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[KaidenOZ]

i have had the game for quite some time now and liking the latest patches.  couldnt really get into the game majorly before the early stages of the campeign map came out,  now i can fly around and build up and try different things and think a bit more so i do like where we are getting now.  of all the weapons and ships i find myself majorly underwhelmed by the missile/torp.

with the latest patch and PD systems getting more effective, im finding that i have almost stopped using guided munitions entirely. any ship that is heavily dependent on missiles i dont use any more. im pretty sure a lot of people are happy with the current state of guided munitions but the lack of ammo,  slow speed, poor turning and limited damage of most missiles now feel to me as if they are a negitive factor on any ship when i can mod my hull more,  add better flux moderating items or upgraid to higher guns.

does anyone else think that missiles and torps need some love to be far more effective then they currently are?

[TJJ]

Not IMO. Missiles are for the most part fine.

Harpoons are great for delivering a heavy hit/kill if the opponent overloads.
Sabots are still the most OP-effective way of dropping shields.
Pilums are great for long range bombardment and killing fleeing ships.
Rockets offer supreme suppression fire, and overload even the best PD systems.
Torpedoes are...situational. The AI doesn't use them very well, but they can be very effective if used correctly. (point blank range)

The only missile I'm finding to be a disappointment in 0.52 is the MIRV.
It costs loads of OP, has a rather lackluster ammo capacity, and the new improved burst PD can easily destroy it before it has a chance to deploy.

Don't forget missiles generate no flux, so can be a life saver when you're flux is high and you're under extreme pressure.

[BillyRueben]

Torpedoes are...situational. The AI doesn't use them very well, but they can be very effective if used correctly. (point blank range)

For some reason, I never tried using an Onslaught with 4 torpedo racks on it. Fire a good spread of those and you can murder things well beyond their "effective" range.

[Kommodore Krieg]

In my opinion:

Swarmers-Fine for what they do, useful against fighters and bombers

Dumbfire Rockets- I was surprised by how good they are.  Amazing for area denial and steady, no flux explosive damage.  4 of those pods on an onslaught means you can use all your flux for kinetic damage while keeping a stream of high explosive rockets on the target.  Devastating.

Sabots- Extremely useful, fast enough to get through most PD and force an overload.

Harpoons- Amazing, but you have to time the attack, it's a strike weapon after all.

LRMs- As per the description, good en mass.  No point using them in small numbers, but a dominator or onslaught filled up with them is quite good for fire support.

Salamanders-Probably the most important missile in the game because it's the only way I can catch those pesky hounds, against which it is extremely effective.  Very useful on frigates and fast ships

Torpedoes- The buff made them viable as far as I'm concerned.  High risk (easy to miss, takes skill to lead a moving target) high reward (4000 explosive damage).  4 of them on an otherwise standard onslaught variant is hilarious.  I literally vaporized an enforcer frigate in one salvo of them, the wreck was just gone after the explosion died down.  It's also swift death for cap ships,which are very easy to hit.  Very good weapon.

Overall they are all good when used properly.  PD functions very well, as it should; killing missiles is it's purpose so it better do a good job of it.  I think the problem is that energy PD was horrible pre patch, so you could easily launch a few harpoons at it and have them get through.  It was fixed though.  Now you need to overcome the PD before you launch, which means forcing enemy flux up, overloading, getting an angle to strike a vulnerable point, or just overwhelming the PD all together with LRMS or dumbfire barrages. 

[factotum]

Missiles are extremely effective when used at the right time. The enemy AI is rather good at doing this--how often have you been fighting a Lasher that's lobbed a missile at you as soon as you start to vent flux? If missiles were made more effective for the human player, they'd also be more effective for the AI, and I think everyone would rapidly find they got wiped out by missiles too often!

The thing about ammo I agree with, though--most missile racks could do with more of it; it makes little sense to me that a giant starship can't fit more than 3 missiles in a launcher!

[Archduke Astro]

it makes little sense to me that a giant starship can't fit more than 3 missiles in a launcher!

Agreed in full! That bit has never, ever made the least bit of sense to me in Starfarer, neither lore-wise nor gameplay-wise. It's one of the very first things I began modding to suit my own tastes.

I find that this game's more interesting / realistic / challenging when small launchers carry, for example, 12 instead of 3 missiles. I also changed the medium launchers to hold between 24 and 36. Finally, various mods include large-sized missile launchers; I've bumped most of those up to the 45-60 range. That'sa one spiiiicy magazine!

[Erick Doe]

Torpedoes are...situational. The AI doesn't use them very well, but they can be very effective if used correctly. (point blank range)

Torpedoes will be a large part of the Antediluvian mod. They are a 'bonus' weapon, really. When used properly, they can be quite effective. Though most ships only have 1 or 2 of these in the mod. Forcing the player to use them sparingly.

This is a mod, of course. Not the vanilla game.

[hadesian]

Salamanders-Probably the most important missile in the game because it's the only way I can catch those pesky hounds, against which it is extremely effective.  Very useful on frigates and fast ships

You could just, y'know, stick an apogee or something with a tachyon lance or get a elite level wing of thunders. That'll do the trick very, very nicely (Tachyon's EMP and burst damage is insane
EDIT: Just do it anyway, early game sniping with that thing is so much fun

[harperrb]

Never have hit with a torpedo.

Expanded Missile racks is much less effective in the new version. The AI is far too conservative with the missiles now.

[KaidenOZ]

well i went and modded the ammo levels for the missiles and must say they are much more fun now.  saturation bombing is now possible.  yay me.  just need to change the cooldown on some launchers now so they dont spam fire so much under ai control.

looks sweet trying to dodge missile swarms now from enemy frigates.

[Godart32]

Swarmer on auto with expanded missile rack are awesome against everything, try putting 2 on a lasher, it's very fun to do.

[cardgame]

Torpedoes are the capital buster when those ships are overloaded. Missiles are versatile, from anti-fighter/bomber to shield-and-engine killers, suppression, etc., and thus highly situational.

They can be quite good for forcing an end to an engagement and immediately removing a ship from the enemy's roster; for example, a Lasher approaches. After raising its flux to overloaded or almost-overloaded, launch a salvo of missiles and boom, it's gone. Without missiles, you would have to hammer at it continuously, possibly giving it enough time to re-activate its shields again, depending of course on what ship you are personally commanding and what weapons it has.

[Thaago]

I very much like current missiles - I do think they need just a bit of tweaking, but this is an alpha release and things will change. I would like small racks increased from 3 to 4 (which would increase the count with extended racks from 5 to 7) and I would like to see MIRVS have about double their current ammo. I also think the AI is a bit too conservative about firing missiles in this release: in particular it will only fire 1 when 2-3 would guarantee a kill (this happens to me frequently).

[cp252]

Torps and Harpoons are there to punish you when you let your guard down. Sabots are pretty useful, actually.. I didn't know until now. The Atropos is amazing. Dumbfires are excellent area denial, and neither cannon fire nor missiles will get through a field of powered- down Annhilator rockets. The swarmer is good in large numbers, the sort you find in large fighter wings.

[Kommodore Krieg]

Salamanders-Probably the most important missile in the game because it's the only way I can catch those pesky hounds, against which it is extremely effective.  Very useful on frigates and fast ships

You could just, y'know, stick an apogee or something with a tachyon lance or get a elite level wing of thunders. That'll do the trick very, very nicely (Tachyon's EMP and burst damage is insane
EDIT: Just do it anyway, early game sniping with that thing is so much fun

I should have specified for early game.  You are not getting a tachyon lance early game.