'AA-LR' - Longbow

Overview
Long-ranged, two-stage missile with high speed and firepower. An excellent sniping weapon, great for taking first shots at an enemy before they can react.

Usage
Compared to the cheaper Javelin, t he Longbow has twice the range, an ammo increase per upgrade, and a larger lock-on cone, making it easier to acquire targets. This larger cone however is a necessity: as a semi-active weapon, it requires targets to be kept within the lock cone to make a hit Furthermore, before the missile deploys into its active stage, it deals no damage on impact —making it useless as a dumbfire weapon.

Worth noting, however, is that a target only needs to be kept in the lock-on cone until the missile deploys into its second stage, so there is no need to keep staring at a target until the very moment the missile makes contact.

While the ability to one-hit kill any plane short of a DRAKON-Ace from almost twice the AI's aggro range away may seem extremely useful at first glance, the logic behind the Longbow's extra upgraded ammo will quickly become apparent to anyone seeking to use it as a surprise attack weapon. Rather predictably for a long-range weapon, it has trouble hitting high-agility targets. As all idling AI planes fly in a tight patrol loop, they can (and will) avoid the Longbow's deployed missile simply by turning sharply.

Firing at the same target multiple times whilst maintaining a lower cruising speed (to allow the missile to overcome its long turning warmup time) can increase the missiles' turning ability, along with the brute-force statistical likelihood of any one missile hitting.

Overall, as the sole long-ranged anti-aircraft missile available to vanilla aeros, the Longbow is highly effective at knocking out difficult targets from afar.