Does anyone remember the guided missile from Descent 2 and 3? The idea was that the ship controls were temporarily transferred directly to the missile, leaving the ship vulnerable. Would such a weapon be useful in Vendetta?

The missile should have a somewhat longer lifespan, and it should be relatively slow. I'm not sure how much damage it should inflict, but since it is slow and avoidable, maybe a bit more damage would be justified (not nearly as much as the avalon).

Pirating - It might be unfair against newbies, but a profit-motivated pirate would probably go after more experienced traders (who would know enough to avoid guided missiles). And once engaged in a fight, the missile would be useless, so griefing with it would be limited.

Botting - It could be a good first strike weapon to weaken the tougher bots before engaging them. The current AI probably wouldn't know how to deal with this, but future bots might either try to avoid it or go after the person who fired it, since they would have to be within radar range.

I don't think it would be a particularly great weapon, but it would add some more variety. The advantage of manual control and possibly more firepower would probably be balanced by the fact that you're a sitting duck while piloting the missile.

Any thoughts?

for capital sized ships i think it would be great, (or multi-user ships) so instead of locking the ships controls, the "gunner" would be in control of the missle/torpedo and the pilot still maintain control. But for a single fighter it might be a bit to risky to leave your ship unattended.

"But for a single fighter it might be a bit to risky to leave your ship unattended."

That's the idea.

I hated that D2/D3 guided missle. I always disabled it.

/me guesses that Silent never played Descent 2 or 3. Good games, them--in fact, all my piloting skills, minus a few, come from playing Descent. (Not to mention my key assignments.)

Paedric, it came in real handy when fighting the last boss in D2.

hm. descent was (although it had MP) an SP game. i think a "guided missile" (yes, i used it, yes, i hated it) would only work if you had a copilot (like some fighter jets do). then again, if you had a copilot, you'd be talking military (no civilian would/should use the technology implied), and military hasn't really been working out so far.

plus, the guided missiles today are rather air-to-ground than air-to-air, since it's a bit more difficult to hit targets in full flight, especially if you can't look around whilst flying (why should a guided missile have such expensive things as a 360¡-camera?).
i suppose it wouldn't be much different for vendetta online, even less, since more abrupt evasive maneuvers are possible.

Heh. Like this one?

Step one: Get a teammate to chase you at regular speeds. (in arcade)
Step two: Boost away from the teammate.
Step three: Toggle flight modes and turn your ship to face your teammate.
Step four: Go back to arcade and boost full tilt at your teammate.
Step five: Your teammate (and possibly you) is sent flying.

Back ontopic, I can see this weapon being used as a sniper tool from a station by those who are at really high standings against those who are not so high.

we already have a sniper weapon, the rail gun. in my opinion we should not encourage sniping too much, lest we want to frustrate the users.

besides, the missile would appear as flashing yellow dot and let's not forget the "beep...beep..beep.beepbeeee". thus, no real "advantage of surprise" (as opposed to the rail gun) is given and if you wanted to take that away to facilitate the use, i say nay, for it'd be unfair.

How would it give the beeps toshiro? Missiles only beep if they're locked on to you, and I can't see who would do something as stupid as lock onto their target...

Agreed Rogue... this has the potential to be a great sniper tool. I'm sorry, but rails are not a sniper tool. A true sniper tool should not reveal the shooter hence, the range of a guided missile must be over 3km. While radar could pick up the missile at 3km, the target may not notice it. It's speed should be at least that of the slowest boost speed (160 - 180 m/s?) and it's damage must be total.

If implemented, this should be a very expensive weapon and require special licensing such as master assassin.

The guided in D3 was nothing compared to what it should have been. The Earthshaker on the other hand was a glorious weapon and my personal favorite on PXO (yes, I was a Shakerhead).

Heh. Time it just right, and the last boss in D2 could go down to just one of these...

alright. have the guy who's guiding the missile not lock on to the target. if by chance he loses the target and hits another guy (maybe you), destroying him, would you take it as lightly? "sorry, hit the wrong guy" -- i think not.
in my opinion player-guided missiles should be thought through _very_ carefully before implemented.
i just think the fact that the devs "nerfed" the rail gun speaks for itself.