Missiles, torpedoes etc.

[ConorC]

Hi guys,
I've a question re. missiles and torpedoes. Basically, what is the difference and how are they different from the X3 series missiles?

Here's what I do know:
Swarm missiles - work pretty much the same as before
Dumbfire missiles - fire in a straight line at your target right? no tracking just straight

What I want to know:
Do torpedoes track their target?
Do I have to remotely pilot guided missiles/torpedoes?
Smart missiles, not sure what these are
What missiles/torpedoes are good in specific situations for example, taking down a turret on a capital ship

And finally, there's the issue of Ammo management which I haven't really got my head around. Any advice would be helpful.

Thank you guys

[Sandalpocalypse]

Torpedoes do track, but poorly. Light torpedoes track better than heavies.
There are no Novadrone-equivalent drone missiles in X4 as far as I am aware.
Smart missiles are expensive and do slightly less damage, but they are maneuverable, immune to Flares, and can pick a new target if they lose their current one (i.e. if it dies)
Torpedoes are the best for bombarding capital ships, especially heavies, but they have the downside of expense and poor native velocity.


The most practical way to do missiles is to use all smart missiles and torpedoes and pretend the others don't exist. Smart missiles are reliably which is worth more than the slightly higher damage you can get from other missile types. I recommend using mostly Light Smarts, as Heavy Smarts are too slow for most targets. Heavy Smarts can still be used well for head-on attacks.

The most important trick to know with missiles is that their initial velocity is added to your ships vector. So if you are going 500 m/s when you launch your torpedos will be going *much* faster than normal.

Ammo management...can be difficult. Missiles are much more practical to use if you have a Carrier, as if they have the appropriate wares they can restock your ammo in seconds.

[jlehtone]

Ammo management...can be difficult. Missiles are much more practical to use if you have a Carrier, as if they have the appropriate wares they can restock your ammo in seconds.

Indeed.

Light Smart is assembled from 1 Missile Component and 2 Smart Chips with 10 ECells. Those take 16 cubic metres.
Colossus Van can hold 19k cubic metres. Enough for 1187 Light Smarts.
40 Fighters, 20 missiles each, take 800 missiles together. They might restock in seconds, but the Carrier won't restock materials in seconds.

Rather than automatic resupply (which does use materials) one can manually transfer missiles from a Carrier to another ship. Carrier itself can carry only 320 missiles ...

I have ten heavy fighters with heavy torpedoes. They can kill Xenon K with 2-3 barrages. In sector. OOS missiles just vanish.
Carrier has Frigates as extra storage. Each has 100 torpedoes. It is feasible to manually resupply the small "bomber wing".

[Imperial Good]

The most important trick to know with missiles is that their initial velocity is added to your ships vector. So if you are going 500 m/s when you launch your torpedos will be going *much* faster than normal.

This is only their initial velocity. As they track around and fly they will slow down to their sheet listed flight velocity. This results in all missiles being utterly useless against the player since the Dragon Raider and even Cobra can be made to fly roughly 4 times as fast as the missiles that can threaten it. Similarly no torpedoes and few missiles can hit a player flown Rattlesnake for the same reason, the ship just flies too fast.

This also applies to the AI, where agile fast ships can effortlessly kite your homing missiles. They will eventually die due to pilot error, but not after wasting a ton of missiles. Defence Drones are infamous for this since they are both fast and highly agile.

Carrier itself can carry only 320 missiles ...

Use Rattlesnake and cover it with missile turrets. Enjoy it being able to hold thousands of missiles. Missile turrets add missile carrying capacity, especially L ones which add significantly more than M ones.

[ConorC]

Thanks for the insight guys, it helps a lot.

[capitalduty]

On a little sidenote, yes you can use L missile turret to store more missile ammo but right now only the argon L tracking missile turret with light missile seems to work (fire actual missiles).

If you want dedicated bombers I strongly recommend cobras with all torpedoes....works very well, just protect it against fighters and distract enemy turrets with some fighters when they are on the job

[fred183]

I'm sorry I can't give any good help, but I have the same problem in X3 and X4, and I am always chased by missiles. . . .

[mr.WHO]

Does anyone know how cluster missile work? Is it Area of effect weapon for destroying grouped surface elements?


Is there any reason to use heatseeker comparing to smart missile?

[zakaluka]

they are faster, they do slightly more damage, they cost less.

But none of these advantages are very tangible when compared to how good the tracking on a smart missile is.