Anvil Ballista - Ground Missle Platform Vehicle

[Buckaroo]

Looks like we have an incoming new land vehicle set for Alpha 3.6, the Anvil Ballista with what looks like two variants.

Source: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/spectrum/community/SC/forum/3/thread/new-vehicle-anvil-ballista-german-article

Translated from the German Site:

Spoiler

 

The Anvil Ballista is the latest controllable vehicle in Star Citizen: a heavy, ballistic missile launcher that takes down enemy spacecraft in no time at all. In advance, GameStar exclusively talked with Vehicle Pipeline Director John Crewe about the specifics of the planetary vehicle - and how it will affect the player-driven PvP future of Star Citizen.

Anvil Ballista: Slow but deadly

Inspired by the design of old Russian ICBM rocket launcher, John Crewe explains: Tons of heavy but mobile launch platforms for ICBMs, often seen at military parades on the Red Square in Moscow or during test launches during the Cold War. The Anvil Ballista has eight wheels and can accommodate pilot and shooter.

Armed is the slow monster with eight size 5 rockets, the first ever in Star Citizen. In addition there are two particularly large size 7 broaches, also a premiere, and a Gatling double gun on the front roof. While the flak can be controlled by the pilot, the rockets can only be fired from the 360 ° rotatable turret from the shooter seat in the rear area.

The two players have to work together - or else a player has to change seats in solo mode, because the missiles can only be fired at standstill. Then the ballista automatically pulls out two support feet. Recoil by firing the missiles is currently not simulated, but will be added later.

The 5 missiles are intended as an antidote to hunters in the atmosphere, everything up to the size of a Cutlass is destroyed with a hit. For ships of the order Valkyrie or Freelancer, on the other hand, it takes several missiles - or the 7-missiles. The Anvil Ballista has shields and targeting. Talented pilots can try to dodge the missiles (which are faster and more manoeuvrable than those favored in space, more powerful torpedoes). However, since most spacecraft are not primarily designed for flight in the atmosphere, this is likely to be difficult.

Ammunition is limited - but there are ways in which other players can supply the rocket launcher. "If you had to return to the base after ten shots, that would be really stupid," says vehicle designer Crewe. "We want to encourage players to work together." Later, the Anvil Ballista is set to be part of massive planetary ground battles in which dozens of players defend their bases against the attacks of an enemy group of humans. But this is still a dream of the future and John Crewe can not share a timetable with us: "I only do the ships!" After all, he tells us that Ballista will also play a role in Star Citizen's single-player campaign Squadron 42.

The giant ballista (she is twice as tall as a human) should later be able to be transported by spaceships such as the Crusader Starlifter - the Starlifter is currently not available. Officially, the rocket launcher can only be summoned to spawn terminals, most of them are on the planet Hurston in the Stanton system (not in Safe Zones). Nevertheless, Crewe is sure that players will find a way to get the vehicle to other planets. »Our community is very creative. I've seen people on low-gravity planets ride onto the roof of a ship and then drag that shaky construction through space. "

Special missions designed to use Anvil Ballista are not yet available. Although the Star Citizen team is already working on some ideas internally. But one wants to wait and see how the community reacts to the new vehicle, which areas of application the players for the rocket launcher find and what is criticized. "Our job as a developer is to anticipate things," says John Crewe. "But 50% of us are wrong."

 

 

 

Official announcement to come sometime in the future...

 

EDIT:  Officially announced now:

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/17153-Anvil-Ballista

[Fleischwolf]

This type vehicle was inevitable considering the anticipated game play. It looks as though it has the ability to take down pretty much anything in atmosphere. Too bad there't not much to fight over yet. 

[danredda]

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/17153-Anvil-Ballista

 

As an FYI, the dunestalker (desert) skin is a Chairmans club exclusive.

[J. Coren]

Nice that they took the inspiration from the 9K33 system. More Soviet-inspired designs, please!

As mentioned, this kind of vehicle was inevitable. Though considering its design task and the kinds of ships it can be expected to bring down, I feel the choice to make it a missile platform as opposed to a SPAAG will render it toothless with simple and effective deployment of countermeasures. I'd imagine if it were to mount something similar to a Hammerhead turret but with ballistics I'd say you have yourself a fairly effective system.

But until there is a complete sensor revamp and tactics like notching become necessary and effective at evading missiles, I don't see this thing being a truly effective anti-air platform.

[Boildown]

Couple of good Ballista videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmOC2gVfh7U

https://www.twitch.tv/theastropub/clip/SnappyHardBottlePhilosoraptor

(Not embedded because these forums choked on the Twitch video when it was embedded).

 

[Danakar Endeel]

Looks very cool and I'm glad CIG has decided to give us another ground vehicle made by different manufacturer for more diversity on planetside battlefields.

That they chose Anvil for this has me hopeful that CIG might even make a smaller version of the Anvil Ballista at some point. For example they could make a regular 6-wheeled rover version without the missiles as an alternative option to the RSI Ursa. If so, us Anvil Carrack owners might even be able to get an Anvil rover instead of the generic RSI Ursa we were given now.

