Isn't it funny...

[Ed Kolis]

... how in SE4, beams can miss but missiles always hit, but in Stars, beams always hit but missiles can miss?

And in SE4, you use battle sensors to increase your chance to hit, and ECM makes beams less likely to hit, but in MOO (where both beams and missiles can miss) you use targeting computers to increase your chance to hit (except for missiles, where for some reason you use scanners), and ECM makes MISSILES less likely to hit?

[geoschmo]

Do those games (Never played either myself) have anything equivalent to PDC? I would think if they did along with your other points that would make missles almost useless. But from what others have said about those games that's not the impression I get.

How does the damage relate to SEIV? Early on in SEIV missles do a lot more damage then beams. Is that the same with those games?

Geo

[Baron Munchausen]

Originally posted by geoschmo:
Do those games (Never played either myself) have anything equivalent to PDC? I would think if they did along with your other points that would make missles almost useless. But from what others have said about those games that's not the impression I get.

How does the damage relate to SEIV? Early on in SEIV missles do a lot more damage then beams. Is that the same with those games?

Geo

Yes, MOO has 'point defense' weapons and yes, missiles are nearly useless by mid-game in MOO. Missiles also do much more damage than beams in the early game for MOO, but beam or other direct-fire weapons over-take them very quickly. This early obsolesence is partly due to point-defense, but also due to the low firing limits. You only get 'X' shots per combat wih MOO missiles. And you pay for those shots with a LARGE amount of ship space. A 5-shot missile bank is much larger than a standard direct-fire weapon of the same tech level. 10-shot missile banks are gargantuan.

Oh, yeah... and then there's the 'Lightning Shield' -- a special tech that can wipe out masses of missiles without a shot being fired. Cool tech, but definitely reduces the value of missiles in the game.

Stars! doesn't have point defense but also doesn't have multi-turn missile travel. In truth, 'missiles' in Stars! are 'rockets'. I guess that's why they can miss. They just shoot straight out & hit or miss immediately. No 'seeking' involved. Maybe Stars! SG is more sophisticated but we may never se that.

[ July 08, 2002, 17:40: Message edited by: Baron Munchausen ]