[VPAC Vertu Expansion] Light SAM

The Light Surface to Air Missile tower is a direct answer to enemy bombers (and anything that flies really) that are harassing the territory occupied by Creeper from the skies. Being light, it has a very fast lock-on acquisition, rotation speed, and good range while also being easy to quickly deploy by the construction mechanisms within the Creeper among the VWC project. However, its reload time is rather slow but this ensures the Light SAM requires minimal power.

Overview

Lots of changes happened to this unit. Update needed.

Takes exactly 1 in-game second to lock on and fire.
Increases in effectiveness after being active for 5 minutes. (Post VPAC v2.7.3.0)
Can move. (Post VPAC v2.7.3.0)
Self Destruct takes 15 seconds. CAN BE CANCLED. (Post VPAC v2.7.3.0)
Total salvo damage of 5.28.
Very fast and agile missile projectile.
Very fast rotation speed.
Relatively long reload time.
Uses 2 power.
5 HP.
Fires in a salvo over the duration of a little over half a second. (Exact is 18 frames. 3 frames between each fired Laser Missile).
Has limited altitude range of 65.0 above its position. Any units flying more than 65.0 cells above the Light SAM are outside of range. This is mostly only important against VAUs when Light SAMs are placed at a terrain height of 1 and are attempting to shoot at VAUs that are attacking a massive Creeper hold which has Creeper depth of over 20.
The Light SAM's missiles can still miss! This is entirely dependent if the target does evasive maneuvers. Only VAU Fighters tend to dodge. Normal bombers can dodge after completing their bombing run as they, rather quickly, reorientate themselves to line-up another bombing run or return to the airfield.
Fired projectiles have very limited life time. This means the missiles have only one true chance to hit their mark. If they are lucky, they may be able to come back around to try again before detonating from time-out though they would of likely entered a stalled spiral (constantly orbiting the target), making these “extra chances” futile anyways.
Multiple are required to cause lasting damage to VAUs. This will also take a good amount of time to inflict said lasting damage. A heavier SAM was thought of but has seen no success among the VWC project.
Can fire at a wide variety of flying objects. This is done using a blacklist instead of a whitelist so in the event the Light SAM targets an unprefered target like a fast-moving energy projectile, that projectile needs to be blacklisted as an illegal target of the Light SAM so it doesn't become obsessed with wasting shots at such targets. This makes the Light SAM a very indiscriminate shooter.
Activation time is equal to the reload time. This makes the Light SAM very deployable. See LORE for more details.
CAN BE NULLIFIED
CAN BE STUNNED
DAMAGED BY AC (Only in PAC mode)
PROJECTILES DAMAGED WHEN TRAVELING IN SHIELDS.
PROJECTILES INTERCEPTED BY SNIPER SHOTS
TARGETED BY SNIPERS. (Only in PAC mode) (Started by: VPAC v2.7.4.0)

Enhanced Stat changes

This is only a thing in VPAC versions older than 2.7.3.0. Light SAMs gain effectiveness after being active for 5 minutes as they collect data about the environment they are in. Once enough independent data is collected, the Light SAM can change specific properties of its Plasma Missiles with extreme precision to optimize the Plasma Missile's properties for the environment they are in.
The enhancements result in the following for launched Plasma Missiles:

Increased turn speed. (1.2x) [600 DePS¹⁾ ⇒ 720 DePS]
Increased damage. ([v2.8.1.4 and onwards] 2.0x per missile: 0.88 ⇒ 1.76)
Increased life-time. (2x) [1 sec (30 frames) ⇒ 2 sec (60 frames)]
Increased resistance to disruption. Or in other words, will be able to survive within shields for a short time. [2 frames ⇒ 4 frames]
Various colors change from bright teal, to pink.

Damage buff legacy:
[v2.8.0.2 - v2.7.5.0] 1.75x per missile. 0.88 ⇒ 1.54
[v2.7.5.0 - v2.7.3.0] 1.5x per missile: 1.54 ⇒ 1.32
[v2.8.0.2 - v2.8.1.4] 2.5x per missile: 1.32 ⇒ 2.2
[v2.8.1.4 - CURRENT] 2.0x per missile: 2.2 ⇒ 1.76

LORE (and future)

Click to display. (This section also includes its history).

Deployability:
The Light SAM is a rather simple construction for VWC project standards. This is entirely exploitive. With the VWC project introducing nanites within the organic Creeper there is no shortage of mass and build-power, making the limiting factor of construction: energy. Due to the simple construction of the Light SAM, it can be assembled and disassembled faster than its ability to charge a salvo both right after and well after activation (though both cases are currently identical in charge time).

Historical and future success:
The Light SAM has seen very little success. It was originally deployed as an answer against VAUs but was a complete failure at this role. Originally it was very inefficient and clunky. Very unlike Vertu's standards of quality. It was constantly “trimmed down” closer and closer to its designation as a “Light” system until finally it found a niche of being said Light system. Now, it can (rather inefficiently) deal with VAUs and very efficiently deal with bombers and other slow-moving and predicable air units, mainly due to how little power is uses in modern times. Originally it requires 6 power!

Legacy'ed Future:
However so, the Light SAM, being so ineffective against VAUs, triggered a response within the VWC project to devise a heavier SAM system. This has seen utter failure as a heavier SAM model could not be devised within the parameters of the VWC project. However, a new concept was brought up to introduce an adaptive charging mechanism within the Light SAM which can slowly increase its capabilities over time while active for extended periods of time, similar to the Launcher's veterancy system. This will enable long-standing Light SAMs increased projectile energy damage and possibly other benefits and it is planned to give movement capabilities to Light SAMs to ensure “high ranking” Light SAMs can be reused. (Sadly, the Launcher is too mechanically heavy/complex to have movement abilities in its current design).
This will come at the cost of additional power use and a loss in effectiveness in the rapid construction of Light SAMs. It is predicted that freshly constructed Light SAMs will deal less total salvo damage than currently (5.28) in exchange for increased total salvo damage after continued reuse.

This idea has gained significant traction within the VWC project and has been approved for commissioning. Active instance of this is in versions after VPAC v2.7.3.0.

VPAC CPACKs download location.
⇐ VPAC Wiki Page
⇐ CPACK - VPAC Vertu Expansion
⇐ Custom CPACKs & Units
⇐ Index

¹⁾

Degrees Per Second

Table of Contents

[VPAC Vertu Expansion] Light SAM

Overview

Enhanced Stat changes

LORE (and future)