Macross II: internal vs command guidance for mini-missiles

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Axelmania
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Macross II: internal vs command guidance for mini-missiles

Unread post by Axelmania »

http://home.kih.net/~sbundy/pal-faq.html#Section2 skipping to 'how does mini' how official are these designations? Are they mentioned in the book or introduced here by fans to better explain mechanics? Are these canon mechanics or house-rules?

The names attributed at the top of this FAQ seem pretty notable.
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Re: Macross II: internal vs command guidance for mini-missil

Unread post by glitterboy2098 »

those are fan rules and answers, albeit ones that were evidently created after discussions online by a lot of fans in the predecessor to the current forums.

however the idea that minimissiles use some form of beam riding, SACLOS, or laser guidance is not a bad way of explaining why RAW they get no self-guidance bonus but also no penalty for being unguided. it also would explain the targeting screen on the cyclone, and what looks like a laser designator on the forearm missile assemblies.

those fan rules are just a much more complex way of depicting the idea, rather than just "no bonus to strike beyond those given by WP's"
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Re: Macross II: internal vs command guidance for mini-missil

Unread post by Seto Kaiba »

Axelmania wrote: skipping to 'how does mini' how official are these designations?

You mean "Command Guidance" and "Internal Guidance"?

They're not used in the Robotech or Macross II RPGs, IIRC... but "command guidance" is a real-world term, though the description on the page is substantially incorrect and their examples aren't actually command guidance systems at all.[sup]1[/sup] What they call "internal guidance" is what the RPG calls a "Smart missile" and what the real world is habitually inclined to call a "homing missile". If the RPG(s) matched the animation, virtually all missile weapons would be guided or smart, but that would make things mechanically problematic in the RPG to say the least.

On the subject of the term "mini-missile", that term is not actually used in Macross II or the Macross franchise as a whole.[sup]2[/sup]



Axelmania wrote:Are they mentioned in the book or introduced here by fans to better explain mechanics?

They're putting a different label on the two different types of missiles that do appear in the RPG... regular missiles, which the RPG contends are not guided, and smart missiles, which are and receive a strike bonus as a result.



Axelmania wrote:Are these canon mechanics or house-rules?

Almost entirely house rules. Some small tidbits, like the "internal guidance" (smart) missiles having a strike bonus are from the official rules. (The bit about being unable to dodge volleys of 4+ actually applies to both types, not just the smart missiles.)



1. The example they give of a missile with a fiber-optic or copper wire training behind it is an example of command guidance, but their laser-related examples are actually beam-riding guidance (where the laser is shined onto the missile) and semi-active laser homing (where the missile follows reflected laser energy off the target).

2. The equivalent term is "micro-missile", but operationally they're analogous to short-range missiles... but almost everything in the Macross II RPG is incorrect.
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Re: Macross II: internal vs command guidance for mini-missil

Unread post by ShadowLogan »

Axelmania wrote:http://home.kih.net/~sbundy/pal-faq.html#Section2 skipping to 'how does mini' how official are these designations? Are they mentioned in the book or introduced here by fans to better explain mechanics? Are these canon mechanics or house-rules?

The names attributed at the top of this FAQ seem pretty notable.

The designations are completely fan derived from an official Palladium RPG position and attempt to use real world terminology. The mechanics are mostly house rule designed to work within the canon mechanics (or put another way to "make them work better" from some POVs).

It should be noted though, that the Macross 2 RPG, unlike 1E & 2E Robotech AND Rifts AND Heros Unlimited 2E, specifically notes that Mini-Missiles are considered guided missiles (pg38 main book under "Strikes: Guided Missiles" under the bolded paragraph for "Conventional Guided Missiles: +3 to strike, and includes mini-missiles and most other types of missiles") so this text is more geared toward the 1E RT RPG and Rifts (pre-2002 books, which means 2E RT and Rifts Ulimate Edition rules revisions are not being considered).
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Re: Macross II: internal vs command guidance for mini-missil

Unread post by Axelmania »

Although it includes mini-missiles this wouldn't necessarily mean ALL mini-missiles. Page 40 does specify that UN Spacey and Marduk-Zentran use little guided ones though... although even then it doesn't say ALL of them are guided.
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