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question about auto-targeting missiles
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Silas Tomkyn Comberbache
Doomheim
#1 - 2016-09-22 13:58:26 UTC
I noticed they do less damage, so what is the advantage of using auto-targeting missiles? It seems like normal missiles already home in? Or does it mean you can fire them without having a lock?
Ralph King-Griffin
New Eden Tech Support
#2 - 2016-09-22 14:17:42 UTC
it means you can fire them without having a lock

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elitatwo
Zansha Expansion
#3 - 2016-09-22 16:40:24 UTC
Those are very good for super extra lazy combat anomaly ratting.

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Moonlit Raid
Doomheim
#4 - 2016-09-28 12:53:28 UTC
Auto-Targetting missiles; formerly Friend or Foe missiles.

Missile launchers loaded with them can be activated even with no locked target, they will attack the closest ship deemed an enemy to you, and will only activate if you are being aggressed.

They can't get you concorded. And won't attack any non-npc that hasn't attacked you yet.

For NPC's if there's a group then they will not activate until you have been aggressed by at least one NPC but will target the closest NPC of that group.

They are good for single targets jamming you, but not great if you have a bunch of enemy frigates all orbiting at the same range. Each orbit will cut into the other and your missiles will not concentrate the fire.

If brute force isn't working, you're just not using enough.

Please Note: Any advice given comes with the caveat that nothing will be suitable for every situation.
Wombat65Au Egdald
R I S E
#5 - 2016-09-28 13:43:53 UTC
Auto-target missiles do less damage because you don't have to lock a target before firing them, and you can use them when you can't get a target lock if your sensors have been jammed by EWAR, but you do need a target to become hostile to you first. As Moonlit Raid pointed out, the missiles won't attack anything in hisec that would give Concord a reason to shoot at you, as long as your weapon safety is set to GREEN.

If you use them in missions, there is a detail to be aware of. Depending on the mission, some ships act as triggers to spawn more hostile ships. Auto-target missiles have the potential to cause those spawns to happen before you want them to.

Only light, heavy and cruise missiles have an auto-target version. There is no auto-target version for rockets, HAMs or torpedoes.

Here's a player made vid from a little over a year ago which discusses auto-target missiles. Some details may have changed since the vid was made, but most of the details should still be valid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AryjTGJxPkI
Serendipity Lost
Repo Industries
#6 - 2016-09-28 16:54:47 UTC
They are not ideal for pvp. They shoot the closest thing aggressing you. If you get a cloud of drones on you, the auto missiles will chew on the closest one each volley. That means they don't focus and kill them one at a time, they spam the swarm and slowly kill them all. Consider adding a smartbomb to you pvp fit if you're going to use auto targeting missiles to keep drone issues to a minimum.


Then again if you're falcon'd, any damage is good damage!
Gregorius Goldstein
Queens of the Drone Age
#7 - 2016-09-29 12:24:57 UTC
Wombat65Au Egdald wrote:
Auto-target missiles do less damage because you don't have to lock a target before firing them, and you can use them when you can't get a target lock if your sensors have been jammed by EWAR, but you do need a target to become hostile to you first.


So I just load a stack of auto targeting missiles and fire away even when I am jammed. Good to know. (Somehow I picture a radar dish gummed up with marmelade when someone tells me his targeting is jammed...)
Wombat65Au Egdald
R I S E
#8 - 2016-09-29 16:37:40 UTC
Gregorius Goldstein wrote:

So I just load a stack of auto targeting missiles and fire away even when I am jammed. Good to know. (Somehow I picture a radar dish gummed up with marmelade when someone tells me his targeting is jammed...)


Auto-target missiles can be used in exactly the same way as regular missiles, lock a target then fire the missiles at it.

Since auto-target missiles have less dps than regular missiles, you're normally better off using regular missiles, you'll do more damage per missile compared to auto-target missiles. On the other hand, if you are seriously jammed by EWAR, you can still shoot missiles if you have auto-target missiles. The catch is, you can't control exactly which targets the auto-target missiles will attack when you do this. The missiles will pick their own targets, and the targets they pick may not be the ones you want to prioritise to shoot at.

The #1 advantage of auto-target missiles is you can shoot something without needing to get a target lock on it first (but the target must be hostile to you for the missiles to attack it). The biggest disadvantage is that you can't control which targets auto-target missiles will attack if you don't have a target lock. The second disadvantage is that auto-target missiles do less damage than regular missiles, so you can end up using more auto-target missiles to pop a hostile ship compared to using regular missiles.

