Prosperity Park, on 27 February 2012 - 04:10 PM, said:
How about (for ballistics/energy weapons):
- Damage = 100% if impact takes place within effective range
- Damage = 66% if impact takes place in the window of 100.1% - 105% effective range
- Damage = 33% if impact takes place within 105.1% - 110% effective range
- Damage = 10% if impact is within 110.1% - 115% of the effective range.
- Damage = 0 if beyond 115% of effective range
Also, starting at the end of effective range, have the ballistic slug begin a nose-dive or a downward corkscrew toward the ground to simulate the unstable wobble of a projectile that's traveled beyond the range where the spin created by barrel rifling is no longer sufficient to maintain a true flight-path.
And... At the end of effective range have lasers or other energy weapons just begin to dimm-down until they fade entirely, according to the damage profile outlined above.
Just a suggestion; I don't know if this is programmably-viable.
As one alternative proposal...
For energy salvos:
(extreme range) - (long range) - X
The firing angle θ = 0°
Damage at long range = 100% of canon-listed damage
Damage at long range + 0.10*X = 90% of canon-listed damage
Damage at long range + 0.20*X = 80% of canon-listed damage
Damage at long range + 0.30*X = 70% of canon-listed damage
...
Damage at long range + 1.00*X = damage at extreme range = 0
For explosive-and-unpowered ballistic (e.g. Standard (HEAP) AC rounds, artillery cannon rounds) and solid-and-unpowered ballistic (e.g. Gauss Rifles, individual LB-X sub-munitions, MG bullets) salvos:
Implement
external ballistics in such a way that the shell hits the ground at the canon-listed long range when the weapon is fired horizontally (the firing angle θ = 0°), and that the same shell fired from the same weapon will hit the ground at the canon-listed extreme range and when the weapon is fired at an elevated angle (θ = 45°).
Damage for explosive projectiles is constant (as the warhead is the primary damage mechanism, with KE playing a relatively minor role), while damage for non-explosive projectiles is both proportional to its velocity and a function of both potential and kinetic energies:
PE = (mass of projectile) * (local gravity) * (altitude difference between firing position and impact position)
KE = 0.5 * (mass of projectile) * (square of velocity of projectile)
KE_i + PE_i = KE_f + PE_f
KE_i - PE_i = 0
KE_f - PE_f = 0
(velocity) = (2.0 * (local gravity) * (altitude difference between firing position and impact position))^(0.5)

Explosive projectiles should detonate when they hit the ground (or a target, or anything else), while non-explosive projectiles strike the ground and impart the appropriate amount of damage (as a function of velocity, KE, and PE).
For missiles (powered, explosive ordinance) salvos:
Missiles can maintain their normal powered flight profile (horizontal (the launch angle θ = 0°) for SRMs, shallow (θ = ~15°) parabolic/ballistic arcs for MRMs, moderate (θ = ~30°) parabolic/ballistic arcs for LRMs, and high/large (θ = ~45°) parabolic/ballistic arcs for Mech Mortars and Arrow IV artillery) until they reach their respective long range distances, at which point they run out of fuel and becone unpowered ballistic projectiles capable of limited tracking (when available) and coasting/falling out to their extreme range, at which point they hit the ground (or a target, or anything else) and detonate.
Your thoughts?