Seems I'm not alone in my dissatisfaction with missiles. Certainly, one CAN use them at the right time, but "the right time" is a pretty narrow case. Sadly, the wee red diamonds of incoming enemy munitions are pretty much the last thing on my mind, as most of the things the AI launches at me aren't actually DANGEROUS.
Please note that all of the following could make for more challenging AI ships. Frankly, I'm tired of completely ignoring LR support fire from enemy AI...
Now, some "missiles" work quite well. MIRVs have an excellent combination of resistance to PD, speed, and homing ability. Too bad you need a large mount, and most ships don't have any. Torps don't maneuver for crap, but they're fairly hard to shoot down and oh $diety they leave a mark. That's awesome, if you can get in position. There's definitely a couple of GOOD torp hulls, but they're not much good for anything else. Rockets? Individually they suck, but since when does anyone launch ONE rocket? Nothing like a ship with a farkton of light, forward-facing mounts. Again, there's a couple of hulls this works on. And the anti-engine missiles? GodDAMN those are annoying. Guess they work just fine
So, yeah, all the specialty/heavy stuff seems ok, at least to me.
Really, where I take issue is with the SRM/MRM/LRM line. In essence, the "conventional" stuff.
SRMs work if you're small (can get position) and your target is large (can't move) and has crappy PD. From a weapons-geek perspective, the launch-run-align-SLAM profile is pretty much the bread-and-butter kinetic penetrator. Too bad the "align-SLAM" phase has a horrible tendency to miss anything smaller than a cruiser. Seriously, it's fsking painful to watch your missiles line up on where the target was when you launched, about 6 seconds ago. Too bad it MOVED.
MRMs. Well, I've just never found a use for them. Ok, sure, I can make the AI raise shields by firing them, and screw with the no-flux speed bonus. Anything I can REALLY hurt with an MRM is pretty much already borked, and the actual missile itself suffers from the same issues as the LRM...
LRMs. WOW range. 10k units. If you can see it, you can shoot at it. If your long-lost cousin can see it, you can shoot it. Problem is, that FF/DD you're firing on can typically just dodge, and C/BC/BB can shoot them down by the hatful. For that matter, a fast FF can actually OUTRUN LRMs, so you might be better off just running in with a fast ship and gunfarking your target. Oh, you were SHOOTING at a small ship? Yeah, umm, about that...
I've had the point defense on an Onslaught frag the output of 10 or so Pilum launchers without touching shield or armor, and had a SINGLE flak gun keep all 4 Pilum launchers on my (same) Onslaught at bay. And, of course, if you happen to be driving a frigate or fast destroyer, you can literally run rings around the incoming. while your PD slowly kills it. I repeat myself because Pilums are REALLY frustrating. Target's either too fast, or too well PDed. I've never seen anything sub-cruiser hit meaningfully unless already overloaded, and thus pretty well farked anyway. Cruiser + just shoots them down.
So, here's what I suggest.
NOT a global change in missile behavior. Rather, give specialised missile ships a niche. This may involve creating missile hulls, as missiles DO have rather divergent behavior, and expecting a gun or energy-based hull to do well with missiles is a bit of a joke
There'd be a missile bonus mod (not unlike the beam range/gun range mods) that'd enhance existing missile weapons, at the usual "I modded my stuff" cost. Then there'd be the "this is a missile hull" situation, where you'd have 1 or more hulls per weight class with good (bonused) missile capabilities and juuuust enough ballistic/energy to provide PD coverage. This non-missile fit needs to suck hard as anything non-PD.
SRMs, given their sort range/shield busting behavior, strike me as a frigate/destroyer weapon. Get in close, volley HARD, strip shields, maybe overload the target, then chew on armor with secondaries. To me, the worst sin of SRMs is that their terminal phase doesn't calculate lead. I'd suspect that if a "bonused" SRM had, oh, 50% more turn rate in its cruise phase and actually considered target movement before going terminal, it'd be a pretty bad day. Sound over-powered? you get THREE shots. Not hundreds.
MRMs. Welp, these are pretty much the definition of vanilla. Well, except that GOOD vanilla is pretty tasty, and stock MRMs are generally only good for mercy shooting ships that are dead already. Make a bonused launcher's missiles faster, more maneuverable, and have more HP. I do NOT expect them to hit fast frigates or fighters, but they ought to be able to RELIABLY hit a poorly PDed cruiser or a slow-to-middling destroyer.
LRMs. Yeah, great. I can shoot across the whole fsking MAP with these. I've got a (npc support) cruiser fit that I like that includes 2 flak guns. 1 port, 1 starboard. It's my cheap flight deck. I've watched it blow the entire output of an Onslaught (4 Pilums) into chunks. With whichever SINGLE flak gun happens to bear. Against anything even a bit maneuverable (fast DD, ANY FF) one can simply MOVE and render Pilums useless. So, for a bonused launcher, I'd cut the fired missiles down from 3 to 2, make the missile HP enough that they take 2 flak hits (since 1 flak will kill the entire 3-round burst), and uprate their damage so's that 2 "new" missiles does the same damage as 3 "old" missiles, thus leaving the actual DPS the same and making the stock 30 rounds last longer. Then, I'd double the missile turn rate and add 25% to their speed so they can actually run down a destroyer.
For the actual "this is a dedicated missile boat/I spent a bunch of OP bonus", I'd push the flight speed, magazine capacity and turn rate of these missiles up by 50% beyond specific class bonuses, ONLY on bonused/specialised launchers/ships. Finally, I'd crank the HP of every "standard" missile up by 50%, to represent the penetration aids of a specialised missile ship.
This would, hopefully, make "standard" missiles launched by specialised missile ships into a serious threat, rather than an annoyance. I'd love it if an entire volley of Pilums could actually push a few warheads into contact with something, instead of just being a light show. And yes, I'd allow stacking the "I bought a bonus" on top of the "I'm a missile boat" bonus. You'd get a ship that's a local $diety for about 30 seconds.
Finally, I'd love to see a test of these numbers, and some adjustment with the idea that a _specialised_ missile ship should be able to hurt the ever-loving crap out of anything in range, as long as the (VERY LIMITED) ammo holds out. Energy boats work until they die, balancing ammo on a ballistic boat isn't difficult. Allow those 2 classes to be the extended-combat ships. Missile boats could fill the "Shock" role if fitted with S/MRMs, or actually be dangerous support if fitted for dedicated LRMs.
