Quick question about missiles

[Atlantia (OP)]

I'm assaulting a very long-ranged Orbital Platform belonging to a certain spoiler race, and they're pounding me with mass AMMs. I've fired a dozen or so ASMs at it, and I want to pull away before I get utterly destroyed.

So the question. If I move my ASM-firing ships out of the range of their MFC, will the missiles still make it to their targets?

If it makes a difference, my sensor ship will be able to see the target when I've moved out of range of the hostile AMMs.

[metalax]

Any missile that has no sensors will self-terminate if the target moves beyond the missile FC range of the launching ship(or if the launching ship moves away from the target and out of FC range). I believe that missiles with on-board sensors will try and aquire a target from their current position if that happens and self-terminate if they can't see one.

[Jacob/Lee]

If they have no sensors on their missiles, then yes, moving out of the MFC range will get you in the clear.

Also, get some heavily armored husks and put them between you and the platform. Avalanches of AMMs might as well be an exploit, give them a taste of their own medicine.

[Atlantia (OP)]

If they have no sensors on their missiles, then yes, moving out of the MFC range will get you in the clear.

Also, get some heavily armored husks and put them between you and the platform. Avalanches of AMMs might as well be an exploit, give them a taste of their own medicine.

Aye, I was just reading that in the other thread. Guess I'll pull out until I have a damage sponge to throw in there.

[Brian Neumann]

One of two things happen when a missile fire control loses lockon.  The first is simple if their is no sensor onboard the missiles then they self destruct imediately.  If however a missile has a sensor it will keep going untill it runs out of fuel, or sees a target on its own and attacks.  If the missile has not yet reached its original target location then it will continue to move to that spot.  Once it reaches that location it will stay put untill a target is spotted.  In this case if you put even a small sensor on board the missiles it will probably be enough as your targets are not moving.  Against a moving target you need a sensor that can see them at least 10 seconds of missile flight time.  If not you run the risk of the combined missile and possible target moving far enough in 5 seconds to completly cross the missile sensor envelope.  It is admittedly unlikely but it does happen so I always recommend a 10 second missile flight time as a reasonable sensor to put on a missile for final target changes.  This really only helps if the original target is destroyed and you have additional missiles still targeted but it can make a difference.

Brian

[blue emu]

It's very useful when firing full spreads of missiles at clusters of Fighters or FACs... since as each enemy Fighter or FAC is destroyed, the remaining missiles will simply lock onto the next one in the group.

[ZimRathbone]

Bear in mind that the missiles resolve as salvos, not individual missiles, so that if the missiles are fired in salvos of 10 missiles, they will all retarget on a single new target, and if one takes the new target out the rest are lost. Its not a really effective action to fire large salvos at light targets such as fighters or GB (you'll get a lot of overkill) - I usually find that salvos of 3 or 4 missiles work best there.

Another problem with fast moving units like Ftr & GB is that the followup salvos dont start searching until they reach the last known position of the initial target, so if you have a long stream of follow ups the remaining (potential) targets can move out of the sensor range before the missiles start looking - more than once I've seen squadrons of fighter & missiles pass through each other  and then the missiles stop & stay put behind the fighters boring in on my delicate battlefleet.

[blue emu]

... I usually find that salvos of 3 or 4 missiles work best there.

I use salvos of four ASMs, partly because the AI is fond of firing PD missiles in clusters of three... it forces him to use two salvos instead of one.