Missile

Missiles are one of the three main classes of weapons in Starsector, alongside Ballistics and Energy.

Though a large majority of combat ships have at least one missile mount, limited ammunition & lower fire rate makes them unsuitable as a primary weapon, with missile-centric ships like the Gryphon playing a more specialized role. However, almost all missiles cost no flux to fire and offer strong burst damage, especially in High Explosive damage.

This offers a whole variety of potencies such as:

• Finishing off a ship on its last legs.
• Bursting down a priority target.
• Providing long range fire support.
• Etc.

Missiles can be even stronger in the player's hand, as a player will be able to use it more effectively than an AI pilot.

Properties

Missiles possess various properties shared with other weapon types such as range, damage, ordnance point costs, but also have some unique properties (most notably involving tracking and being destructible).

Health

Missiles, like fighters, have health points which when depleted will destroy the missile, usually by Point Defense weapons. This value varies between missiles, with some possessing high health pool & being rather difficult to destroy, while others being quite fragile & easily handled. A few missiles will attempt to circumvent point defense by attacking from outside its range.

Speed & Tracking

All missiles have a speed value, and most also have tracking capabilities besides some torpedoes & rockets.

Missiles with tracking capabilities can also be fired off-bore (fired without facing the intended target). For missiles with a low turn rate it may still be advisable to point them in the target's general direction first.

Speed values are listed in the stat card as: Very Slow, Slow, Medium, Fast & Extremely Fast.

Tracking values are listed in the stat card as: None, Very Poor, Poor, Medium, Good & Excellent.

Friendly fire

Guided missiles will safely pass over friendly ships. However, like fighters, a missile that has lost its engine (due to exceeding its flight time or EMP effects) can collide with friendly ships. Unguided missiles (mainly torpedoes & rockets) will collide with anything & everything once launched.

Hullmods, Skills, and Ship Systems

Hullmods

List of Missile Hullmods
Image	Name	Notes
	Expanded Missile Racks	+100% total missile ammo capacity of missiles
	Missile Autoloader	Provides a shared missile ammunition pool for small missile mount(s) only. Quantity varies depending on hull size & amount of small missile mount(s).
	ECCM Package	Reduces the effects of Flares, improves the speed & maneuverability of missiles.
	Integrated Point Defense AI	PD weapons ignore Decoy Flares, receive the best possible targeting leading, and does 50% more damage against missiles.
	Defensive Targeting Array	Improves the damage of fighters to other fighters & missiles by 50%, but restricts them to the vicinity of the host ship.
	Advanced Turret Gyros	S-modding will provide increased damage against fighters & missiles by 25%.

Skills

List of Missile Skills
Image	Name	Notes
	Missile Specialization	+100% missile ammo capacity +25% missile hitpoints Elite: +25% rate of fire for missiles +25% missile ammo regeneration rate (for relevant missiles) +10% missile damage
	Point Defense	+50% damage to fighters +50% damage to missiles Elite: Increases the range of PD weapons by 200

Ship Systems

List of Missile Ship Systems
Image	Name	Notes
	Fast Missile Racks	Instantly reduces the cooldown of missiles to 0 at the cost of some flux, recharges over time. Found on the Vigilance, Condor, Venture, & Pegasus.
	Missile Autoforge	Instantly restocks base amount of ammo, generating some flux, also have a limited amount of charges. Found on the Gryphon.

Defenses

Both enemy & your ships (or stations) have a variety of options to negate or mitigate missiles.

