Suddenly blown up

[Cmdr James]

The thing that matters is if the missile detonates close to the ship, or makes impact. If you have contact then you take momentum damage which can be huge if you hit head on.

[Eric Walch]

The thing that matters is if the missile detonates close to the ship, or makes impact. If you have contact then you take momentum damage which can be huge if you hit head on.

Maybe interesting in this context: Since 1.74, Oolites missiles blow up with a slight delay when ECMed. Some oxp missiles also do.
For the plain missiles I can say that blow-up is delayed, but they are still defused immediately on ECM like they used to. However, sometimes the inactivated missile still collides with the player before it can blow up and does some impact damage.

[Switeck]

Having caught cargo canisters in the face at varying speeds, I can say you've got to be insanely damaged to being with and insanely unlucky to have one kill you. At full speed they only do maybe 10% damage to my shield (with shield booster and military shielding on a Cobra 3.) Faster than that with a low framerate they'll likely pass through your ship.

[Cmdr Wyvern]

Hesperus once blew up a pirate Sidewinder by slingshotting a container of food at it. Talk about last meals...

In Oolite, moving objects with enough speed and mass behind them do impart kinetic damage that can be lethal.

[mcarans]

Rather surprisingly, it happened again. The thing is the ship I was blown up in is much better than what I had before. It is a Python ET Special with shield boosters.

I destroyed the pirate, but he fired a missile as he died. I ecmed a couple of times but it did not destroy the missile. Next thing I knew - Game Over.

[maik]

Must have been a hard head... If the light blue missile dot stays around after you hit ECM you know it's one of them. When I encounter those, I fuel inject away until it self destructs, just an injector boost here and there so that it doesn't catch up, with my view port set to aft view so I can still target my prey. This seems to work every time so far.

[Cmdr Wyvern]

I destroyed the pirate, but he fired a missile as he died. I ecmed a couple of times but it did not destroy the missile. Next thing I knew - Game Over.

To us seasoned aces, that isn't surprising. The pirate got off a hardhead on your weak shield, or a nuke.
Nukes are slow missiles, but ECM resistant, and generally one-shot lethal to Python class freighters. You can outrun a nuke with injectors.

Seriously, invest in the countermeasure kit mentioned earlier, or you'll be pressing space often.

[Dave McRoss]

macarans, you can also use this, together with injectors.: http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Automatic_Chaff_System
It's cheap and useful.

[mcarans]

Ok I will try that. Thanks for the advice. I have the injectors.

I have found what I regard as a cheat way of not being destroyed by pirates or their missiles. If you accelerate time to maximum, nothing seems to be able to lock on to you. I've had a thargoid warship and drones follow me all the way to the station when I was in a slow uanarmed Porcupine. This method worked previously in Frontier First Encounters.

Seriously, invest in the countermeasure kit mentioned earlier, or you'll be pressing space often.

Are you (also) referring to http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Automatic_Chaff_System ?

[Cmdr Wyvern]

Yup, auto-chaff was one of the gadgets I mentioned. It can be a buttsaver, as in luring most of the ECM-proofed warheads off your butt.
But, always be prepared to dodge those missiles that aren't spoofed.

[Dave McRoss]

Yep, nothing can save you from Murphy.

[Arexack_Heretic]

1- ECM. (once or twice)
2- inject AWAY!
if low on fuel,
3- inject at right angles when missile is quite close, this will make it miss and waste time on turning.
4- get missile tailing you, slow down, drop cannisters, increase speed. do not jink.
(not advisable with live pirates nearby, they will shoot you, but even worse they will scoop your cargo/chaff!)

Be frugal with your mil-laser and esp ECM use, don't ecm like wild, one shot uses almost an entire energy bank.
When your shields are down, damage is directly diverted, which takes energy.
With energy depleted, one hit will vaporise your ass.

Also nothing is more frustrating than being on a bogey's six and not being able to fire because of overheating...except for trumbles on the reticule/radar.

[mcarans]

Also nothing is more frustrating than being on a bogey's six and not being able to fire because of overheating...except for trumbles on the reticule/radar.

[mcarans]

I've found that the best tactic with pirates is to pretend to run away, keep them at a great distance and snipe them with rear lasers.

Then if they fire a missile that can't be ECMed, it seems that with shield boosters, if you are running away at max speed, you won't sustain fatal damage.

[Commander McLane]

I've found that the best tactic with pirates is to pretend to run away, keep them at a great distance and snipe them with rear lasers.

This is a well-known standard tactic known as the "Monty Python".

Then if they fire a missile that can't be ECMed, it seems that with shield boosters, if you are running away at max speed, you won't sustain fatal damage.

Yes, of course, as we have often explained that there is a cinetic component to missile damage, meaning: the greater the speed difference between you and the missile, the greater the damage. It is the same as with your car on the highway. If you are driving with 130 and touch the car in front of you that drives with 125, there won't be much impact damage, because relative to him you're only driving with a speed of 5. However, if you're driving 130 and hit somebody who drives with 125 in the opposite direction, you have a relative speed of 255 and are dead.