Oolite Bulletins

I keep getting blow out of space by pesky hardened missiles, usually after blasting the miscreant who launched the thing just before he died. How do I stop the things blowing me apart, obviously ECM doesn't do anything, what should I do?

ECM still has a small chance of destroying hardened missiles. Use it a number of times and eventually you will succeed. Then there is the option of just fleeing from the missile. Using injectors, you are faster than the missile. Eventually it explodes. Without injectors, try evading the missile a good as you can. And lastly, if you have the cloaking device, turn it on and off, even quickly, and the missile will loose its target and also explode.

Missile don't actually hit the ship, but explode near it, so if you are moving away from it at the moment of detonation, damage can be minimised. If you can't use injectors, fly away from the missile and just as it's about to hit you, pitch and roll a lot. I recently had a stock Cobra 3 (no shield boosters or energy units) survive a missile strike although it did take out the rear shield and two energy banks.

Or try coming to a dead stop and hitting the missile with your laser... it can be done!

If you decide to follow El Viejo's advice above, note that the "target nearest incoming missile" ("T") key is there to assist you. Pressing "T" will locate the incoming missile nearest to your ship and switch targets from whatever you are targeting at that moment to the missile itself. You may just get that extra second or two to find where the missile is coming from and point your lasers to it in time before it hits.

Fuel injectors and ECM should be priority upgrades for the starting Commander; get injectors first.

Later on up the career when you have the creds stacked up, OXP systems such as AMS and Missile Spoof can make hard missiles less of a headache.

cheers food for thought, I have injectors and ECM but I'm only up to average, I'm sure Elite missiles were never that good.

Missiles in Oolite are about 4 times as devastating as missiles in Elite.

Cheers,

Drew.

cloaking device - every missile looses lock and self destructs when activated.

Also, i have an OXP which launches a chaff cloud which is generally effective.

If there's a handy station or asteroid around...hide behind it. Let them take the missile hit instead.

Killing an enemy from long range gives you FAR more time to deal with any missiles they fire. In a close-in knife-fight or head-on attack, a missile can hit you in less than 1 second of the moment it's fired.

Vvlad wrote:

I keep getting blow out of space by pesky hardened missiles, usually after blasting the miscreant who launched the thing just before he died. How do I stop the things blowing me apart, obviously ECM doesn't do anything, what should I do?

I have some food for you to chew on. Perhaps your combat style is to blame for getting tagged by a missile fired at you just before your target perished. From the sounds of it you are firing at ships head to head at close range. Firing missiles will happen automatically in most cases. Solution: dogfight. Get behind close range ships first so when you take them down the missile fires away from you and you have time then to take corrective action like hitting the ECM and using injectors to bug out if the missile was a hardhead. A little strategy can go a long way here.

I've got in the habit of automatically moving my finger over the ECM key when I'm close to finishing an opponent off. Takes much less time to hit it when you expect to be doing it anyway! Won't help you much with hardheads, but 'tis useful against standard ones!

It depends on what I'm up against whether I take them head on or get in behind some things can pop way before they are close up. I think a change of tactics is needed for when they get close in. I have found wearing head phones really helps when in a battle, makes it easier to hear a laser strike to avoid over heating. I have mapped a key on my pad to EMC now so I don't have to look for it.