Spearhead the underappreciated

Let me remind you, people, how powerful spearheads are (T3 UEF mobile missile launcher).

The cost is only 2 time of T2 MML, +20 range (80), 4 (!) times higher DPS and damage per volley (2400 damage).

As I understand, people ignore them because MML kind of lose power at T2 stage, when the opponent already has TMD, but think of dropping them: I see people dropping percivals to harass mexes, but perci DPS is only 1.5 higher per unit, and you can get 3 spearheads for the price of 1 perci, and because they are so cheap, you don't have to bother with expensive transports: You can send them even in T1 transports.

The barrage damage is 2400, compared to ~3000 of T3 bombers, yet spearheads cost 5 times less.

I hope you will start using them more, people.

Well, i'll certianly be using them going forward!

"You will not stop the UEF"

Let there be light

Thanks for the reminder. Any more suggestions? 🙂

Check out my maps here:

Madness 1 - 10

https://forum.faforever.com/topic/480/h-master-s-maps

Of course, if the opponent is aeon or has access to their tech, you might as well forget missiles exist.

Still, good advice.

Spearheads have wheels, aeon tmd is short range

aeon TMD is actually pretty bad and gets overwhelmed by mass MML spam, spearheads especially because they shoot barrages instead of single missiles

dropping spearheads around to snipe mex or something sounds cool (might try it), but i'm wondering if it would be a better alternative to simple t1 arty drops

profile picture credits to petric

@zwaffelnoob said in Spearhead the underappreciated:

aeon TMD is actually pretty bad and gets overwhelmed by mass MML spam, spearheads especially because they shoot barrages instead of single missiles

Yea buddy say that again when a few aeon tmd stop 100k mass worth of missile ships

@zwaffelnoob said in Spearhead the underappreciated:

aeon TMD is actually pretty bad and gets overwhelmed by mass MML spam, spearheads especially because they shoot barrages instead of single missiles

dropping spearheads around to snipe mex or something sounds cool (might try it), but i'm wondering if it would be a better alternative to simple t1 arty drops

Spearheads have 1700 HP and don't die to a single bomber, range 80 means you can destroy more per drop, and they only cost twice that of T1 arties per full transport (which is still only 400 mass per spearhead), and there is always space in transports for additional T1 arties. DPS per transport is the same (if we don't add additional T1 arties with spearheads).

@thewheelie said in Spearhead the underappreciated:

@zwaffelnoob said in Spearhead the underappreciated:

aeon TMD is actually pretty bad and gets overwhelmed by mass MML spam, spearheads especially because they shoot barrages instead of single missiles

Yea buddy say that again when a few aeon tmd stop 100k mass worth of missile ships

Yeah the only thing bad about Aeon tmd is its range. I recently turtled against this exact example using aeon tmd without much effort. It also counters the Cybran tml split.

@thewheelie yea buddy say that again when i lose my nuke to 2-3 sera cruisers with a t3 shield and 5 aeon tmd covering it
my placement wasn't great but if i had any other faction's tmd i could've just safely placed 3 under the shield and they would've defended against the cruisers easily

torrent is a different story i guess but if ur vs torrents ur fucked anyway

profile picture credits to petric

I actually tested SMDs, and Aeon are the worst if we have a lot of missiles incoming, Cybran are the best. Well, it's is possible to desync Aeon SMDs, or even secretly make a UI mod that does it. Then, they would be unstoppable.

Issue with spearhead drops come from the fact you need a t3 land hq on top of likely a t3 air hq cuz a t2 transport carries only 2 or 3 t3 land units. They would be great if you think about a spearhead drop being there, problem is that getting it there is so much setup and tedium you would be significantly more efficient with a t1 arty drop 4-5 minutes earlier.

@ftxcommando said in Spearhead the underappreciated:

Issue with spearhead drops come from the fact you need a t3 land hq on top of likely a t3 air hq cuz a t2 transport carries only 2 or 3 t3 land units. They would be great if you think about a spearhead drop being there, problem is that getting it there is so much setup and tedium you would be significantly more efficient with a t1 arty drop 4-5 minutes earlier.

T1 transports are enough, and there may not be upgraded mexes to kill if you rush it. It's just an alternative to dropping T1 arties, percies and T3 bombers.

T1 transports are virtually useless for aggressive drops at the t3 stage.

@exselsior the harbie in a t1 transport is iconic

@aulex Fair that is iconic, I guess useless is too strong of a word.