Archer

The following information has not been confirmed by Volition and is therefore not canon for the FreeSpace universe.

The Archer

Description

Blue Planet Tech Room Description

The SCWS-21 Archer is a long-range gauss cannon carried on the Uriel gunship's axial mount. The Archer excels in destroying specific subsystems on enemy warships far out of reach of their anti-fighter defenses. It is ill suited for dogfights, or for engaging maneuverable targets at distances. The standard ammunition loadout for this weapon is ineffective against shields and overpenetrates most hull armor, restricting it to the long-range anti-subsystem role.

Performance

A firing of the Archer from the UEF Uriel.

Statistics

Range	3000 m
Rate of Fire	1.00 shots per second
Velocity	1500 ms-1
Base Damage	350
Armor Damage	1.0x	350
Shield Damage	0.25x	87.5
Subsystem Damage	1.0x	350

Notes

• The weapon has limited ammunition (Ballistic).
• The weapon has high recoil (Shudder).
• The weapon can do terminal damage to capital ships (Huge).

Veteran Comments

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This is absolutely essential for downing enemy beam cannons and other subsystems at long range.

Pretty much a sniper against subsystems, this deals much more damage than the Scalpel, and may not have the single-shot power of a Paveway, but if you need to shoot the system at range and do it now, the Archer is perfectly acceptable. Call a support ship and reload before you need to de-fang. If you can't stand the shudder, you still get a high-accuracy shot in third-person mode.

What makes the Archer truly special compared to other anti-subsystem weapons is that it can shred subsystems/turrets very quickly...and maintain that pace for quite a while, limited only by its ammo--which is still quite a decent amount, and can be repleneshed by a support ship. Whilst most fighters would run out of Paveway missiles quickly--and have to wait quite a bit for the slow missiles to reach their targets--or quickly run out of energy when firing Maxims, the Archer can maintain fire without pause for a while, destroying turret after turret, subsystem after subsystem, and it costs virtually no energy to do so. The only tricky part about using it is that hitting smaller turrets from the Archer's maximum range can be a challenge, especially if the target ship is maneuvering or moving at all. It is still, however, much safer and more reliable than using Maxims or anti-subsystem missiles. Additionally, if the shudder is giving you trouble, then simply slow down your rate of fire a bit to allow for your view to stabilize before firing again.