Author Topic: Can missiles fire on passively detected contacts?  (Read 3350 times)

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Offline dlathro1 (OP)

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Can missiles fire on passively detected contacts?
« on: February 04, 2021, 10:34:12 PM »
Hi,

I'm thinking about designing a stealth ship to wreak havoc on enemy supply lines and support ships.

If the stealth ship uses active sensors, it will not be very stealthy, so I am planning to rely heavily on passive sensors.

My question is: can missiles be launched at passively detected contacts (i.e. EM and Thermal) and use active sensors on the missiles to independently acquire and track the target?

Thanks.
 

Offline brondi00

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Re: Can missiles fire on passively detected contacts?
« Reply #1 on: February 04, 2021, 11:16:03 PM »
Yes and no. 

It was possible in vb6 to fire at a waypoint and have the sensor on the missile pick up and track.

This is broken as far as I can tell in this version of c#.  So for now you must have an active track.

I did this exact thing you are asking about regularly in vb6 but can't seem to get it to work now.
 
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Offline Barkhorn

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Re: Can missiles fire on passively detected contacts?
« Reply #2 on: February 04, 2021, 11:45:01 PM »
It's a known bug.
 
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Offline Gabrote42

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Re: Can missiles fire on passively detected contacts?
« Reply #3 on: February 05, 2021, 08:18:43 AM »
Workaround(?): Have a minuscule fighter (since mines be broken) with an active. You can leave it there, get away and then get the actives to fire. Dunno if that's feasible though. And you might be detected in thermals
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Offline nuclearslurpee

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Re: Can missiles fire on passively detected contacts?
« Reply #4 on: February 05, 2021, 12:47:41 PM »
Workaround(?): Have a minuscule fighter (since mines be broken) with an active. You can leave it there, get away and then get the actives to fire. Dunno if that's feasible though. And you might be detected in thermals

The problem with this would be that a fighter will blow up from maint failures pretty quickly. Would work fine as a nasty surprise when retreating from a powerful enemy (Invaders or something) that can be expected to not be far behind, but wouldn't work well as a replacement for a permanent minefield.
 

Offline Gabrote42

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Re: Can missiles fire on passively detected contacts?
« Reply #5 on: February 05, 2021, 02:34:54 PM »
Workaround(?): Have a minuscule fighter (since mines be broken) with an active. You can leave it there, get away and then get the actives to fire. Dunno if that's feasible though. And you might be detected in thermals

The problem with this would be that a fighter will blow up from maint failures pretty quickly. Would work fine as a nasty surprise when retreating from a powerful enemy (Invaders or something) that can be expected to not be far behind, but wouldn't work well as a replacement for a permanent minefield.
No, no... I meant offloading the active sensor so the stealth ship could fire. Like a spotter or something.
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Offline QuakeIV

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Re: Can missiles fire on passively detected contacts?
« Reply #6 on: February 05, 2021, 02:48:05 PM »
I think giving the stealth ship a very limited fighter bay that lets it offload the active sensor to a very agile and tiny fighter might actually be a pretty good way to go in that regard.
 

Offline nuclearslurpee

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Re: Can missiles fire on passively detected contacts?
« Reply #7 on: February 05, 2021, 02:54:48 PM »
No, no... I meant offloading the active sensor so the stealth ship could fire. Like a spotter or something.

I think it should be possible to create a two-stage missile that can be launched at a waypoint to drop a buoy with an active sensor that can feed targeting data to the stealth ship, though I'm not 100% sure if this works.
 

Offline Froggiest1982

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Re: Can missiles fire on passively detected contacts?
« Reply #8 on: February 05, 2021, 04:12:35 PM »
No, no... I meant offloading the active sensor so the stealth ship could fire. Like a spotter or something.

I think it should be possible to create a two-stage missile that can be launched at a waypoint to drop a buoy with an active sensor that can feed targeting data to the stealth ship, though I'm not 100% sure if this works.

While this should be the way to actually make this work in VB6 and on C#, on C# it simply does not. a 2 stage Missile works only if such missile is:

A - Fired against an active target
B - Under the native MFC range
C - The original target is destroyed after targeting and launching

If all the above are met the missile will find a new active target otherwise it will not.

This is the general rule after thousands of tests on 1.9 version and patches. I did not bother with 1.10 onwards because from the posts I have been reading it was obvious that the problem was not either sorted or even investigated.

So in light of that, I haven't tried the solution Nuclear is proposing but I can tell you 2 things. The active buoy (you can launch them at Waypoints without issues) will 100% function and if you are under MFC range you will successfully fire the missile as well, however, such buoy will be in your game forever as there is no option atm to remove buoys like in VB6. So unless the enemy shot it down you will soon end up with a very cluttered map.

EDIT: if the above for whatever reason will not work, please report it as a bug.
« Last Edit: February 05, 2021, 04:14:59 PM by froggiest1982 »
 
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Offline Gabrote42

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Re: Can missiles fire on passively detected contacts?
« Reply #9 on: February 06, 2021, 07:37:46 AM »
No, no... I meant offloading the active sensor so the stealth ship could fire. Like a spotter or something.

I think it should be possible to create a two-stage missile that can be launched at a waypoint to drop a buoy with an active sensor that can feed targeting data to the stealth ship, though I'm not 100% sure if this works.

-snip-
I was aware of that issue. It's the reason I suggested a spotter. Preferably one that can fit in a boat bay or something. If it's sensor is powerful enough, it coul dun at lower speed while the ship moves away or smth.
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