Editing VB-Missiles (section)

==Missile Design==
The Missile Design button is at the bottom of the Create Research Project window. Missile Engines are found in the normal Create Research Project dropdown, though.

In the Missile Design window, you will have to experiment with fractions of whole numbers, e.g. 2.667 warhead size may result in exactly 16 damage points, 0.01 points may be enough fuel for your purposes etc.

===Missile Size===
One Missile Size Point (MSP, not to be confused with Maintenance Supply Points, also called MSP) equals 1/20 HS (Hull Spaces), or 2.5 tons.

Missile size can be a fraction of whole numbers (e.g. a 1.25-size missile), but they can only be fired from a launcher with a size of the next whole number (e.g. a 1.25-size missile needs a size-2 launcher).

The smallest size permitted in Aurora is 1. There appears to be no maximum size, but the largest launcher size is 100 and you can't launch without a launcher.

Anti-missile missiles tend to be size 1 because they need to be fast and you need lots of them, while most anti-ship missiles tend to be between size 5 and 15.

Missile size is always a trade-off between missile capabilities on the one hand and salvo size as well as magazine depth on the other. A size-12 missile is a lot more capable than a size-6, but your ship can carry only half as many, the launchers are twice as large and most importantly, if your fleet can launch only 20 in one salvo while the enemy fleet's point defense can reliably shoot down 30 missiles, your shots are wasted.

Larger missiles can be spotted - and thus fires at by point defenses - at longer range than smaller ones, but there is a limit: missiles smaller than 6 MSP are treated as size 6 by sensors.

===Missile Engines===
Missile Engines have to be designed separately and researched before you can use them, and a single missile can have multiple engines (of the same type).
The four elements of missile engine design are described below. 

'''Engine Technology''': Exactly as ship-based engines. For example, the Magneto-plasma Drive has a rating of 16 power per hull space, so a Magneto-plasma missile engine of 1 MSP would provide 16/20 = 0.8 power. 

'''Fuel Consumption''': The base fuel consumption of a missile engine is five litres per Engine Power Hour (which is one point of engine power for one hour) and can be improved through research. So a max size missile engine (5 MSP) with 4 power and a racial fuel consumption technology of 0.6 litres per engine power hour would use 12 litres per hour. This is higher than shipboard engines as missile engines are designed for single use and therefore long-term fuel efficiency is a low priority in their design. They are also solid-fuelled for easy storage, which is less fuel efficient than liquid-fuelled ship-based engines.

'''Engine Size''': Missile engines can range in size from 0.1 MSP to 5 MSP. Smaller missile engines suffer a penalty to fuel consumption. For example, the following sizes of missile engine have the listed fuel consumption per Engine Power:

5 MSP    x1.00
3 MSP    x1.42
1 MSP    x3.00
0.5 MSP  x4.82
0.1 MSP  x14.47

'''Power / Efficiency Modifiers''': Missile engines use the same principle as ship engines and use the same tech lines (Max Engine Power Modifier and Min Engine Power Modifier). However, the upper end of the range is doubled for missile engines. So if the Max Engine Power tech is x1.75, missile engines can use up to x3.50. The rationale is that these are designed for single use, unmanned craft and therefore have significantly different engineering requirements, such as no radiation shielding or maintenance access requirements. As with ship-based engines, increasing power has a significant effect on fuel efficiency and decreasing power can provide huge savings in fuel efficiency. As the missile modifier is double that of ships, power can be increased by up to six times normal and decreased to 10% of normal if you have the prerequisite techs. Each engine power modifier percentage is accompanied by a fuel consumption modifier, based on the formula Fuel Efficiency Modifier = Engine Power Modifier ^ 2.5

For example, a 1 MSP missile engine with a x3.00 engine power modifier would have a x15.59 fuel consumption modifier for the engine power modifier and a x3.00 fuel consumption modifier (x3) for the size of the engine, which gives a total modifier of x46.77.

A 0.5 MSP missile engine with a x5.00 engine power modifier would have a x55.90 fuel consumption modifier for the power modifier and a x4.82 fuel consumption modifier for the engine size. 

Here are the three examples of 1 MSP magneto-plasma drive missile engines, using x1 power, x3 power and x6 power, with a racial base fuel consumption of 0.6 Litres per Engine Power Hour

;0.8 EP Magneto-plasma Drive
 Engine Power: 0.8      Fuel Use Per Hour: 7.2 Litres
 Fuel Consumption per Engine Power Hour: 9.006 Litres
 Engine Size: 1 MSP      Cost: 0.2
 Development Cost for Project: 40RP

;2.4 EP Magneto-plasma Drive
 Engine Power: 2.4      Fuel Use Per Hour: 336.92 Litres
 Fuel Consumption per Engine Power Hour: 140.385 Litres
 Engine Size: 1 MSP      Cost: 0.6
 Development Cost for Project: 120RP

;4.8 EP Magneto-plasma Drive
 Engine Power: 4.8      Fuel Use Per Hour: 3811.86 Litres
 Fuel Consumption per Engine Power Hour: 794.137 Litres
 Engine Size: 1 MSP      Cost: 1.2
 Development Cost for Project: 240RP

===Missile Agility===
How maneuverable the missile is. Agility and speed determine hit chances. Agility Points per MSP can be increased through research.

Play around with the Agility value and see how it affects hit chances. Begin with 0.2, then 0.4, 0.6, etc., until you see the numbers drop again. You'll find a maximum somewhere, after which additional agility makes the missile just heavier and lowers hit chances again. When you've found it, play with the second decimal, e.g. 0.42, 0.44, 0.46 etc., for optimization.

===Range===
As mentioned before, ranges of missile and fire controls should be in the same ballpark. You can try to plan ahead, though: If you know your next generation of grav sensors and therefore improved fire controls will be around in a few months and increase range by 50% for the same size, then you can give the missiles you design today that extra range.

====Opening and closing shots====
An opening missile shot is one where the target is moving away from your missile, opening the range. A closing shot is one where the target is closing the range instead. 

Imagine a missile with a range of 50m km and a speed of 15,000km/s. You fire a salvo at a target 40m km away which is running away from you at a speed of 5,000km/s. Your missiles will take 2666 seconds to reach the point ''where the target was when you fired''. Unfortunately, by then it is already 13.3m km further away; your salvo will run out of fuel and self-destruct. A fast missile moving at twice the speed would have reached the target instead.

===Armor and ECM===
These make it more difficult to destroy your missile. Only full armor points count (?). For ECM, see above.