Coneburst and Starburst

Originally posted by Wedge009
Stop it.
As for missiles, I hardly ever use them, strangely enough.
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Pfff...

In WC 1 to 3 I found missiles also pretty useless. In Wc4 I think they were vital for some missions andin WCP they are not necessary but they speed things up since you can launch an Imrec at a ship with no decoys and then can concentrate on the harder ones.
 
I did use missiles and found that although they weren't useless in WC1, they had increasing utility as the series went on.

As for money, well, everyone here complains that this that and the other aren't real enough, or we all bicker over what should be real with regards to WC, so I thought I'd just put another slant on it.

If people said 'its just a game', we wouldn't be debating 70% of the threads in the chat zone, correct?
 
All misscels are useless except:

* Friend or Foe - Privateer.
* ELR Im Recs - Prophecy / SO
* Swarmers - Prophecy / SO.
 
I found the IR in Privateer lots better. It did more damaga and it killed the one I was targeting not some unlucky guy who just flew near to me.
And in WCP, I think the rocket pods are great to destroy bug corvettes and the DF in WCP was cool to destroy Devil Rays when you flew in a Shrike.

But this leads me to a question: We know that FoF missiles search for ships that are not transponding a specific signal. Obviously The Kilrathi did not transmit such a signal and I can live with the explanation given, that stolen Confed ships are also marked as enemies. But what about the merchants in Priv? I mean as long as they "blue" to you (friendly/neutral) the FoF won't work against them but as soon as you get their enemy, bam!, the FoF immediately recognizes them as enemies. This appllies to all human ships in Priv. Any reasonable explanation?
 
Originally posted by Meson
All missiles are useless except:
* Friend or Foe - Privateer.
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How so? I always felt the IRs in Priv were much better. But missiles seemed pretty much useless - they were slow, and as soon as you launched one, your target would immediately fly in loops to shuck it.
 
In privateer I always liked the torps. I can't help but think missiles were useful in more games then privateer and prophecy. They seemed especially useful in WcIV.
 
Originally posted by Mekt-Hakkikt
But this leads me to a question: We know that FoF missiles search for ships that are not transponding a specific signal. Obviously The Kilrathi did not transmit such a signal and I can live with the explanation given, that stolen Confed ships are also marked as enemies. But what about the merchants in Priv? I mean as long as they "blue" to you (friendly/neutral) the FoF won't work against them but as soon as you get their enemy, bam!, the FoF immediately recognizes them as enemies. This appllies to all human ships in Priv. Any reasonable explanation?
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Well maybe the FF missiles are connected to the internal targeting system of the Launching craft, just like SARH missiles like the Aim7 Sparrow do it today, so that our own fighter informs the missile of, which targets are friendly and which are hostile.

However, this does not explain it properly, as the FF works with all Radar systems in Privateer, and the cheapest Iris Mk 2 does not have any FF detection, so it cannot give the FF missile reliable Target information.
Additionally, we are told that the FF missiles normally are independant after launch, as they could also attack the launching aircraft if it had a damaged Comm-system. This virtually rules out that the FF system has a commlink to the launching spacecraft.

I think this is a typical "its only a game" design flaw
 
The FF missile targets anyone who isn't broadcasting the same IFF signal as you are -- the thing you have to remember is that when someone is attacking you, they want to be able to fire things at you as much as you want to fire things at them <G> Thus, the merchants switch to a different IFF signal when they're hostile... (stolen fighters use an older signal, Kilrathi use a Kilrathi signal... (remember that *they* have a similar FF missile, the Fang, and thus their own recognition symbols)...
 
So is there a standard IFF code for all merchants who are pretty much nuetral on the side of the law? And can these missiles recognize multiple freindly IFF codes? I would hope so
 
Originally posted by Wedge009
How so? I always felt the IRs in Priv were much better. But missiles seemed pretty much useless - they were slow, and as soon as you launched one, your target would immediately fly in loops to shuck it.
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It's called tactics and strategy. You don't have to be facing your target when you ise FoF's. This can come in handy when you have tons of ships shooting at you as you approach a jump point or a planet, and you don't really want to fight. All you need to do is make a beeline to the point, and fire off FoF's. This technique works great. It will even scare off the Steltek drone for a few minutes.
 
Pah, I barely use missiles in Priv. Never needed to... well, except for those irritating defend freighter missions. Afterburning to the jump point is enough for me. I just load up on two racks of IRs just for the sake of having missiles. I usually only buy missiles when I accidentally fire one when I think I'm in the turret using a tractor beam.
 
