Difference between revisions of "AVRiL"

Revision as of 15:13, 7 November 2008

Introduced in Unreal Tournament 2004 for the Onslaught gametype, the Anti-Vehicle Rocket Launcher (AVRiL) (the i only enhances pronunciation) is often the foot soldier's weapon of choice against vehicles. It returns in Unreal Tournament 3 as the Longbow AVRiL with a few upgrades, like being able to guide Spider Mines.

Unreal Tournament 2004

AVRiL

Primary fire

Type: Projectile

Damage: 125

(vs vehicles: 200)

Fire rate: 4.0 s

Secondary fire

Type: Zoom, Target Lock

Ammunition

Weapon pickup: 5

Ammo pickup: 5

Maximum: 35

Designed to be used strictly against vehicles, the AVRiL allows infantry a fighting chance. Once the AVRiL has aquired lock, it fires a solid-fuel missile which will track the target as long as the reticle is held on the vehicle. The missile tracks its intended target when fired, able to pull 4 G's and 2 ninety degree turns in 100 feet. Alt-fire allows the player view to hold and zoom on the locked target. Armed only milliseconds before impact, the missile explodes on contact, delivering the full force of a shaped PolyDiChlorite charge into the delivery point. Slow to recharge, the AVRiL must be used with caution, but can turn the tide in a pitched battle.

The AVRiL can be used against infantry, but doesn't do significantly more damage than the normal Rocket Launcher. Its limited fire rate, slow initial travel speed, and accelerating projectile severely limit its use for this.

Unreal Tournament 3

Longbow AVRiL

Primary fire

Type: Projectile

Damage: 125

(vs vehicles: 200)

(vs nodes: 125)

Fire rate: 3.6 s

Secondary fire

Type: Zoom, Target Lock

Ammunition

Weapon pickup: 5

Weapon locker: 5

Ammo pickup: 5

Maximum: 15

The Longbow Anti-Vehicle Rocket Launcher, a.k.a. the "AVRiL", gives dismounted infantry a fighting chance in an armored conflict. Its solid fuel missile can be "dumbfired" as an unguided rocket, but the AVRiL's famed kill percentages come from its optical tracking system. The alternate fire zooms and locks on to a vehicle, guiding the missile towards its target at inescapable speeds.
The missile's microdappled control planes use increased surface area to give unprecedented turning radius, guaranteeing delivery of its shaped PolyDiChlorite charge into all but the most nimble vehicles. The AVRiL is notoriously slow to reload, so it should be employed with caution in a pitched battle. Note, the Longbow's targeting laser is standardized for most Axon military equipment, so it can be used in other battlefield applications such as directing spider mines.

The Longbow AVRiL functions more or less identically to its UT2004 counterpart, although now locking on with Secondary Fire produces a visible tracer.

Also, after two seconds and if the original firer doesn't lock onto a target, team mates can assign a target to an AVRiL rocket as well. This could allow for some interesting scenarios, where a scout with good overview of the battle field guides the AVRiL rockets of other team mates, who can't actually see any opponents.