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in: Weapons, Equipment, Unmanned weapons,
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Orbit Weapons

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Armored Core 3 intro Exceed Orbit

Exceed Orbits (energy type) in action

Orbit Weapons are remote weaponry that "orbit" in the air and fire autonomously at any target within range. Although generally used on Armored Cores, it is not uncommon to see Muscle Tracers or other units outfitted with similar devices. This weapon comes in two types: Orbit Cannons and Exceed Orbits.

Types[]

Orbit Cannon[]

Product 017 2

ZWX-F04/ORBIT in use

First appearing in Armored Core 2, the Orbit Cannons are back weapons that launch miniature autonomous weapon pods which self-destruct upon depletion of their energy supply. They cannot be targeted by weapon systems but they can be destroyed if physical contact is made with the Orbit Cannons. There are two known types of Orbit Cannons: one follows a target, while the other type remains floating and stationary upon launched from the cannon. The first version is weaker than the second, but makes up for this by aggressively pursuing their intended target, with three usually being launched at once. In Silent Line: Armored Core, a weapon arm version of pursuit Orbit Cannons was introduced.

Orbit Cannons work best against slower and larger targets where they are more easily able to target the enemy and land a successful shot. If the enemy in question is too massive, however, the Orbit Cannons may be launched too close to the target and be destroyed with contact. Against faster targets, the cannons have difficulty landing shots; in their case, the Orbit Cannons are best assisted by the player with aggressive tactics, engaging the opponent up close in such way that they are forced to move through the area covered by the deployed Orbit Cannons, before the target leaves the said area. The best defense for any non-heavy and tank legs is to simply boost quickly in a single direction until the Orbit Cannons run out of energy, although dodging these like this could leave you distracted from other attacks.

In Armored Core V and Verdict Day, there is a type of weapons similar to the Orbit Cannons called the "Sentry Guns", which are hand-held weapons. They do not have the ability to attack the enemy directly, but instead project a stationary battery (slave unit) that automatically identifies and attacks enemy craft. There are four types of the Sentry Guns' slave units: Gatling guns, battle rifles, pulse guns, and missiles (KE attribute). Gatling gun-type slave units also react to missiles, so they can also be used as improvised CIWSs. The maximum number of slave units that can be controlled depends on the FCS, so you need to pay attention to that as well. However, unlike the Orbit Cannons in the previous work, there is no limit to the operating time of the slave units. AP is set instead, and you must attack them yourself to destroy them. It is also possible to use them to project the light from the slave units to deflect the lock-on from the master unit.

In ARMORED CORE VI FIRES OF RUBICON, the Orbit Cannons come back as two types of them: the "Laser Turrets" and "Laser Drones". Laser Turrets will deploy a drone that slowly moves forward within the direction of aim, firing on any enemy that is within its firing range. Each drone has six shots, and will expire when it has fired all of its shots, or 20 seconds have passed. There is technically no upper limit to the number of drones that can be active at any one time, restricted only by the duration that each drone will last. Laser Drones, in the other hand, will launch 6 drones at the currently locked-on enemy. The drones will then fly in a loose formation above the enemy, and each drone will fire 3 shots before expiring. If the weapons are fully charged then released, the six drones will group themselves into 2 bundles of 3 drones each, and will then fire two shots with enhanced power at the target before expiring. Against a moving target, the drones will attempt to pursue the target before firing. If there is no target currently locked on, the drones will fire at the current location of the target's aim.

Exceed Orbit[]

MCM-MX-002 EO

Exceed Orbits (energy type) in action

Website image Armored Core Silent Line Image 6

Exceed Orbits (shell type) in action

The Exceed Orbits (EOs) are a type of core function that debuted in Armored Core 3. These emerge from the users core in place of an Over Boost and follow the AC using it, providing additional support. These range from weak, fast firing machine gun-like rounds, to heavy cannon shots. They also vary in ammo types, from solid rounds with limited ammo, to energy rounds that can regenerate their ammo count but constantly drain energy whilst in use. Solid EOs cannot regenerate their ammo upon depletion and become useless until the next mission.

In the 3-Silent Line series, the Exceed Orbits do not conduct double locking (lock on with movement prediction) hence hitting rates (accuracies) are not as good as in the Nexus-Last Raven series. In any case, the Exceed Orbits are predominantly a close-range weapon type, and due to sacrificing Over Boost in its place, the AC itself requires to have good enough mobility of its own to close the distance for EOs to be deployed effectively.

In Armored Core V and Verdict Day, there is a type of weapons similar to the EOs called the "Auto-Attack Guns" (known as Counter Guns in Japan), which are shoulder units. They automatically recognize enemy craft within a certain range and attacks them. All of them are KE attributes, but there are multiple types with different bullet counts and power. They can also be used to increase firepower in close-range combat. In Verdict Day, Auto-Attack Guns also have TE attributes.

In ARMORED CORE VI FIRES OF RUBICON, they are simply called "Orbits" and are back weapons instead of being integrated into the cores or shoulders. The only disadvantage is that they can be deactivated if overheated or staggered by an enemy.

Notable Users[]

Armored Core Pilots[]

Unique Weapons[]

  • Filial, AC2 - The second form of the weapon used by Leos Klein uses a standard Orbit Cannon.
  • IBIS, Silent Line - On its "wings" are docks for 8 Exceed Orbit units that fire simultaneously either laser shots or constant lasers. This is the largest number of Exceed Orbit pods any unit has ever had a once.
  • Pulverizers, Last Raven - Hover Leg Pulverizers use a peculiar and power form of a orbit cannon.
  • Nine-Ball Seraph, Another Century Episode: R - On its shoulders are orbit cannons that launch up to 8, powerful and versatile orbit units that have multiple methods of function, such as acting similarly Exceed Orbit but actually orbiting the AC, and have multiple modes of firing with either bursts of laser shots or a powerful constant beam. Also their movement is also faster and less restricted than all other orbit weapons. They are even able to return from where they launched.
  • IB-01: CEL 240, ACVI FIRES OF RUBICON - A Coral-powered and -piloted Ibis Series C-Weapon. It uses 12 Coral Orbit weapons with 2-round burst fire that can also deploy several more and act as Coral Oscillator blades.

Large-Scale Weapons[]

  • Gray Cloud, AC2AA - An Orbit Cannon that launches 6 weapon pods at targets behind cover.
  • Sol Dios Orbit, AC4A - Has docks for up to 6 Sol Dios cannons that move exactly like units launched from Orbit Cannons.

List of Orbit Weapons[]

Orbit Cannons[]

2 to Another Age[]

3 to Silent Line[]

Nexus to Last Raven[]

V to Verdict Day[]

VI[]

Exceed Orbits[]

3 to Silent Line[]

Nexus to Last Raven[]

V to Verdict Day[]

VI[]

Trivia[]

  • Orbit Cannons are very similar to the Funnel technology and other remote weaponry from the Gundam franchise.
  • Sol Dios Orbit can be considered the largest orbit weapon in the Armored Core series.
  • The Orbit Weapons on the ACE:R variant of Nine-ball Seraph are possibly the most mobile and powerful Orbit Weapons by far.
  • There are absolutely no usable Orbit Weapons in the Armored Core 4 Universe, and the only example of an equivalent of the technology in the entire game is Sol Dios Orbit.
  • Despite being classified as cannons, you don't have to kneel to fire Orbit Cannons without Human PLUS/OP-INTENSIFY, as in fact they are launcher weapons with relatively little recoil, much alike the missile and rocket back launcher weapons.
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