I don't mean avoiding locking on, I mean somehow dodging the torpedo when it's already flying towards you (when they don't have the upgrade which makes them fly two times faster). I've seen this happen a few times, people boosting out so far the torpedo never reaches them. Do protons have a time limit, after which they self-destruct? Can't think of any other explanation. Or maybe it's some Evasion upgrade? Edited December 29, 2013 by Kozor

it's ½ thruster/power upgrades, ½ sensor dampening upgrades, & ½ piloting skill and using the other two factors...

I don't mean avoiding locking on, I mean somehow dodging the torpedo when it's already flying towards you (when they don't have the upgrade which makes them fly two times faster). I've seen this happen a few times, people boosting out so far the torpedo never reaches them. Do protons have a time limit, after which they self-destruct? Can't think of any other explanation. Or maybe it's some Evasion upgrade?

 

It seems that the have a maximum range. My guess is its about 20km. Protons torps are nearly worthless until you get the 100% speed boost, then they become very cool.

yea its one of those tings like the pike till you get it close to mastered it suckes and everyone in there momma can evade them but after the lv 4 speed upgrade and the lv 5 range increase man they are to be feared

You can evade conventional missiles using barrel roll / engine maneuver. Evasion does nothing to help defend against a torpedo lock or one that's already in the air. It's fun to launch a torpedo right in the face of someone trying to do a head-to-head with you from far out. Another opportune time is launching one at someone who is dogfighting a friendly or protecting a satellite. Edited December 30, 2013 by TrinityLyre

Sometimes the barrel roll ability and the evasion armor ability whose name I forget at the moment can make it look like someone evaded just by boosting as neither one has a particularly distinctive visual effect.

It seems that the have a maximum range. My guess is its about 20km. Protons torps are nearly worthless until you get the 100% speed boost, then they become very cool.

 

Well, the torpedo's description says, range 10km. That goes for lock-on range, but also for the flight range, I take it. So, if you see that strike fighter 7km away locking on you, you turn 180° and fly as hell, you have a good chance of outflying the torpedo.

 

Thing is, you usually don't know who is locking on you, you can guess when dogfighting someone that they are trying to get their clusters on you, but otherwise you have no idea if it is the fighter coming from spawn and his proton torpedo, or if the scout 5km away has thermite torpedoes.

 

All of the above is my assumption going from my logic and my experiences, I might be wrong.

But sometimes, I'm flying through space, no one around, I see lock on in proccess, I fly straight for 4 seconds, then the lock happens and disappears a second later without me doing anything.

Usually it isn't that they outranged the missile. I've tried, and you can't.

 

It is more likely that they were able to outrun it long enough for Distortion Field or their Engine Component to come out of cooldown and pop that. I've watched scouts run from my protons until they were completely out of sensor range, only to get the kill message a few seconds later.

Edited December 30, 2013 by Svarthrafn

To clarify a few potentially confusing points:

 

1. Evasion does nothing against secondary weapons of any kind.

2. Distortion Field can only be used to avoid a missile lock if it is fully upgraded and the tier 3 option to break missile locks is chosen. This comes at the opportunity cost of doubling the duration of Distortion Field.

3. The only way to avoid a missile that has been launched is to break the missile lock, which can be done with a fully upgraded Distortion Field or with an evasion technique (Barrel Roll, Retro Thrusters, etc). You cannot break a missile lock by out-ranging a launched missile; this was confirmed in a yellow post some time ago. (In fact, missiles seem to automatically catch up to their targets after a couple seconds, even if the flight trail would show the missile lagging behind by several kilometers.)

4. It is very possible to break a missile lock after the lock is acquired (and the "danger, you gon dai" tone starts shrieking at you) but before the missile actually launches, especially if the other player holds the missile in the hopes of tricking you into using an evasion skill. This can lead to people thinking they've out-ranged the missile, despite the fact that the missile was never launched. (Dogfight are confusing, it's ok.)

5. The range listed on a missile's tooltip is the lock on range, not the maximum flight distance. Missiles can and will make some crazy turns to follow people dodging at the edge of the lock on range and continue to follow them until they hit.

 

Tl;dr: you cannot avoid a launched missile without pushing a button, usually #3.

 

In all my flight time in my Ocula, I have never felt that using Distortion Field to break a missile lock was necessary. The reduced cooldown on evasion abilities (tier 2, I think) makes them usable nearly every time I need them, unless I'm deliberately avoiding using cover and my afterburners to shake locks.

Edited December 30, 2013 by Armonddd

You guys have some great theories on what the torpedo does, but unfortunately most of you are wrong. Here is the post from the Devs:

 

Howdy folks,

 

Thought I would pop in a clarify a couple of things. There are a couple of ways to break a lock-on sequence when no missile has been fired yet:

• Skilled piloting, such as maneuvering outside of the opponent's secondary firing arc, or trying to break line of sight by zooming around or inside of asteroids or other objects.
  
• Activating a defensive maneuver type engine ability (such as Koiogran Turn, Power Dive, Barrel Roll, Retro Thrusters or Snap Turn).
  

 

Once a missile is in-flight, the only way to avoid being hit is to activate a defensive maneuver type engine ability (the same list as above). This will 'evade' the missile. Visually, the missile will still complete its journey towards your ship, but it will not explode and no damage will be done to you.

 

As an added bonus, when your ship is actively executing a defensive maneuver, enemies cannot lock-on to you. On their end they will hear an error buzz when they attempt to right click to lock-on.

 

Hopefully this clarifies a few things!

 

Once the missile is out, you are boned unless you have an engine ability. Not evasion, not skill, not some super speed.

