Missile storms

Hi, I know this has been touched upon in the past but has anyone come up with
an effective defense against very large numbers of missiles?

I faced a fleet with two very large missile boats, each carrying 23 missiles.

Wave after wave of missiles pretty much chewed my fleet up despite having
fairly extensive PDAF and ADAF coverage.

Any ideas / option rules out there ?

> On Mon, 9 Dec 1996, Geoff Webb wrote:

High speed & maneuverability will beat any missile any day -- when
you're going faster than the missile, there's no way it can hit you.

One of my favorite ship designs is a thrust-8 cruiser with 3 "A" beams,
2 shields, and 3 PDAFS. It's expensive, but it has the maneuvering power to
stay out of a missile's path (and get behind the opponent) and the staying
power needed to attack a capital ship.

> On Mon, 9 Dec 1996, Geoff Webb wrote:

> Hi,
<snip>

Try splitting your fleet into escort sized ships, 1/2 PT (Pulse Torpedo)

and half beams. The higher maneuverability, thrust and increased number

of targets rapidly reduces the effectiveness of missile salvoes. If he's got
23 missiles per ship there's probably not much else on them and they

should be good targets for pulse torpedoes. Missile effectiveness is radically
reduced if you force the missiles to move before the
pre-plotted moves of the ships is revealed.  This will often force
attacking missiles to spread out trying to cover all the possibilities.

This is less effective with capital ships since their thrust and
maneuverability is lower but with escorts with thrust 6 or 8 moving
16-20
per turn you can effectively cut down the salvo to 1/4 the original
numbers that can possibly hit.

--Binhan

> Geoff wrote:

Yeouch!

> Any ideas / option rules out there ?

If your defenses are weak, keeping the ships at a distance and using erratic
maneuvers may help avoid some missiles. If you keep the ships moving fast and
change course often, your opponent might not be able to guess where your ships
might move.

> At 02:06 PM 12/9/96 -0500, you wrote:

Here's something I've been playing with...

Missles:

Anti-Ship Missles (Standard, EMP, and Needle)
Mass: 1 Point Cost: 3 Range: 54" note: lowered mass and cost because I felt so
guilty about what follows.

Missile Defenses:

Chaff Pack ("New Weapon"): Mass: 1 Cost: 1

The Chaff Pack is a one shot defensive weapon that does NO damage to potential
targets. Instead it confuses the guidance systems of incoming missiles. A ship
fires a Chaff Pack in the turn it is being attacked by missiles and on a roll
of 5 the missile heads for the chaff instead of the ship. The missile should
be moved another 6" forward to simulate it passing by the target ship. If the
missile has not run out of "fuel" it can aquire another target and if possible
attack it the next turn. On a roll of 6 the missile heads for the chaff and
detonates, doing no damage to the target ship. For an escort class ship,
firing two chaff packs will not significantly increase the effect of chaff.
The chaff fired affects all missles attacking the target ship that turn.
However, a defensive die roll must be made for each incoming missile.

Uneccessary complication: Cruisers must fire two Chaff Packs to provide
adequate coverage, Capital Ships 3, Mass 101-150 4, Mass 151-200 5, etc.

PDAF:
Destroys incoming missile on a roll of 5+ but through rear firing arc a
roll of 6+ is required.

ADAF:
Destroys ANY missile within 12" or a roll of 6+. However it cannot
aquire target missiles in the ships rear firing arc.

SubPack:
Destroys incoming missile on a roll of 6+. Fires through one arc.

C Battery:
Destroys any missile within 6" on a roll of 6+. No rear firing arc. This
is very generous to the C battery but if they can hit fighters why not
missiles.

ECM, Individual
Affects incoming missles only. On a roll of 4-5 missile loses target. On
roll of 6 the missile detonates prematurely doing NO damage to target ship.

ECM, Area Affect all missiles in area of affect,12" radius. On a roll of 5 or
6 attacking missiles lose their targets.

This could potentially add many more rolls and significantly slow a game.
However, if you actually get someone to agree to these options, if nothing
else, he'll stop using missles just to speed the game:)

Hi, I know this has been touched upon in the past but has anyone come up with
an effective defense against very large numbers of missiles?

I faced a fleet with two very large missile boats, each carrying 23 missiles.

Wave after wave of missiles pretty much chewed my fleet up despite having
fairly extensive PDAF and ADAF coverage.

Any ideas / option rules out there ?

Geoff.