Request Turn-Yourself-Into-A-Guided-Missile MFD

[quantum1423]

No no no, I meant that I eyeballed an angular velocity of zero before attempting an AAMissile intercept.

I'd like an MFD which will drive your ship towards a target, assuming atmospheric effects. Basically, all the MFD does is madly point the focused ship's nose at the target (which usually works in the atmosphere) and then explode the ship when it gets within range.

 

[Urwumpe]

I'd like an MFD which will drive your ship towards a target, assuming atmospheric effects. Basically, all the MFD does is madly point the focused ship's nose at the target (which usually works in the atmosphere) and then explode the ship when it gets within range.

That guidance requires a lot of acceleration to work properly, the state of the art is proportional guidance since the 1950s. you null angular motion of the target by overshooting a bit. does not require full knowledge of the target trajectory to follow a very energy efficient trajectory.

The next better guidance scheme is command guidance, which calculates the predicted intercept point, if position and velocity of the target are known.

Both can be done well without a new MFD, except the flying. And for flying a really powerful vessel correctly, you need usually a customized autopilot function, since you can't provide a general autopilot that is both stable and agile for a wide range of vessels.

 

[Ragtag]

I know it's an old post but......

I think that people are missing the point here. What I want is something to intercept ICBMs in the descent phase. Like the Patriot missile on steroids.

RTF Seek can do this. It was designed to help control flight when using the RTF or really any warp drive. The RTF Seeker missiles will also do some of what you want, seek to a target and blow it up, but I've never tried to use them in atmo. They work pretty well in space and use an adaptive warp drive to get around all those troublesome orbital dynamics issues.:lol:

 

[Tommy]

This is a lot harder than simply pointing at the target and accelerating. You can't point at where the target is - because it won't be there by the time you get there. You have to anticipate - predict the impact point based on the target's current trajectory and on the acceleration rate of your missile, and aim at that.

 

[Ragtag]

This is a lot harder than simply pointing at the target and accelerating. You can't point at where the target is - because it won't be there by the time you get there. You have to anticipate - predict the impact point based on the target's current trajectory and on the acceleration rate of your missile, and aim at that.

Not if your missile tracks the target. It gets real tricky if the target is moving, especially if it is away from you because the missile has to try and catch the target. My seekers don't even have to be pointed at the target or even in sight of the target. My current test scenario has a Battlestar and ISS in orbit around Earth with a Firefly accelerating away on a more or less 90 degree vector from the ship with the missiles. The missile ship is my Falcon prototype which launches the missiles sideways. It's kind of a hoot to program up the missiles for multiple targets, launch them all at once and watch them streak away to their targets.

The only real problem is when there is a planet in the way. The missile will hit the planet and bounce to never never land but even then it will start tracking the target and will sooner or later find it. Maybe I should have them explode with ground impact.

I'll try a test by launching from ground at a ship. Maybe I'll do a test from orbit to a ground target or orbit to a launching ship just to see what happens. My guess is that the missile will bounce before the "explode" trigger sets off so they basically never get to the target. A ship in the air should be no problem though.

Now on the other hand. If you are trying to simulate a current day system like the Patriot Anti-missile system then you are on your own and good luck to you. Coincidentally just this weekend I was talking to somebody that worked on the first generation Patriot Anti-missile system and the tracking doesn't work the way you would expect.

 

[jangofett287]

I feel inclined to leave this here:

 

[Ragtag]

I feel inclined to leave this herehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxnC6jkJyEM

My seekers were inspired by the Cylon missiles in the newer BSG series which leave trails in space. Is no fun if you can't see where they are going.:lol: During the testing before I blew them up they would go past the target and turn around to seek it again. It made some really nice smoke rings around the target. Very much like oscilloscope lissajous patterns. Mine don't work quite like the video and tend to all settle into pretty much the same flight path if launched from far away. Especially if the target is accelerating away.

 

[Matrix Aran]

I feel inclined to leave this here:Macross Frontier Missile Massacre - YouTube

I think any MFD that is created to solve this problem should probably play the audio from that clip every time a seeker is launched. You sir, win the internet :thumbup: