Have you found a use for Assault Beetle?

[Zeddy]

My previous thread about Guided Launchers was a big success! https://steamcommunity.com/app/1007040/discussions/0/1640918469760608164/

For my next question, I'd like to know if anyone has figured a good situation for Assault Beetle. Its usage has been eluding me since EDF2025, and it just seems like a bad robot bomb? If it had more blast area I could lay traps with it like it's C-bombs, but it just doesn't seem to pack enough punch for it. The throwing animation also makes it inconvenient for close-quarters combat, which would've been my first guess.

Any stories about that one time you used it and it was awesome would be greatly appreciated!

[Sir Duckyweather]

Yeah, that's kind of the impression I got too. It's like it was made as a compromise for the thought, "I wish I could launch these C-bombs somehow," but its performance is too lackluster to be worth the trade-off. I've noticed passive enemies won't notice when you stick a bomb on them, similar to limpet guns before detonation. About the only thing I like them for is their silly, springy "boing, boing" sounds. Making Beetles work better than another weapon is probably about as difficult as finding a legitimate use for Speed Stars.

[きょすけ]

Originally posted by Zeddy:

My previous thread about Guided Launchers was a big success! https://steamcommunity.com/app/1007040/discussions/0/1640918469760608164/

For my next question, I'd like to know if anyone has figured a good situation for Assault Beetle. Its usage has been eluding me since EDF2025, and it just seems like a bad robot bomb? If it had more blast area I could lay traps with it like it's C-bombs, but it just doesn't seem to pack enough punch for it. The throwing animation also makes it inconvenient for close-quarters combat, which would've been my first guess.

Any stories about that one time you used it and it was awesome would be greatly appreciated!

I made a similar post on reddit, about both assault and stag beetles (especially the second one, as it just wants to fly and attach to the first ceiling it sees. The blast radius is awesome, but due to this behaviour it is completely useless for me. A shame as it looks extremely awesome this kind of weapon!

But back on your original question, the only decent anwer I got was this one:

Beetles are mostly a fun weapon, but I got some good use out of them underground while playing on hard. The tunnels tend to funnel them into enemies as long as there aren't sharp turns, so aiming them becomes less of an impossible task.

You can also use them as a stylish replacement to covering your vehicles in C bombs and driving them into enemies like in 4.1.

I believe this holds true to assault beetles though, as I tried stag beetles on cave/military base stages but those bombs simply wanted to attach on the first ceiling they could find, as I pointed out previously.

Another odd thing I found out is that you can somewhat control the beetle based on how you move your character as soon as you deployed the weapon.

[Krim]

You can use them with decoys to lay traps. If you back up when you throw them, then you can easily latch them onto yourself for a suicide attack. They can be held in place and teleported using the vehicle trick. If you activate them at the same time as you get into a vehicle then you wont take damage from them exploding. I think they are the only thing you can self-stick, but I could be wrong about that.

[Zeddy]

Originally posted by Krim:

I think they are the only thing you can self-stick, but I could be wrong about that.

Oh that's interesting! It seems to be a deal with any weapons that can bounce. Bound gun bullets will not hurt you if you run into them (there's a particularly slow bound gun where you can try), but after it bounces, it can. Assault Beetle probably works the same, becoming active for friendly fire after a bounce.

Originally posted by きょすけ:

I believe this holds true to assault beetles though, as I tried stag beetles on cave/military base stages but those bombs simply wanted to attach on the first ceiling they could find, as I pointed out previously.

Another odd thing I found out is that you can somewhat control the beetle based on how you move your character as soon as you deployed the weapon.

I think you can attach stag beetles to walls by slapping them on at melee range, especially if you use your own momentum to give them some forward speed for it. In the previous game it seems pointless due to Air Raider having C70, but maybe something can be figured out after all.

Thanks for answers!

[きょすけ]

Originally posted by Zeddy:

I think you can attach stag beetles to walls by slapping them on at melee range, especially if you use your own momentum to give them some forward speed for it. In the previous game it seems pointless due to Air Raider having C70, but maybe something can be figured out after all.

Thanks for answers!

Honestly I would have loved to see beetles and stag beetles to act like rotom bombs (stag beetle would have been awesome since they aren't ground dependant).

[Sennzai]

Speed Star!

[Krim]

Originally posted by Sennzai:

Speed Star!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEka0aRlP_c

[jerryfanfan]

Stag beetle, I think you can use it to destroy stationary teleport ships without aggroing the enemies guarding them. It hits harder than limpet, and has a decent blast radius to destroy the enemies that come out.