Guided Missiles and Mines

[EarthquakeDamage (OP)]

I'm considering trying some guided missiles and mines, but I haven't gotten much use out of them before.  So to clear up some uncertainties, here's a list of questions:

1.  Guided missiles never target your own ships, correct?  I'm pretty sure they don't, but I'd like to confirm.

2.  Passive sensors can identify ships by signature.  Are missiles with passive sensors IFF-capable for known signatures?  i.e.  Can I fire heat-seekers into a melee between an ally and an enemy without hitting my ally?

3.  Are missiles with active sensors IFF-capable?  Suppose it targets a ship via passives but, as it gets closer, the active sensor recognizes it as non-hostile.  Will it continue its attack or resume its search for targets?

4.  Suppose two guided salvos have the same target and will hit in the same interval.  If the first salvo destroys the target, will the second one still detonate or will it instead seek a new target?  i.e.  Is it wasteful to fire too many salvos (not one massive salvo) at a single target, assuming a dense swarm of targets.

5.  If a mine (or missile, I suppose) attacks a ship, but that empire didn't see me set that mine, will it still hurt relations?  i.e. Do they automatically know whose mine it is?

[UnLimiTeD]

Always remember it's a game.

1. Correct
2. See 1
3. See 1, 2
4. The Overkill will search for new targets as far as I'm informed.
5. They automatically know who planted it.

[EarthquakeDamage (OP)]

1. Correct
2. See 1
3. See 1, 2
4. The Overkill will search for new targets as far as I'm informed.
5. They automatically know who planted it.

Thanks for the response.  It sounds like they're safe and user-friendly, then.  I didn't want to have to set up a bunch of time-consuming experiments to try to figure this out, and it looks like I won't have to. 

[Brian Neumann]

Couple of things to remember with mines.  The first is that they will fire their submunitions as soon as they detect a target inside of their seperation range.  Once the submunitions are release however they need their own sensors that can also see the target.  If they don't see a target they just remain where they are untill a target comes into their range, or they run out of fuel.  A good rule of thumb is to make sure that the sensor on the missile will see anything within 150% of the release range you have specified, otherwise you may fire your missiles and they don't see the target and you have wasted that bouy, and all of it's sub munitions.  Another thing to remember is that if there a bunch of bouy's set at the same place then they will all fire on the first target that qualifies.  While this makes them dangerous to a large force, it does allow for sacrificing a single ship to absorb an entire minefield.

Hope this helps you some.
Brian