---

Sorry for the link below btw but I posted such a question for the Ballista Q&A and would really love some upvotes if you guys agree with it

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/spectrum/community/SC/forum/3/thread/anvil-ballista-q-a/2261427

Now that CIG has the styleguide and assets for making Anvil rovers, can we expect a smaller version of the Anvil Ballista (for example a 6-wheeled version without the missile cart) to be included as an Anvil rover for the Carrack at some point instead of the RSI Ursa?

[VoA]

Good question @Danakar Endeel and upvoted it

Below is a good image from a player

On 7/19/2019 at 8:01 PM, Fleischwolf said:

This type vehicle was inevitable considering the anticipated game play. It looks as though it has the ability to take down pretty much anything in atmosphere. Too bad there't not much to fight over yet. 

Much of the content in the early PU is more likely to be planet based (as oppose to system - system or long range exploration) until they flush out more systems

[stefmarster]

So.... I was wondering.... its fine its ingame and so on.... but ehhm.... how do you transport it, I know it can drive.... but not many  ships in game atm that can transport that fucker.

[Buckaroo]

Yeah, I'm selfishly hoping with the Ballista release maybe they'll push the Hercules C2/M2/A2 up earlier on the release schedule, but I doubt it.  It's only rush was likely because CIG needed something like this vehicle for the main game, Squadron 42.

[VoA]

This happens frequently..... I look at a concept and think sometimes well I don't really need this .....and then start to Theory craft about it..... well last evening's Blood Moon Unit meeting we started talking about the Ballista and my favorite ship always was the RSI Phoenix but once the Pioneer came out that became my new favorite ship.... primarily because I am an architect in real life.... and the concept of building Outpost I think we'll be a lot of fun.... and now with this thing coming out the ballista will be an excellent defense system for an outpost.  I also have an A2 star lifter so hopefully I'll be able to move it around.... we were talking about this as well and we think that CGI will probably resize the star lifters ... since ithe Ballista.....is a little bit larger than a Nova tank

[VoA]

Sigh.... wallet is opening..... with cool videos like this.... ---- EDIT ---- Just picked up one with a CCU

 

[Buckaroo]

17 hours ago, VoA said:

Sigh.... wallet is opening..... with cool videos like this.... ---- EDIT ---- Just picked up one with a CCU

I don't blame you, Voa... The Ballista is a pretty cool concept vehicle with a lot of possible uses in the Verse.  For me, I'm not really interested in ground vehicles in general--except perhaps picking up a ranger or hover bike in the PU to scoot around planets

[VoA]

On 7/24/2019 at 8:25 AM, Buckaroo said:

I don't blame you, Voa... The Ballista is a pretty cool concept vehicle with a lot of possible uses in the Verse.  For me, I'm not really interested in ground vehicles in general--except perhaps picking up a ranger or hover bike in the PU to scoot around planets

However..... you'll probably like a Ground Vehicle.... specifically the Ballista when you get hit by one flying overhead without being able to spot them.   They are going to have a much lower signature than flying ships (that is a huge advantage for them + the low cost vs amount of firepower to balance them being limited to the ground)

[VoA]

 

[Boildown]

One interesting thing is the Warbond bundle with the Ballista has 5 I think vehicles and they get LTI.  And the combined price is less than it was to buy all those via Warbond originally.  Not explicitly worth it unless you wanted all those vehicles anyways, but it does make for really good LTI tokens.

[Boildown]

Looks good from this perspective too:

https://imgur.com/a/gj3YhkO

 

[VoA]

 

[Danakar Endeel]

Q&A: Anvil Ballista

Following the launch of the Ballista from Anvil Aerospace, we took your community-voted questions to our designers to give you more information on the recently unveiled air defense system.

 

The sale post mentions “ground targets”. Will this vehicle have any ground bombardment or parabolic firing mode to shoot over hills? Will it require line-of-sight to lock-on to ground targets?

• Currently, all targets (whether air or ground) require both a high enough signature and line-of-sight for the Ballista to be able to lock on to them. In the future, we’ll include out-of-sight targeting by transmitting target data between ships or via some sort of ‘forward operator control’. This will enable players to hit targets without a direct line-of-sight and from a much greater distance than is currently possible.

Does the Ballista have any planned modularity? Swapping out the back section for a medical, exploration, or cargo variant would make it a great general ‘rover’ and one that could be used with the Carrack.

• At this time, no future variants are planned for production, although we’ve seen some fantastic community suggestions. The rover that comes with the Anvil Carrack is an RSI Ursa Rover, not a new Anvil Rover.

How will restocking ammo work? Do we need to bring it to a landing pad, or will there be future resupplying ships and ground vehicles? Will the Vulcan be able to repair and rearm the Ballista?

• Currently, the Ballista needs to be taken back to an outpost, where it can be repaired and rearmed. In the future, dedicated rearming and repair vehicles (such as the Vulcan) can be used to support any ground vehicle, including the Ballista.

Isn’t a range of 2000 meters too short for an anti-aircraft vehicle?

