Satellite

The items described in this article have been removed from the game. This article has been kept for historical purposes.

 

Satellite
Spotted as	[[Rail Drone, Rail Copter]]
Role	Defensive aerial rail support.

The satellite is a flying type robot, sustained in the air solely by helium balloons and sometimes thrusters as well. It is usually armed with a rail cannon; This is the most advantageous option to shoot distant targets. There are also versions armed with plasma lauchers. For the vessel to be effective, it should have a large amount of radar jammers.

Some satellites now use rotors instead of helium as this allows them to control their height, making them more effective at dodging projectiles especially plasma. With the addition of the fusion shields, rotor drones are more effective at defending against invaders as they can fly above the shield and drop down into it to heal. Flying above the shield gives them good vantage of incoming enemies but at high altitude, it becomes difficult to aim a rail cannon, leading these bots to use Plasma Launchers and SMGs. This led to a new archetype: Compact rotor interceptors. Rail cannons can never achieve full accuracy when mounted on a satellite, due to turbulence.

These bots are commonly found in lower tiers where they takes advantage of new players who are used to only ground combat. Often explained by saying "they never look up." Its small size makes it harder to see, and overtiered railguns make easy work of the low tier players. These types of craft die down and become obsolete in higher tiers, however, due to attentive players and the slow drag of helium makes satellites unable to reliably dodge shots. Most satellites are classified by the spotting system as a drone. However, this is only if they have thrusters attached.

Design

The satellite is very simple: the minimum build is an Armored Helium block, a pilot seat, and a main weapon: SMG, Rail Cannon, or Plasma Launcher, which is also known as the helium chair. More advanced designs improve mobility by adding thrusters, or electroplates to improve durability for an increase in mass. The tradeoff being that the larger the robot, the easier it will be to notice and hit at range. Satellites are often considered to be a glass cannon, i.e. a fragile robot that deals good damage, but completely unable to take any in return. Given that satellites have poor mobility at max ceiling, getting spotted equals death.

Application

The satellite is a very defensive design, with limited mobility unless provided with thrusters. Its role is to reach the maximum height ceiling and either provide fire support for attacking robots or defending the home base. The choice of weapon is crucial, as a rail cannon requires a lot of precision and stability to fire. An SMG is a good choice, but requires practice to use, as it requires some trigger discipline. Due to their low block count and minimal mass, satellites are very sensitive to the recoil effects of weapons. plasma launchers and rail cannons may have to wait longer than their cool-down times for a satellite to become stable enough to fire accurately. While aiming down sights with the right mouse button pressed, the instability caused by recoil may not be visible to the robot pilot, it pays to release the right mouse button between shots.

Strategy

The base strategy is to not get hit at all, which is accomplished by not getting noticed and taking down enemies as fast as possible. High tier rail cannons are the best choice, especially if you have experience as a sniper on the ground. SMGs are very good at providing a sustained amount of firepower, but take time to take down the targets, during which you can easily be shot out of the sky by anyone with decent aim and some patience. If your satellite is a high flier, SMGs are not the best choice because SMGs have reduced damage at long ranges. Another strategy involves shelling objectives with medium or long distance fire and not getting into enemy fire. Most satellites are either frail or slow, therefore attracting enemy fire is not recommended. Any other type of flying craft would be more suited to this role. It is vital that low-cube count satellites keep away from surfaces that can detonate plasma bolts, this includes terrain, the walls of the sky box, and other robots. The splash damage from the plasma can often one-shot-kill a small satellite.

Defeating Satellites

Simply enough, satellites are usually too slow to take fast, evasive maneuvers. Once a satellite is spotted, a few tap-fires from an SMG or a railgun shot will take down or destroy most.

Summary

Pros

• Great field of view for sniping
• Hard to spot
• Good against most ground units, including tanks, speeders, artillery.
• Good against planes, if it can engage them first and exploit altitude advantage.
• Can be either defensive or offensive.

Cons

• Poor mobility
• Weak against snipers and other satellites, if the latter come into range.
• Weak against SMG and tech interceptors
• Limited lifespan once spotted.
• Often destroyed with a single shot.
• Everyone makes you Priority on their "kill-list".
• Certain maps may limit your ability to pick targets off.
• Unless the craft is designed to do so, it is impossible to capture the base in Classic.
• Almost completely incapable of damaging the enemy base in Battle Mode.