Re: Spaceships 3 missiles in limited superscience TL10 setting
 

Yeah, I thought about a missile-and-beams setting, with smaller ships being faster, and I currently try to balance it all.

Edit: I think I like varyon's suggestion, I'll see what can be done with that.

Re: Spaceships 3 missiles in limited superscience TL10 setting
 

Unless in a Fast Pass situation and using detailed movement it is my experience that enemy ships do not live long enough for missiles to reach them.

Warp missiles are an obvious exception and Fast Passes are common enough that preparation for offense and defense during them is wise.

Otherwise though, 660 seconds is what big missiles need to reach their maximum range and that's 33 20 second Turns. If there are any other weaposn capable of those ranges the fight will be over before the missiels hit.

Re: Spaceships 3 missiles in limited superscience TL10 setting
 

It really depends on the level of protection. A TL 10 SM+14 dreadnought could easily have front Hardened DR 800, which ignores anything less than 300 GJ UV lasers and can shrug off 1 TJ UV lasers most of the time. A comparable spacecraft requires SM+14 spinal UV lasers to have a decent chance of punching through the front armor. Of course, particle beams are more dangerous, but they are capable of engaging in much shorter ranges than UV lasers.

In addition, there are accuracy concerns. Extreme range gives a -16 to hit, which means that a significant number of shots will miss, even with a spinal mount, especially since warships will often have defensive ECM. Also, spaceships can dodge attacks.

Re: Spaceships 3 missiles in limited superscience TL10 setting
 

Missiles have no maximum range in SS3. They can do arbitrarily long unpowered flights between an initial boost burn and a final attack burn.

(Meanwhile in the SS1 system they have a maximum range, but don't have any flight time.)