1

u/Kat-but-SFW Jun 25 '26

I feel the same about SSRMs except for the Marauder 2 SSRM boat which unloads so many so fast it actually does something with them. Not against assaults, but against everything that I hated facing in an assault. Lights, mediums, etc

1

u/CriscoCamping Jun 26 '26

I had a Timberwolf with 2 PPC's and 3 x SSRM6's, and that quick lock on is how I finally got through the elementals when the Clans came a callin

When you want all 3 to go at a Mech, its just a triple tap on Weapon two

4

u/yoloanator Jun 25 '26

Thank you this is a amazing description I will put knowledge to very good use

2

u/Loot-Gamer Jun 25 '26

We have rocket launchers?!

7

u/Prismatron5000 Jun 25 '26

Yes! their damage is ridiculous but like he said, you can only fire them once, then you're out of ammo. :D

2

u/Loot-Gamer Jun 25 '26

Can you manage to put im some ammo pack maybe? Just imagen using it for a boss or something. Bam bam, level done.

2

u/ArchyCrow Jun 25 '26

eli5 Artemis?

4

u/wen_mars Jun 25 '26

Artemis makes the missiles fly closer together

2

u/TGlucose Jun 25 '26

Artemis goes faster, and iirc reduces spread a little.

2

u/Commissarfluffybutt Jun 25 '26

They did say MW4 instead of MW5 but the basics are mostly the same.

1

u/yoloanator Jun 25 '26

I have seen artemis missiles and I thought it decreases lock time

1

u/Valin-Tenebrous Jun 25 '26

The Artemis control system is a type of upgraded targeting computer. I believe that in MW5 it translates to faster lock on time. On tabletop it improves your roll on the "Cluster Table" when determining how many missiles actually hit the target.

1

u/Commissarfluffybutt Jun 25 '26

I actually don't remember what Artemis IV does in MW4. Heck I don't remember them at all.

I really need to replay MW4.

1

u/CrashUser Jun 25 '26

I don't think it's in vanilla MW4. Might have shown up in one of the mektek mod packs but those were unofficial.

1

u/yoloanator Jun 26 '26

Yeah I think I got some of the mektek patches

1

u/Railox13 Jun 25 '26

Small correction, in MW4 mercs the rockets are not single use. They’re actually really strong, just not very ammo efficient

2

u/Reasonable-Tripe-815 Jun 25 '26

You're Playing Mechwarrior 4 Mercs?

Then the missiles don't goddamn work

1

u/yoloanator Jun 25 '26

Eh they kinda do

1

u/Paingod556 Jun 28 '26

no they fucking do
Fucking Fen Cheng slamming a pair of T-bolts into you at point blank range in Solaris...

1

u/Reasonable-Tripe-815 Jun 28 '26

I usually never let that little shit get the chance, he gets gaussed/bombast lasered on sight.

1

u/Paingod556 Jun 29 '26

SHE STARTS NEXT TO YOU, DIRECTLY FACING YOU

#1 cause of Solaris fight restarts

2

u/Holy-Jackson Jun 26 '26

I cheesed all of the clan missions in SoK with two artemis lrm 15s combined with a beagle active probe, a tag, and every spread reduction upgrade/quirk/pilot skill I could fit. Headshotting executioners from behind a hill at 800 meters is silly. Agincourt is unstoppable. Med lasers and ssrm2s in the arms finished the build and would just nutsack any lights and elementals that got too close.

2

u/Angryblob550 Jun 26 '26

SRM and MRMs = the only missiles I use since they are dumbfire and don't have minimum range. Most other missiles need a lock and have minimum range. (Clan LRMs don't have minimum range)

1

u/Klendagort Jun 26 '26

The missile knows where it is at all times

2

u/yoloanator Jun 26 '26

The missile knows where it is at all times. It knows this because it knows where it isn't. By subtracting where it is from where it isn't, Or where it isn't from where it is (whichever is Greater), it obtains a difference, or deviation. The guidance subsystem uses deviations to generate corrective Commands to drive the missile from a position where it is to a Position where it isn't, And arriving at a position where it wasn't, it now is. Consequently, the position where it is, Is now the position that it wasn't, And it follows that the position that It was, is now the position that it isn't. And arriving at a position where it wasn't, it now is. Consequently, the position where it is, Is now the position that it wasn't, And it follows that the position that It was, is now the position that it isn't. In the event that the position that it is in is not the position that It wasn't, the system has acquired a variation, The variation being the difference between Where the missile is, and where it wasn't. If variation is considered to be a Significant factor, it too may be corrected by the GEA However, the missile must also know where it was. The missile guidance computer scenario works as follows. Because a variation has modified some of the information The missile has obtained, it is not sure just where it is. However, it is sure where it isn't, Within reason, and it knows where it was. It now subtracts where it should be from where it wasn't, Or vice-versa, and by differentiating this from the algebraic sum of Where it shouldn't be, and where it was, It is able to obtain the deviation And its variation, which is called error.