Is the missile specialization any good ?

[Leith]

Hello,

In the oringinal star wolves, I didn't care much for any sort of weaponary except lasers, which were the most effective weapons. I realised that pilots with low gun accuracy hit more often with lasers, even if they specalize in heavy or plasma guns.

In Star wolves 3, I noticed that rapid-firing guns can really make a few kills, unlike star wolves where lasers were obviously superior to any other weapons. As for missiles, I have not fully tested their efficiency but in the latest battle--where I was fighting a large pirate fleet blocking the portal (The second mission of the NESF)-- I equipped my fighters with medium and short range missiles of moderate quality yet the enemy ships avoided most of my missiles. I wonder if the result would have been the same were my pilots skilled enough in the 'missile' perks.

[Trucidation]

Lasers are still overpowered and the introduction of anti-laser modules only mitigates this a little since most ships don't equip them.

The missile perks help somewhat, although the lesser bonus of being more hardened against ECM is responsible for this; the primary bonus of damage is overkill - missiles are already pretty strong. The problem with missiles in the Star Wolves franchise is that you just run out of ammo too fast, and most of your missiles don't hit (ECM, shot down by AMS).

Low missile count is fine for the enemy; you the player are expected to plow through hundreds of enemies, so even if they pack 2-3 missiles each on average, the total is still a lot of missiles thrown at you. However, from the player side of the equation, 2 missiles is a waste of space. 5 seconds into the first battle and your ships have probably launched them both, so for the rest of the battle (not to mention the dozen of subsequent battles you get into before having a chance to dock and buy more missiles) your team will be flying around with empty missile launchers.

Which is why I modded them - I threw out the low-end missiles of each category and replaced them with a more reasonable supply. Enemies have access to them too though, which makes anti-missile defence a tad more important (read: if you fly around without protection, you're gonna get loved tenderly. lol). Feel free to download the mod linked in my sig. It only changes missiles so it should be compatible with the other big mods out there, and it's fully compatible with the unmodded game. If you've already got missiles loaded up you'll need to sell them, though - sorry. The replacements are more than worth it though, especially if you're playing on hard mode.

[Leith]

Thank you very much for your feedback and for your FAQ posted at WWW.GAMEFAQ.com! I have n't read all of it because I want to finish the game at least once without spoilers. No matter, I guess the missile specialization is still not worth taking, having played the game for 12 hours and having read your comments.

The lasers are, as usual, the weapons of choice even for pilots with low gunnery skills. Even though I love lasers but I think it's not fair for the other weapon specializations so I hope this imbalance will be considered by the devs while making the expansion and Star wolves 4.

[Trucidation]

You could go through the modules.script files and edit the gun definitions. Reduce other gun types' dispersion and cut down laser damage, especially for the pulse lasers - I freaking quartered laser damage output and although there's a considerable drop in single pass kills they're still quite nasty.

Balance needs working on imho, e.g. I'd up shield regen rate because it currently does very little even for system experts.

[sharien]

guys...you just got no frickin idea how to use missiles...
i built a missile spec on hard difficulty and he kicked more ass than anyone else
sure the standard short range missiles are crap...but hell who uses those
fire a LRM or a torpedo into a squad of fighters and theyre ALL gone
anyone remembers the pirate ambush in the mission when escorting those USS transports?
my rockets took them ALL out before they even were able to fire back(not to mention backup was still miles away...)
1 torpedo in the right place can take out multiple squads of fighters...in one shot
so yes missiles are actually quite good
endgame you even get hornets ARLM which have the firepower of the smaller torpedos at an incredible range...with quasar scanner you can nuke out enemies en masse without them knowing what hit em...and just resupply anytime youre empty
oh...and dont use hrimturs...that thing is crap...was always
btw...im missing a gen 5 missile carrier...sth like dragon for missiles(8 missile slots boooyaaa^^)

[Trucidation]

Damage was never the problem, in fact I mentioned quite the opposite if you bothered to understand what was posted in the missile thread. Learn to read. The fact that people think missile ships are "crap" means there is, in fact, something wrong with missiles.

You're simply exploiting the fact that the AI is broken and doesn't respond to damage from sources it can't detect / outside it's radar range. That's not "knowing how to use missiles". That's taking advantage of a bug. I bet if the AI did that to the player (hit you with missiles from far away before you detected them) you'd be crying how the game is stupid.

[sharien]

seriously...what should a destroyed enemy respond to?
also i find it realistic and not buggy that theyre unable to respond to an attacker they cant see...
also...usually when i fire my missiles the enemies are coming for me anyway...i just get to line a few shots before theyre able to fire
the reason i think missiles are fine the way they are can be brought to the simple truth that ONE missile is able to destroy like a dozen fighters at once if placed correctly and fired by a sufficiently able pilot
usually when im out of missiles the dogfight begins...and hell i dont want to see my missiles detonating there...else my fighters might be caught in the explosion

[cursor]

seriously...what should a destroyed enemy respond to?
also i find it realistic and not buggy that theyre unable to respond to an attacker they cant see...
So its realistic a patrol just flies without deviating from course when a rocket kills half of them?? sorry but that sounds totally wrong. In real life (since we're talking about "realistic") if some bullet flies out of nowhere and hits a soldier you can bet his squad is gonna dive into a ditch or duck behind something. Their not just gonna keep on going like nothing happened...... which is exactly what the game is doing.

Of course you are 100% right if the enemy is dead then they can't respond lol. But if there are any survivors dont you think they find it strange half of them got taken out by a random missile out of nowhere? "Boss, some freak explosion killed John and Tim and nearly took us out as well, what do we do??" "nothing" You can't seriously mean that's realistic?? Since the game is in space its not like they can duck behind something but it isnt hard to imagine what YOU would do in that situation. Scatter or run like hell back to base.

[sharien]

k you got a point...they really should run like hell...
anyway...i never got that survivor problem...when you fire a ARLM or torpedos into an enemy squad there are no survivors...at least there usually were none when i did...
i just wanted to point out that missiles are fine the way they are...theyre not "any engagement" weapons but a way to take out many enemies at once out of an enemy squad with high numerical advantage

and seriously...giving everyone more rockets does not make it balanced...since AI rarely is able to defend itself against missiles...while my squad usually gets immune to them...
get everyone a cerberus and at least a little knowledge of electronics and there are no enemy missile hits...

[Unknown treat]

Just wondering, what missle (or torpedo) do hou use to blow that many fighters at once ?

[sharien]

torpedos...usually just any should do the trick...though i tend to use the second tier torpedo(1000dmg should be the one)
torpedos in general have a really large explosion radius...which you usually only notice if theyre fired on fighters especially ones flying in formation or standing ready for an ambush

my missiles for taking out a single wing of fighters are ARLM or hornets

i dont think the other missiles have such a huge explosion radius...other long range missile might have but i did not test