Walt Hmm, maybe? I'm a little hesitant to have all missile types be highly specialized, though maybe being specialized/situational is a good downside for long range homing weapons? I'm open to proposals.
I think that some specialization for missiles makes sense, because it encourages mixed-weapon ships. Right now ships almost only use a single weapon type (maybe with electrobolts). I'm hoping that missiles with a particular specialty (e.g. minefields vs flankers/orbiters), but still with general purpose use (e.g. in-combat mines). This also applies to missile swapping, which I hope will be a useful strategy.
Still thinking about exactly how specialized HE missiles could work.
Walt Dalas120 Would it work to have each mine attracted to the point midway between the nearest non-structure enemy part and the ship’s center of mass? That might be a reasonable approximation.
That could also have edge cases, like what if that point is in open space, or the mine is between that point and the center or mass?
Some more ideas:
What about having mines attracted in the *direction* of the nearest part (maybe with some randomness), with *strength* based on the enemy's mass and distance to their center of mass?
What if mines used a realistic gravity simulation, but were only attracted to reactors (or only active engines)? Since there are relatively few reactors/engines on each ship, would gravity-like attraction be doable? That could fit in with possible future stealth mechanics as well.
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In general, I think that the main purpose of mine attraction is to make mines useable in regular combat, instead of only as an auxiliary mine-laying weapon. While attraction is also helpful for making minefields more deadly (and maybe allowing some ships to sneak through), I don't think that's the core purpose.
