I would rather use a gun in the hardpoint rather than a missle. Have not had a lot of success with the missles. It is best to wait a few seconds before you launch your countermeasures. Also..if you can... turn the second after you launch them. If I follow that tactic...I vwery seldom will get hit from them. Another thought..mines work good when your in a heavy fight with a lot of ships. In that case...someone is bound to be on your tail!

Most of the time there is no need to use countermeasures, you can just thruster away from missiles. I only use them to avoid cruise disruptor missiles.

-Stregone

No matter what I do I always get hit my Cruise disrupters. I can avoid other missles 90% of the time, but always get hit with Cruise Disrupters.
I agree with Mines being more useful then missles.

____________________________
If cats always land on thier feet. What would happen if you strap 2 cats back to back and drop them?
Probably destroy space and time.

Greb,

Yep, have you noticed how fast they travel though? Cruise Disrupters travel faster then any other missle it seems. I have some loaded up and they have come in handy. They zip right towards their target and you HAVE to be fast with the flare if you want to avoid them. They don't cause any damage, so it makes sense to make them so fast. I am glad Digital Anvil did that, more of a challenge for me!

SumerNivek
Killer of Khaja the Fang
Privateer Extrodanaire

I think the cruise disrupters are WAY too fast... and cheap. Here I am limping through the Omicron-Alpha system and the stupid game thinks I want to fight hordes and hordes of enemies... stupid and cheap.

Furthermore, when I stumble into a fight between corsairs and BMM or something, for example, I won't even engage the enemy and they'll all waste missiles firing cruise disrupters at me.

I think they're pretty stupid... I mean, players almost never need to use them, and every enemy with a ship carries 50 of these. They're nothing but a cheap trick to kill players more often.

You can drop countermeasures while in cruise, so when you notice some hostiles, drop a couple incase they try to stop you.

-Stregone

I've had some success with the Javilin. They do track some, but I've had most success firing them when the enemy is in front of you and closing. I knock out the shields first, fire the missile while my afterburners are on, and slide (usually left... ought to change that I suppose) around him. It's generally pretty effective as long as the shields are gone. I haven't tried any other missiles though, they seem pricy.

~Cynicism Inc.

I use my boosters when I fire to give my missles an extra spurt of speed. Haven't really tested it though, so I am not sure if boosting before firing helps.

I have found missles to be very effective in taking out those large transport ships. Find a ship with valuable cargo, launch a few missles up its tail and then follow up with guns. You can kill it on your first pass while using boosters and pick up the droppped cargo as you fly by. Then just go to cruise and your gone before the convoy knows what hit 'em.

Back to your original questions:

1) Do Javelin-type missile home in on targets at all? If not, why do they have a listed turn rate?

- They home, but they have a sucky turn-radius and can be easily side-stepped by the AI. The better the speed and turn-radius, the greater a missile's chance to hit.

2) Can a missile "hit" a flare and destroy it? Or does the flare always burn for a fixed amount of time?

- A missile will hit the countermeasure and both get destroyed. If no missile hits the countermeasure, it will fizzle out.

3) When I hear "incoming missile", I immediately drop a flare. But, assuming that I get lucky with the 70, 80, or 90% chance of decoying the missile, are there still circumstances where it could hit me? for instance:

- Don't drop your countermeasures as soon as you hear the warning. Wait until the missile is close (listen to the warning pings), drop your CM and then turn hard away.

a) Missile does not pass within range of countermeasure: For instance, I drop a flare behind me, but the missile comes in from the front or side.

- The closer the CM is to you, the better your chance of missile avoidance. No matter what direction the missile comes from, try to drop your CM at the last possible instance.

b) Flare leads missile to me: for instance, I drop the flare straight behind me, but the missile is coming from straight ahead...

- Same as above. Wait for the missile to come close, drop your CM and then bank hard. The missile should re-acquire your CM as its new target - it depends on the sophistication of your CM. PS - I can usually just shoot a missile thats heading towards me. As soon as I hear the launch warning from oncoming AI, I just lay down a wide spread of fire infront of me - works pretty good

I haven't hardly used missile at all, so I guess I'm more concerned with avoiding them

The only time to use missiles is when an enemy ship is coming straight at you.. Wait until they're <300M away from you and launch one. If you time it right, you can even hit em with a second one before they pass by you.

-Nogana Naishi
[email protected]

I have pretty much decided to avoid using missiles at all. The non-homers only have much chance to hit nmes with little relative motion: head-on attacks, stern chases, and big slow targets. The homers can hit maneuvering fighters in dogfights about like rear-aspect IR missiles in real life, but don't do much damage as missiles go. Plus they're expensive. When you 1st start out, the Stalker might be a good investment when your guns are just a pair of Justice Mk Is. One missile hit can really help bring down shields quicker than your guns can. But by the time you can afford to use them frequently, you've got guns like Drails that do more damage in the same amount of time it takes the missile to hit, plus are more likely to hit anyway. Then the cycle repeats with Windstalkers and so on. IOW, missiles seem useful only for brief periods in your career.

Another problem with missiles is that they are pretty useless for fights in debris and asteroid fields, which is where I seem to have most of my fights. The missiles often hit some object instead of the target.

As for cruise disruptors, I agree they are intended to kill players or at least force them to fight when they don't want to. The damn things have the longest range of any weapon I've seen so far: 2500m. And they travel as fast or faster than laser shots. They do no real damage and serve only to keep you from leaving the area.

-Bullethead

In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is strength, in water there is bacteria

Hey, Bullethead! Nice to see a familiar face around here. Hope you're enjoying the game. Hope to receive my own copy tomorrow.

OMG THERE ARE WARNING PINGS!?!?!11 Seriously, I hadn't remembered hearing any of those, I'll have to listen for them next time

Thanks for the insight Dirge.

ER

I find that missiles are most effective against lighter/quicker targets. Against slower/heavier targets, it's pretty easy to get on their tail and smack them around with your guns. Against more agile targets, I often find it's more expedient to launch a slew o' missiles than chase them around forever.

Out,
Volstag