I've spent quite a lot of time on DCS recently. From that, a few ideas that might be interesting to introduce into Elite:
- Targeting SLF/drone. Can be fly by crew member (person or hired), or fly by AI (using "poor" skill). Has no weapons, but includes a couple of small turrets, each including a targeting laser that can "paint" an enemy and identify a target for the host ship or wing. Still limited to the 20km range
- ECM slf/drone. Can also be flown. No weapons, but can create a level of "noise" around it that prevents radar through it's sphere of influence. Hopefully useful for getting into range
- Targeting pod. Class 1 turret. No offensive capability, but can "paint" a target for the host ship or other ships in the wing
- Laser guided missiles/torpedoes. Preferably short and long range. Short range are lighter, smaller warhead and are more manoeuvrable. Long range have heavier warhead, less manoeuvrable.
- Passive/active radar modes
- Anti-radar missiles
I see this as introducing the capability for wings to use a targeting drone to find enemies, then have heavier ships dump a load of missiles at the enemies from outside the range of normal detection. Clearly it would change some of the dynamics of how combat is undertaken. There's still plenty of room for fast fighters (for one thing, they're the best ships to use to engage the drones), but it gives some of the bigger ships more purpose too.
From a multi-crew perspective, also gives the secondary crewman more to go, e.g. fly the drone, operate the ECM, choose which ships are targeted etc.
- Targeting SLF/drone. Can be fly by crew member (person or hired), or fly by AI (using "poor" skill). Has no weapons, but includes a couple of small turrets, each including a targeting laser that can "paint" an enemy and identify a target for the host ship or wing. Still limited to the 20km range
- ECM slf/drone. Can also be flown. No weapons, but can create a level of "noise" around it that prevents radar through it's sphere of influence. Hopefully useful for getting into range
- Targeting pod. Class 1 turret. No offensive capability, but can "paint" a target for the host ship or other ships in the wing
- Laser guided missiles/torpedoes. Preferably short and long range. Short range are lighter, smaller warhead and are more manoeuvrable. Long range have heavier warhead, less manoeuvrable.
- Passive/active radar modes
- Anti-radar missiles
I see this as introducing the capability for wings to use a targeting drone to find enemies, then have heavier ships dump a load of missiles at the enemies from outside the range of normal detection. Clearly it would change some of the dynamics of how combat is undertaken. There's still plenty of room for fast fighters (for one thing, they're the best ships to use to engage the drones), but it gives some of the bigger ships more purpose too.
From a multi-crew perspective, also gives the secondary crewman more to go, e.g. fly the drone, operate the ECM, choose which ships are targeted etc.
Last edited: