[Baron Munchausen]

As they are defined in the default game, Plasma missiles are not really worth the extra research cost. They are a little bit faster than standard missiles, but not much, and they have a slightly greater range but as others have pointed out their damage declines at extreme range. I have modded them in my techs to use the "Quad Damage to Shields" damage type. This makes them actually different from standard missiles and in some circumstances a really devastating weapon.

But they still suffer the problems that everyone else here has pointed out. A human can easily counter them by adding more PDC to his ship designs or just building dedicated PDC ships to escort his direct-fire warships. I've modded the AIs in my game to use more PDC and when these ships form up into a tight formation they can be quite effective even without 'dedicated' PDC ships in the mix. I've fired volleys of 30-50 missiles at ship formations containing only 15-20 ships and seen them all zapped without a single hit. I've considered making missile components smaller so you can cram more into a ship, or making them fire more often, but this makes them MUCH too powerful in the early game or against someone who doesn't have PDC yet. We need some sort of change in the way seekers work in order to achieve a reasonable balance. There has to be some sort way to enhance the ecm of seekers, and/or the seeker damage resistance. Maybe their range could be extended and speed increased. Since mounts can make a direct-fire weapon have nearly the range of a CSM V the value of seekers is much reduced. If we could go back to the mathematical formula or have an extra 20 range (another row of boxes) for seekers this might help give them a real advantage again if they were even faster than fighters. They'd need a speed of 10 or so to be really effective, I think.

But the other statements about missiles are true. The best way to use them is to put them in WPs and Satellites. Since the component is so large it's hard to get a good rate of fire with ships unless you outnumber your opponent. This is not something you can count on, of course. Also, you're paying maintenance on the ships but not on the units. So a stack of units with missiles is the best way to deploy them.

[This message has been edited by Baron Munchausen (edited 21 August 2001).]