Aphid

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“…Missile system which fires a volley of 8 homing missiles that overcome small obstacles. Missiles are dangerous for slow robots, but less effective against mobile targets…” – in-game description

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Purchase Information
In-Game Cost	750
Real Value	$7.50
Exp Level	5
Type
Hardpoint	Light
Tier	I

Base Statistics		Attributes
Level	5	Explosive
Damage	1,169 per missile	Lock-on
Range	350 meters	Volley
Reload	10 seconds	Magazine
Capacity	8 missiles	Homing
Unload	Instant	Energy

Introduction

The Aphid is a close-range (up to 350 meters) light homing missile weapon. It has a medium and heavy counterpart (Vortex and Thermite respectively) and can be viewed as the close-range counterpart to the Spiral.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• High damage
• Can traverse over over low obstacles
• Slow robots cannot evade it
• Lock-on system helps with targeting accuracy
• Homing attribute lets it hit enemies that have moved slightly
• Can often hit enemies on the upper portion of the bot, bypassing most robots' physical shields
• Deals double damage to physical shields

Cons

• Short range (350 meters)
• Missiles may spread, making you miss some of your maximum damage potential
• Kinetic so it cannot pierce energy shields
• Long reload time
• Fires missiles in one volley, so excess damage will be absorbed by an energy shield
• Dash bots and bots with fast ground speed can evade the volley
• Some or all of the missiles get blocked by structures in the firing arc

Strategy

The Aphid requires time to lock onto its target and once fired, the missiles will automatically home in on their targets generally guaranteeing a hit. Because the missiles are fired into a ring following an arcing trajectory they are able to hit a target hiding behind cover. 

The Aphid begins to lock onto opponents at 600 meters although it can only be fired from 350 meters. When locked onto an opponent one can aim between the 2 green brackets that appear to the left and right to curve the missiles in the aimed direction. This is done to fire around obstacles.

Once fired the Aphid's missiles follow a predictable trajectory and are slow to turn, meaning fast, agile, jumping, and dashing robots can time their movement or jumps to minimize or entirely evade the damage done by an Aphid salvo.

The Aphids do not have splash damage effect so physical shields can block some or all of the missiles depending on the angle and trajectory.

Aphids are unique close-range weapons due to their ability to clear cover. One tactic is when facing an opponent with a built-in or mounted energy shield, fire Aphids individually to deplete the energy shield before the other missiles hit. This is because if all missiles hit at the same time the shield will be fully depleted but will have absorbed the extra damage due to the timing.

Due to the low-flying trajectory of the Aphid missiles it should generally be used in open ground where the enemy cannot hide or take cover.

The missiles fired by the Aphids, unlike those of the Spiral, are not guaranteed hits. Some of the missiles will hit the ground next to the robot if the target is moving, however all of the Aphid's missiles will hit a stationary target without a shield out in the open, provided they have a large enough frame.

Purchase Information

Level	Cost	Damage	Cycle Damage	Cycle DPS
5	750	9350	74800	7480

Upgrade Information

Level	Cost	Time	Damage	Cycle Damage	Cycle DPS
6	400,000	8 hours	1284	10272	1027
7	800,000	12 hours	1408	11264	1126
8	1,500,000	16 hours	1550	12400	1240
9	3,000,000	20 hours	1701	13608	1361
10	5,000,000	1 day	1873	14984	1498
11	8,000,000	1 day 2 hours	2063	16504	1650
12	13,000,000	1 day 4 hours	2263	18104	1810

	Cost	Time
Totals	31,700,000	5 days 14 hours

• The damage column shows the damage of each individual missile (out of 8 missiles)

Purchase Information

Level	Cost	Damage	Cycle Damage	Cycle DPS
1	500	2263	18104	1810

Note: Level 12 Mark I is required to enhance (purchase) to Mark II.

Upgrade Information

Level	Cost	Time	Damage	Cycle Damage	Cycle DPS
2	250,000	3 hours	2305	18440	1844
3	500,000	5 hours	2347	18776	1878
4	1,000,000	8 hours	2389	19112	1911
5	3,750,000	15 hours	2431	19448	1945
6	3,750,000	15 hours	2473	19784	1978
7	3,750,000	15 hours	2515	20120	2012
8	3,750,000	15 hours	2557	20456	2046
9	3,750,000	15 hours	2599	20792	2079
10	3,750,000	15 hours	2641	21128	2113
11	3,750,000	15 hours	2683	21464	2146
12	3,750,000	15 hours	2715	21720	2172

	Cost	Time
Totals	31,750,000	5 days 16 hours

• The damage column shows the damage of each individual missile (out of 8 missiles)

Update History

Version	Changes
4.8.0	Total Upgrade Time: 6 days 22 hours⟶5 days 14 hours
4.7.0	Total Upgrade Time: 8 days 9 hours⟶6 days 22 hours
4.5.0	Can no longer be produced via Workshop 2.0
4.3.0	Damage decreased by 5%
4.2.0	Price changed from 750 gold to 10,000 Components (same value)
4.0.0	Total Upgrade Cost: 38,150,000 Ag⟶31,700,000 Ag Total Upgrade Time: 10 days⟶8 days 8 hours
3.1.0	Damage increased by 5%
2.9.3	Damage increased by 5%
2.5.0	Accuracy slightly decreased Prefix "EE" removed
2.2.0	The missiles travel in a tighter spiral, greatly improving their accuracy
0.8.3	Weapon changed from 250,000 silver to 750 gold
0.3.0	Bug fix: The damage at level 1 was erroneously understated. It was changed to 1168
0.1.0	Weapon was added to the game

Trivia

• There is a Russian short-range lightweight infrared homing air-to-air missile weapon with the same name, the AA-8 'Aphid'; however it is not certain that these weapons are related.
• Aphid is related to Spiral, both being light hardpoint weapons with the similar mechanics (like Pin is related to Pinata, or Molot to Punisher).
• In real life, Aphids are a species of insect which feed parasitically on plants, often in groups.
• This weapon's namesake may be due to the fact that the arrangement of the missiles on the launcher resembles a group of aphids congregated on a plant stem.
• There is an ongoing 'bug' where aphid missiles (Also goes for its counterparts) where the visual of the missiles 'bug'. It is where when the visuals, for example, hit an object, but the actual missiles go over it. And hit its target.
• There is another 'bug' sometimes when your internet is very laggy, the missiles will shoot straight instead of circling. For some reason, this also happens to Vortex and Thermite