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Post news Report RSS Report 024: Projectiles Upgraded

All the weapons have been upgraded, it brings new gameplay elements as well more options for modding.

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This report contains the 0.2100 updates.

This report may be a bit small here, but it does not reflect the size of the changes.
With this update the game mechanics of all the basic types of projectiles (bullets, bombs, rockets and missiles) are completely done.
The game may still be an alpha, but in this department, it is finished.

But well, what this improvement will change in the game?
On the surface, it is still played the same, but for those who want more strategy in their dogfights, this will add a lot of that.

First, the missiles no longer have infinite thrust unto their very end.

This may appear less cinematic, having a missile silently approaching you, but will add a significant tactical element to the game.
As the thrust ends, the missile becomes more susceptible to adverse forces and it will start to lose speed until it drops.


Second, any unit above the enemy will have the advantage, the projectiles will go farther and the enemy projectiles will lose strength climbing.

Thrid, as the altitude rises, dogfights are more lethal, because the projectiles will travel faster and with longer range.

Forth, hitting targets with bullets at point blank range will deal more damage than normal, similar to that, targets at distance will receive less damage than normal due to the drop of the projectile’s speed.

Fifth, SAMs are now less efficient against high altitude aircrafts and to targets near their maximum range. The reason is the SAMS drain a lot of thrust just to reach the right altitude and speed so they will be weaker against distant targets.

Other point, while for now there isn’t really any mission were you have to defend a specific zone, from here on, avoid dogfight right above the area you want to protect. Stray bullets, missiles or other projectiles will be common.
Even if you are cautious with you ammunition the others may not, so as a word of advice, consider the zone of your dogfight, as it will rain metal for those below you.

There was two weapons the benefited the most from this ne mechanic, it was the bullets and rockets. As it there is no longer the need to limit their life time to the same time as they should fly strait, it grants them longer overall range, but only if the user makes use of their trajectory to hit the desired target.

Following what is stated above, another relevant addition, thanks to the improved flight dynamics, now it is possible to use indirect fire.

And with that, artillery and rocket launchers will be finally very useful in battle.
The Indirect aiming can be already tested in debug mode by taking control of one of this types of units and change to “Aiming type 4”, however the system as it stands now it is too arbitrary to be usable in a true battle, so the AI players won’t make use of it for the time being.

But anyone is free to try it out this new aiming system as it was quite fun to use in an M1 A1 Abrams, despite it is not and indirect fire type of unit.

Also in this report, it was added the “Last man standing” game mode for the skirmish.
It is similar to the death match, however the players have a limited set of lives and once those are consumed they are expelled from the match.

This follows the interest of improving the skirmish little by little in every update and regarding that, considering the suggestions already made, there’s is a lot of cool ideas waiting to be implemented in the skirmish mode.


And a final extra for this report, it was added a very special weapon.
Like other special weapons, it can be found in the game folders, mas it must be attributed to an aircraft first in order to be used.

This weapon was made with the purpose of testing the current versatility of the game engine and also to be an example to future mods.

One image says it all about what this weapon does:

But if anyone wants to see it in action here is a quick clip:

  • Upgraded Projectiles dynamics
  • Added last man Standing game mode.

  • Added all the remaining call Signs
  • Added MMIC-L5

Stay tuned, more reports will follow.

Post comment Comments
VitaminK
VitaminK

great job! cant wait to try new mechanics out

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mittsommerschnee
mittsommerschnee

Macross Missile Massacre!

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Nergal01
Nergal01

As someone have mentioned in the YT comment, the trails really needs to be thicker. I mean, THICKER!

*also, I suggest multi-lock ability on this*

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DEathgod65
DEathgod65

Hopefully someone will make a CFA-44 with this in the future!

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blahdy
blahdy

Great changes!

Just couple things though, I think you probably meant "boost" and "sustain", not terminal.

"Terminal" stage is achieved when missile guidance system has acquired the target and the projectile enters terminal homing phase of the flight -- this can occur while the missile is coasting (where there is no sustainer/booster to provide continued thrust).

And with respect to SAM altitude ceiling and maneuverability, it really depends on the missile's WEZ envelope and its dynamic pressure rating. For example, a PAC-2 missile should reach peak velocities at around 15km+/- down range and 70,000 ft altitude, giving it very good maneuverability at very high altitude at such distance. If the down range distance is much longer (i.e. 50km+), then maneuverability becomes an issue.

Also note that most medium-long range SAMs use lofted trajectory shaping during mid-course to counter evasive maneuvers and minimize energy losses during cruise phase.

Just my 0.02 and keep up the great work :)

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timeSymmetry Author
timeSymmetry

Thanks, this kind of information is always both helpful and insightful.

About the “Terminal” I am aware that is not the proper term, however the time of writing I couldn’t remind the right name. But thanks for clearing things up.

As for the SAMs, it may have been poorly explained in report and that resulted in some confusion, the lack of any image to support the text didn’t help either.

What was intended to be said, imagining the maximum effective range of the SAM as a sphere, if the SAM’s target is near the extremities of that sphere, it is expected that the missile will be less efficient and more easy to counter than if that target was more close to the center. That noticeable change of performance was not available before this update.

And finally, the missile behavior for medium-long range was also recreated. If you use the debug mode to follow the projectiles, you can observe the missile climbing to the desired altitude while it is in boost to minimize the speed loss in sustained flight.

But thanks again, always feel free to point out any mistake or inaccuracy. That will certainly help improve the game.

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dsi1
dsi1

I've been following this project for a while and I think this physics update is gonna get me to buy finally.

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