Missiles - Why bother?

Mon Mar 24, 2003 6:48 pm by Ether Dragon

I spent some time this weekend playing with missiles. I loaded a Crusader down with homing missile launchers. The first thing I noticed was that the ammo capacity is centralized rather than individual. That means that, instead of being able to carry fifty missiles for EACH launcher, I could only carry a total of fifty missles for ALL launchers.

Despite this set back, I set out to test the ship to determine it's worth. My first test was against three Legionaire light fighters. I launched a full volley of six missiles against an oncoming fighter. The resultant damage only scratched his shield. I fired a second volley as he flew away from me, I scratched his shield some more. I fired a couple of missiles at him singly, and saw that I did about the same amount of damage. I realized that the explosion of the first missile to hit the target was apparently destroying the rest of the volley before it could do any damage to the enemy ship. From all of this, I gathered that having more than one, maybe two missiles launchers, was a waste of hardpoints.

I continued with the testing. I reloaded and found a pair of Corsairs to fight. Firing individual missiles, I slowly weakened the opponent. Once he got below a certain health level, however, he simply kicked in his cruise engine and disengaged. As I was fighting the second Corsair, two more joined the fray. The second Corsair likewise disengaged once he got below a certain level of health. So did the third. I had only done some minor damage to the fourth's shield, when I ran out of missiles. It was my turn to disengage, as I had no guns.

That was the end of the test. I'd spent thousands of credits on expensive missiles, and had absolutely nothing to show for it. Every enemy had retreated, stealing any chance of even picking up some scrap equipment or commodities to offset the expense of battle. The battles had taken much longer, as I had to hold my fire until the enemy was in particular positions that improved the odds for a missile to hit.

Missiles are completely useless. A gun or two will do as much damage in half the time. The fact that you have to target the enemy with either weapon system means that if I can hit with a missile, I can certainly hit with guns. Since guns don't require ammunition, I never run out of ammo, I never have to replace spent ammo, and I can fire as much as I like - denying the enemy the chance to escape.

Mon Mar 24, 2003 7:08 pm by Poopsnacks

I think that the missles are designed to be used in conjunction with your guns. One thing is for certain they are a very expensive ordinance. I see them being used in MP against other players more than NPCs. I've been beaten soundly by a player that I usually beat easily simply because I can't do that amount of damage that quicly with just guns. Hoik!

Mon Mar 24, 2003 7:10 pm by cavok7

While I agree that missles can get very expensive, there are strategies that can work for you - it all depends on how you choose to fight.

For awhile, I had a Baracuda and used one hardpoint to mount the sheild eating type missle. When flying into a "Kill Ship" type random mission I would target the first of say three or four ships and fire off a missle to weaken and/or eliminate its shields. As I got better at working the keyboard, I found I could cycle through 2-3 of the oncoming ships and hit each one of them before we made the first pass. With guns blazing and a slight spraying action, the result of the combined missle/guns attack usually eliminated one ship and almost knocked out a second one before they passed. Throw in a few released Tadpole mines just before the group passes and there isn't too much left to mop up as you come about on their rears. :-)

Mon Mar 24, 2003 10:58 pm by goose

I don't know if this will help but while playing yesterday I was fighting some rouges and was on the tail of one of them when I noticed I had a red missile icon to the left of th nav bar. I think this means I had a lock on them But didn't have any missiles to try it out. I'll do some tests when I get home and let you know how I went.

Mon Mar 24, 2003 11:32 pm by Revenge

No, that meant someone had fired a missile at you silly :p

Tue Mar 25, 2003 12:00 am by Jester

I find missiles are pretty much useless unless you have already knocked the enemy's shields down. Which...in that case, it only takes a few more good hits to blast them to smithereens!

Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:04 am by goose

the warning one is on the right of the nav bar and it flashes. I've got no idea what the one one the left is. It stayed on until I lost sight of the enemy ship for a couple of seconds. so I think it's a lock. As I said I'll test it when I get home.

Edited by - goose on 25-03-2003 01:58:07

Tue Mar 25, 2003 12:14 pm by HeymlicH

missiles are not useless. They are a little bit expensive, but very good. I use missiles to kill large amounts of ships to fix my rep. very fast killing.

If you feel you are low on missiles, use different launchers. you can carry 50 missiles of each type. More than 1 launcher of each type only makes sense if you want to kill your opponents quickly.

Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:39 pm by kimk

i started again, cuz i enjoyed the missions... well, @who said sth about taking out two fighters b4 they go to ur rear..., i got a baracuda at first, and i loaded with heavy stuff, no missiles, seeing how useless they were in SL, i got lane distrupted and 4 rogues came at me, casually, move the mouse up to where they were, i sent a volley at one of them, and they go down b4 they start firing. the other one goes down straight over me... then i turn around to mop up. i dun even kno how to use the mines and i'm doing better :L

@he who posted, this time, i tried out with one javelin launcher seeing that i already tractored one, and i loaded out with 50 of them, inexpensive, yet, turned out to be pretty effective. yes, u have to take their sheilds out first to make the missiles effective. what i did was, when the enemy, (i did this iwth the rheinlanders in the missions) i had some distance between me and the enemy, and the guy turned around, and did a head-on volley at me. what would u do? i start firing, his shield goes, mine nearly goes, i launch just one javelin, hes rite infront of me, and i keep blasting, by the time missile gets to him, hes only on his armour, about 6/7 full. then he blows. just a javelin !! they blow. they r GOOD. then, most of the AI are smart enough to avoid trailing missiles. so i tried it on the gunboats. even more effective. get behind one, start shooting, and fire javelins. some 4 of them after, they r down. they take out not too much, but faster than ur guns can
*i'm saying this with my defender and max class 4 guns.

presently, my world is upside down, so if u do not mind, u'll have to tok to my a$$

Tue Mar 25, 2003 3:14 pm by Iron Giant

One use for missles:

Dragon - 4 heavy energy drain cannons + 2 different missle launchers.

Use only the cannons for most battles, use the missles to soften up targets when you find yourself grossly outnumbered.

Me no gun

Tue Mar 25, 2003 3:54 pm by Zaratomb

I used twin missile launchers, catapult when I could finally get them, during the sp missions. With 4 heavy damage weapons. In dogfights I use them as a passing killer, just last sec firing, or just switch targets on an enemy at range already engaged and soften him up. But against immobile battleships or shield generators, and slow moving gunboats they are deadly, especially as your energy will completely deplete from having to sustained fire these guys. Slip into a battleship blind spot and missile/torpedo/mine/full weapons constant on, makes relatively short work of most structures.

After sp missions though, have not used missiles at all.

Against other players I woul dsee this as a cash depleter, the computer players will not drop decoys, but you can bet a mp player will, and with a 90% intercept rate, would rather have a gun.

Tue Mar 25, 2003 3:55 pm by Hunter(SG)

Well, my experience with missiles is this:

0) Load yourself with the Catapult Missiles if u have the option
1) Fly head-on when you are going on a "KILL-SHIPS" Mission.
2) Shoot with your guns (target one of them)
3) Just as they are about 200-300m away, launch one or two of your Catapults
4) The ship should blow up nicely right after you zoom past him

The Catapult works just like one.... ;-)

It will zoom below you, and then straight into the enemy.

It is no use however, if u fire it while chasing the enemy.

Tue Mar 25, 2003 4:44 pm by V1_Lev

I found missiles pretty useful in sp when you were outnumbered most of the time.

Im still using a pair of catapult missile launchers, and i find them effective when a target's shields are gone and im in the right position to fire.

Saves me a bit of time, rather than trying to knock off all that armor on the heavyer ships.

Tue Mar 25, 2003 5:22 pm by HeymlicH

One more thing: Don't fire missiles on a target from behind or on long range. Wait until the enemy is attacking head to head and fire all missiles at once on short distance. this will kill almost anything immediately.

Tue Mar 25, 2003 8:48 pm by cavok7

Instead of missiles, I use mines in much the same way when approaching head on. At the 200-330k range, I let a few go and usually the AI ships fly into them (much the same way they try to do to me.) The Tadpole and Driller mines do nice damage and have at least one advantage over missiles – you can launch them at an enemy trailing behind you ;-)

That could be a saver when you're waiting for a Jump Gate to let you dock while you're being pounded.

I used the Driller mines to take out gunboats and that alien battleship in one of the later SP story lines. I just cruised underneath it at a minimum safe distance and released them as I went. They tracked right to it and softened it up so my guns could easily finish off the job.

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