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[Metadi]

Alright, so i'm a huge missile fan. I love slapping some LRM racks or MIRVs on my flagship... i just think missiles are freaking awesome in space games. I can't help but feel they're a little underpowered though, especially LRMs. Even against cruisers and stuff, LRMs are normally easily dodged by simply moving in a straight line, or harmlessly eaten by the shields. I personally feel that missiles are due a tracking upgrade all across the board. Or at least if the purpose of LRMs is to go after capital ships, have them only seek capital ships. I also think it'd be cool to have a (large) missile that partially penetrated shields. Maybe called a plasma tipped missile or something. Anyway, what do you guys think about missiles?

Edit: I'd also like to point out that missiles have, by far, the lowest ammunition on average of any weapons in the game. This doesn't make a lot of sense to me considering there are other limited ammo weapons that are much more reliable at hitting and destroying your enemy.

[MidnightSun]

Here's a small discussion regarding the LRM: http://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=1054.0

If you look at the missile ammo of contemporary destroyers/carriers, etc, the missile ammo of the ships seem about right. It just wouldn't feel right being able to spam missiles all the time. They're intended as "finisher" weapons that deal some major damage when the PD or shields are down (high explosive missiles) or are designed to punch through shields and overload ships (Sabot).

[Icelom]

I tend to agree with your lrm point... I will take a mirv launcher every time over the lrm's Unless my ship has several launchers i feel there are to lack luster. sure there range is good but they are so damn slow. and 9/10 times when shooting them at the extream range they are so slow and so easy to take out with sheilds or pd they are useless at that range...

I do feel there is not enough missiles in the medium launcher size, something like a medium harpoon mrm rack or rockets or whatever would be great.

[liq3]

I treat Pilums as a "preassure" thing. It means you HAVE to keep moving, you HAVE to raise your shields or you eat 300+ damage a missile in hull/armour damage. When I actually fly frigates myself, I'm SCARED of pilums actually hitting me. I'll back off enemy ships just to avoid getting hit (or making sure I have the flux to absorb em).

That's how I use em offensively too. Either to assist allied ships engaging enemy ships, or when I'm fighting an enemy ship. I just chuck the pilums on autofire, and enjoy the fact that if they drop their shields there's a good chance they'll take tons of damage.

I think I rather like missiles. Most ships simply don't have the flux to use lots of non-missile weapons. Missiles provide a low-flux burst damage.

Also swarm SRMs... DIE FIGHTERS DIE.

[Temjin]

I wouldn't mind a little more differentiation between missiles in flight though. Like, it's hard to tell when you're being chased by Swarmers (which you can ignore for the most part), Salamanders (which necessitate some shield movement to keep you from flaming out), or Pilums/Harpoons (which hurt like hell and HAVE to be shielded or dodged, especially in a frigate)

[icepick37]

I tend to agree with your lrm point... I will take a mirv launcher every time over the lrm's Unless my ship has several launchers i feel there are to lack luster. sure there range is good but they are so damn slow. and 9/10 times when shooting them at the extream range they are so slow and so easy to take out with sheilds or pd they are useless at that range...

I do feel there is not enough missiles in the medium launcher size, something like a medium harpoon mrm rack or rockets or whatever would be great.

Check the patch notes.    I cannot wait for medium annihilators. I think that's my favorite missile type at the moment. It changes daily, haha.

EDIT:

I wouldn't mind a little more differentiation between missiles in flight though. Like, it's hard to tell when you're being chased by Swarmers (which you can ignore for the most part), Salamanders (which necessitate some shield movement to keep you from flaming out), or Pilums/Harpoons (which hurt like hell and HAVE to be shielded or dodged, especially in a frigate)

Agreed.

[cardgame]

Well... the Pilums are always slow and come in groups.

[Reshy]

I never use Missiles except when ramming another ship.  I raise shields, ram and fire off missiles before it can avoid them.  They're hilariously inaccurate and slow tracking that I never use them for anything but either close rage DPS or just to see how many missiles I can see chasing a ship without the means to flak them down.  I don't see why not making missiles more accurate and more plentiful, but adding in 'Flares' which distract them.

[Dreyven]

I never use Missiles except when ramming another ship.  I raise shields, ram and fire off missiles before it can avoid them.  They're hilariously inaccurate and slow tracking that I never use them for anything but either close rage DPS or just to see how many missiles I can see chasing a ship without the means to flak them down.  I don't see why not making missiles more accurate and more plentiful, but adding in 'Flares' which distract them.

