T2 mobile AA flak artillery

v • e Mobile anti-air units
Tech 1 Mobile Anti-Air Gun
Tech 2 Mobile AA Flak Artillery
Tech 2 Cruiser
Aircraft Carrier

• UEF
• Cybran
• Aeon
• Seraphim

UEF T2 Mobile AA Flak Artillery:  Sky Boxer
Mobile AA unit. Armed with flak artillery.[ e ]
Build costs	-800  -160 800
Max health	1000
Speed	2.8 (Land)
Veterancy	4  (+2/s)
Intel (radius)	Vision: 20
Weapon: Fragmentation Flak Anti Air - Projectile
Damage per second	144
Projectile damage	36
Damage radius	4
Salvo size	2 Projectiles
Rate of fire	2 salvos/s
Range	40

Cybran T2 Mobile AA Flak Artillery:  Banger
Mobile AA unit. Armed with flak artillery.[ e ]
Build costs	-800  -160 800
Max health	1000
Speed	2.9 (Land)
Veterancy	4  (+2/s)
Intel (radius)	Vision: 20
Weapon: Electron Flak Anti Air - Projectile
Damage per second	144
Projectile damage	90
Damage radius	4
Rate of fire	1.6 Projectiles/s
Range	40

Aeon T2 Mobile AA Flak Artillery:  Ascendant
Mobile AA unit. Armed with a temporal AA Fizz launcher.[ e ]
Build costs	-800  -160 800
Max health	1000
Speed	3.6 (Hover)
Veterancy	4  (+2/s)
Intel (radius)	Vision: 20
Weapon: Fizz Launcher Anti Air - Projectile
Damage per second	144
Projectile damage	72
Damage radius	4
Rate of fire	2 Projectiles/s
Range	40

Seraphim T2 Mobile Anti-Air Cannon:  Iashavoh
Mobile AA unit that uses flak artillery.[ e ]
Build costs	-800  -160 800
Max health	1000
Speed	3.6 (Hover)
Veterancy	4  (+2/s)
Intel (radius)	Vision: 20
Weapon: Olaris AA Artillery Cannon Anti Air - Projectile
Damage per second	144
Projectile damage	72
Damage radius	4
Rate of fire	2 Projectiles/s
Range	40

The T2 mobile flak artillery for the factions are the respective UEF Sky boxer, Cybran Banger, Aeon Ascendant, and the Seraphim Iashavoh. Flak artillery are anti-air weapons with high DPS and a large area of effect, dealing significant damage to clusters of air units, especially the slow gunships.

The mobile versions of the flak artillery have less HP than T2 anti-air flak artillery but cost much less, and have almost exactly equal DPS.

Factional differences

It is worth noting that the Aeon and Seraphim variations hover over water and are faster than the Cybran and UEF variations, with the UEF version being the slowest. The UEF Sky Boxer possesses the highest rate of fire and rear-facing cannons, along with the slowest speed, allowing you quite interesting strategies. The Cybran Banger has the lowest rate of fire and highest damage per shot, giving it a lot of overkill. The Aeon Ascendant and Seraphim Iashavoh are the same in every way but appearance but both are the fastest and hover.

Uses

The primary role of T2 mobile flak artillery is to protect large armies from large-scale air attacks, being the most powerful mobile ground-to-air attack mechanism, and their high DPS and medium health make them good at this. However, while they are very effective against gunships, and T1 attack bombers, they become less useful later in the game, as they cannot hit faster targets. Therefore, they are can often become a poor substitute for maintaining Air Superiority.

If necessary, particularly if an anticipated enemy air force has failed to materialise, these units can be used as cannon fodder during a retreat or an assault as they have the highest health/mass cost ratio of any T2 or T1 unit, of 6.25.

Another use for these units is defensively. Although they have far less health than a T2 anti-air flak artillery, they cost 3.5× less mass and 7× less energy each, while attacking with the same DPS. This means that a stationary shield protecting mobile AA can be more effective than simply using stationary emplacements, if on a larger scale, as the below table demonstrates:

Feature	Aeon T2 shield generator + 5 "Ascendants"	3× Stationary Aeon T2 flak artillery "Marr"
Mass cost	1640*	1680
Energy cost	13360*	16800
Health	11000 (Shield) + 5×1000	3×3500
DPS	720	450

* Mass and energy values for the shield take the cost of the power generator needed to support it into account

This method also allows other key structures to be protected by the shield, and it is more versatile because the AA can move out whenever needed. The regeneration of the shield is useful as well. Adding this to the ability to place your ACU under the shield suggests that T2 mobile AA flak artillery can be a potent tool in fighting against gunship rushes. The tactic can be done on smaller scales by the Cybrans with equal success, as their shields cost less than other factions' but are weaker.