| From: | Paul Jonathan Adam <Paul@********.DEMON.CO.UK> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: How to handle missiles? |
| Date: | Fri, 1 Sep 1995 22:10:53 GMT |
> How does you handle rockets/missile on long ranges? Do they hit instantly
> or need they time to reach the target kind of grenades (exploding 5 turns
> later)?
> Just curious. I hope to see some sitution like this
> Gunner: "Incoming missile, incoming missile"
> Pilot : "let's shake it ..."
Air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles average about Mach 1.5 to Mach 4.5
- call it 500 to 1,500 metres a second, or 1,500 to 4,500 metres in a
combat turn. For a missile such as Starstreak, time-of-flight is about
two seconds to maximum range. "Incoming missile, incomi"WHAAAAAMM!!!!
Surface-to-surface missiles such as TOW and MILAN fly rather slower,
(faster means more motor and less warhead), taking about 10-20 seconds per
kilometre. You don't have much time to dodge a 500km/h missile when your
top speed in a tank is a tenth of that, though... and even in a car doing
200-250kph, your manoeverability is rather limited.
Also, most pilots hit by short-range SAMs such as SA-7 and SA-16 were
unaware of the attack - the missile approaches from behind and below,
where you have very little visibility.
The main countermeasure in an aircraft is to SEE IT COMING! If you can see
it you can evade it. Manoevre plus expendables (chaff and flares) will
let you dodge the first missile. The problem is that a very effective
tactic is to fire a pair of missiles, several seconds apart: you burn off
energy avoiding the first, and are left wide open to the second.
Also, some weapons (e.g. RBS.70, Starstreak, Javelin, Rapier, Roland)
use optical or EO guidance: semi-active laser homing ("designated target"),
laser-beam riding (so the target popping smoke probably won't help),
or optical command-to-line-of-sight (SACLOS) guidance: keep the crosshairs
on the target and BLAM! In all three cases, jamming is difficult to
impossible.
For ground vehicles your problem is different: you don't have time or
speed to dodge (the third dimension helps a lot for aircraft) and the
missile is generally command-guided, so expendable decoys are pointless.
Popping smoke helps: the Israelis point out that the best argument is
return fire. An antitank missile takes 15 seconds per kilometre: bullets
take one second per kilometre. A dead (or diving for cover) gunner guides
no missile. Hence the proliferation of roof-mounted MGs on Israeli tanks,
to suppress RPG and Sagger crews.
I'm ignoring medium and long-range SAMs (Patriot, SA-6, et al) since not
many campaigns routinely feature them. Details on request, though :)
Basically, Shadowrun subsumes all of this into ECM/ECCM, missile Intelligence,
gunnery skill and Control Pool. While you can get more complicated, I would
suggest reading up on how it's done today and writing your own rules once
you understand the principles involved.
--
"When you have shot and killed a man, you have defined your attitude towards
him. You have offered a definite answer to a definite problem. For better
or for worse, you have acted decisively.
In fact, the next move is up to him." <R.A. Lafferty>
Paul J. Adam paul@********.demon.co.uk
