Ballistics (missiles/mines/etc)

[McNeo]

more speed helps if the enemy is not dodging too much. dodging would be a natural and logic countermeasure, but missiles tend to overturn and loose the target. - it would help to give missiles a MUCH longer lifetime and a tracking ability ( line of sight ) of 270 degrees. that way they d become much stronger chasing ships.



if it was possible, - a missile should allways launch with a momentum of zero and accelerate to its maximum speed. that way, we wouldn t get missiles that fly backwards with full reverse thrust ( when E-killed and fired backwards at 200 backwards momentum ) - if missiles used their own speed only, they d turn better and wouldn t easily loose track.



missile ammo using up cargospace instead - and having the max missile ammo at someone very high would be desirable, but calls for a massive balancing. - cargospace is often added without much thought about weapons. - if one for example buffs up missiles some hybrid assault shuttles, like the turranic raider or the armoured transport could become fighterkillers, just cause they CAN carry tons of ammo and have missile slots.



if its only applied to warships though we might have to revise the different sizes of the ships and their cargoload. - a BHG gunship still has too much cargospace compared to a rheinland battleship. 250 cargo is 1/5th of a battleships cargo? - and the gunship isn t even 1/100th the size of a battleship.

If hybrid assault gunships became a viable alternative, then that can only be good. I see no use for such craft now, and if their missile capacity was high with the cargo space they have and it gave them a status as a fighter killer, at least they'd have a use along with the SHFs of this world. Right now, there are very very few in existance and that isn't desirable either.

A normal fighter has too much cargo space compared to a Rheinland battleship. 70 cargo, and by volume its a spec against the thing. Also, the Guardian has VHF-like cargo space, whereas the same modelled Defender has a lot less. Many unexplained illogical things.

But as it stands, I think the BHG GS would be balanced if these missile changes about ammo capacity linked to cargo capacity were to come in. A BHG GS can't survive a SN hit without a Cap VIII armour upgrade. If a pilot wants missiles, he can't have cap armour and is limited to a base of 2.5... I think this in itself balances this particular case.

However, lots of balancing would have to be done anyway with many of the other classes to see just what the effects would be. Both of our predictions were just that, and I am curious to see what would actually happen.

EDIT: 300ms would make fighter missiles seriously ridiculous... I agree with Mjolnir, up the seeking range first, the speed later. The speed is good enough if the missile can stay on track.