List of Missile Negation/Mitigation Methods
Method	Notes
Armor	Kinetic missiles are usually better taken on armor instead of hull.
Shields	Offers significant amount of protection against missiles in general, especially High Explosive ones, with omni shield able to offer protection from any direction. Stopping high-damage missiles while at high flux may still cause an overload, but this is generally much preferred to direct armor/hull damage.
Engines & Mobility	Used by smaller hull classes like Frigates or Destroyers, or any ship with a mobility ship system. Fast maneuvering ships will simply evade unguided missiles, and are able to avoid missiles with weaker tracking until they run out of fuel or simply escape out of range.
Point Defenses	Exists both as Ballistic & Energy, they are a common & effective method in shooting down missiles as well as fighters. Certain missiles like Swarmer SRM Launcher, Proximity Charge Launcher & Locust SRM Launcher can also provide PD capabilities. The Point Defense skill, and hullmods Advanced Turret Gyros & Integrated Point Defense AI provides increased damage against missiles as well as fighters.
Fighters	Certain types of fighters like Interceptors & Support possess PD capabilities that can destroy both missiles or fighters. Hullmod Defensive Targeting Array can improve this PD capability at the cost of forcing fighters to stay within the vicinity of the carrier (which can be useful).
Flares	A subclass within Ship Systems, Flare Launcher & Active Flare Launcher both deal with missiles with the former attracting missiles & the latter actively intercepting them.

Terminology

Missile weapons have some acronyms and jargon involved.

Missiles, torpedoes & rockets are all classified as missile weapons. As a rule, rockets are unguided, while torpedoes may or may not be guided and are intended for use against larger ships compared to 'normal' missiles.

Table of Missile Terminology
Abbreviation	Full Terminology	Notes
SRM	Short-Range Missile	Range 1000 to 1500
MRM	Medium-Range Missile	Range 2500
LRM	Long-Range Missile	Range 4000
DEM	Directed Energy Munition	These missiles fire beams at the target when sufficiently close
MIRV	Multiple Independent Re-entry Vehicles	This missile splits into multiple warheads when approaching the target
MDEM	Multiple Directed Energy Munition	A cross between DRM & MIRV
MLRS	Multiple Launch Rocket System	Large missile burst weapon system

Launch system

Some missiles, particularly of small & medium size, can be further categorized by their launch system.

Table of Missile Delivery Platforms
Type	Notes
Launcher	A basic delivery platform without any particular special properties, which usually delivers a single missile or an appropriate burst. Usually medium to long refire delay with higher ammunition count allowing for multiple strikes / volleys.
Rack	Similar to launcher, except multiple missiles are visibly on the delivery platform. Can be fired off consecutively with a short delay, but ammunition count is also more limited.
Pod	Basically exclusive to guided missiles and a mix between launcher & rack, this delivery platform usually fires multiple missiles at once. Has a long refire delay between volleys and a higher ammunition count for multiple strikes / volleys.

Special warheads & firing modes

The large variety of missiles also offers many different styles of approach & delivery of the warhead, other than the simple fly & connect approach.

Dual-Stage & Submunitions

Certain missiles have a two-stage missile design.

The Pilum's 1st stage is slow-moving & poor tracking but possess a high range, these missiles then enter the 2nd stage on approach to the target, becoming fast & nimble.

The Squall MLRS fires a huge continuous salvo, where the first stage tracks the target briefly before flying towards it unguided.

The Sabot SRM slowly approaches a target in its first stage, then fires a spread of Kinetic submunitions on approach.

Directed Energy Munitions (DEM)

DEM missiles can be kind of considered to their its own family of dual-stage / submunition missiles, as they all deliver a "2nd stage" strike through a beam. This allows them to (usually) attack a ship from outside its point defense range, but also means they only do soft flux damage to shields.

• The Gorgon, Dragonfire & Hydra all deliver Energy damage in a quick 1 second burst.
• The Gazer delivers a Kinetic Graviton Beam, lasting for 10 seconds.

Do note that the short-burst beams can still miss fast enough targets as there's a time period between the missile aiming & firing.

Salvos & MLRS

Some missiles weapons fire multiple missiles instead of a single missile with a big payload.

• Burst: weapons that fire a burst of 3-6 missiles with a shorter delay, e.g. Breach SRM, Swarmer SRM, Pilum LRM.
• Continuous: weapons that have a very short refire delay and can apply continuous pressure, e.g. the Annihilator Rocket Pod.
• MLRS: existing currently only as the Squall & Locust, these weapon systems fire massive bursts of missiles that apply heavy pressure.

