GTM Harpoon

The GTM-19 Harpoon is one of the newest missiles in the GTVA tactical arsenal. It boasts a fast-locking "fuzzy logic" guidance computer, a powerful thruster, and high agility. The end result is a missile that space superiority squadrons will most certainly be seeing a lot of during their career.

In addition to the obvious advantage of intercept ability, the Harpoon is also a quite compact weapon. The Perseus fighter, for example, can carry 32 of these warheads. With its powerful explosive, two simultaneous missiles hits will usually damage most fighter severly, but only light fighters will go down immediatly. The Harpoon is tough to beat in terms of payoff per time invested and payload space. Unless your mission goals require you to fill your banks with other ordnance, a launcher full of these can almost always be put to good use.

Weapons in Descent: FreeSpace

Primaries Secondaries Turrets Weapon Comparison Table, FS1

Weapons in FreeSpace 2

Primaries Secondaries Turrets Weapon Comparison Table, FS2

The GTM-19 Harpoon

Tech Room Data

The GTM-19 Harpoon is the most sophisticated weapon in the GTVA arsenal. Not only is it the fastest aspect-seeking missile used by the fleet, but advanced fuzzy-logic circuitry enables it to gain lock faster than any other missile in its class. The missile's warhead is wrapped in a shell of ultra-dense depleted uranium, ensuring maximum penetration into the hull of its target before the warhead detonates.

Performance

Statistics - Harpoon

Range	1 250 m
Reload time	2.0 s
Velocity	250 ms-1
Base Damage	100*
Armor Damage	Full	100*
Shield Damage	Good	80*
Subsystem Damage	Average	50*
Shockwave Radius	20 / 40 m
Type:	Aspect Seeking
View Cone:	N / A
Minimum Lock Time:	2.0 s
Turn Rate (360 degrees):	1.0 s

Statistics - Harpoon#Weak

Range	1 250 m
Reload time	3.0 s
Velocity	250 ms-1
Base Damage	60*
Armor Damage	Full	60*
Shield Damage	Good	48*
Subsystem Damage	Average	30*
Shockwave Radius	20 / 40 m
Type:	Aspect Seeking
View Cone:	N / A
Minimum Lock Time:	2.0 s
Turn Rate (360 degrees):	1.0 s

Statistics - Harpoon D

Range	900 m
Reload time	3.5 s
Velocity	180 ms-1
Base Damage	70*
Armor Damage	Full	70*
Shield Damage	Good	56*
Subsystem Damage	Average	35*
Shockwave Radius	20 / 40 m
Type:	Aspect Seeking
View Cone:	N / A
Minimum Lock Time:	2.8 s
Turn Rate (360 degrees):	1.0 s

Notes

• The shockwave doubles the damage against any target that takes a direct hit

Veteran Comments

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The signature dogfighter's missile: accurate, quick to lock, quick to reload, and small enough to be packed on in bunches. A staple weapon with a decent subsystem value, making it useful for most purposes a fighter might want secondary armament for. Few fightercraft will die of a double Harpoon hit, but most will be in bad shape.

The Harpoon is ideal for situations where you need to engage a lot of hostiles and you need to do it quickly. Its locking speed is notably faster than the Tornado, and while it has less stopping power, a bank of 16 Harpoons is good for 8 separate fighter targets with a little use of your primaries; the same bank is good for only 4 targets loaded with Tornados, though those targets will be effectively dead the moment the missiles leave the tubes. The only truly significant drawback of the Harpoon is its relatively short range; 1200 meters.

Before firing off your double Harpoons, shoot up your target with your primaries a little. Most fighters will die on impact with weakened shields. Really, I can do pretty well without this missile. It has a really good target/lock/kill time, but it just doesn't have the punch that I would like, I prefer Tempests or Tornados to this on all but a few missions.

During my time playing multi, I was told to not use the Harpoon and with good reasons. Aspect seekers are easy to evade in multiplayer, and it is recommended that you have at least a bank of Tempests instead. From what I've seen, Rockeyes are more effective in multiplayer.

To know how many of these you can fit in one bank, multiply the Hornet carrying capacity by 2/5.

A way to get extra bang for your buck with harpoons on bombers is to target a subsystem like weapons or sensors and fire two harpoons at it. It will not destroy the ship, but with no weapons system, it is much less dangerous to your escort.

Objectively a better weapon when used against lighter Shivan fighters like the Dragon and Manticore, where paired Harpoons can oneshot them at most difficulties. Tornadoes are far more useful against the Aeshma, Basilisk, and strike bombers, as Harpoons do not have enough power to kill them in one barrage. May be more useful in a primary-heavy fighter where much of the damage to enemy fighters can be done with guns.