flasche: So what's your opinion? Don't change homing because it's already a good weapon which is as good as the other missiles. Then why most players don't like homing and most commanders never research it. Reducing the lock on time won't change that much at homing. If you are close to your target, you don't feel the difference. Only at max. distance especially new players won't get frustrated because they have to wait forever till the lock on target. And there are few maps and situations, where you can really use the max. distance.
imo you really shouldnt be able to score 95% hits over a couple of thousand gameunits - at least not if you AND your enemy are moving - and this IS possible with homing. especially on maps like isle, duststorm and thelike ... unless you can aim with UMLs i think homing is the best missile you can get for your money. its just in the wrong tree for NF since superlights aint super anymore :cry:
This should be a testimony to why flasche (and people like him) should never contribute to these kinds of threads, for obvious reasons.
A couple thousand units is just a couple barracks-length. I can do that with the better cannons on roughly even ground, especially targetting an NF heavy (how can you miss a rolling barn?)*. You can get fairly good hit rates with HEMG as well. Missiles are an issue just because they're so slow that you can easily see them, judge their direction, and change your own before they hit. And frankly, anyone who realizes you have homing and doesn't either close the distance or dodge behind cover deserves to get a face full of homing missiles. In fact, they probably deserve worse. *Probably more like 80-90%, truthfully. By the time you've fired 20 cannon shots either somebody should have retreated or you're in a close range clusterfuck and spamming like hell.
sigh.... guided is categorically superior to homing. They are next to each other in research. guided has better range (lockon is actually quite limited) and you must wait a ridiculous amount of time to lock if you want to hit at a distance (not to mention the potential to instantly break lock due to terrain changes). Obviously they can be blindfired and are pretty accurate against stationary targets when used in this fashion, but if you use them like that they are much worse than UML and in either case still have worse dps than guided. this weapon has no purpose right now, period. it's next to a superior missile in the tech tree. homing is fun and lulzy to use on light tanks but there are far better choices and you'll have to research a better dps weapon to use on heavies anyway. but then, this is all really common knowledge. which is why the ad hom was valid in the first place. god i don't know why i'm sitting here writing this, everyone who matters already knows all of this about homing.
Plasma always had a place in my heart but, the way its implemented just sucks. Ya that blue flamey explosion rocks too. I thought something like moderate damage to most armors but, rapes hull would be good for plasma.
Some additional suggestions for homing: Combine research for guided and homing. Guided costs=150, Time = 60 Homing costs=150, Time = 60 New Guided+Homing costs = 300, Time = 90 Reduce cycle time for Homing and Upg. Homing. Also reduce reload time for salvo homing Homing cylce time old=2 sec. --> new= 1.5 sec. Upg. Homing cycle time old = 3 sec. --> new= 2.5 sec. Salvo Homing reload time old = 5 sec. --> new = 4 sec. Fixed table to compare values. New homing is marked with * Time to do 2000 damage (inclusive reloads): Std. Canon... hits=50 reloads=1 totalTime=68,20 IMP Std Canon hits=40 reloads=1 totalTime=54,20 Ranged Canon. hits=22 reloads=0 totalTime=42,00 HE Canon..... hits=22 reloads=0 totalTime=52,50 Plasma Canon. hits=23 reloads=0 totalTime=44,00 Rail Gun..... hits=40 reloads=0 totalTime=31,20 HE MG........ hits=134 reloads=4 totalTime=128,50 DU MG........ hits=250 reloads=1 totalTime=55,60 DU HMG....... hits=200 reloads=1 totalTime=43,64 Standard ML.. hits=50 reloads=12 totalTime=80,40 Upgraded ML.. hits=27 reloads=4 totalTime=37,20 Salvo ML..... hits=58 reloads=14 totalTime=42,00 HIT Missile.. hits=10 reloads=1 totalTime=92,00 Guided ML.... hits=29 reloads=7 totalTime=42,00 Upg.Guided ML hits=27 reloads=6 totalTime=60,00 Homing....... hits=29 reloads=4 totalTime=80,00 Upg. Homing.. hits=24 reloads=3 totalTime=87,00 Salvo Homing. hits=50 reloads=12 totalTime=60,00 *Homing...... hits=29 reloads=4 totalTime=68,00 *Upg. Homing. hits=24 reloads=3 totalTime=77,00 *Salvo Homing hits=50 reloads=12 totalTime=48,00 I know that it's difficult to compare plain values. But every experienced player should know how to evaluate the complete weapon.
Probably not recommended. An extra 30 seconds of research time so you can get a substandard weapon alongside guided isn't going to win many favors. Not to mention it's something of an Empires theme that the commander chooses a specific design of tank to research, and you're stuck with the strengths and weaknesses of those choices until heavies are done and your team can afford to broaden its horizons. As far as damage goes... Are YOU satisfied with it doing a damage level equal to Std. Cannon? As a player, how much damage it does isn't of concern to me... I'll just use whatever is most effective and available at the time, and let the commander know just how much he sucks when I can't kill an enemy tank.
Just a small detail; I'd refrain from increasing the ammo count on anything that is homing and salvo. Because if you make the weapon too good it will be used frequently. And you know... homing missiles get constant location and movement update from the server. It could become lag hell if you have 10 tanks using homing salvo, especially since the amount of shots in the salvo doesn't matter much. Usually all hit or none it.
tl;dr i can't see your point. homing should do less damage than other weapons because you do not need to aim it or have any skill at all, while when using other weapons you actually have to use some brains also its an open map weapon ,and there it does just fine however i agree on fixing the locking-on related bugs