• The Jump Point article and brochure were completed before we had confirmed its maximum range. At this time, its effective range is 10,000 meters against most fighters (the furthest we’ve shot is 9,984 meters), after which it can no longer identify them. However, the firing range doesn’t have a cap as it’s purely by the systemic emissions of the target, so it will be even further on large ships with high infrared or electromagnetic signatures.

Which ships will be able to transport the Ballista? Will a mechanic be in place to cable-lift them with, for example, the ARGOMPUV or using a tractor beam (kind of like how tanks can be transported via helicopter)?

• As it stands, there are only two ship series specifically designed to transport the Ballista – the Idris and the Hercules (by transport, we mean getting it entirely inside the vehicle, properly secured, and doors closed). While not officially designed to carry the Ballista, the 890 Jump’s rear cargo ramp is large enough to take it too. Ships equipped with a suitably powerful tractor beam will also be able to move it, but this comes with a higher risk than having it secured internally.

Besides the included 2 x S2 guns on the turret, the stats page also lists an “optional” S2 turret. What does that mean? Another turret? More guns?

• This is an error in the stats page that will be resolved – the optional turret mentioned is the default-equipped turret.

What kind of equipment can the Ballista carry besides the missile launcher? Will we be able to mount different sizes and types of missiles like 16 x S5 missiles, 4 x S7 torpedoes, 2 x S8 torpedoes, or 2 x S8 gun turrets?

• At this time, there are no plans to allow any modification to the turret loadout or to what type of turret it has equipped. Everything is quite bespoke to the vehicle in its current layout and the only customisability is in the missile loadouts themselves.

Could you explain how CIG plans to balance air vs ground? Both how you see various classes of ship and vehicle performing against each other and how you plan to achieve that balance when ground vehicles size up poorly in direct comparison due to their limited mobility and smaller equipment.

• This is a very good question, though one that deserves more attention than is possible here. We’ll be discussing air vs ground combat in more detail in the future.

Will the skins be purchasable separately? I have the ‘Snowblind’ skin but like the others as well. However, I don’t want to buy another vehicle.

• The skins are unique to Warbond SKUs. Concierge members get access to the Dunestalker Skin and all backers get access to the Snowblind skin. These-limited time offerings will not be able to be pledged for separately.

I know the Ballista has to be parked in order to fire the torpedoes, but will the gunner seat (the one that fires the missiles right now) eventually be able to swap between the torpedoes and S2 Gatling gun and fire it while the vehicle is moving? That doesn’t seem overpowered and could come in extremely handy (and seems common sense).

• There is no plan for this at this moment. The person manning the missile turret (or gunner seat) has very specific control over that turret only. The driver of the vehicle can drive around and fire the Gatling turret if they choose to.

The Ballista page states that the missile artillery can be used on ground targets, but can the missiles ‘free-fire’ on land without a specific target? Like targeting the general vicinity of a patch of land?

• All missiles in the game currently require a target lock. We don’t have any plans for missile free-fire, but it may be something more suited to less “smart” ordnance in the future.

Will the Ballista be able to intercept other missiles, such as S9 torpedoes from a bomber or the Hercules’ A2 bombs?

• This is functionality that we want all ships to have in the future, not just the Ballista. Being able to target incoming ordnance items is critical to keeping larger ships and ground outposts intact. Of course, targeting is just part of the equation; it certainly helps to pick a suitable weapon system for the intercept.

The Ballista can only fire while stationary, but what if it’s stationary aboard a moving ship? For example, on a Starlifter, Kraken, or Idris?

• The Ballista will still fire aboard a moving Starlifter or Idris, though we’re not sure launching missiles inside a moving ship is the safest thing to do! As for the Kraken, there’s no reason why you couldn’t fire missiles from a landing pad. However, the chance of hitting a friendly ship or part of the carrier could be quite high, particularly if it’s moving.

 

[GRIZZ]

Oh man, that last photo of the Ballista in the 890J!

[VoA]

[Metternich70]

I will not be buying a single vehicle or ship until the corresponding gameplay is actually and entirely implemented into the game. CIG turned cards too many times on too many things (the Starfarer change and the vay CIG handled the Idris P situation after the Kraken was launched were the turning point for me) to get more money from my wallet just on promises.

These Q&A tell almost nothing about the actual  usefulness of the vehicle.  And within a couple of months they may change everithing as they never said those things.

Once bitten twice shy works even for a pledger that has a F8 lightining in his virtual hangar.

[GRIZZ]

Do you think theirs a fan out there somewhere with a Kracken and 20 Ballista's in their account?

[VoA]

14 hours ago, Metternich70 said:

I will not be buying a single vehicle or ship until the corresponding gameplay is actually and entirely implemented into the game....

Some ships / vehicles - are flyable / driveable when they come out........ so you might be able to rent / multi-crew one before the concept sale is over.... like this concept sale for the Balista (++ you can see videos).    I ended up CCUing for one and happy that I did

[VoA]

[Buckaroo]

10 minutes ago, VoA said:

Can't wait to get my Hercules C2 to carry around some of these vehicles...