Advanced Missile Rack

Advanced Missile Rack (Class 2)

The ADV Missile Rack is a fixed-mount weapon which launches dumbfire missiles. Designed to use specialised ordnance created via synthesis, which offers increased effectiveness against either xeno or human technology.

— In-Game Description

The Advanced Missile Rack is a weapon module with a unique configurable ammunition system based on Guardian technology. By default, the Advanced Missile Rack is identical in terms of both performance and cost to a standard Missile Rack, and also fires the same ammunition, but has 16 more missiles compared to a normal rack. The Advanced Missile Rack's key feature is that Anti-Xeno ammunition can be Synthesized for it on the fly, allowing the weapon to be used in combat situations against Thargoid vessels as well as human ones. Unlike dedicated Anti-Xeno weapons, the Advanced Missile Rack does not have experimental weapon restrictions, allowing pilots to equip as many as their ships can accommodate.

Usage

In terms of utility, the most important comparisons to be made are against AX Missile Racks and Guardian Gauss Cannons. Advanced Missile Racks behave very similarly to AX Missile Racks, however, Advanced Missile Racks can be Engineered, increasing their effectiveness substantially. Furthermore, unlike traditional AX Missile Racks, Advanced Missile Racks are capable of damaging Thargoid Hearts, and with a similar splash radius to AX Missile Racks, somewhat compensate for their slow projectile speed and difficulties in aiming. Their most significant downside is a requirement for Guardian Technology Components in order to synthesize the AX ammo, compared to Thargoid Weapon Parts to synthesize AX munitions.

In Comparison to guardian weapons, Advanced Missiles fall behind most higher-grade options. With lower damage and vastly more difficult aiming due to projectile travel times, Gauss or modified weapons are generally a better choice for class 2 slots. Class 1 slots, however, are more in question. While still much more difficult to hit with, Class 1 Gauss only does 22 AX damage per shot, compared to Advanced Missiles with around 45. This is moderated by Advanced Missiles much lower Armor Piercing, but this can further be compensated for via the Sturdy engineering effect, raising armor piercing to 96. With this effect, as well as the Oversized experimental effect, Advanced Missiles will do around 31 damage per shot to a Basilisk, compared to Gauss with 22.

Added to this, Advanced Missiles do have several additional perks worthy of consideration. Most notably, Advanced Missiles do not experience the Experimental Weapon Limit of 4 per ship. This means they can be used without the aid of an Experimental Weapon Stabiliser, saving that space for other, potentially more valuable optionals. Additionally, like all missiles, they have very low heat generation and near-zero distributor draw, allowing power to be used for other purposes, such as shields, heat sinks, boosting, or a Thermal Vent beam laser. In fact, due to their low heat and distributor draw, it is very possible to avoid Thargoid fire indefinitely using only a cooling beam, without the more traditional use of heat sinks.

Overall, these are a specialized weapon, not meant to be used for regular anti-xeno purposes, but rather as an additional tool to activate when needed, such as when combatting Orthrus Interceptors, against particularly difficult enemies like Medusas or Hydras, or when entering anti-guardian areas such as Maelstroms.

Specifications

Class	Rating	Mass (T)	Integrity	Power Draw (MW)	Weapon Mode	Damage Type	Damage	Armour Piercing	ROF	DPS	Ammo Clip Size	Ammo Maximum	Value (CR)
1	B	2.00	40	0.40	Fixed	Explosive	50.0	60	0.5	25.0	8	64	32,175
2	B	4.00	51	1.20	Fixed	Explosive	50.0	60	0.5	25.0	12	64	240,400

Engineer Modifications

This weapon can be modified by Engineers to enhance its abilities.

Purchase Locations

Class	Rating	System	Station
All	All	Shinrarta Dezhra	Jameson Memorial
All	All	Brestla	i Sola Prospect

Notes

• The Advanced Missile Rack was originally one of two weapon modules offered as rewards by the competing minor factions Segnen Exchange and Zende Partners in the Bridging the Gap Interstellar Initiative. Zende Partners prevailed and began production of their Advanced Multi-cannon, while Segnen Exchange was forced to halt their weapon project indefinitely. When the September Update later implemented the Advanced Missile Rack, however, the related Synthesis recipe for its ammunition, Configurable Explosive Munitions, was inexplicably not added. This was later resolved with the Fleet Carriers Update.
• Notably, Advanced Missile Racks must be synthesized to deal AX damage. Additionally, as of Update 14, they are affected by a bug that prevents the AX synthesis from becoming active until after a relog to main menu.
• Advanced Missile Racks do not have any engineering restrictions and can take the same blueprints and experimental effects as standard racks, with identical results.

Gallery

Previews of the two Advanced weapons offered in the "Bridging the Gap" initiative