Edited December 30, 2013 by LordKantner

1. Evasion does nothing against secondary weapons of any kind.

 

Technically railguns are secondary weapons, and evasion does work against them.

Seems to work against Rocket Pods too? Hard to test for sure, but it'd make sense as they're accuracy based like laser cannons.

Edited December 30, 2013 by Tentou

Technically railguns are secondary weapons, and evasion does work against them.

 

Gunships are silly. My bad.

 

Seems to work against Rocket Pods too? Hard to test for sure, but it'd make sense as they're accuracy based like laser cannons.

 

I'll see if I can't test this sometime early next year.

Once the missile is out, you are boned unless you have an engine ability. Not evasion, not skill, not some super speed.

 

Just a minor correction - super speed does help, in a way. To do damage the missile has to catch up with you. If you are very fast, it takes the missile longer to catch up, which in turn allows more time for your evasive maneuver to come off cooldown. So on average, a faster ship has a better chance to avoid missile damage than a slower ship.

Edited December 30, 2013 by Sharee

Just a minor correction - super speed does help, in a way. To do damage the missile has to catch up with you. If you are very fast, it takes the missile longer to catch up, which in turn allows more time for your evasive maneuver to come off cooldown. So on average, a faster ship has a better chance to avoid missile damage than a slower ship.

 

That's true, but only to a certain extent - after a few seconds, the missile teleports to you no matter how far away you are.

To clarify a few potentially confusing points:

 

3. The only way to avoid a missile that has been launched is to break the missile lock, which can be done with a fully upgraded Distortion Field or with an evasion technique (Barrel Roll, Retro Thrusters, etc). You cannot break a missile lock by out-ranging a launched missile; this was confirmed in a yellow post some time ago. (In fact, missiles seem to automatically catch up to their targets after a couple seconds, even if the flight trail would show the missile lagging behind by several kilometers.)

 

 

From personal experience I disagree with this. Maybe it is a bug that the devs don't know about or it is also quite possible that the dev in the post you are referring too was mistaken.

 

I have had proton torps "out-flown" many times by targets without using an engine ability or Distortion Field. There is an icon near the target portrait that indicates if an ability was used.

 

Plus, why give proton torps a 100% speed boost if they can't be out-flown? Why would I care how fast the torp got there if I was guaranteed that it would eventually get there?

 

On a somewhat unrelated note, does Distortion Field break lock on a missile that is already launched or does it just prevent lock-on prior to being launched?

As an addendum, I have also seen a number of times that the second salvo from upgraded Cluster Missile does not hit. You see one set of damage numbers but not the other.

 

I might not be correct, but I would suggest that missiles are not working 100% as intended at least in comparison to the previous Dev's post.

From personal experience I disagree with this. Maybe it is a bug that the devs don't know about or it is also quite possible that the dev in the post you are referring too was mistaken.

 

I have had proton torps "out-flown" many times by targets without using an engine ability or Distortion Field. There is an icon near the target portrait that indicates if an ability was used.

 

Plus, why give proton torps a 100% speed boost if they can't be out-flown? Why would I care how fast the torp got there if I was guaranteed that it would eventually get there?

 

Well, I would think that the slow flight time of Protorps give people more time to activate their lock breaker, including time for it to come off of cooldown. That alone makes a huge difference.

 

My thinking is that missile flight time is a function of distance at launch, and that's the only factor taken into consideration. The further away the target is, and the slower the missile, the longer it takes before impact.

 

That said, it IS possible the game DOES actually track movement and calculates the flight time of the missile based on its full path to catch up to the target. The reason sometimes is seems the missiles "teleport" and hit their targets is perhaps because missile locks and impacts are server-authoritative and our perception of their behavior is highly influenced by lag.

 

For the same reason we sometimes lose locks despite having the target clearly inside the locking circle, it can be that missile impacts are subject to lag and will hit their targets despite them being only halfway to their targets on our clients.

 

Either way, I have to agree that it seems like protorps hit much more reliably with the 100% speed boost, though I do think this is mostly because people have less time to trigger their lock breakers.

As an addendum, I have also seen a number of times that the second salvo from upgraded Cluster Missile does not hit. You see one set of damage numbers but not the other.

 

I might not be correct, but I would suggest that missiles are not working 100% as intended at least in comparison to the previous Dev's post.

 

I've seen that as well, but I wouldn't be surprised if this is simply because people trigger their lock breakers just in time to avoid the second salvo, and not the first.

Well, I would think that the slow flight time of Protorps give people more time to activate their lock breaker, including time for it to come off of cooldown. That alone makes a huge difference.

 

My thinking is that missile flight time is a function of distance at launch, and that's the only factor taken into consideration. The further away the target is, and the slower the missile, the longer it takes before impact.

 

That said, it IS possible the game DOES actually track movement and calculates the flight time of the missile based on its full path to catch up to the target. The reason sometimes is seems the missiles "teleport" and hit their targets is perhaps because missile locks and impacts are server-authoritative and our perception of their behavior is highly influenced by lag.

 

For the same reason we sometimes lose locks despite having the target clearly inside the locking circle, it can be that missile impacts are subject to lag and will hit their targets despite them being only halfway to their targets on our clients.

 

Either way, I have to agree that it seems like protorps hit much more reliably with the 100% speed boost, though I do think this is mostly because people have less time to trigger their lock breakers.

 

I've looked for the icon all the way until my torp disappears and never saw anything. Maybe something is not registering the way it should. Maybe you can only see the target's icon at a certain range, but something doesn't seem to be working correctly.