Why do Pdevs missiles have tracking?

Issues dealing with gameplay balance.
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Oddnerd
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Why do Pdevs missiles have tracking?

Postby Oddnerd » Sun 01 Apr, 2018 5:21 am

Please forgive the noobish question, but why do Pdev missiles track units that are moving? Couldn't they perform their job as an anti-fortification and anti-ranged blob unit without missile tracking? This would prevent them from perpetually stopping a charging melee unit in it's tracks (since heavy bolters already fill the role of anti-melee setup team).
Paranoid Kamikaze
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Re: Why do Pdevs missiles have tracking?

Postby Paranoid Kamikaze » Sun 01 Apr, 2018 7:24 pm

I would love me some homing plasma death balls :p Shame it doesn't though. When it fires it goes to the location you were at for the time when it was shot. You can attack ground the shots to make it fire wherever you want though so that's probably why you think they track.
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Oddnerd
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Re: Why do Pdevs missiles have tracking?

Postby Oddnerd » Mon 02 Apr, 2018 12:29 am

It really looks like it adjusts distance to hit moving targets, maybe my opponents are just making diligent use of attack ground like you suggested.
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Psycho
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Re: Why do Pdevs missiles have tracking?

Postby Psycho » Mon 02 Apr, 2018 1:12 am

Attack ground + the arc can make it look like it's homing
Thibix Magnus
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Re: Why do Pdevs missiles have tracking?

Postby Thibix Magnus » Mon 02 Apr, 2018 12:45 pm

I think targeting ground is not needed (and probably isn't used) when the target moves towards the P-dev, as the ball seems to explode on contact with the target, as opposed to D-cannons or WG. I've never seen it miss by flying above

(cheap opportunistic eldar-biased rant: that's why P-devs are good both on attack and defense, while D-cannons were confined to an attack-only role when they changed to DoT. End of cheap opportunistic eldar-biased rant ^^)

Now please correct me if I'm wrong, if the target is moving sideways, maybe there is a slight in-flight tracking, but I think the main factor is the estimation before the shot, I think it shots where the target is expected to be when landing if target speed and direction are constant. Changing direction at the last moment is a very effective dodge but very demanding on micro.
Tex
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Re: Why do Pdevs missiles have tracking?

Postby Tex » Mon 02 Apr, 2018 5:24 pm

Incorrect.
It shoots directly at the spot where the target is at the moment of the plasma ball being released from the chamber. An arc was added so that it doesn't hit terrain as often. The only things that cause the plasma ball to hit unexpected places are:
1) user targeting (attack ground command)
2) elevation change (causes plasma ball to land short or long of target when firing against incline and decline respectively)
3) slight deviation of plasma accuracy based on location of the model actually being targeted (sometimes you are unlucky and the model being targeted is not bunched with the squad)
Thibix Magnus
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Re: Why do Pdevs missiles have tracking?

Postby Thibix Magnus » Mon 02 Apr, 2018 6:10 pm

Tex wrote:Incorrect.
It shoots directly at the spot where the target is at the moment of the plasma ball being released from the chamber. An arc was added so that it doesn't hit terrain as often. The only things that cause the plasma ball to hit unexpected places are:
1) user targeting (attack ground command)
2) elevation change (causes plasma ball to land short or long of target when firing against incline and decline respectively)
3) slight deviation of plasma accuracy based on location of the model actually being targeted (sometimes you are unlucky and the model being targeted is not bunched with the squad)


thanks, my bad then. So yeah then it's only a ball travel duration issue for targets moving sideways or away.

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