[TrashMan]

I thought I post this here.
I noticed a strange behaviour from a anti-cap missile I made. Basicely, alltough it has all the flags that restrict it to be used on Big ships and against big ships, the missiles still tracks fighters.

Normally I would consider it funny when I see a salvo of huge missiles chasing down fighters and one-shot blasting a whole squadron out of the air, but if you have a ships who's main weaponry are missiles, it becomes next to useless against other capital ships if there are enemy fighters in the vicinity.

This is the weapon in question:

$Name:                           Fury MK V
$Model File:                     MissileL.pof
$Mass:                           20.0
$Velocity:                       175.0
$Fire Wait:                      20.0
$Damage:                         2500                                                                                                   
$Blast Force:                    1000.0
$Inner Radius:                   50.0                                       
$Outer Radius:                   150.0                                       
$Shockwave Speed:                80                                       
$Armor Factor:                   1.0
$Shield Factor:                  1.0
$Subsystem Factor:               0.8     
$Lifetime:                       52.0                                       
$Energy Consumed:                0.0
$Cargo Size:                     5.0
$Homing:                         YES
   +Type:                           HEAT         
   +Turn Time:                      2.0
   +View Cone:                      360.0                                 
$Swarm:                          2
$Free Flight Time:               1
$LaunchSnd:                      96
$ImpactSnd:                      88
$FlyBySnd:                       -1
$Rearm Rate:                     0.05
$Flags:                          ( "Bomb" "Huge" "Big Ship" "fire down normals" "supercap" )
$Trail:                                                                         
   +Start Width:                    1.0                                       
   +End Width:                      1.75                                     
   +Start Alpha:                    1.0
   +End Alpha:                      0.0
   +Max Life:                       5.0                                       
   +Bitmap:                         MissileTrail02                             
$Icon:                           iconbelial
$Anim:                           belial
$Impact Explosion:               exp06
$Impact Explosion Radius:        100.0

[pecenipicek]

i think the problem is in the HEAT tracking. aspect tracking would be more usefull i think.

basically, if it has heat, the ship might be targeting another ship, but when launched, the missile converges on the closest ship to it. thats the way heat tracking works.

[Wanderer]

Or that the small crafts might be firing bombs?

[TrashMan]

But I can't use aspect for these missiles.

This type of missile isn't launched towards a ship, but rather like a submarine, in the direction of the launcher, and it then turns around and tracks it's target. As far as I know, that doesn't work with ASPECT.

I was hoping this was not a code thing. If it is, it messes up everything. Even a HEAT missile should only track targets it's designed for and not run after anything with a heat signature. After all, capital ships and fighters are VERY different targets.

[pecenipicek]

mm... there is one flag that might help, basically that child inherits target of parent object thing. you could try that one.

[TrashMan]

Hm...it has no children. I dunno if Bomber+ would help.

Better wait for a Code-Wizzards input.

[FUBAR-BDHR]

Could you try it a child bomb and have it as a sub munition of a launch tube?  Like some  ballistic missiles launched from subs.  They have a protective outer part that falls off when they hit the surface and the primary rocket ignites. 

[TrashMan]

I don't think that would help. The missiles don't switch target to fighters - they  target fighters initially.

Unless you mean a aspect missile that has HEAT submunitions, so they would inherit it's target?
But that still wouldn't work, since the initial aspect missile wouldn't fire at a target on the other side of the ship.

[Trivial Psychic]

As long as you're willing to limit targets to those within the firing turret submodel's FOV, you could use $Free Flight Time.  This would ensure that the weapon doesn't turn towards it's target until the specified time has been reached.  I'm not sure if this will work with turrets, but if it does, it could allow you to use aspect seeking as the weapon's method of target tracking, possibly eliminating the effect you're experiencing.

[Wanderer]

Err.. didn't notice this earlier... "fire down normals" is not a weapons flag but a turret flag. And aspect seeking missiles work just fine in that role.

In fact in brief tests swarming type aspect seeker (no fooling with spawning type weapons that is) without 'fire down normals' flag worked pretty much how i expected you wanted your missile to work. Perhaps free flight time could be tad longer (and perhaps lifetime adjusted as well) and turn time a bit smaller.

[TrashMan]

But it has to have the "fire down normals"..the turret I mean.

I have 2 types of missile turrets on the ship:
- multi-part missile launchers that fire long-range standard aspect seekers and have to face the target to fire
- single-part missile tubes on both sides of the ship. They fire at anything within range, regardless if the turret is facing it or not; the missile turns around after a while.

I recall trying it with aspect but it didn't work. Granted, it was a while ago, a lot of things could have changed by now.

You're basicely saying I should have spect sekers with a bit longer free flight time and 360° missile tracking cone? Would they fire at a target on the other side of hte ship?

[Wanderer]

Missile's FOV =/= Turret's FOV.

Your single part launchers could use swarm type aspect seekers just fine. As for multi-parts... well... 'fire down normals' may not always work like you expect it to work but it might help with those (havent tried).

[TrashMan]

I know turret FOW and missile FOW are not the same.

I'm not sure what swarm has to do with it. The launcher fires a single missile. Multi-part missile luanchers use adifferent missile, they are not the issue.

[Wanderer]

Just try setting the single missile thing to '$Swarm: 1' will you?

[TrashMan]

You mean $Swarm:1 and ASPECT as tracking type, or just Swarm?

[Wanderer]

aspect + swarm

[phreak]

well there was a bug that allowed "huge" heat homing missiles to home in on non huge ships, this has been fixed now in the latest builds.

[TrashMan]

It allready had swarm set to 2.


I played the mission once but the test is inconclusive. I'll test some more.

[TrashMan]

Hm....ASPECT + swarm:2 .. so far the missiles didn't fire at fighters....BUT, missile tubes that weren't facing enemy ships didn't fire either. So no worky.

I'll test more.

[TrashMan]

K, test results are in.

The test ships was the vasudan Wepwawet missile corvette. It has single-part missisle launchers on the front and both sides.
Missile turrets are set with the "fire down normals" flag (and have a 360° FoW)
Enemy capital ship is a shivan Cain class cruiser in front and a wing of Mara fighters to the side

1st missile test settings:
ASPECT, swarm2, big ship, huge.
Missile doesn't target fighters at all.
Only forward facing missile turrets (the one facing the enemy test cruiser) fire.


2nd missile test settings:
HEAT, swarm2, big ship, huge.
Missiles fire only at capital ships, but tend to veer off after launch to attack fighters if some are present
Again, only forward facing missile tubes fire.


3rd missile test settings:
HEAT, swarm2, big ship, huge....fire down normals removed
Missiles fire only at capital ships, but tend to veer off after launch to attack fighters if some are present
this time, a few side missiles launched, but not all.


4th missile test settings:
ASPECT, swarm2, big ship, huge.
Missile doesn't target fighters at all.
Forward facing missile turrets fire, since facing fired once (and one).


Doesn't look right...no matter what I do, it doesn't look right.
the ship is supposed to fire off ALL missile turrets, no matter how it's facing the enemy.
suggestions?