Monday, March 31, 2008

Fish in the water

I have just deployed the "real" logic for Torpedoes. This should make them a lot more deadly (maybe too deadly, but we'll see).

They still won't be much good against fast ships, but they will be quite a worry for large ships. Torpedos have a 360 degree field of view, so you cannot break their lock by out turning them. They also have an infinite lifespan, so they will never run out of fuel or self destruct (all the other missiles self destruct after 30 seconds or so).

They are still affected by decoys, but only temporarily -- torpedoes are the only projectile that can aquire and re-aquire its own targets. Even if its target is destroyed, it will search and prioritize nearby targtes and go after one of them.

Basically, once a torpedo is launched, it *will* hit something eventually. There are only two permanent defenses against torpedoes:
1) other ships. Another target that flies near to the torpedo may be too much temptation for it to resist, so it may pursue this new ship instead of its original target. So you can sacrifice a lancer to save your DCD for instance.
2) Mine fields. Torpedoes can hit mines just like anything else.

Another difference from regular missiles: torpedoes are launched at their top speed -- all other missiles are launched at a relatively slow speed and then they accelerate from there.

This change will affect new games starting from now. As always, let me know what you think.

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