The vid I linked earlier showed auto-target missiles being used in combat anomaly sites, not in mission sites or PvP. The person who made the vid was flying a Tech 3 cruiser with over 500 million isk worth of fittings. If you watch his shield status in the vid, he takes barely any damage, He was able to easily tank the damage without worrying about which ships to shoot at first, he just set an orbit for his ship that would bring him close enough for the NPC ships to detect and target him and spammed auto-target missiles until all the NPC ships were killed.

You can make your own auto-target missiles (and regular missiles), you just need the right blueprint for the missiles, the right minerals and some basic manufacturing skills. Note that you need a separate blueprint for each type of auto-target missile (light, heavy or cruise), and for each damage type (EM, Explosive, Kinetic, Thermal). That's a total of 12 blueprints to make every type of auto-target missile.

If you're only going to carry a limited number of auto-target missiles as a "just in case I get jammed" backup, it's probably not worth buying blueprints for them, but if you end up using a lot of them, making your own could reduce your ammo costs over the long term. Remember to factor in the cost of the blueprints and see how many missiles of that type your could buy from the market for the same price.

Here is a list of all the auto-target blueprints. Each blueprint link will tell you what minerals and manufacturing skills you need, plus which NPC corps sell the blueprints. Just like other types of expendable ammo, missiles are made in batches of 100, so one manufacturing run makes 100 missiles, not 1 missile. The mineral amounts listed are for a single batch of 100 missiles.
http://games.chruker.dk/eve_online/market.php?group_id=315
Gregorius Goldstein
Queens of the Drone Age
#9 - 2016-09-30 09:26:27 UTC
Wombat65Au Egdald wrote:
Gregorius Goldstein wrote:

So I just load a stack of auto targeting missiles and fire away even when I am jammed. Good to know. (Somehow I picture a radar dish gummed up with marmelade when someone tells me his targeting is jammed...)


Auto-target missiles can be used in exactly the same way as regular missiles, lock a target then fire the missiles at it.

Since auto-target missiles have less dps than regular missiles, you're normally better off using regular missiles, you'll do more damage per missile compared to auto-target missiles. On the other hand, if you are seriously jammed by EWAR, you can still shoot missiles if you have auto-target missiles. The catch is, you can't control exactly which targets the auto-target missiles will attack when you do this. The missiles will pick their own targets, and the targets they pick may not be the ones you want to prioritise to shoot at.

The #1 advantage of auto-target missiles is you can shoot something without needing to get a target lock on it first (but the target must be hostile to you for the missiles to attack it). The biggest disadvantage is that you can't control which targets auto-target missiles will attack if you don't have a target lock. The second disadvantage is that auto-target missiles do less damage than regular missiles, so you can end up using more auto-target missiles to pop a hostile ship compared to using regular missiles.

The vid I linked earlier showed auto-target missiles being used in combat anomaly sites, not in mission sites or PvP. The person who made the vid was flying a Tech 3 cruiser with over 500 million isk worth of fittings. If you watch his shield status in the vid, he takes barely any damage, He was able to easily tank the damage without worrying about which ships to shoot at first, he just set an orbit for his ship that would bring him close enough for the NPC ships to detect and target him and spammed auto-target missiles until all the NPC ships were killed.

You can make your own auto-target missiles (and regular missiles), you just need the right blueprint for the missiles, the right minerals and some basic manufacturing skills. Note that you need a separate blueprint for each type of auto-target missile (light, heavy or cruise), and for each damage type (EM, Explosive, Kinetic, Thermal). That's a total of 12 blueprints to make every type of auto-target missile.

If you're only going to carry a limited number of auto-target missiles as a "just in case I get jammed" backup, it's probably not worth buying blueprints for them, but if you end up using a lot of them, making your own could reduce your ammo costs over the long term. Remember to factor in the cost of the blueprints and see how many missiles of that type your could buy from the market for the same price.

Here is a list of all the auto-target blueprints. Each blueprint link will tell you what minerals and manufacturing skills you need, plus which NPC corps sell the blueprints. Just like other types of expendable ammo, missiles are made in batches of 100, so one manufacturing run makes 100 missiles, not 1 missile. The mineral amounts listed are for a single batch of 100 missiles.
http://games.chruker.dk/eve_online/market.php?group_id=315


Thanks for the answer. Will get a stack and use them the next time I get swarmed by those anying and cheap ECM Drones some players are using.
Serendipity Lost
Repo Industries
#10 - 2016-09-30 13:55:57 UTC
Smart bomb is more commonly used to clear ECM drones (any drone for that matter). They are more efficient.
DJ puar
Covert Economics
#11 - 2016-10-06 16:50:26 UTC
Some times they just won't fire in pvp
Sobaan Tali
Caldari Quick Reaction Force
#12 - 2016-10-08 07:53:44 UTC
DJ puar wrote:
Some times they just won't fire in pvp


They require active aggression to function. Someone has to engage you first for them to work.

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