Adapting manual TDC for dumbfire missiles.

[Ripskar]

I have seen a number of posters complain that dumbfire missiles are impossible to use effectively. As a Silent Hunter player I think it should be possible to adapt the TDC (Torpedo Data Computer) method to the dumbfire missiles to develop an effective weapon system.

A couple of videos to demonstrate what I'm talking about:
Video 1
Video 2

The information required for TDC is the Target Speed, Target Range, Target Course (relative to player) and speed of your missile.
I would suggest the Tornado missile as being the best bet as it has greatest range and warhead of the dumbfire class. That gives us a speed of 312 m/s.
Gravidar will instantly give us Range and Speed, that just leaves course.
Gravidar gives us the location of the Target now, and assuming the ship isn't wandering about randomly we should be able to work out it's destination.
As such it's possible to work out where a ship will be at a point in the future. If you launch your missile it will have a straight(ish) course directly ahead of your ship.
The missile has a maximum range just short of 25km so maximum run time is 80 seconds.
Obviously the larger the target the easier it will be to hit, they also tend to be rather slow which makes things easier for us. At around 60 - 80 m/s an M1/M2 can make 4800 - 6400 metres in the time it takes for your missiles to reach their maximum range. So we're not talking about a huge distance ahead of the target.

[Familiar]

Heh, we already got space fight like WW2 fighter or even small submarines.
Dumbfire missiles in space is nonsense.

CMOD converts them to guided.

[Ripskar]

Does the target id them as targeted at it?

[Familiar]

Good question to ask.... here

http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=288835

[Lelouch]

At around 60 - 80 m/s an M1/M2 can make 4800 - 6400 metres in the time it takes for your missiles to reach their maximum range.

Nitpick: 40-112 (not including the valhalla, aran and #deca)

So we're not talking about a huge distance ahead of the target.

It just needs to turn a ~little~ bit for whatever reason and the missile will be a miss-ile.

[Ripskar]

That has always been true, zig-zag courses have been a known factor for some time, hence the spread you see in both videos.

[imperium3]

Heh, we already got space fight like WW2 fighter or even small submarines.
Dumbfire missiles in space is nonsense.

CMOD converts them to guided.

No it doesn't... AFAIK except for the extra speed pack that paulwheeler made, the dumbfires are still unguided. I should know, I wrote the changes

Problem with this method is that apart from the Tornado (which isn't all that impressive either), dumbfires do a pathetic amount of damage, so the extra effort to line one up seems a bit pointless when you could be unloading volleys of Tempests or Hornets instead.

[Carlo the Curious]

dumbfires do a pathetic amount of damage

Kind of like vanilla torpedos in Silent Hunter (V) .

[Familiar]

Ma bad, I meant this:

Missile Rebalance Pack for Turret Scripts

This pack completely rebalances all missiles specifically to use against turret scripts like MARS or the Missile Defence Mk2.

All missiles have increased speeds. Refire rates have been greatly increased. Dumbfire missiles have been converted to low turn rate tracking missiles with proximity fuses and large blast radii. Damage, blast radii, special abilities, prices and reps have all been rebalanced.

[Ripskar]

I suppose the other bit of information would be your optimum range.
I've already stated the maximum range though you would want to limit the target's opportunity to alter course. Logic dictates that this is just beyond the target's weapon range, so around 5-10km.
The dumbfires are rather lacking in punch in general though the Tornado is swarm so if all warheads hit you're looking at 400,000 per shot. Though you'd need to be looking at fairly big target to do that.