MIRVs & MDEMs

While only a few missiles fall under this category, MIRV & MDEM are missiles that split into multiple separate warheads on approach to the target, each delivering their own payload. They have an advantage over salvo/burst weapons in that all their munitions will arrive at once.

Maneuvering

Certain missiles will also maneuver in certain ways in order to carry out their designated task.

The Salamander MRM is an anti-engine missile, where instead of attack the target head-on, will try to fly around the target and deliver its EMP payload to the engine. Though this may expose it to PD for longer periods of time, it can also bypass front-facing shields.

The Gorgon & Hydra DEMs also behave in a similar fashion, where the missile attempts to deliver its beam payload at an angle or from the side to bypass a frontal shield or put an omni shield in a Catch-22.

Table of missile weapons

Table of Missile Weapons
Name	Damage Type	Role	Platforms	Notes
Annihilator	High Explosive	Anti-Armor Pressure	Small: Annihilator Rocket Launcher Medium: Annihilator Rocket Pod	Unguided Rockets
Atropos	High Explosive	Torpedo	Small: Atropos-class Torpedo (Single) · Atropos-class Torpedo Rack	Torpedo(es) with Tracking
Breach	High Explosive	Anti-Armor	Small: Breach SRM Medium: Breach SRM Pod	Does flat bonus damage against armor.
Dragonfire	Energy	Torpedo	Medium: Dragonfire DEM Torpedo Large: Dragonfire DEM Torpedo	DEM
Gazer	Kinetic	Suppression	Small: Gazer DEM SRM Medium: Gazer SRM Pod	DEM
Gorgon	Energy	Assault Finisher	Small: Gorgon DEM SRM Medium: Gorgon SRM Pod	DEM
Hammer	High Explosive	Torpedo	Small: Hammer-class Torpedo (Single) · Hammer-class Torpedo Medium Jackhammer Large: Hammer Barrage
Harpoon	High Explosive	Finisher	Small: Harpoon MRM (Double) · Harpoon MRM Medium: Harpoon MRM Pod	Medium-ranged Guided Missiles
Hurricane	High Explosive	Finisher	Large: Hurricane MIRV Launcher	Missile splits into 7 mini-missiles on approach.
Hydra	Energy	General	Large: Hydra MDEM Launcher	Missile splits into 6 DEMs on approach. Similar to the Gorgon.
Locust	Fragmentation	Anti Small Craft	Large: Locust SRM Launcher	Delivers a burst of 30 fast & excellent tracking missiles.
Pilum	Fragmentation	Long Range Support	Medium: Pilum LRM Launcher Large: Pilum LRM Catapult	No ammo limitations.
Proximity Charge	High Explosive	Pressure Anti Fighter	Medium: Proximity Charge Launcher	Not affected by any missile speed, acceleration or flight time modifier. Explodes when in proximity of any enemy element (ships, fighters, missiles).
Reaper	High Explosive	Torpedo	Small: Reaper-class Torpedo Medium: Typhoon Reaper Launcher Large: Cyclone Reaper Launcher	Has a short initial acceleration period (except for the Cyclone).
Sabot	Kinetic	Anti Shield	Small: Sabot SRM (Double) · Sabot SRM Medium: Sabot SRM Pod	Fires off kinetic submunition when sufficiently close to the target. Submunition has a chance of arcing & dealing EMP damage on impact against armor or hull.
Salamander	Fragmentation	Anti Engine	Small: Salamander MRM Medium: Salamander MRM Pod	Missiles tries to maneuver around & impact a ship's engine with high EMP damage.
Squall	Kinetic	Anti Shield	Large: Squall MLRS	Unleashes a long salvo of 20 missiles. Does bonus damage on impact against shields.
Swarmer	High Explosive	Anti Small Craft	Small: Swarmer SRM Launcher	Unleashes a burst of 4 missiles with fast speed & excellent tracking.