Unguided Rockets

[Bombcat]

Weapon: Unguided Rockets
Recommended Targets: Air to Ground - excellent for ships, trucks, buildings. Useful for nearly any ground target. Relatively easy to use against moving targets. Air to Air - limited capability against non-maneuvering targets, particularly large aircraft and hovering helicopters.
Targeting system: Under 30kt, aim with the gun cross hairs. Over 30kt, align the flight path indicator with the cross hairs to shoot accurately.
Maximum range at sea level from a stationary launch: 10km
Maximum rounds per pod: 19

Unguided rockets are excellent all purpose explosive weapons for the YS attack pilot. Unlike their real world counterparts, YS rockets can be aimed quite accurately, and carry a substantial punch. The ability to kill a ship from 4 miles away with a single unguided rocket may represent the single greatest imbalance in YSFlight's combat system, as many attack or fighter aircraft routinely carry 36 rocket rounds. This, in turn, explains the proliferation of hostile ships on combat oriented servers - a single ship simply does not pose a substantial challenge for the rocket armed ship hunter.

[waspe414]

Just have to correct...

Max range: 12 miles
Crosshair aiming below 60kts

*Type-A twitch*

[Bombcat]

I'm not sure about the speed discrepancy - I've always had accuracy issues in helos over 30kt.

As for the 5.0 miles, I just measured the distance from a VOR station. One issue there might be the fact that the distance shown on Air to Air/rocket radar is the size of the entire box, rather then just the area in front of your aircraft - so the 5 mile radar screen shows 2.5 miles in all directions, the 10 miles radar shows about 5 miles and so on.

[waspe414]

Actually, I just went through the math and came out with 10 miles. (8.7NM)
(1550 kts for 20 seconds)

For helicopters, rocket direction is specified by half the fully maneuverable speed, so differs from .dat to .dat.

[Sierra]

Protip: If your chopper has spoilers, just turn em on and your rockets will be 100% accurate on the crosshairs, so the velocity indicator isn't needed then.

[Bombcat]

I've conducted some tests, and while they're not yet conclusive, it would seem that YS rockets slowly loose velocity throughout their flight. This may account for some of the discrepancies between your math and my measurements. The VOR system's range may also be dramatically incorrect, although loosing 3 miles over 8 would seem a bit extreme. A rocket's flight time also appears to diminish as the launching aircraft's speed and altitude increase, although I'd have to isolate those variables.

[halberdier25]

The VOR system's range may also be dramatically incorrect, although loosing 3 miles over 8 would seem a bit extreme.

They were. I didn't think they're that bad, though. I brought it up with Soji a while back. I dunno if he fixed it or not. Good way to tell is to make your own map with two or more VOR/DMEs a known distance apart (in meters, then convert to miles) and park right next to one.

[Kynan]

Yea

[Bombcat]

When flying at 1550kt TAS, 1289kts IAS, at 12200ft, I fired a rocket. That rocket did approximately keep formation with my aircraft for the duration of it's flight, but flew for only 12 seconds. In that time, the rocket would have traveled 5.16 NM, about 5.95 miles.

I know that when rockets are fired at lower altitudes, they last for about 20 seconds before disappearing from the scope. I'm not sure exactly how this discrepancy works out.


EDIT:
After extensive testing, I have a result. When fired from a stationary aircraft at sea level, YSFlight rockets fly 10 Kilometers - about 6.2 miles, and 5.4 nautical miles. If this measurement doesn't jive with the speed over time calculations, I can only imagine that they must loose speed over the course of their flight. The same tests indicate that the distance at the top of the 10 mile radar range is very nearly 5 miles.

[Phoenix]

When flying a helicopter, make sure it is travelling in the same direction it is pointing. Sounds obvious, but if you don't, you will miss.

Also, when in the first merge at the start of a dogfight, pull up slightly and fire them, you may score a hit (I have several times).

[CharleyHotel]

Sorry for resurrecting the old topic, but a question: when it is stated to align the vector with the gun crosshairs, does this mean that the vector determines where the rockets are flying or that the vector and the crosshairs in the same spot are the only true representation of this?

[MrFunnybone]

yes I think so

[Philster]

The vectors will always show where the rockets will fly. Aligning the vector with the cross hairs will just make aiming easier, but is not required.

[MrFunnybone]

Aligning the vectors with the crosshairs in a helicopter will make aiming much easier.

[SvenPhantom]

Aligning the vectors with the crosshairs in a helicopter will make aiming much easier.

It's in between 0-60 knots when you could use the HUD "Iron sights". At about 120 knots, you need to use the velocity vector in order to aim.

[latertimelord]

Some planes literally rape the ground units with those rocket weaponry. (In example; Su-25's from GAC can take up to 152 rockets.)

[Phoenix]

ok likely said before but...

If you are aiming for a group of tanks (moving in one direction), get behind them and aim Just ahead of them. This gives the best chance of a kill.