The chance for a missile is hit is based on (Missile Speed / Target Speed) x Manoeuvre Rating. With no space dedicated to Agility the MR will always be 10. So a missile with a speed of 20,000 km/s and a MR of 10 attacking a target at speed 5000 km/s will have a (20,000 / 5000) x 10 = 40% chance to hit.
Currently, the MR of a missile can be increased by devoting space to Agility, which increases the MR by 10 for every MSP of Agility. There are a couple of problems with this at the moment. Its a lot easier to make large missiles agile than small ones because the amount of agility gained is not affected by the size of the missile, which isn't very realistic. Secondly, I don't think agility is useful enough at the moment, particularly for smaller missiles, in comparison to simply adding more speed.
Therefore I have made the following changes for v3.1.
There is a new tech line called Missile Agility, each step of which increases the amount of agility you get for each MSP devoted to Agility. As an example, the first three steps are:
Missile Agility 20 per MSP
Missile Agility 32 per MSP
Missile Agility 48 per MSP
The Manoeuvre Rating of a missile is now equal to 10 + (Agility / Size), which means larger missiles will need the same proportion of space devoted to agility to get the same MR benefit as smaller missiles. In addition, the new tech line increases the effect of Agility making it a real choice compared to warhead, engines and fuel. The Racial Missile Agility rating has been added to the list of missile technology on the Missile Design Window.
Some examples. Assume a race has Missile Agility 48. These four missiles below are all intended as anti-missile missiles and are all size 2. Each missile uses 1/4 MSP each for warhead and fuel and splits the rest between engines and agility, which in turn affects the Speed and Manoeuvre Rating. The "best" design is probably the one with 1/2 MSP of Agility, as that has the highest to hit ratings. However, it is slower which might have implications. For anti-ship missiles, moving MSP from engines to agility might increase the chance to hit, but would also make the missile slower and therefore easier for hostile point defence to hit. Instead, it might be better to shorten the range or reduce the warhead if you want increased agility. Different racial tech levels of engine power and missile agility and the size of the missile will all have different impacts on the effectiveness of different amounts of agility. This should make agility far more interesting from a design perspective and those races prepared to spend RP on Missile Agility will be able to create more effective anti-missiles and have more flexibility in missile design
AMM-1 (All engine)
Missile Size: 2 MSP (0.1 HS) Warhead: 1 Armour: 0 Manoeuvre Rating: 10
Speed: 48000 km/s Endurance: 13 minutes Range: 37.5m km
Cost Per Missile: 1.6
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 480% 3k km/s 160% 5k km/s 96% 10k km/s 48%
Materials Required: 0.25x Tritanium 1.35x Gallicite Fuel x625
Development Cost for Project: 160RP
AMM-2 (1/4 MSP Agility)
Missile Size: 2 MSP (0.1 HS) Warhead: 1 Armour: 0 Manoeuvre Rating: 16
Speed: 40000 km/s Endurance: 16 minutes Range: 37.5m km
Cost Per Missile: 1.6333
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 640% 3k km/s 208% 5k km/s 128% 10k km/s 64%
Materials Required: 0.25x Tritanium 1.3833x Gallicite Fuel x625
Development Cost for Project: 163RPAMM-3 (1/2 MSP Agility)
Missile Size: 2 MSP (0.1 HS) Warhead: 1 Armour: 0 Manoeuvre Rating: 22
Speed: 32000 km/s Endurance: 20 minutes Range: 37.5m km
Cost Per Missile: 1.6667
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 704% 3k km/s 220% 5k km/s 140.8% 10k km/s 70.4%
Materials Required: 0.25x Tritanium 1.4167x Gallicite Fuel x625
Development Cost for Project: 167RPAMM-4 (3/4 MSP Agility)
Missile Size: 2 MSP (0.1 HS) Warhead: 1 Armour: 0 Manoeuvre Rating: 28
Speed: 24000 km/s Endurance: 26 minutes Range: 37.5m km
Cost Per Missile: 1.7
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 672% 3k km/s 224% 5k km/s 134.4% 10k km/s 67.2%
Materials Required: 0.25x Tritanium 1.45x Gallicite Fuel x625
Development Cost for Project: 170RP
Steve
