[Commander Zane]

It can have instantaneous lock, make +Min Lock Time a ridiculously low number (Decimal number).

A question about missile lock, can it be done where the missile has a high range but aquires lock at close distance?

[Wanderer]

High lifetime and/or velocity but limited weapon range should do the trick

[Commander Zane]

Isn't range determined by lifetime x speed?

[Wanderer]

Yes it is.. but AI uses the separately defined weapon range variable as the maximum firing range if (and only if) the set limit is smaller than lifetime x speed. Of course human player could fire such weapons beyond the weapon range, in this case using the flag which the makes the target lock required before the weapon can be fired can be a clever move.

[Commander Zane]

I want to try experimenting with the Harpoon so it acts like an AC4 QAAM, what would I change to make the lock-on distance shorter than the maximum range?

[Wanderer]

Without having any idea what AC4 QUAAM is...

Recipe for missile which could keep homing even if target evades it from stock Harpoon

• Increase lifetime to 15
• Set +Weapon Range: to 1250
• Add "no lifeleft penalty" flag to the weapon
• As it is aspect seeking missile these shouldn't be required but for good measure either "No Dumbfire" or "lockarm" flag could be added

(see FSwiki for getting these to their proper places - and without the "no lifeleft penalty" this could work on 3.6.10 but otherwise recent nightly build is required)

[Commander Zane]

Ace Combat 4's Quick-maneuvering Air-to-Air Missile.

Sweet I'll try this out.

Where does +Weapon Range go? There's no example on the Wiki that shows where it goes, unless the whole list is in order.
Nevermind I got it! AWESOME!!!

[ChronoReverse]

The QAAM missile is capable of reacquiring lock even when it misses a target.  That is, it's able of reacquiring a target that got behind it.

While in AC5/0/6 it's been nerfed, in AC4 the homing capability is game breaking (although you can only carry very few of them).

[Commander Zane]

Me and whoever it ever was that I'd be playing on AC4 Vs. mode with would get mad at each other for spamming QAAMs all over the sky.
It would be priceless when I'd own the other person flying the X-02 while I flew the F-4.

It's also the same as the Spiculum IR missile from Wing Commander, a missile that would not be fooled by chaff or hard maneuvers, it either kills you or it runs out of fuel because you managed to run long enough.

****ing hell I need to play Wing Commander again.

[Woolie Wool]

I never understood the name of the IR missile. You've got three missiles (dart, javelin, pilum) named after pointy throwing weapons, and a fourth named after a medical instrument used to pry intimate orifices open.

[SpardaSon21]

Uh, its the Spiculum, not the Speculum.

[ChronoReverse]

A spiculum is a late Roman spear that replaced the pilum at around 250AD as the infantryman's main throwing javelin.

Typos are bad eh?

[Commander Zane]

Indeed.

[Woolie Wool]

It does make me wonder what a "speculum" missile would do to its target though. Tear apart the exhaust nozzle? Like the medieval torture pear*, but for spacecraft.

* Explanation of the pear: spoilered due to being rather unpleasant:
 

Spoiler:

The pear was a device used by the Inquisition (Roman, I'm not sure about the Spanish) and other medieval powers. It was a three-lobed pear-shaped thing with a screw in the middle. What the torturer did was put it into the orifice with which you had sinned (mouth for blasphemy or sedition, vagina for women committing adultery, anus for sodomy), and turn the screw. The three lobes would fan out and pry you open extremely wide, doing horrible things to whatever part of the body it was put in.

[Nuke]

why probe what you can nuke?

[Woolie Wool]

Because the idea of a ship being torn apart by a rocket-propelled giant anal pear is funny?

[Bobboau]

and they didn't clean it between uses

[asyikarea51]

I tried tabling Ace Combat-style missile lock in FSO once, but I haven't found any good pixel settings for anything reasonably fast (since FSO goes by missile type with no bonus/penalty based on fighter class), anyone knows?

I've only played the PSP one so I don't know much... but the lock speed for normal missiles (not the fancy QAAM, XMAA, etc) looks to be kinda based on how "modern" the fighter is rather than the missile type ... but it's just the targeter dashing to the target, sometimes all the way offscreen-to-offscreen, and locking on immediately with little to no catch-up penalty...

FSO's targeter when I set some high number, it goes in fast, but if I miss the first lock, it will just go waay off and the re-lock takes forever... or something... I forgot what it did, but it definitely wasn't what I was after...

[Thaeris]

It does make me wonder what a "speculum" missile would do to its target though. Tear apart the exhaust nozzle? Like the medieval torture pear*, but for spacecraft.

* Explanation of the pear: spoilered due to being rather unpleasant:
 

Spoiler:

The pear was a device used by the Inquisition (Roman, I'm not sure about the Spanish) and other medieval powers. It was a three-lobed pear-shaped thing with a screw in the middle. What the torturer did was put it into the orifice with which you had sinned (mouth for blasphemy or sedition, vagina for women committing adultery, anus for sodomy), and turn the screw. The three lobes would fan out and pry you open extremely wide, doing horrible things to whatever part of the body it was put in.

Ahh, so that's what those things were called.

Here's the modern terminology:

Spoiler:

The Killdoh...

 

[Nuke]

id like to have laser guided weapons. yes they can be (and have been, sorta) scripted, but then the ai would get confused and not use them correctly. anyway the idea is that the missile goes where the crosshair is pointing, assuming its pointing at an object. the idea is you have to maintain sighting to get it to work. when the target is not sighted, it just flys in a straight line. take it a step further and it becomews an ssm weapon that doesnt really enter subspace, targeting laser and all. i dont so much want the laser to hit the target its pointed at but also the exact location along the hull that its pointing at.