26 replies to this topic

[trycksh0t]

SRMs detonate at maximum range. Out of fuel, go boom. LRMs should take an arcing trajectory to hit their target area, so not an issue. They come down on target area, hit the ground, explode.

[Kartr]

Where I'm coming from, 4 years 0351 USMC, the shoulder Mounted Assault Weapon, ie real world SRM, was my weapon.

The burn time for military rockets is extremely short and usually burn out before they leave the launcher, otherwise the shooter would get a face full of rocket blast. The entire flight of an unguided rocket is essentially unpowered and relies totally on momentum. The rockets have pop out stabilizing fins to avoid going into erratic flight paths. These fins are spring loaded and pop out after the rocket has left the launcher, if the rocket looses a certain number of fins it will loose its accuracy. It's been almost 4 years, but if I recall correctly if a SMAW rocket looses more than 3 of 12 fins it's no longer going to go where it was aimed. This limits its use in heavily forested areas as the branches could rip fins off and alter the flight path of the rocket.

Guided missiles are the same way, the only difference is that they have some sort of guidance system that manipulates the stabilizing fins to change direction. This is why in real life missiles don't loop around and chase planes down. For example in Vietnam one of the tactics used by pilots on wild weasels was to turn into the missile and then dodge out of the way at the last second. The missile had to much velocity to adjust fast enough and no additional thrust to cancel out it's velocity through a turn.

This is why I voted that the entire flight should be unpowered. That's the only scenario that properly reflects the real world.

Edited by Kartr, 27 February 2012 - 05:48 PM.

[Trogusaur]

Well, the 1K mark really should be where the fuel runs out for the missles. The max range (in my book) should be where the missle runs out of juice and glides to its death. I know nothing about TT rules concerning this, but it would make more sense to have it this way, considering how the other weapons probably won't "magically drop off" after exceeding max range like MW4.

[nubnub]

In real life there are heaps of ways missiles could be fused - proximity, impact, time, distance, altitude, GPS location etc. This opens a lot of possibilities for battling mechs and other targets, however I think these are hard to program\operate, will confuse people and not add all that much to core game play.

The simplest and easiest solution: missiles that don't hit target are erased without explosion.

[Kartr]

Lord Trogus, on 27 February 2012 - 06:03 PM, said:

Well, the 1K mark really should be where the fuel runs out for the missles. The max range (in my book) should be where the missle runs out of juice and glides to its death. I know nothing about TT rules concerning this, but it would make more sense to have it this way, considering how the other weapons probably won't "magically drop off" after exceeding max range like MW4.

Except missiles don't burn fuel after they're launched. Some like the Javelin use a charge of compressed gas to kick it a safe distance out from the launcher before igniting. The charge burns through in a couple of seconds tops and then the missile travels on momentum.

It is a common misconception that anti-tank and SAM missiles are similar to the cruise "missile" in function, burning fuel all the way until impact. Cruise missiles are powered by jet engines rather than rocket motors and fly like an airplane. LRM's and SRM's are going to be more like the AT missiles we have today, especially with their tragically short range. (SRM's have a shorter range than the SMAW rocket which has an effective range of 350m and a max range of 400m for the standard HE, while Javelins have a 2km range)

[TheRulesLawyer]

I think its a mistake to compare the burn of a man portable should mounted missile to one launched by a vehicle. I don't know the details of burn on vehicle based ones, but they'd be the ones to compare.

[Kartr]

Hellfire striking its target note the lack of rocket exhaust.
TOW missile launch, note the lack of rocket exhaust by the time it's flight had reached the midpoint.
Another TOW missile launch, no exhaust well before it reached the target.
Best one yet as it slows down the launch and it's obvious that the TOW's have no exhaust after the initial blast.

Edited by Kartr, 28 February 2012 - 10:34 AM.