RE: [DS] Gently -- Capacity, Points

Ryan Gill wrote:

>>>>For DS3, I'd prefer to let GMSs and IAVRs choose if they want to hit
>>>>the top of the vehicle or the side nearest to the firer... at least
in some
>>>>settings <g>
>>>
>>>Maybe the type of attack should also modify the ability of ADS/PDs to

>>>defend, since a higher-flying Top Attack GMS/IAVR should present a 
>>>slightly juicier target to those systems....
>>
>>That's what I'm thinking as well, yes. Haven't translated it into
actual 
>>game mechanics yet though :-/
>
>Except at least one of the top attacks does so by flying directly over
the 
>target when coming from the front/side/rear of the target. RBS Bill
does 
>this iirc.

BILL? Yes, that's one of our products. Most other current top-attack
ATGMs 
use this kind of flight path as well, though the newer types like
Javelin 
and some older air-launched types like Hellfire use dive attacks
instead.

The reason the top-attack ATGMs are easier for ADS to stop than
side-attack 
missiles are, is that they by definition have to fly above their target
and 
therefore can't use the target as a mask against the ADS. Dive-attack 
missiles should probably be even more vulnerable to this than OTA-style 
ones like BILL, but the main difference is between side-attack missiles
on 
one hand and all types of top-attack missiles on the other - the
top-attack 
ones have to give the ADS a free line of sight when it pops up for the 
attack, while the side-hitting ones don't.

You do have one point, though appearently not the one you intended: 
OTA-style missiles like BILL can't easily switch between side- and 
top-attack modes due to the way their warhead is mounted. Dive-attack 
missiles like Javelin and Hellfire *can* switch between side- and 
top-attack modes, since their warhead is facing straight forward.

Regards,

Oerjan
oerjan.ohlson@telia.com

"Life is like a sewer.
  What you get out of it, depends on what you put into it."