Counter missile fire

[MatthewVilter]

Let's say I'm in a tank. It has a main gun and an anti-missile laser.
Cool.

If someone fires a missile at me and it takes more than one second to hit I can shoot it down. More so if it takes at least 3 seconds to hit and I can aim at it.
Fine.

Let's say I am the tank. And I want to shoot down missiles fired at short range. Will I need ATS? Will I need to use the wait maneuver? If I want to fire the main gun and still be able to use the laser on missiles will I need Compartmentalized Mind? Or is that not good enough and what I need is ATR? Is firing the laser not a mental maneuver? If I had Dedicated Controls for the laser someone else could use the laser right?

[lexington]

Originally Posted by MatthewVilter

Let's say I'm in a tank. It has a main gun and an anti-missile laser.
Cool.

If someone fires a missile at me and it takes more than one second to hit I can shoot it down. More so if it takes at least 3 seconds to hit and I can aim at it.
Fine.

Let's say I am the tank. And I want to shoot down missiles fired at short range. Will I need ATS? Will I need to use the wait maneuver? If I want to fire the main gun and still be able to use the laser on missiles will I need Compartmentalized Mind? Or is that not good enough and what I need is ATR? Is firing the laser not a mental maneuver? If I had Dedicated Controls for the laser someone else could use the laser right?

Extra Attack + Enhanced Tracking should be plenty.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by MatthewVilter

Let's say I'm in a tank. It has a main gun and an anti-missile laser.
Cool.

If someone fires a missile at me and it takes more than one second to hit I can shoot it down. More so if it takes at least 3 seconds to hit and I can aim at it.
Fine.

With a Wait maneuver, you don't need it to take more than one second to get a shot, and if it takes more than 2 seconds you get a chance to aim. But yeah.

Originally Posted by MatthewVilter

Let's say I am the tank. And I want to shoot down missiles fired at short range. Will I need ATS? Will I need to use the wait maneuver? If I want to fire the main gun and still be able to use the laser on missiles will I need Compartmentalized Mind? Or is that not good enough and what I need is ATR? Is firing the laser not a mental maneuver? If I had Dedicated Controls for the laser someone else could use the laser right?

Is that ETS? It doesn't seem necessary (or useful) unless the GM insists or you need to counter-fire at projectiles "too fast for most people to discern".

A Wait maneuver is a must, unless you use the occasionally floated houserule of modeling point defense as a parry.

Compartmentalized mind should be enough, logically, even though operating the gun is not a mental maneuver, because it's independent of your other actions. There doesn't seem to be any rule actually permitting that. CM points to Extra Attack for physical maneuvers, but I'm pretty sure Extra Attack (despite the wording) doesn't actually give any extra maneuvers, so it won't help if you want to fire the main gun but wait to fire the PD gun.

Dedicated Controls suggest that 'independent' physical maneuvers can be performed simultaneously via CM, since otherwise the tail gunner would render the pilot unable to fly the plane. Again, no actual rules on that seem to exist.

ATR would certainly let you act, then end your turn with a Wait maneuver, but is almost certainly not the way you want to build that...

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by lexington

Extra Attack + Enhanced Tracking should be plenty.

You'd not still take the penalty for multiple targets but you couldn't take the Wait Manevuver for the anti-missile laser. Extra attack is that and only that. You get one more attack on your Turn.

If you want to have the laser Waiting to blast any missiles that might pop up (thus interrupting them on _their_ Turn) while the tank does other things I think you want Compartmentalized Mind.

[MatthewVilter]

Thanks for the help guys!

Okay it looks like Compartmentalized Mind is the way to go. It seems kind of wrong to use it for a physical attack but as long as I'm not trying to move twice or take more then one shot with the same gun it seems like the closest fit. Thinking about it has made me want to use a Telekinesis based anti-missile system! :P

Okay two more questions:

1) What type of Wait maneuver am I using? Wait (Opportunity Fire) does not let you move and, if I am reading it right, gives you ~-5 to cover an area the size of a tank. Is there a Wait (Point Defense) maneuver that would let me attack things flying at me and nothing else?

2) How does it affect this whole situation if I am a computer inside a tank instead of being a tank? Presumably then I would be using a Concentrate maneuver!

[Verjigorm]

A UT tank that is a "character" should have multiple intelligences running on it anyway. A devoted Gunnery system, a devoted CIWS weapon, a dedicated tactical system and a dedicated driver. It's also easier to cobble together devoted systems and make a coherent beast than to make an uber-computer that runs the whole thing at the same time.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by MatthewVilter

Thanks for the help guys!

Okay it looks like Compartmentalized Mind is the way to go. It seems kind of wrong to use it for a physical attack but as long as I'm not trying to move twice or take more then one shot with the same gun it seems like the closest fit. Thinking about it has made me want to use a Telekinesis based anti-missile system! :P

The DF mind flayer substitute from DF2 uses CM and telekinesis to have an appalling number of attacks and parries.

Originally Posted by MatthewVilter

1) What type of Wait maneuver am I using? Wait (Opportunity Fire) does not let you move and, if I am reading it right, gives you ~-5 to cover an area the size of a tank. Is there a Wait (Point Defense) maneuver that would let me attack things flying at me and nothing else?

Once you're letting 'mental maneuvers' be used for independent physical actions, you shouldn't worry about the maneuver letting you move...the PD-control compartment isn't going to be doing the moving, but a different compartment could.

Though figuring out how or if the gunning compartment's shooting should be penalized due to the driving compartment's activities...

Originally Posted by MatthewVilter

2) How does it affect this whole situation if I am a computer inside a tank instead of being a tank? Presumably then I would be using a Concentrate maneuver!

Probably not, actually...vehicle operation still uses combat maneuvers. See B467-468.