DescentBB

what would you call weapons you shoot out the back of your ship? (smart mines, gunboys, etc.) I don't know what these are called, and I need the overall name for them.

enchiladas

VertigoAbyss wrote:what would you call weapons you shoot out the back of your ship?

They are usually referred to as "counter measures."

Isaac wrote:enchiladas

Isaac, you never fail to amuse me, lol

I thought they were called "secondary weapons" in the game. But I like to call them "kiss my ass weapons".

I call them chinchillas, because I use them for the same purpose.

Vision is right…secondary weapons are missiles and bombs as opposed to beam and projectile weapons.

Pumo wrote:

Isaac wrote:enchiladas

Isaac, you never fail to amuse me, lol

I'm glad I can amuse someone other than myself.

Spidey wrote:Vision is right…secondary weapons are missiles and bombs as opposed to beam and projectile weapons.

How about the Smart and Proximity Bombs? Aren't those countermeasures, since you drop them in your wake and let them sit there for some unsuspecting enemy to run into?

D1/2 never bothered to distinguish the two - it was only 3 that split bombs into a third class of weapon.

I will probably refer to them as countermeasures, thanks!

In D3, mines and such were re-categorized as counter measures. Only missiles were secondaries. This wasn't true of course with D1 and D2, but that may have been to keep everything mapped to the number keys back in the day. With a stick, however, you COULD map the deployment of mines to a separate button.

With current jet fighters, anything that is used to defeat an attack while being chased is referred to as a counter measure.

Huh...random thought. In D1/D2, Will a prox bomb lure an incoming homing missile like a chaff pack or would it just be a random obstacles?

Wow, I'd never considered that. I guess that would depend on the homing tech in the missile.

is it heat, magnetic signal, image recognition, radar, etc. ?

This is worth discussing.

homeyduh wrote:Huh...random thought. In D1/D2, Will a prox bomb lure an incoming homing missile like a chaff pack or would it just be a random obstacles?

Duper wrote:Wow, I'd never considered that. I guess that would depend on the homing tech in the missile. This is worth discussing.

Yes, Prox bombs in D1/D2 attract enemy homing missiles. I doesn't work very well but on occasion I will use them around me (at a safe distance) for a little protection. If I am flying straight away from a homing missile and there is nowhere to run, I will sometimes keep my course and drop a bomb or two. Although, if homer is too close you will take more damage from the bomb than the homer, so be wary.

Huh you learn something new everyday! Lol

VertigoAbyss wrote:what would you call weapons you shoot out the back of your ship? (smart mines, gunboys, etc.) I don't know what these are called, and I need the overall name for them.

a really bad chinese meal.

vision wrote:Yes, Prox bombs in D1/D2 attract enemy homing missiles. I doesn't work very well but on occasion I will use them around me (at a safe distance) for a little protection. If I am flying straight away from a homing missile and there is nowhere to run, I will sometimes keep my course and drop a bomb or two. Although, if homer is too close you will take more damage from the bomb than the homer, so be wary.

That doesn't sound like the missile's attracted to the bomb, it sounds like the missile's still going for you and the bomb's in the way. Missiles aren't so great at dodging.

Alter-Fox wrote:That doesn't sound like the missile's attracted to the bomb, it sounds like the missile's still going for you and the bomb's in the way. Missiles aren't so great at dodging.

I have noticed when I fire homing missiles into an area with a lot of bombs the missile will track toward them. I've seen this happen in reverse too, but unreliably. For the most part, the bomb is just getting in the way, but hey, whatever works to save my ass in a bad situation I'll do it.

From what I recall that's true, but it only works if the homing missile isn't already locked on. If you have a homing missile after you and drop a proximity bomb, the missile will ignore it. That means you can't really use them as countermeasures, unless you can steer the missile's path so that it goes straight through the bomb, which is much harder than it sounds - collision is weird with them - I think you need to be very precise.

I usually just outrun the homing missile until I've got space to dodge - I find that easier.

Sirius wrote:From what I recall that's true, but it only works if the homing missile isn't already locked on.

Right. I'm just saying that sometimes dropping a bomb is an option. I did it just the other day as I wrapped around a shallow corner and dropped a pair of mines after momentarily losing the lock. When the homers reached the corner, my mines ate them. I play on Ace/Insane so missiles can be pretty hard to dodge at times.

Does this vary across the different versions of Descent? (original, XL, Rebirth, "Rangers"-Rebirth etc?)

Duper wrote:Does this vary across the different versions of Descent? (original, XL, Rebirth, "Rangers"-Rebirth etc?)

I've only been playing ReBirth for the past couple years, though I could fire up my Win98 box and check the original. Can't see why it would be different.

I don't believe homers originally tracked proxies. This was a new behavior in Rebirth, which has been removed in Retro.

Homers didn't track proxies in DescentR. They did in Descent 2.

I think they might have in D1x, but I'm not sure.

They do in D1 and D2 Rebirth.

They don't in D1 Retro. They do in D2 Retro.

Diedel alone knows what happens in XL.

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In all versions of the game (except possibly XL, I have no idea), a homer which has locked into a target cannot acquire a new one until it's lost that one. However, in the versions in which homers track proxies, they prefer proxies above all other targets if they have a choice. Once they're locked onto something, they no longer have a choice. Which means dropping proxies reactively to act as chaff does not work in any version of the game. In some versions, it does work of you are proactive about it.