Yeah, well...
There are differences in homing and approach techniques in missiles, of course.
The more advanced missiles (Harpoon and Torpedo) use lead homing technicue quite well... that is, they fly towards the point where the enemy craft will be when the missile has traveled to that point. If the target changes its velocity vector, the missile's homing system counts a new lead point and heads there instead. These missiles are much more difficult than Rock-Eyes and Hornets to evade without use of countermeasures, because it's more difficult to get inside the missile's turn radius.
Getting inside a missile's turn radius is an effective way to evade any missile, but with the leading missiles it demands a very fast and maneuverable ship with even faster afterburner speed. It's quite difficult to try and avoid a Harpoon without CM's if you are in an Ursa, but on the other hand, a Perseus does it quite well (or even a Herc 2).
The Rock-Eye and Hornet, on the other hand, use direct homing system. That is, they are always steered towards the target's current position. While this works quite well for targets that have slow angular velocity from the missile's point of view, this technique naturally makes it easy to avoid these missiles with fast velocity vector changes - that is, position your craft so that the missile approaches from side, top or bottom, then hit the burners so that you get inside the missile's turn radius and the missile swoops past your back and loses the target lock.
I myself don't think the missiles are too weak, or that the AI would be too smart. I actually think that the reason why the ships are equipped with so many space-to-space missiles (developed for taking down fighters) is that it's not easy to destroy enemy ships with missiles always. The counter-measures are effective as long as the enemy has them, and if the pilot is good and has a fast maneuverable craft, they
should be able to avoid missiles.
Oh, and the best missiles against fighters (in this order) are the Harpoon, the Tempest and the Tornado.
-Harpoon has good homing devices, it's fast and when it hits it shreds.
-Tempest is dumbfire of course, but you get s***loads of these in, say, Myrmidon or a Herc 2. They can be effectively used against fighters in close perimeter combat, in conjunction with primary weapons. Against bombers they are better, and they can also be used to take out freighters, cruisers or larger cap ships' sub systems or weapons.
-Tornado... upgraded Hornet. Not really good against fastest fighters IMO, but of course when you get it to hit, it kills or at least badly damages a fighter, and nicely lowers a bomber's shields. If your wingmen manage to stay alive, they can kill cruisers easily with either Hornets or Tornados, not to mention freighters.
By the way, have you noticed that if you fire a Cyclops or a Helios towards an enemy fighter or bomber, it doesn't lose the lock when it inevitably passes the target? It turns back, slowly but surely, and starts chasing the target... I've managed to kill a few Basilisks with Cyclops, actually. Or perhaps they were Helioses... Can't remember.
