Re: [GZG] Revised Salvo Missiles Update

*comes out of lurk status*

>From: Oerjan Ariander <oerjan.ariander@telia.com>

>In space there's (usually) no horizon to block your line of sight, so
if 
>your missiles carry enough on-board fuel you'll be able to guide them
to 
>the *general* area of the target. ('Course, that "if" might not be
entirely 
>trivial...) However, instead of the horizon you start to get
significant 
>time lags in the communication between the launching ship and the
missile, 
>so the missile still needs good enough target seekers - and enough
autonomy 
>- to find the target on its own.

>Trouble is, as soon as the missile has *any autonomy at all* wrt target

>selection it also runs a risk of attacking some other target than its 
>parent ship intended...

This is an excellent explanation of what we're trying to model within
the game as compared to real life anti-ship missiles.  Unfortunately, it
just flat out doesn't work for the FT model of missiles.  The real life
missiles you're describing are far longer ranged than the direct fire
weapons mounted by the same vessels, and cannot be guided by the firing
vessel -- if they're guided by anything other than autonomous computers,
it will be by external scouts such as recon planes or satellites.

In the case of FT, the missile ranges are dramatically shorter than the
beam weaponry that the firing vessels have readily available.  So quite
independently of whether it makes for a balanced game, the PSB doesn't
sell in this case as to why the firing vessels can't use the same beam
technology that goes into their weapons to simply laser guide their
missiles and other solid projectile weapons to their targets.

Eric
(aka StiltMan)
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