Ballistic Missile (BTD6)

"Missile seeks target within range and does extra MOAB and Ceramic damage."

- BTD6 description

Ballistic Missile is the 3rd upgrade for Path 2 for the Monkey Sub in Bloons TD 6. This upgrade adds ballistic missiles that shoot above the sky and crash onto target bloons on screen, accurately hitting targets without subjecting to projectile expiry. These ballistic missiles trigger within increased range (from 42 to 50). Once a bloon is detected in range, a missile is fired, following its target according to target priority. Adding Advanced Intel lets missiles trigger at any tower's range.

Each ballistic missile deals 1 damage each, deals an extra +5 damage versus Ceramics and MOAB-class, have 100 pierce each, and are shot every 0.994s (every 0.870s with Twin Guns, but no extra with Airburst Darts). The blast radius for a Ballistic Missile is approximately ~15 units radius. It takes 0.6s for a ballistic missile to travel between launch and hitting its target.

It costs $1,190 on Easy, $1,400 on Medium, $1,510 on Hard, and $1,680 on Impoppable.

Summary
Ballistic Missile's high pierce compared to its cost makes it a good option for handling very dense clumps of bloons accurately. It can be used to chip down the health off Ceramic Bloons in earlier rounds, as well as deal a reasonable amount of damage to MOAB-class bloons. Armies of Ballistic Missiles are not very efficient in later rounds compared to its BTD5 counterpart, but they are considerably cheap and possess quite high range, pierce, and accuracy.

Tips

 * 2-3-0 Ballistic Missile is useful when spamming the entire map with Ballistic Missiles, although better anti-MOAB options are available for this purpose.
 * Use 0-3-2 Ballistic Missiles when nearby a map with good central spots. Pair with Monkey Villages to ensure their ballistic missiles can reach enough of the track. Compared to 2-3-0, 0-3-2 is a much superior option at short-range.
 * The lack of attack speed bonus for the missiles via 0-3-2 is no big deal, because Airburst Darts have a large amount of pierce and do a lot of damage to all bloon types anyway.
 * Ballistic Missiles can deal double damage to all bloons by pairing with Sub Commander, allowing each ballistic missile to deal 12 damage to Ceramics and MOAB-class. Pair with Admiral Brickell's Naval Tactics ability to unleash a barrage of fast-attacking Ballistic Missiles, especially with the 0-3-2 crosspath.
 * Due to its extreme pierce for its low cost, Ballistic Missile can be used to break off the shells off Ceramic Bloons on Round 63, although for this purpose it is best used on maps without multiple entry points. Use the 2-3-0 Ballistic Missile on Strong to maximize missile range.

Trivia

 * Purchasing Ballistic Missile in BTD6 will give the monkey a Russian appearance. There were no visual changes to the monkey in the BTD5 version of the Ballistic Missile upgrade besides a hat color change.
 * In fact, the blue hat as seen in the BTD5 Ballistic Missile is instead given to Triple Guns in BTD6.
 * In BTD6, the description was "Missile seeks target over any distance and does extra MOAB and Ceramic damage." until Version 19.0, although the missile range was nerfed in Version 18.0.
 * Prior to the Version 19.0 nerfs to the Path 3 crosspathed Ballistic Missile, Brickell + 0-3-2 Ballistic spam + 2-0-5 Sub Commander was used to easily beat Quad CHIMPS, and could even be easily done with Black Border.
 * Ballistic Missile is the 72nd unique 2MPC combo in the fan-official 2MPC spreadsheet, and using the 0-3-2 crosspath it was achieved on Version 18.0, prior to the Version 19.0 nerfs. It is likely no longer possible as of Version 19.0, due to the nerf to the base Ballistic Missile range and the attack speed bonuses of Path 3.
 * It is possible for a ballistic missile to shoot at bloons outside of its range, even without Advanced Intel, but there must be a bloon within range while the ballistic missile attack is not on cooldown in order for this phenomenon to occur.
 * The ballistic missile projectile behavior in BTD6 resembles more of a ballistic missile compared to its BTD5 counterpart. This is because the missiles are guided slightly during brief periods in flight after the Monkey Sub launches the missile directly upwards, and the missile subsequently falls downwards following the target bloon after it falls from the sky. In fact, the behavior of BTD5 ballistic missile projectiles actually resembles that from cruise missiles.
 * The upgrade icon for Ballistic Missile features a missile moving in a zigzag flight pattern. However, this does not match the flight pattern that the ballistic missiles move.
 * During the Cold War, the Soviet Union found a way to launch ballistic missiles from submarines. This is possibly why the monkey has a Russian look and maybe Monkey Sub has this upgrade instead of any other towers.