Editing Missiles


[[File:Vela Pulsar jet.jpg|thumb|The Vela Pulsar, very much resembling an exploding missile. Image by NASA/ESA]]
A '''Missile''' is a small self-propelled projectile that contains an explosive warhead and/or a sensor. Missile warheads explode on impact, creating a triangular damage pattern in [[armor]]. Missiles can also be used in a variety of other creative ways, to act as "Mines", "Drones", "Buoys", or the like. 

Missiles must be designed in the '''Ctrl-F10''' Missile Design Window, researched, built by [[Ordnance Factory|ordnance factories]] on a planet, loaded onto [[ship]]s' [[Magazine|missile magazines]] and launched by [[Missile Launcher|missile launchers]]. They use [[Missile Fire Control]]s of the firing ship for target acquisition. Having their own sensors allows them to acquire targets on their own.

Missiles require missile launchers of an appropriate size to launch them, however missile launchers can launch smaller missiles than they were designed to accommodate, i.e. a size 5 missile launcher can launch size 1-5 missiles. Each launcher can store one mounted missile. All reloads have to be carried in missile magazines. Missiles cannot be transported in [[Cargo Hold]]s. Having dedicated ammo transports ([[colliers]]) can be quite useful, both in battle and to supply outposts with missiles and mines.

'''Warning: there is a glitch in the game that can prevent incoming missiles from being detected and fired upon by your automated defenses if you choose a long increment time in battle. It's safer to stick to increments of under a minute.'''

See the [[Anti-Missile Tutorial]] for an introduction to defending against missiles.

==Missile Design Basics==
A simple missile will have [[fuel]], an [[engine]], and a warhead. This can be fired at a target, and if it hits the target, it will explode and deal damage. Missiles may also have sensors, which allow them to find their own targets, rather than needing fire control data from the launching ship. 

As a general rule, combat missiles are ''fast''. Speed is usually their best defense against [[point defense]], and missile engines can have extraordinarily high power ratios to allow them to reach very high speeds. Warhead sizes should usually be a square number (1, 4, 9, etc.), as this maximizes penetration of [[armour]], given the [[:File:DamageTemplate.png|damage profile]] of missiles. Fuel should be sufficient for desired combat ranges, but no more, as the added weight of fuel can slow the missile down significantly.

However, other kinds of missiles exist. You can load them with geological sensors for [[survey]] work on distant [[body|bodies]] that aren't worth visiting with your main survey ships. Instead of an exploding warhead, you can use another whole missile as a "warhead", to create multi-stage missiles. Depending on [[version]], there are also other options for missile enhancements (standoff laser warheads, retargeting capability, [[ECCM]], decoys, etc.). See the version-specific pages for details. 

==Fractional Missile Warheads==

For v2.2, missile warhead strengths will be rounded to three decimal places instead of being rounded down to integers.

The new fractional warhead strength will be applied to hits against shields, populations, shipyards, ground forces and missiles. Fractional damage will have no effect on armour. For example, a strength 3.5 warhead would inflict 3.5 damage to shields, but only 3 damage to armour.

A fractional warhead with a strength of 1 or greater will destroy any missile target. Where the warhead strength is less than 1, the percentage chance of destroying the target missile is: Warhead Strength * 20 / Missile Size in MSP. For example, a warhead strength 0f 0.2 would automatically destroy any missile of size 4 or less. Against a size 6 missile, it would have a 67% chance to destroy it and against a size 10 missile the chance would be 40%.

For ease of mechanics, fractional damage will not have any effect on internal ship systems. There are theoretically situations where fractional damage could be applied internally, such as fractional warheads hitting space stations or empty armour columns and subsequently striking zero HTK systems, but this would be rare and unlikely to be significant in gameplay terms. It would also require an overhaul of the damage template mechanics, so it is much easier to ignore it.

==New Missile Guidance Options==

Two new options are available for missile design.

Active Terminal Guidance (ATG)
ATG is a new on-board sensor package requiring 0.25 MSP. This provides ultra-short-range tracking of the target during the last moments before detonation in order to improve the chance of successful interception. A new technology progression, called ‘Active Terminal Guidance’, adds an increasing percentage bonus to the final missile to hit chance, starting at 20% for 1000 RP and ending at 90% for 128,000 RP. The bonus is applied as a multiplier, not an addition. The cost of ATG is equal to bonus / 100 and requires Uridium. I may adjust the component size and tracking bonus progression based on play test.

Missile Retargeting Capability
‘Missile Retargeting’ is a new on-board sensor package, requiring 0.5 MSP. This provides ultra-short-range target assessment capability, using relative movement and damage projection to determine whether the missile will conduct a successful interception. If the on-board AI determines a low probability, the missile will not detonate and will continue past the target before attempting to re-engage. In effect, this guarantees this missile will never ‘miss’ and will keep attacking in subsequent increments until destroyed or it runs out of fuel. This applies to both standard and stand-off missiles. The cost of Retargeting is 0.5 BP and requires Uridium. The technology required for this capability costs 5000 RP.