You have to use different missiles than i do Oo

Missiles have good up or atleast decent tracking, every missile in it's own unique way
Salamander MRM - no need to discuss
Harpoon MRM -  Reasonable tracking, can still easiely turn around and try again after not hitting
Sabot SRM - Good "tracking" in phase 1 but low speed, no tracking in phase 2... still easy to hit with if you are somewhat skilled
Swarmers - amazing tracking
Pillum LRM - good tracking, relativly low turn rate

[ClosetGoth]

Another thing you have to remember about swarmers: They are FAST. You can't just ignore them. Even a current Tempest can't outrun them. You can make the Pilums chase you until they run out of fuel, but the swarmers can't be shaken except by the most agile ships. Dodging to one side just makes them come in from your flank, forcing you to rotate your shields. Unless you have really superb shield coverage, they make you stand there and take them, if you can't shoot them down. And, since they spam so much, they will generally make it through wimpy frigate PD. If you like to strafe and keep your shields pointed at the enemy, the swarmers will hit you from the flanks in enough numbers to take down armor and engines. They are most aggravating when fired from Pirana Bombers, as the entire wing will shoot them at you. If you are trying to get close to hit them, the missiles will be fired from wider angles, as the wing is spread out. You have to stand still or move backward, to get the missiles to hit your shields while not exposing your weak-ass armor to heavier guns.

[Dreyven]

You can make the Pilums chase you until they run out of fuel, but the swarmers can't be shaken except by the most agile ships

But please don't underestimate the Pillums, they are nice and do what they are supposed to, provide Long range support.
And they actually brought me into big time trouble a couple of time.
Bigger Ships tend to have Medium sized slots with Pillums in it, i had several battles where i had 4 ships shooting with 2 pillum launchers each...
frigates have no chance to survive with this amount of incoming fire... and even destroyers without flak have to watch out

[Icelom]

You can make the Pilums chase you until they run out of fuel, but the swarmers can't be shaken except by the most agile ships

But please don't underestimate the Pillums, they are nice and do what they are supposed to, provide Long range support.
And they actually brought me into big time trouble a couple of time.
Bigger Ships tend to have Medium sized slots with Pillums in it, i had several battles where i had 4 ships shooting with 2 pillum launchers each...
frigates have no chance to survive with this amount of incoming fire... and even destroyers without flak have to watch out

Pilums are the one missile i generaly ignore, they do nothing to sheilds are slow as hell and get eaten by pd. Compared to a MIRV launcher in the same slot... yikes thats gona mess you up.

[BonhommeCarnaval]

So am I the only one who thinks Pilums don't need a boost at all? Seriously, what else do you fit in a medium missile mount? The only missiles with racks (more than 1 to 3 projectiles) are swarmers, pilums and MIRVs. In my opinion, these 3 are the most useful, in particular with the current mechanics where if you retreat and re-engage, your missile racks fill back up instantly.

Pilums may not do much good to a shield but they do permanent flux damage and prevent the enemy from venting because 2 salvos (not much when you have up to 4 launchers per ship) of them will chew through any amount of armor even on an Onslaught.

If Pilums get boosted then I hope their rate of fire and ammo capacity get reduced, otherwise every other weapon will be outmatched.

[Nori]

Maybe they don't need a boost in anything but a speed increase. They are very very slow...

[Wyvern]

I'd like to go into the group who thinks pilums are just fine.  Got as my starting frigate on my most recent game, the, err, I think it's the vigilance?  The one that has a medium missile & medium energy slots.

And wow, does that thing absolutely demolish foes.  Got a two-on-one fight?  (Or three, or occasionally even four?)  No problem!  Just spam pilums at whatever you're not currently engaging - that'll keep it quite busy enough while you hunt down the other.  Hounds in particular will spend a while dancing around, and then just randomly die somewhere far off-screen when your missiles finally catch up.  Fighters?  Surprisingly vulnerable to pilum missiles.  Especially bombers.

The low speed isn't even an issue - anything that's busy running from pilums isn't shooting at you, after all, and it has to turn around sometime if it wants to attack...

Oh, and you don't even need a target lock - if you can't see any enemies on the map, well, that's fine; fire the pilums anyway - they'll pick something and start homing in.

Now, they may be less useful against ships with lots of point defense - for example, firing them straight at the front of a lasher is a good way to waste some missiles (oh no, you wasted some missiles; you've only got 27 more!) - but if you're getting into large fleet engagements, you can have a *lot* of pilum missile launchers - and that works out just as well.