Change Missile Slave to Multiple Straight Fires

[Edymnion]

Currently when you slave a missile to just about anything you get a shotgun effect that fires off rather uncontrollably in all directions. This seems rather useless to me, as it can't be aimed, and if what you're trying to hit isn't within ramming distance they don't get hit at all, or they only get hit with one or two reduced power attacks.

Instead, could we change it so that slaving a missile array to something changes it to treat a solid array like individual arrays? As in, if you had a cannon that was a solid 3x3x10, it would normally fire a single large shot straight forwards. Link it to missiles, and have it treat the solid block as 9 1x1x10's.

Instead of having to build a checkerboarded salvage array with an opposite checkerboard salvage array right behind it to get a solid salvage beam, link a single solid block to missiles and have every forward facing emitter fire. Same with damage beams.

Keep the "it makes lots of smaller attacks", just make them forward facing so they can be used in a controlled manner.

As is, aside from heatseekers, the only time a shotgun effect is useful is when the enemy is basically close enough to hit with a Pulse weapon, which itself is never used as a master due to how very rarely ships get that close.

 

[jayman38]

What should the effect be for a single 1x1 long weapon stick? Maybe add in some additional range? I was thinking weapon speed too, but that won't help beams.

 

[Edymnion]

Probably too difficult to implement, but perhaps if its a 1x1 to start with then it could do the old fashioned shotgun?

 

[Crusade]

Personally I like the spread of missile + missile. It helps with getting all the heatseekers out there to target multiple entities and strike at varying times.

 

[NeonSturm]

I like this idea.

Not because it is especially good, but because threatening projectiles this way would couple many together and may reduce lag compared to many small ones.

For missile-missile = heat-seaker combo, I suggest that they have

• position = barrel-line-outputs,
• velocityVector =
  • 0 .. 0.3 seconds = ship.velocityVector (all together move like a terrain-plate)
    
  • 0.3 .. 0.6 seconds = fire each missile at a scaled-up version of what their current positions would be at 0.6 seconds travel time.
  • 0-9+ seconds = select target.
  • 1+ seconds = start flying to target.

. . . . . M
. . . . - |
. . . - /
. . - /
B - M . . - M
B B - M -
B - M -
B - M . - M
. . - \ . .
. . . - \ .
. . . . - |
. . . . . M
B = Barrel
M = Missile
-\/| = trails

 

[AtraUnam]

Alternatively we could just have the amount of spread be dependent on the ratio of missile slaves used.

 

[Lecic]

Or, we could just reduce the spread of shotguns to make them less worthless.

 

[Valiant70]

Alternatively we could just have the amount of spread be dependent on the ratio of missile slaves used.

Makes me wonder why this isn't the case already.

Or, we could just reduce the spread of shotguns to make them less worthless.

And that needs to happen too.