Post by shurugal on Nov 28, 2016 21:48:34 GMT
So, I have encountered an interesting problem with my 10 km/s coil-gun missile-launcher hybrid.
To start, the weapon performs astonishingly well against single targets: I have tuned it to better than 80% per-shot pk against most stock ships (ships sporting decoy flares are another story).
That said, the weapon system encounters interesting difficulties when employed against groups of targets. If all targets remain in formation, the weapon performs as expected. However, if a cold-running ship breaks formation and closes, something different happens: The coilgun will target that ship, but the missile will select a hotter target behind it, frequently resulting in a miss of both. I have also observed that, even though I have the fuze activation range set to only a few tens of meters, the flak bombs will often go off as soon as the missile passes the first ship, even when missing by hundreds of meters.
I understand the choice to use only infra-red as a guidance for missiles: This sim is not at a state where it is appropriate to attempt to delve into the complexities of other targeting systems. There are, however, a couple of solutions I can think of:
The first, and simplest, would be to allow players to designate which ship a gun will fire at. Breaking it down on a per-weapon basis would be ideal, but even the ability to say "RFP BFG shoot at CSS Mookship 3" would suffice. Further refinement of this idea would be to allow the player to manage the target-priority list manually, so as not to have to go back and switch targets each time one is destroyed. Needless to say, the ability to select automatic targeting preference would still be good, as it works more often than not.
The second, slightly more complicated option, would be to give us semi-active laser homing as an option for missiles. In the real world, this is an extremely simple, reliable, and cost-effective method of guiding a missile to a target. (On that note, If i make an IR laser that pumps a whole bunch of poorly-focused power into a ship, will missiles go after that in game as they are?) This would also dovetail excellently with option 1 (being able to manually select targets for the laser designator)
The third, and probably most complex option would be to simulate an imaging infrared system for missile guidance. Such systems today have a high rate of countermeasure rejection, and are also good at retaining lock on the target that was first selected.
To start, the weapon performs astonishingly well against single targets: I have tuned it to better than 80% per-shot pk against most stock ships (ships sporting decoy flares are another story).
That said, the weapon system encounters interesting difficulties when employed against groups of targets. If all targets remain in formation, the weapon performs as expected. However, if a cold-running ship breaks formation and closes, something different happens: The coilgun will target that ship, but the missile will select a hotter target behind it, frequently resulting in a miss of both. I have also observed that, even though I have the fuze activation range set to only a few tens of meters, the flak bombs will often go off as soon as the missile passes the first ship, even when missing by hundreds of meters.
I understand the choice to use only infra-red as a guidance for missiles: This sim is not at a state where it is appropriate to attempt to delve into the complexities of other targeting systems. There are, however, a couple of solutions I can think of:
The first, and simplest, would be to allow players to designate which ship a gun will fire at. Breaking it down on a per-weapon basis would be ideal, but even the ability to say "RFP BFG shoot at CSS Mookship 3" would suffice. Further refinement of this idea would be to allow the player to manage the target-priority list manually, so as not to have to go back and switch targets each time one is destroyed. Needless to say, the ability to select automatic targeting preference would still be good, as it works more often than not.
The second, slightly more complicated option, would be to give us semi-active laser homing as an option for missiles. In the real world, this is an extremely simple, reliable, and cost-effective method of guiding a missile to a target. (On that note, If i make an IR laser that pumps a whole bunch of poorly-focused power into a ship, will missiles go after that in game as they are?) This would also dovetail excellently with option 1 (being able to manually select targets for the laser designator)
The third, and probably most complex option would be to simulate an imaging infrared system for missile guidance. Such systems today have a high rate of countermeasure rejection, and are also good at retaining lock on the target that was first selected.