Artillery Weapons

Artillery weapons are a catch-all category for weapons with long range and wide splash area. In Battletech, the main artillery pieces that are used are the Sniper Cannon, the Thumper Cannon, the Long Tom cannon, and the Arrow IV artillery system. As wide area of effect weapons, these are used for off board fire support, taking time for the weapons fire to make its way from firing point to point of impact, and are notorious for imprecision. None-the-less, if used properly artillery weapons can be deadly, and can turn an otherwise insoluble battle into a victory with only a few well placed shots. Artillery has long been considered a "Bastard child" of Battletech, as the focus and gameplay style of artillery doesn't fit well with the force on force, direct confrontation styles of classic Battletech. Many game masters, unwilling to deal with the wrench artillery can throw into a game, frequently disallow artillery from being used. Artillery splash reduces by 10 points of damage per hex out from the targeted hex. Thus, a Long Tom with a damage score of 25 will deal 25 damage to targets within the target hex, 15 damage to all targets in an adjacent hex, and 5 damage to all targets two hexes from the target hex. All damage from artillery is allocated in 5 point groups.