Cruiser Rocket Launcher

I mounted a pair of rocket launchers on my latest design and am completely underwhelmed by the result.

I had expected to see salvos of dumb-fire projectiles ripping into a target, if they hit, rapid fire spamming style. What I seemed to get was a ‘dirty’ sidewinder style semi-homing projectile/missile type thingie. They didn’t appear to hit or miss any more than any other projectile weapon - missile or plasma - and like missiles and plasma; seem to be only a single projectile.

My thoughts are that the Rocket Launcher should be a short range, low to medium damage, rapid fire/high fire rate weapon that is most effective when ships move within the minimum distances of other weapons ie overlapping shields separation distance as seems to happen when Keep Moving Order is active and the number of fighting ships is down to a handful. I’ve had one battle where the fighting has actually stopped for a short time because the ships were too close to each other…my idea of a rocket launcher would have had value in this situation rather than what I got.

Does this fit the bill more?

[code][config]
unlockcost = 0
lockable = 0
armour_penetration = 44
category = “WEAPONS”
classname = “SIM_MissileModule”
cost = 139
crew_required = 15
damage = 14
decoy_release_range = 550
description = “Rapid firing rocket tubes, but the rockets have no guidance system onboard, so they are completely dumbfire.”
fire_interval = 350
flareuvid = 1
fuel = 1900
guiname = “Cruiser Dumbfire Rocket Launcher”
has_decoys = 0
has_flare = 1
hitpoints = 110
icon = turret
min_range = 340
max_range = 750
missilelength = 4.0
missilespeed = 0.2
missilewidth = 2.0
name = “MOD cruiser dumbfire rockets”
powerconsumed = 2
shield_penetration = 52
size = “CRUISER”
sound = data/sounds/missile_launch.ogg
soundvolume = 1.0
tracking_speed = 0.6
trail_fade_time = 1000
turnspeed = 0.0
turret_sprite = “turret_miss_v1”
turretsize = 12.0
warhead = EXPLOSIVE
weight = 120
slot_type = TURRET

[dataitems]
0 = cost,DECIMAL
1 = weight,DECIMAL
2 = hitpoints,DECIMAL
3 = powerconsumed,DECIMAL
4 = max_range,DECIMAL
5 = damage,DECIMAL
6 = fire_interval,INTEGER
7 = tracking_speed,DECIMAL
8 = shield_penetration,DECIMAL
9 = armour_penetration,DECIMAL
10 = crew_required,INTEGER
11 = min_range,DECIMAL
12 = has_decoys,BOOL
13 = missilespeed,DECIMAL
[/code]

You may wish to reduce the Fuel value quite significantly. With a max range of 750, any rocket that misses will take a good while to fly out to 1900, and the turret can’t fire again while it still has the original rocket in the air, even if it missed. Given they’re completely unguided, a fuel value of around 900 would seem appropriate.

I agree with the Fuel assessment and have greatly reduced at as part of playing around.

This is what I’ve ended up with, which is a mix of Hyperkultra post, Fighter Rockets and Frigate Small Laser modules. It sort of works but still isn’t what I was hoping to get. The issue with this Rocket setup is that its basically just an unguided missile. I was looking more for a Rocket Barrage sort of thing - many projectiles moving very fast and doing fairly little damage individually. Even the Turret sprite has multiple warheads showing, I just want to be able to fire all of them in a single barrage then have a reload pause and then fire again. I tried playing around with decoys to get the ‘visual effect’ of a barrage, but I have found and deployment range less than 150 and the decoys won’t deploy.

[code][config]
unlockcost = 0
lockable = 0
armour_penetration = 25
category = “WEAPONS”
classname = “SIM_MissileModule”
cost = 94
crew_required = 12
damage = 14
decoy_release_range = 150
description = “Rapid firing rocket tubes, but the rockets have no guidance system onboard, so they are completely dumbfire.”
fire_interval = 280
flareuvid = 1
fuel = 600
guiname = “Cruiser Dumbfire Rocket Launcher”
has_decoys = 0
has_flare = 0
has_splines = 1
hitpoints = 95
icon = turret
min_range = 65
max_range = 450
missilelength = 4.0
missilespeed = 1.0
missilewidth = 2.0
name = “cruiser dumbfire rocket”
powerconsumed = 4
shield_penetration = 20
size = “CRUISER”
sound = data/sounds/missile_launch.ogg
soundpriority = 0.25
soundvolume = 0.23
tracking_speed = 0.6
turnspeed = 0.0
turret_sprite = “turret_miss_v2”
turretsize = 11.0
warhead = EXPLOSIVE
weight = 122
slot_type = TURRET

[dataitems]
0 = cost,DECIMAL
1 = weight,DECIMAL
2 = hitpoints,DECIMAL
3 = powerconsumed,DECIMAL
4 = max_range,DECIMAL
5 = damage,DECIMAL
6 = fire_interval,INTEGER
7 = tracking_speed,DECIMAL
8 = shield_penetration,DECIMAL
9 = armour_penetration,DECIMAL
10 = crew_required,INTEGER
11 = min_range,DECIMAL
12 = has_decoys,BOOL
13 = missilespeed,DECIMAL
[/code]