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Gameplay changing revelation about Missiles! Video included.


Drakkolich

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Hey guys so yesterday my team and I made a couple of new videos, we made them to explain how the animations on lasers and missiles work in GSF. However while doing some testing we found out something about missiles that we had no idea about!

 

The general consensus has always been that if you fly away from a missile that's in flight you'll have more time to try to evade that missile by using an ability and that if you flew towards the missile you'd have less time. However that is not the case AT ALL. Once the missile is fired it determines how long it will take to get to you and no matter in what direction you move, it will always take the exact same amount of time to reach you.

 

Here is the video showing how that works:

 

So what this means is if someone fires a missile at you, there's no reason to run to try to give yourself more time, you just keep playing normally and if your cooldown on your missile break comes back in time you can use it.

 

 

The second video we made isn't gameplay changing like the first, however it might still be useful for some people to explain what's going on when they're taking laser damage.

 

Here is the video showing how Laser animations work:

 

 

Hope this helps :)

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The general consensus has always been that if you fly away from a missile that's in flight you'll have more time to try to evade that missile by using an ability and that if you flew towards the missile you'd have less time. However that is not the case AT ALL. Once the missile is fired it determines how long it will take to get to you and no matter in what direction you move, it will always take the exact same amount of time to reach you.

 

Here is the video showing how that works:

 

So what this means is if someone fires a missile at you, there's no reason to run to try to give yourself more time, you just keep playing normally and if your cooldown on your missile break comes back in time you can use it.

 

What happens if you activate booster, switch power to F3, go full throttle, or any combo of the above, all of which will increase your speed relative to the speed you were traveling at the moment the missile launched?

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As mentioned in Drako's post & illustrated in the video, the time it takes for a missile to hit its target is constant based on its launch distance. It does not matter what you do once the missile is in flight, it will apply its damage at an exact time. Missile animation is purely flavour.
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What happens if you activate booster, switch power to F3, go full throttle, or any combo of the above, all of which will increase your speed relative to the speed you were traveling at the moment the missile launched?

 

I very much doubt it Phalczen but I can absolutely test if the speed of the ship firing the missile matters at all, that's going to be a very quick test. I'll try to get that done as soon as possible.

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I very much doubt it Phalczen but I can absolutely test if the speed of the ship firing the missile matters at all, that's going to be a very quick test. I'll try to get that done as soon as possible.

 

No, I meant is it still possible to outrun a missile? If the targeted victim can increase speed and outrun the missile?

 

As mentioned in Drako's post & illustrated in the video, the time it takes for a missile to hit its target is constant based on its launch distance. It does not matter what you do once the missile is in flight, it will apply its damage at an exact time. Missile animation is purely flavour.

 

So, I am capable of understanding vector analysis and tensor mathematics, so I comprehend what he wrote, and what we all assumed. I was asking for additional clarification.

 

Ship A (the target) moving in any vector with a component in the direction of ship B (the ship firing the missile) will have a relative velocity towards ship B higher than if it has no component. I mistook the statement from Drako regarding orientation and maneuvering of ship A towards ship B. Drako does not specifically mention acceleration of ship A, which occurs when you press W, hit F3, or hit spacebar.

 

However, in retrospect, I guess it always had to occur this way. In ground combat, let's say I am a Sage, and I use the Project ability to launch a rock at another player who starts at about 20 meters away and who is fleeing me. The game makes an accuracy check, and if I pass, the other player will be hit by the rock no matter where they run, even if its behind line of sight and even if they run out of 30m range and even if they curve back towards you. Sometimes you can even watch the blaster bolts or thrown lightsaber take a weird path as it chases your target. Since GSF is based on the same engine, I guess missiles work the same as a thrown lightsaber or Force-projected boulder, and do not obey the laws of physics.

Edited by phalczen
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No, I meant is it still possible to outrun a missile? If the targeted victim can increase speed and outrun the missile?

 

You CANNOT in any circumstance outrun a missile. In fact you can't even add time to how long it takes for it to catch you by running.

 

If you stand still at 10000m a slow Proton will hit you in 8 seconds.

 

If you Run when the Proton is fired at you from 10000m No matter how far or fast you run in ANY direction you will take the damage from the Proton in 8 seconds.

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In fact you can't even add time to how long it takes for it to catch you by running.

I see.

 

Well, you may not be able to buy yourself time for your missile break to come off cooldown by flying away from the firing ship, or accelerating. But there could still be some value in maneuvering away, because someone else my be trying to lock a missile on you, or the original firing ship may be preparing a second missile (like short cooldown missiles such as clusters or a type 2 strike switching secondaries.) Sometimes you just have to maneuver anyway so you don't barrel roll or power dive into an object.

 

But, it also means that if you are honing in on a target, lets say a roosted gunship you are setting up to piledrive, or even jousting the ship launching the missile, there is no need to break off your attack. As you said in your OP.

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No, I meant is it still possible to outrun a missile? If the targeted victim can increase speed and outrun the missile?

 

This has NEVER been possible. Nothing in this thread is about some recent change in GSF. Here's what has ALWAYS been known:

 

CorrectThing1- You cannot outrun a missile, ever. The missile will always hit you unless you get to a missile break. This has always been true, and known, even on a fast ship that moves faster than the missile can chase.

CorrectThing2- You cannot trick a missile into hitting another player, missile, or physical object. The missile will pass through all of these and go towards you.

CorrectThing3- Missiles that launch further away give you more time to use a break.

 

Here's what at least I had wrong, and I believe many of us:

WrongThing1- If you run away from a missile, you'll get a little more time to use a break.

WrongThing2- If you run towards a missile, you'll get less time to use a break.

 

Here's the new thing: The time is absolutely invariant with respect to your movement after launch. It's determined by initial positions as we thought, but there's no "server side missile" that obeys some slightly different inscrutable laws and eventually, upon time out, registers a hit; instead, it's simply a timer determined by "missile speed" and "missile distance" (and I think there's a constant launch time, but we have not quantified that) and when it runs out, you get struck.

 

 

But it has never ever been possible to outrun a missile. Not even the slowest proton with the fastest novadive plus tensor, never been doable, and I thought this was known well enough.

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But it has never ever been possible to outrun a missile. Not even the slowest proton with the fastest novadive plus tensor, never been doable, and I thought this was known well enough.

 

OK, so when I wrote "outrun a missile" what I meant was an assumption that it was possible to move away from the firing ship, extending the distance the missile had to travel to hit you, giving potentially a few seconds more for your missile break to come off cooldown. Just so we don't continue to argue about what is a moot point, I was not suggesting that it was ever possible to move fast enough for the missile to run out of fuel, although I can see why a reader might interpret my phrase as meaning that.

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I believe you're misinterpreting everyone.

 

We have stated repeatedly that:

[1] A missile in flight will apply damage to its target at a set amount of time predetermined by the distance between the target and the firing ship UPON launching of the missile. Increasing the distance between yourself and the missile or accelerating away from it does not change when the damage will be applied once the missile is fired.

[2] Increasing the distance between yourself and your assailant BEFORE the missile is fired will increase the constant time it takes the missile to damage you once it is fired.

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