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[gruberscomplete]

I have a big missile boat that has a ton of harpoons + missile racks, but the AI does not fire any missiles.

I'd like for the AI to launch all missiles at one ship (focus-fire). How can I get the AI to do that?

Also, how can I get the AI to fire only enough missiles to actually destroy a ship and get through shields, but not waste too much ammo?

[AxleMC131]

I have a big missile boat that has a ton of harpoons + missile racks, but the AI does not fire any missiles.

I'd like for the AI to launch all missiles at one ship (focus-fire). How can I get the AI to do that?

Easy. Overload the enemy ship. If there's one thing the AI is good at, it's absolutely unloading Harpoons at an overloaded or even just high-flux target and obliterating the thing.

Also, how can I get the AI to fire only enough missiles to actually destroy a ship and get through shields, but not waste too much ammo?

In stark contrast to the above (and perhaps because of the above behaviour) this isn't really possible. The AI has some tags and procedures for conserving ammo, but it conserves ammo only to unload at opportune moments. I don't think there's a way to tell the AI not to unload at such moments.

Out of interest, what is this "big missile boat"? What's the hull, what have you armed it with overall? (A screenshot of the refit screen would be nice and concise here)

[FreedomFighter]

AI tend to unload every missiles they are carrying into ship that has extremely high flux or overload. Except for Pillum which they will fire it every cycle since it is a support missile. Sabot likely to be use when enemy ship has some flux and it will make them overload or near overload. This kinda of behavior is a bit problem if enemy fleet has some Frigate screen since those ship overload within a second of contact with end-game ship so your fleet might end up unload every Harpoon on it.

[gruberscomplete]

Out of interest, what is this "big missile boat"? What's the hull, what have you armed it with overall? (A screenshot of the refit screen would be nice and concise here)

It's a Gryphon with a hurricane MIRV in the large slot, a harpoon and sabot in the medium and small missile slots, and two railguns and a flak cannon, plus missile racks.

It avoids firing any missiles until it's railguns overload an enemy ship. I'd like to get it to avoid killing frigates and focus on destroyers by unloading everything it has, when within a certain range, although that's apparently impossible.

[AxleMC131]

It's a Gryphon with a hurricane MIRV in the large slot, a harpoon and sabot in the medium and small missile slots, and two railguns and a flak cannon, plus missile racks.

It avoids firing any missiles until it's railguns overload an enemy ship. I'd like to get it to avoid killing frigates and focus on destroyers by unloading everything it has, when within a certain range, although that's apparently impossible.

Ah, yeah the AI naturally will unload harpoons at anything that overloads (or is close to overloading). It's both a blessing and a curse. 

What you want to do to get the Gryphon to focus fire on a specific target, is put an "Eliminate" order on the target. To set this order for the Gryphon in particular, you can do this by left-clicking on the Gryphon in the tactical combat map and then right-clicking on the thing you want it to shoot at.

[mehgamer]

Equip ECCM Package on your ships you want to missile spam.

Seriously, do it.

Due to the way that missile range correlates to how far it can fly before running out of fuel, the increased acceleration, turn rate, and velocity that ECCM Package gives MASSIVELY extends the range of missileboats.  Your ships often don't fire missiles because they're not in range.  If you want proof, check out the fifth round battle of the .8.1 Grand AI Tournament where my fleet fights Kissa Mies's fleet.  In it, we both have very missile based fleets, but I have a key weakness - I didn't realize how useful ECCM Package was before this round, so all the gryphons on my side don't have it.  They fire their weapons far less than Kissa's as a result, and this can be seen time and time again as my ships fail to jump on a vulnerable ship (The gryphons dont, at least, since the archers I added for that round DO have ECCM Package and manage to pull their weight).

Here's the link, so I can cite my sources.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFdoMt0eGvA

[gruberscomplete]

hmm i'll have to try this.

Edit: Yeah, pretty much ECCM package works really well.