Will missiles take terrain into account?

While playing Forged Alliance yesterday [megalith ftw!], there are these tactical missile launchers that build misiles, however they fly in a straight line which makes shooting objects behind an high mountain fairly pointless sometimes.

Since this is the far flung future, I personally would prefer to see some guidance systems that allow the missiles to go AROUND a mountain to hit something on it backside. This is just for things like cruise missiles etc.

Maybe it has it's reason why missiles hit hills and such in SupCom? Thats natural cover for the unit targeted.

The problem with giving TMLs any form of intelligence is that you'd have to nerf them, they were strong powerful weapons, but if they start going around obstacles and/or tracking targets you'd have to massively reduce their effectiveness.

Mike

I think this starts to get into one of those realism vs. gameplay scenarios. If we make munitions as smart as they are in RL, we're either going to redefine gameplay or need a whole lot of new counters.

Tactical missiles get terrain avoidance, then you need mobile tactile missile defenses or really weak missiles. But then why are my SAMs so stupid and don't pick new targets, or is leading your shots so hard.

Also, from an implementation standpoint, the smarter your munitions, the less you can have before crashing your server.

It is true that there may be a reason for these things such as allowing cover but would also mean that people end up not using those weapon systems as they are unreliable for instance.

Missiles can track aircraft in the air for instance in TA, im not sure how much those slowed down TA though. Supreme Commander also has buildable missile defences too. Im not against using missiles as a pure bombardment weapon really, but surely something like a cannon would be much more preferable for bombardment itself [if lacking possible range].

Of course shooting missiles from space could end up making some points moot.

I agree with the basic balance problem. However, it would be aggravating (and currently is in the similar implementations) to fire a tactical missile and have it hit a hill without realizing this would happen beforehand. If they have fixed simple flight paths, I at least want it to check for and warn me of terrain collisions on that flight path before I hit the big red button.

I had a similar problem in a FA game last night (against the computer). The enemy kept parking on the backside of a hill where my defenses couldn't reach.

One solution could be to alter the range display when constructing the unit. Right now when you place it, you get a big bright circle showing range. But if it calculated terrain on the fly and shaded all reachable terrain, it would be a great improvement.

Not sure if its possible from a technical standpoint. Seems like it would be a lot of calculation.

If terrain is static, it could be calculated just once for each TML built. A simpler solution that also saves time while working for non-static terrain is to have it calculated on-the-fly when you are designating a target, and then be reflected in a change in the targeting reticle. This would tell you whether your current target location is valid, but not where a valid location is. You'd have to sweep the mouse around to find what works.

This wouldn't be any more costly to compute than any other projectile, since they all have to plot a path and check for terrain collisions too.

you want to not show the area without sweeping it with the cursor for saving calculation power? Would it be that a ressource intensive process to show the whole area at once as propsoed by theavatarofwar?

By "simpler" I didn't necessarily mean "better". I meant it as a mix of "less CPU-heavy and easier to code". But gameplay matters the most, if it's not too hard to code or compute.

It would also depend on target height. so there will be a difference between low and tall units.

I propose making the TML building actually a giant robot with a giant golf club. If you want to curve your missiles around mountains, you just put more spin on the ball. This will add Interesting Tactical Depth to the game.

I see what you're doing here, and it's hilarious.

I liked the TMLs exactly as they were in FA, they were well balanced, powerful but reliant on the player to fill their potential.

Also TMD was far from ineffective if you ask me I just think a lot of people never built them properly.

You can add all the little tricks and stuff you want, just realize that the resulting unit/weapon won't be a TML anymore.

Mike

Gotta remember that -to date- there are no plans for shields in this game either. It's going to make both arty and TMLs a lot more dangerous as it is. Particularly arty as there is no arty defence that I know of apart from shields.

Conceptually a TMD-style intercept defence for arty should work just fine.

Going over or around hills/mountains should count against the missiles range/fuel.

Perhaps a giant robot with a big table tennis bat?

Or a laser... whatever works.

Makes more sense than a shield and is more awesome by virtue of 'laser'. Win-Win.
How did the lore say shields work anyway? Where do the bolts/shells go?

I was hoping for giant flies that grab the shells and carry them to your opponents base, where he has giant flies waiting, then we can build giant flyswatter experimentals, it'll add a whole new dimension to the game!