Battlezone (Activision)/Weapons

Every vehicle in Battlezone capable of attacking has one or more hardpoints. These hardpoints are weapon slots. The armory can produce weapon powerups that replace the default weapons in these slots, allowing you to customize your vehicle or the AI's weapons.

There are four different types of weapon hardpoints:

Minigun/Chaingun
The NSDF minigun is used by Scouts and Badgers, and is a rapid firing and lightly damaging weapon firing a blue projectile.

The CCA Chaingun has similar properties, and is used on the Flanker, the Pak, Gun Towers, and as a secondary weapon on the Czar. The Chaingun fires an orange projectile, causes more damage, has a slower rate of fire, and a lower projectile velocity than the NSDF minigun.

Between the two, the minigun slightly edges out in terms of damage per second. However, the chain gun hits more per projectile, resulting the highest ammo efficiency in the game.

The minigun and chaingun found on the Badger and Pak turrets differ from other versions in that they have a longer range. They are considered separate weapons by the game, so a turret which receives a second chaingun/minigun from the armory will not fire both weapons at once.

AT-Stabber
The AT-Stabber is a standard tank gun. While it has a slower rate of fire than the minigun, it also does considerably more damage. It is used primarily by the Grizzly and Czar tanks.

SP-Stabber
An improved Stabber round, with a lower projectile velocity and reduced ammo efficiency, but far superior damage. The SP Stabber can also knock smaller vehicles around, throwing off a target's aim.

MAG Cannon
A unique charging weapon that charges in six stages. Holding down the trigger will begin charging, and releasing the trigger will fire the weapon. The weapon charges in six stages, with each charge increasing the damage dealt while reducing the number of shots in the volley. The range of the weapon also decreases the more charges are accumulated.

The first stage is roughly equivalent to the minigun, firing a six shot volley. The second stage fires five shots, inflicting damage comparable to the Blast Cannon if all shots hit the target. The third stage is equivalent to a Rocket Bomb. The fourth stage is equivalent to the Thermal Hornet. Level 5 offers a marginal increase in power for a significantly higher ammunition cost. Its maximum level hits about as strong as two rocket bombs for a significantly higher ammunition cost.

Each weapon stage reduces the number of shots fired by 1, starting from 6 at the first level. The fourth level offers the most efficiency in terms of damage, ammunition consumption, and range.

Flash Cannon
A focused energy weapon that deals damage as the beam is maintained on the target. It is extremely ammo inefficient, roughly on par with the Blast Cannon. It can eliminate single targets quickly, but runs out of steam just as quickly.

Its biggest weakness is its extremely short range - easily the shortest of all cannon-type weapons.

Blast Cannon
One of the most powerful weapons in the game, the Blast Cannon fires bursts of energy capable of inflicting huge amounts of damage at a very high range. The Blast Cannon outranges nearly every other cannon-type weapon. Its main weakness is its poor ammunition efficiency - a weakness that NSDF Gun Towers do not have, as gun towers have infinite ammunition as long as they are powered.

Blast Cannons are found by default on NSDF Gun Towers and CCA Golem walkers.

Thermal Hornet
A heat-seeking missile that locks onto targets that have more heat. The heat values of a target are hidden in the game code, and cannot be viewed under normal circumstances. In practice, hornets are best at spiking heavy targets for single target damage.

Thermal Hornets have generally poor DPS, making them best used in fire support roles rather than as a primary weapon.

Thermal Hornets can be decoyed with the Solar Flare mine or the Phantom VIR. They will also very easily lock onto geysers. Geysers cannot be destroyed.

A particularly quick-thinking player can press the P key to deploy a nav beacon in front of them, which will absorb a missile shot.

Shadower
The Shadower, sometimes referred to as the Shadow Missile or the ILS (Image-Locking Shadower), is the second lock on missile type. It is an image-locking missile that locks onto the image of a target. Locks onto targets much faster than the Thermal Hornet, but causes less damage.

The Shadower's fast lock on ability makes it effective against pinning down fast-moving targets, where its lower damage generally can be negated by the target's lower health.

Shadowers can be decoyed by using the RED Field Generator and the Phantom VIR. Like Thermal Hornets, they can also impact a nav camera deployed by a quick-thinking player.

TAG Cannon
The TAG Cannon is a two-stage weapon. First, a tracer is fired, costing no ammunition. The tracer itself deals minuscule damage. If the tracer hits a target, the weapon then fires a volley of 10 missiles that home in on the tracer.

The TAG Cannon is primarily found on the CCA Stoli, whose AI will use the weapon exclusively. The Stoli and the Black Dog Bobcat have this weapon mounted in a cannon slot, despite it being a rocket-type weapon. Armory-built TAG Cannons will take rocket slot.

Comet Cruise Missile
A radar-locking missile that relies on the player selecting the target with the T key. Once a target is selected, which can happen up to 500 meters away, firing the weapon just takes a few moments. The Comet Cruise missile is one of the slowest moving projectiles in the game, but is one of the single hardest hitting weapons.