==Laser Warheads==

For v2.20, missiles can be equipped with laser warheads and assigned a ‘detonation range’. The missile will move to the designated range and explode, triggering a laser attack against the target ship.

Laser Warhead is a new checkbox option in missile design. When this is checked, the Laser Warhead Strength will be calculated by applying the ‘Laser Warhead Damage Efficiency’ to the normal warhead strength. For example, if the standard warhead is 12 and the Laser Warhead Damage Efficiency is 25%, the Laser Warhead Strength will be 3. This represents the efficiency with which the explosive energy is converted into the laser attack. The tech line starts at 20% for 1000 RP and ends at 90% for 128,000 RP.

The rate at which damage falls off from the initial detonation follows a similar mechanic to ship-mounted lasers, although they use wavelength while the associated technology for missiles is ‘Laser Warhead Focus’. This starts at a range modifier of 10K for 1000 RP, and ends at 80K for 128,000 RP. The calculation for damage is as follows:

Effective Range = Distance / Laser Warhead Focus
If Effective Range < 1 then Effective Range = 1;
Target Damage = Laser Warhead Damage / Effective Range

Finally, the missile is restricted in the range at which the detonation takes place due to tracking limitations. This is equal to double the racial ‘Beam Fire Control Range’ technology. The chance to hit is based on the normal missile interception chance - this is on the basis that the missile will be aiming at the target to fire, rather than to intercept, but the principle remains the same.

Explosion contacts will be generated at the missile location for every warhead that detonates and energy impact contacts will be registered at the target location for each successful attack.

The cost of adding a laser warhead is equal to the Laser Warhead Damage Efficiency / 100 and uses Corundium. The size of the component is 0.25 MSP.

==Missile Decoys==

Missiles can no longer mount an ECM component, although they can still mount an ECCM component.

Instead, missiles can be equipped with decoys to attract AMMs and point defence fire. Each decoy requires 0.5 MSP. Missile ECM, a new tech line, represents the electronic warfare capability value of the decoys and ranges from 1 at 2500 RP to 10 at 1.2m RP.

Decoys are assumed to deploy and travel with the missile when it approaches its target, or comes under attack, although they are not displayed on the map. When a missile is attacked by an energy weapon or an AMM, a roll is made to determine the target of the attack. For the purposes of this roll, the missile has a ‘weight’ of 5 and each decoy has a base weight of 5. For example, a laser attacking a missile with three decoys has a 5/20 chance of attacking the missile and a 15/20 chance of hitting a random decoy.

If the ECCM of the attacking AMM or energy weapon is greater than the ECM Strength of the Missile, each decoy is given a weight of 5 - (ECCM - Missile ECM). For example, assume the ECCM advantage is 2 and there are three decoys. The missile is given a weight of 5 and the decoys are each assigned a weight of 3 each. The missile has a 5/14 chance to be hit and there is a 9/14 chance of hitting a random decoy. If the ECCM advantage is 5, any decoys are completely ignored.

When all fire for an increment is completed, any decoys that have suffered one or more hits, even from fractional warheads, will be removed. Note it would be possible for several shots targeted on a missile in the same increment to hit the same decoy, leaving other decoys unharmed.

==Multiple Warhead Missiles==

Missiles can choose to divide their Warhead Strength into multiple attacks, with each attack having a damage value equal to Warhead Strength / Number of Warheads. Fractional values are allowed. For example, a warhead with a strength of 1.2 and 3 warheads would have three attacks at 0.4 damage.

The chance to hit for the missile is calculated normally and then applied to a separate attack from each warhead.

The multiple attacks will all be applied against the same target, which could be a ship, population or individual missile.

Only standard warheads can use the multiple-warheads option. Missiles with the laser-warhead option use a single warhead

The additional space required is equal to 0.1 MSP * (number of warheads - 1). The cost is equal to the additional space and requires Tritanium.

The capability is likely to be most useful for AMMs, especially against missiles equipped with decoys.

==Minimum AMM Range==

Missile Fire Controls can be assigned a minimum engagement range for automated AMM launches. The fire control will not launch AMMs against hostile salvos within this range.

This is set by selecting the fire control, clicking the new Min AMM Range button and entering the desired range in kilometres. This will display as part of the descriptive text for the point defence option assigned to the fire control.

This cannot be assigned to beam fire controls.

This can be used either to allow AMMs to focus on more distant targets, allowing energy point defence and CIWS to handle any leakers, or perhaps to have different types of AMM engaging inbound missiles at different ranges.

[[Category:Components]]
[[Category:Designed Systems]]
[[Category:Gameplay Concepts]]