Oolite Bulletins

Which ships can be destroyed by:
1. Ordinary missiles; and
2. Hardened missiles

Pretty much anything, provided it doesn't have an ECM, in which case regular missiles would be wasted. Hard-heads are, of course, ECM resistant so will normally get through (but not always!), and a ship with injectors will normally be able to out-run any missile.
Thargoids have a superior ECM which can disable even hard-heads.

Thargoids also have a chance of being able to shoot the missile down using their turret laser.

Quite a few ships are sufficiently big or well-shielded that a single missile won't be enough to destroy an undamaged ship, though it'll probably convince them to flee.

There are also kinetic damage effects to take into account..depending on the relative vectors and velocities involved, a given missile will do more or less damage to a given ship. So a "tail-chaser" will do considerably less damage than one involved in a high-speed head-on collision.

Diziet Sma wrote:

There are also kinetic damage effects to take into account..depending on the relative vectors and velocities involved, a given missile will do more or less damage to a given ship. So a "tail-chaser" will do considerably less damage than one involved in a high-speed head-on collision.

<nods> The difference between "Thunk!" and "BOOM!" can be a narrow one indeed...

Ranthe wrote:

Diziet Sma wrote:

There are also kinetic damage effects to take into account..depending on the relative vectors and velocities involved, a given missile will do more or less damage to a given ship. So a "tail-chaser" will do considerably less damage than one involved in a high-speed head-on collision.

<nods> The difference between "Thunk!" and "BOOM!" can be a narrow one indeed...

Try a Nexus Ultimate missile sometime.. four larger than standard, injector-equipped warheads, in a single missile.. it's the Oolite version of a MIRV ICBM. Between the large warheads and the kinetic advantage of the injectors, plus the fact that the injectors get the warheads closer to the target before detonation (yet another factor in damage calculations, btw), the damage potential is huge.. I've taken out a Kiota station with just one of 'em..

Also, even if they have injectors or ecm, some ships are real chickens when it comes to missiles. I've scared off interceptors with a plain ol' missile, then tore out of there before they came back and got me back in mass-lock.