So ships can change their IFF code deliberately in a matter of seconds? And as the Drayman does not carry any FF wouldn't it be better for her not to change her code, so that you cannot shoot FF at her? But this is being picky, I can live with the explanation that they just change their code.
I fired 2 IR at Gladii or Talons because two of them destroys them. While they were not troublesome enemies (not at all), sometimes I just did not want to engage in such a dogfight because they became boring. But the missiles were too slow, against nimble opponents like the Stiletto I found them virtually useless.
 
You could outrun any of the missles in Priv and RF in the good ol Centurion. Key to a successfull hit on a Stilleto was to fire just as he lines up on you and begins to fire at you, then let loose one or two. The Kilrathi Gothri was also very effective in moving away from incomming missles.
I always used the IR missles. Usually in the asteroid fields and on missions where half the sector comes at you.


RFBurns
 
In WC3, you can outrun FF's in an Excalibur.

I thought FF's were designed to be fast and heavy hitting (or in the case of WCP and SO, just fast)
 
Nah, the FF is traditionally the weakest missile. The formula seems: The more compilcate the guidance system, the less of a punch the missile packs (so the DF, with no guidance packs the most punch, the FF with the most sophisticated system the least punch). It is even more or less sensible that way. And as the damage descreases so does the speed, I think.
(Of course, I know the Dragonfly has no guidance system and has very little hitting power but they are intended to be fired in swarms.)

[Edited by Mekt-Hakkikt on 03-27-2001 at 08:09]
 
Originally posted by Mekt-Hakkikt
Nah, the FF is traditionally the weakest missile. The formula seems: The more compilcate the guidance system, the less of a punch the missile packs (so the DF, with no guidance packs the most punch, the FF with the most sophisticated system the least punch). It is even more or less sensible that way. And as the damage descreases so does the speed, I think.
[Edited by Mekt-Hakkikt on 03-27-2001 at 08:09]
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Well that seems to be reasonable, but is there really any reason to use the FF? The WCP official guide even recommends its use if you "don't know which missile you should use". That's completely nonsense. The best missile is and will always be the Spiculum IR (or the ALIR, of course).
I always use the IR, as it

a) is the most reliable missile
b) takes only a very short time to lock onto the target
c) does a lot of damage, especially when compared to the FF
d) is faster than the FF
e) hits always the target that I want to hit, not the one the missile wants

In WC4, I exclusively used the IR, with the following exceptions: I wanted to disable a target (LEECH), I wanted to kill Seether (Coneburst, great for 1:1 duels) or I flew the Dragon (I used the IR's here, too, however there were slots which required Heat Seekers).

I think it was great that you could choose your missiles as a Colonel, but the designers forgot to limit the missile storage. It would have been much more realistic and challenging if there had been limited amounts of the missiles (just like in US Navy Fighters). Lets say there were 40 IR's, 60 FF, 150 Hs on board. In the first missions on the Intrepid, you could have sticked to the HS, while you could use the IR's afterwards.
When escorting a supply convoy to the Intrepid, it would be realistic that this could replenish the missile supplies, while losing such an escort mission would make the situation even worse.


This went a bit off topic, but it could be a hint to the designers to implement intelligent missile management in WC 6 (when it is released :))
 
Originally posted by Sonntag
I think it was great that you could choose your missiles as a Colonel, but the designers forgot to limit the missile storage. It would have been much more realistic and challenging if there had been limited amounts of the missiles (just like in US Navy Fighters). Lets say there were 40 IR's, 60 FF, 150 Hs on board. In the first missions on the Intrepid, you could have sticked to the HS, while you could use the IR's afterwards.
When escorting a supply convoy to the Intrepid, it would be realistic that this could replenish the missile supplies, while losing such an escort mission would make the situation even worse.

This went a bit off topic, but it could be a hint to the designers to implement intelligent missile management in WC 6 (when it is released :))
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I agree with you Sonntag. It would indeed have been more realistic, if by "realistic" you mean more complicated for non WC fans like us... :)

But hey, why not after all? They ramble and ranble about how much a fighter costs, why not about missiles?
 
In Strike Commander you had to buy your missiles if I remember it correctly, so why not care about the numbers available to the Border Worlds in WC4? After all they always complain how short they are of supplies.

And Sonntag: Of course the IR is the best missile in WC, I think nobody denies that. I have some nostalgic feeling towards the HS though and the DF comes in handy sometimes.
But the Coneburst ? <shudder> ... But okay, if you can handle it, it might be even useful. <g>

[Edited by Mekt-Hakkikt on 03-28-2001 at 13:46]
 
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