Arming Interceptors

[Doctor J]

Just to be clear, i've only been playing UFO:AI for a week or so.  I habitually arm the Stiletto with one each cannon, missile launcher and rocket pod; the Saracen gets the first two.  After observing several dogfights [and many where the UFO simply sped away from my interceptors] i noticed that i only ever see missiles being exchanged.  Are the other weapons not being used, or am i just not seeing them?

[kracken]

Just to be clear, i've only been playing UFO:AI for a week or so.  I habitually arm the Stiletto with one each cannon, missile launcher and rocket pod; the Saracen gets the first two.  After observing several dogfights [and many where the UFO simply sped away from my interceptors] i noticed that i only ever see missiles being exchanged.  Are the other weapons not being used, or am i just not seeing them?

We only have a model for missile and SHIVA weapon in 2.2. The default model is missile, so if you shoot a TR-20 rocket, you will see a missile -- even if the stats of the TR-20 will be used.

However, you should be able to see SHIVA bullets if you fly close enough from your target (small yellow dots). The range of SHIVA is smaller than missile range, so bullets are quite hard to see: usually one of the 2 aircraft is destroyed before you can even shoot with SHIVA (especially in 2.2 where there is a bug: aircraft are destroyed as soon as they take a hit)

[Doctor J]

(especially in 2.2 where there is a bug: aircraft are destroyed as soon as they take a hit)

Hmm, my psychic nullifier isn't working: you've answered the question i was about to ask - whether there is any point in installing armor on the ships.  So for now the answer is no.  Is it different in the dev version?

Back to the weapons, though.  Given the much longer range of the Sparrowhawk vs. the other weapons [and the speed penalty for carrying the TR-20], is there any benefit in installing the other weapons?

As a final [and purely idle] question, is the speed penalty cumulative for multiple rocket pods?  I.E. two rocket pods cause a loss of 20%??

[kracken]

Hmm, my psychic nullifier isn't working: you've answered the question i was about to ask - whether there is any point in installing armor on the ships.  So for now the answer is no.  Is it different in the dev version?

Yes, this is fixed in trunk, and in 2.2 branch

Back to the weapons, though.  Given the much longer range of the Sparrowhawk vs. the other weapons [and the speed penalty for carrying the TR-20], is there any benefit in installing the other weapons?

No, not in 2.2 release: the benefit of other weapons is that they shoot faster. But as aircraft are destroyed as soon as they are hit in 2.2, they're quite useless.

As a final [and purely idle] question, is the speed penalty cumulative for multiple rocket pods?  I.E. two rocket pods cause a loss of 20%??

yes