question: density

[poesel]

IIRC the turrets of old had ammo that had a density of one and thus weren't affected by gravity. I've tried that for normal ammo to no effect.

What I wanted to do is to create a dumbfire missile. So I need a flat trajectory and a slow ammo velocity. But then the range is very short. Of course - a bullet has no propulsion in flight. But a missile has. So I thought I could circumvent that with density.

So what can I do?

As a side note: the <Density> tag is in the Wiki (bravo for that) but what does that mean:

'...As we move toward the SpeedStep implementation...'

?

[Dark_au]

missiles don't have power in flight. a rocket motor burns out within seconds less in the case of a BM-21. After that is just a finned ballistic object.

Thats why FFARs have such a short range.

[Mark K Nelson]

Many missles have boost/sustain motors although the sustain is often not very long - neither is the missle flight! The M-47 (FGM-77) Dragon use(d) short duration steering motors firing at an angle to the rear.

I wish I could find video - maybe somebody else here will have better luck.

Here's some pics: Dragon Data

The steering/boost motors fire as the missle spins to steer but also give the missle a vertical bump. It kind of hops through the air to its target.

That sort of steering would probably work in a vacume. (Vacuum to you southerners. Heh.)

[Dark_au]

I was working under the assumption that this was for the katyusha / FFar type concept. They burn all of their fuel very quickly and then are just a ballistic object.

[Mark K Nelson]

Er... yeah... you're correct. That's what he meant by "Dumbfire". oops.

[ClaytoniousRex]

Poesel, the code already does what you need but unfortunately there's currently no way for you to get at it from the XML. You need a couple of new tags that we don't have right now. I'll drop you a line when they're ready.

[poesel]

Aha, learned something new. Thanks for that. Still some questions:

Given the same circumstances and the same velocities (disregard the burn phase for the missile), the missile would fly further because of its aerodynamic properties. Right?

About what velocities do we speak? DT has AP at 3000 and HEAT/HE at 1500, the medium mortar at 500. So would 500 be ok (with a flat trajectory)?

What I get from the description of the Nebelwerfer[1] the missiles left a trail of smoke behind them that would give away the position of the weapon (I like that). Do missiles smoke after the burn phase or was that a speciality of the Nebelwerfer?

And for Clay:

Thank you! Would it be too much to ask for two more?

1) <ShotDelay> - time between when the trigger is pressed and the shot is actually released

2) <MultiShotDelay> - time between two shots in a Multishot

1) would be to simulate a slow weapon or loading/charging time

2) the same for multiple shots (to clarify: I don't mean bursts, its for <ShotsPerFire>. This is currently ~300ms (fixed) and probably corresponds to the 30Hz server clock. I don't want to be faster, I want to be slower)

[1] I'm going to model this after the Nebelwerfer and not the Katjuscha because (currently) DT originates all shells/missiles from one point (usually the barrel). The Nebelwerfer has the barrels in a circle while the Katjuscha has them on a line. So the circular design gives a better illusion.

[Mark K Nelson]

Apparantly the real Nebelwerfer had a top velocity of around 340m/s or thereabouts. 500 seems suitably futuristic (and would help boost the range to about the limits of visibility.)

"Given the same circumstances..." Yes. Except in a vacume. There only gravity and velocity would have effect.

As for all the rockets coming out of the same place. Why not model it along the lines of a WWII Mk.51 automatic rocket launcher shown here.

You've probably seen them or similar launchers in WWII invasion footage.

They had a stack of rockets that dropped down into a launch position at the bottom of the launcher.

No reason to think that the DropTeams couldn't push the rockets up from below or in from the side.

[poesel]

With 500m/s you get a range of about 4km (on Hopewell). That range seems ok for me.

Unfortunatly you can't see the launcher very good on those pictures and I haven't found a better one.

But I'll go with that feeder principle as it solves another problem: the launcher is IMHO still too good (even with reduced ammo).

I'll make a launcher 'block'. The launcher will only be able to pivot around y (up and down). That should make it sufficently difficult to aim.

For the record, heres the Nebelwerfer:

Nebelwerfer

Unzip in Mod directory. Look for the Paladin NW.

The settings for the ammo will stay for the next iteration. Btw, the smoke trail effect looks REALLY cool.