[spaceships] Proximity Warhead damage

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Well, it would relies heavily on small computers being either unavailable (dumb missiles) or extremely expensive (rare missiles). It actually has little to do with aerial vs. space manoeuvring, as long as the thrust and endurance values of both ships and missiles are such that sudden turns matter.

Computer issues might not be that necessary...modern air-to-air combat is missile-centric but it's not a Macross Missile Massacre, so getting from there to Elite might be reachable.

However...
-Atmospheric flight makes a long-range, fast missile also a big expensive missile. Burn-and-drift spaceflight means range as such is no issue to space-borne missiles.
-Aerodynamic maneuvering allows for surprising quick course changes. It's much harder to pull such things off in space. (Consider how hard it would be for a standard-rules missile to catch a Boost Drive spaceship.)

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Not exactly the same thing, but:

The timing in Spaceships is such that aside from the nominal skill roll by the gunner, missiles are fire and forget. There's no 'Stay On Target While The Missile Locks On' - neither the need to stay focused on that*, nor a significant tradeoff in terms of delay. Compare to regular GURPS combat, where to fire a Homing missile, you must first lock it on, unlike regular guns (which you can opt to shoot immediately).

Another neat retro thing would be more use of Guided missiles.

* == Despite the fact that in general, single-pilot ships have difficulties from multitasking even in cinematic cockpits.

In Spaceships, a turn is at least 20 seconds. A moment to designate the missile's target before launch could be included in that without being worth mentioning, though missiles taking direction after launch (as they do in Spaceships) may be more realistic. Though one might think that directing a flock of missiles might take some time after launch in that case.