Oolite Bulletins

Are hardened missiles worth the money? Which ships can they kill that ordinary missiles cannot?

It depends on how much money you have: if you're counting every credit, then it's probably best to stick with ordinary missiles (assuming that - like me - you don't use missiles very much). If you've got a bit of spare cash though, then they're definitely worth it. There's no difference in performance or yield, but whereas an ECM burst will definitely blow up an ordinary missile, in most instances it won't blow up a hardhead, making much more likely that your missile will reach its target (or at the very least, keep on chasing it until it runs out of fuel).

ninja'd

a regular missile has an extremely small % of hitting the target if the target is equipped with ECM.
A hardened missile increases the % of getting to the target somewhat.. they can still be defeated if multi-ECM broadcasts come from the target. Otherwise they are regular missiles in terms of damage.
Are they worth the money? I purchase missiles as a last resort... get a good laser and learn to use it . Yes, a laser can destroy a missile with practice hence the last resort of use.

I use hardheads - but I use them to buy time in a tight spot, not to kill ships. They'll usually force a bandit to turn away and run.

Cody wrote:

I use hardheads - but I use them to buy time in a tight spot, not to kill ships. They'll usually force a bandit to turn away and run.

Likewise.. hardheads help keep henchmen occupied while I deal with the mark when doing a Random Hits job.

If you want to reduce the costs, try getting a Missile Machine (part of the  Armoury OXP). It takes up one pylon, but uses 1 TC of Radioactives, 1 TC of Alloys, and 1 TC of Computers (and 0.1 LY of your fuel), to make 3 hardheads.. it requires about 60 seconds to create a set of 3 missiles.. if you don't have 3 empty pylons available, the excess missiles will not be produced, though the usual quantity of materials will still be used up. Depending on how/where you get the raw materials, it averages out at about half the cost of regular hardheads. (without the computers, it can also make standard missiles)

The usual loadout on my Pitviper Black Widow, with its' 12TC cargo space and 9 pylons, is 4TC each of Radioactives, Alloys and Computers, plus a Missile Machine, giving me the capacity for 20 hardheads, in total. Missiles aren't my preferred weapon, (I like close-range dogfights) but if called for, I'll use them freely..