The Hexacopter Drone is a flying drone unit in ArmA: Mobile Ops.
Overview[]
- Role:
- Anti-structure bomber
| « | A slower small air drone able to drop bombs with splash damage. The Hexacopter Drone primarily targets defensive structures, and if there are none, it will attack the nearest building. Due to its slow speed, it serves best to finish off defenseless bases or to support ground units. Office Description
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Purpose[]
A small drone bomber optimised exclusively to attack defensive structures from the air, the Hexacopter Drone functions as a cheap, lightweight counterpart to the more powerful but expensive Helicopter Drone.
Strengths[]
Like the Wheeled UGV, where it lacks in firepower and durability it more than makes up for by being cheap to assemble and easily massable, as each drone only takes up one slot at a Barracks.
It is entirely possible (though not exactly feasible) to deploy more than thirty Hexacopter Drones into a single battle provided that the player has upgraded at least four of their Barracks to Level 3 or higher.
Unlike their larger counterparts, Hexacopter Drones attack with unguided free-falling bombs as opposed to rockets, which can only be dropped if the drone is hovering directly above the target structure.
Weaknesses[]
Combined with its very slow movement speed and fragility (it has the same movement speed as the Tracked UGV but lacks the latter's durability), even a large swarm of camouflaged Hexacopter Drones can be shot down by a single unupgraded Autocannon the moment they reveal themselves.
Needless to say, AA Towers will shred (upgraded) Hexacopter Drones with ease, usually in just a single hit. Rockets from Heavy Team-garrisoned Pillboxes will also make short work of uncamouflaged Hexacopter Drones.
Usage[]
The Hexacopter Drone is best deployed after your heavier ground units have moved in to draw fire from other base defences first, while the Hexacopter Drones sneak in to bombard them as they're occupied with attacking your ground forces. Off-map supports like artillery strikes should also be called in to neutralise any anti-air defences during the initial stages of an attack.
Alternatively, Hexacopter Drones can be sacrificed to trigger any Drone Traps that you suspect may be in that direction, which leaves that route safe for your other flying units (Helicopter Drones/X35 Jets) to fly in without taking any damage.
Regardless of their utility however, Hexacopter Drones fall off sharply once better air units are unlocked as you progress in Office tiers. They will not scale well even with additional upgrades and in mass numbers, continue to trade very inefficiently when put up against heavy anti-air. Needless to say, all Hexacopter Drones should be immediately replaced with Helicopter Drones/X35 Jets once the latter two are available to hire at the Office.
As with all other drone-type units, the Hexacopter Drone is unable to gain any veterancy bonuses and relies purely on upgrades researched at the Comms Centre.
Abilities[]
Stealth Mode[]
| « | When the drone is approaching an enemy base in the stealth mode it is practically invisible until it initiates the bomb run. Ability description
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The Hexacopter Drone becomes invisible to all ground defences and will be not detectable for 20 seconds or until it begins attacking a structure.
Though this ability doesn't actually help the Hexacopter Drone in combat or increase its movement speed, it does raise the chances of it getting close enough to actually begin attacking, as even AA Towers cannot detect the drone until the ability wears off.
Be aware that Stealth Mode does have a cooldown, and will not be triggered for any drones that are deployed after the initial batch until the cooldown finishes. It also does not prevent Drone Traps from triggering if they fly over one.
Trivia[]
- Upon completion, a Hexacopter Drone will begin patrolling the player's base once their first Office is upgraded to Level 6.
- However, the drone itself does not defend the base during an attack and is merely added for ambience.
- Prior to Update 1.14, Hexacopter Drones did not possess the ability to camouflage themselves.[1]
- The Hexacopter Drone's Stealth Mode reused the same icon as the Fire Team's Smoke Grenade ability before it was changed to a unique one with the release of Update 1.16.[1]
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Bohemia Interactive a.s., Apple Inc. 2016, Arma Mobile Ops on the App Store, App Store, viewed 26 April 2018, <https://apps.apple.com/app/id1050973882>.
See also[]
| Units of ArmA: Mobile Ops | |
|---|---|
| Infantry | Fire Team • Heavy Team • Force Recon • Engineer Team |
| Vehicles | Wheeled UGV • Light UGV • Tracked UGV |
| Aircraft | Hexacopter Drone • Helicopter Drone • X35 Jet |
| Entries are listed in order of left-to-right, based on the current upgrade level of the player's Office. | |