The Comet Cruise missile itself is a physical object in the game, similar to a powerup, so it can be interdicted by enemy fire. Its extremely high ammo cost of 1000 units limits its use primarily to the Thunderbolt and the Grendel.

Rocket Bomb
The rocket bomb is a slow-moving projectile that visually looks similar to the Thermal Hornet, but sacrifices guidance in favour of additional damage. The primary weapon found on the NSDF Thunderbolt and the CCA Grendel, the Rocket Bomb is used primarily to attack hardened structures that cannot move out of the way.

Sandbag
A simple no-lock missile that causes miniscule damage, but instead slows down targets that are hit by it. Primarily used for pinning down fast-moving craft like scouts and tanks.

Mortar
A standard mortar that fires in an arc. Explodes when it hits an enemy or the ground. Acts like a grenade from other FPS games, in that it can be used to hit targets from behind cover. It is generally not used in skirmishes, however.

MDM
The Manual Detonation Mortar has nearly identical properties to the standard mortar, but it does not explode when it hits the ground - only on direct contact with an enemy. This theoretically lets you bounce the mortar to make it land exactly where you need it.

The mortar can also be manually detonated by pressing the fire button a second time. Multiple mortars can be fired by holding down Ctrl.

Splinter
An extremely powerful mortar that, if it hits a target, deals regular mortar damage. If it misses, however, the mortar shell will leap into the air, and begin spraying minigun ammo in all directions.

This spray is intense and can be devastating to large targets like Recyclers that take multiple hits. Even a single splinter, well placed, can destroy a recycler in a single shot. As such it is usually banned from most multiplayer matches.

Pop Gun
The Pop Gun is a mortar unlike any other, and is the most useful in close quarters. The pop gun, when fired, immediately fires straight up. Once it reaches a high altitude, the ordnance's rocket motor kicks in and flies like a missile to the target. This makes it particularly effective with vehicles that have a slow rotation speed, such as walkers.

Thumper
When triggered, sends seismic waves through the ground in all directions. These waves grow in size as they get further from you, and the waves can throw off an opponent's aim. Walkers are particularly vulnerable to "being thumped", as they are in direct contact with the ground and will be almost completely disoriented during its effect.

The waves themselves cause minimal damage, and thus should not be relied upon to deal actual damage to the target.

RED Field Generator
The Radar Echo Dampening Field Generator prevents the enemy from locking onto you with the Comet Cruise Missile.

Proximity Mine
A standard proximity mine that detonates when an enemy approaches. It will not detonate near friendlies, and thus can be used inside your base or to lock down a chokepoint.

Solar Flare
A short-lived mine that creates a large plume of fire. The plume of fire itself deals considerable damage, but only to things directly above it. It is thus used primarily as a decoy for Thermal Hornets.

SITE Camera
When activated, turns all terrain transparent, in the form of a wireframe model. Enemy vehicles and structures remain opaque, allowing you to observe the enemy through a terrain wall.

Phantom VIR
A cloaking field that disables the lock ons of Shadower missiles. It also affects thermal hornets, despite the description suggesting otherwise. The cloak also does not mask the engine exhaust plumes or the smoke from the plumes, so a sharp-eyed opponent can still hit you.

As the Phantom VIR affects both the Shadower and the Thermal Hornet, it can render a stock rocket tank completely helpless.

M-Curtain Mine
A mine that creates an invisible bubble around it. Units inside the bubble can fire out of it, but incoming fire will be redirected away from them, effectively creating a shield for as long as the mine is there.

MITS
A mine that, instead of repelling enemy fire, creates an incredibly attractive force that pulls objects towards the mine. Can be used offensively to try to pin down a fast moving enemy - or defensively, to pull enemy fire towards the mine.

Day Wrecker
A weapon fired by the armory, this air bursting bomb creates a shockwave and considerable damage near it. Though it is labeled as a powerup by the game files, it is not a powerup you can pick up, nor is it recommended to give yourself a day wrecker.

Incredibly expensive at 20 scrap, the day wrecker is not often used as a weapon - the comet cruise missile does more damage than the day wrecker. The day wrecker has an advantage of range, however - it can be deployed anywhere the armory can reach.

Rave Gun!
A joke weapon created by lead developer Ken Miller, the Rave Gun! is one of the most powerful weapons in the game. It fires slow-moving balls of plasma to the theme of a techno song, while causing the screen to flash various colours as the weapon fires.

The Rave Gun! is used as the default weapon on the Lunar Lander, which must deploy in order to fire. The Lunar Lander can be found as a vehicle in multiplayer matches. The Rave Gun! is also found on the very first mission of the campaign, and makes mincemeat of the enemy flankers in the mission.

Bolt Buddy 2000
The Bolt Buddy 2000, or otherwise just called the Bolt Buddy, is used by plotline-specific enemies, and in a particular vehicle found on the final CCA mission. It deals considerable damage to the target. However, it deals less damage than a standard AT-Stabber, and has a roughly equivalent rate of fire as the SP-Stabber. The combination of the weaknesses of both weapons results in a fairly middling weapon at best. Its biggest strength lies in its instantaneous projectile speed, allowing it to hit exactly what the crosshair is aiming at.