Gunships are VTOL aircraft that are used to patrol the surroundings of 
Automaton Gunship Facilities and scan nearby activity. When 
Helldiver activity is detected, Gunships will quickly be dispatched to scan and investigate the area. Gunships will shoot with a turret mounted on their underside and a barrage of rockets when spotted.
Gunships resemble smaller, weaker versions of Automaton Dropships, missing the "arms" that hold the Automaton troops for deployment.
Tactics[]
- The gunship's body and engines are only medium-armored. However, each engine and the body itself, have their own separate health pools. This means that to take down a gunship, one most focus on one part of the vehicle, rather than hitting multiple parts.
- It is recommended to target the engines, as these have less health than the body, and the destruction of one engine will ground a gunship. However, these are relatively small targets, which may not always be easy to hit in every scenario. In this case, aim for the body instead.
- Due to the properties of explosions, shots from weapons with the "explosive" trait like the PLAS-1 Scorcher and PLAS-101 Purifier can damage Gunships almost anywhere on the hull. Two fully-charged shot from the Purifier can destroy a Gunship if the engine is targeted.
- Heavy armor-penetrating weapons like the AC-8 Autocannon and APW-1 Anti-Materiel Rifle can shoot a gunship down with two shots to its body or thrusters. While all anti-tank rocket launchers (barring the WASP), can shoot them down with a single, direct hit.
- The StA-X3 W.A.S.P. Launcher is capable of shooting down a gunship with two direct hits. Or one, if the shooter gets lucky and the missile hits one of the engines, and it's homing abilities makes shooting them down easier. At minimum, the WASP is reliably capable of clipping 3 gunships with a single magazine.
- The LAS-98 Laser Cannon is an incredibly efficient way to take down gunships due to it accuracy, rate of fire, near-infinite ammo, and no drop off.
- Both the Autocannon and Rocket Sentries will automatically track and shoot down gunships. It is recommended to throw sentries behind attacking gunships to reduce the chances of it being targeted and destroyed by their rockets.
- A single overcharged shot from a RS-422 Railgun is enough to destroy a gunship, if an engine is hit. The body requires two overcharged hits.
- Gunships are very difficult to avoid once aggro'd due to their sensors. When chased by a gunship pack, it is heavily recommended to take them down, and always have weaponry capable of taking down gunships when playing in Automaton missions.
- Using smoke screen of any sort and getting out of their sensors is one way to break contact with gunship packs. Although this may be difficult if surrounded.
- Roving gunship patrols will only be alerted if a Helldiver gets within their sensors, provoke them directly or they start a fight very nearby. It is entirely possible to evade gunship patrols by ducking behind large cover and lying down as they pass by.
- It is recommended to run for cover as they lay heavy fire. It is armed with an automatic pulse laser and rocket pods.
- The rocket pods have limited ammunition, but it fires them in bursts.
Notes[]
- The Gunships were added in the 1.000.200 Patch on April 2nd, 2024.
- Emergence of Automaton gunship vessels, alongside the first sights of Factory Striders, was a direct result of Bots successfully defending Tibit planet during the third stage of Operation "Swift Disassembly", where their major production capacities were located, as was stated in dispatches.
- As of update 1.000.400, packs of gunships will now start patrolling the map and their size will depend on difficulty, and will continue as long as gunship facilities are active. Additionally, a certain mission modifier will cause gunships patrols to spawn from the edge of the map indefinitely, even if no gunship facilities are on the map.
