Apache Dartship (BTD6)

"Adds a large missile array and powerful machine guns."

- BTD6 description

Apache Dartship is the fourth upgrade of Path 1 for the Heli Pilot in BTD6. In addition to retaining the Quad Darts and Razor Rotors attacks, the Heli Pilot gains a powerful machine gun and an array of 4 long-range homing missiles. The machine gun darts deal 1 damage, have 5 pierce, and fire every 0.05 seconds. The 4 rockets deal 2 damage with 40 pierce and fire every 1.0 seconds.

It costs $16,660 on Easy, $19,600 on Medium, $21,170 on Hard, and $23,520 on Impoppable.

Summary
The Apache Dartship is usually used as a midgame tower, especially as a stepping stone up to the final upgrade, Apache Prime. The 4-0-2 Dartship can generally be used in the midgame until round 80+ on single-path maps, with some minor additional support. It is very important to budget properly to afford Apache Prime before it is too late, as the Dartship tends to struggle against super ceramics.

Tips

 * The 4-0-2 Apache Dartship generally is better than the 4-2-0 Apache Dartship, due to the increased attack speed.
 * However, if higher mobility (or internal camo detection) is needed, use the 4-2-0 Apache Dartship instead.
 * Although the Dartship is extremely powerful even when set on Pursuit, it is even more effective if the player manually controls it, so as to control the direction of its attacks on especially hard rounds.
 * The Apache Dartship tends to struggle against super ceramics, since the Heli Pilot struggles to deal enough damage while trying to catch up with the ceramics, due to their speed and high health.

Trivia

 * This upgrade is somewhat similar to the Spectre, as both shoot some type of explosives and darts.
 * Additionally, both got a cost nerf in return for a damage output buff, because both used to be easy Deflation strategies.
 * The Apache Dartship is a reference to the AH-64 Apache, a military helicopter which is still in use today.
 * The Apache Dartship's missiles do not in fact have infinite range, but the range is quite large.
 * Prior to Version 8.0, Apache Dartship was often used to easily beat Deflation. However, it was rebalanced that update to deal more damage, but at a higher cost. Soon after, a strategy involving Monkey Knowledge and Village discounting was developed, allowing for an Apache to still be purchased with only $55 left. This was fixed in version 9.0 with a $100 price increase.
 * The front machine gun has a spin up and spin down animation, though it doesn't actually affect attack speed.