Missiles

Missiles make up the other half of weapons present in BDArmory, and refer to any single-part weapon that detaches when fired. Within the context of BDA, Torpedoes fall under the 'Missile' category. Like standard weapons, Missiles require the presence of a Weapon manager part on the craft in order to let them be used by the AI. Unlike standard weapons, Missiles can still be manually fired by right clicking on them in flight and clicking the 'Fire' button in their PAW, even if a Weapon Manager is not attached to the craft.

Overview

Missiles can be found in the 'Missiles' sub-tab of the BDArmory parts tab in the VAB/SPH.

Unlike standard weapons that can simply be mounted on a craft, and will work as long as they have ammo, missiles are a little more complex to use, and when choosing and mounting a missile on a craft, it is important to check the guidance type the missile uses, displayed in the part's infobox when hovering the mouse over the part in the part menu - see the 'MISSILE - Mixed SARH/F&F', 'Targeting Type', and 'Guidance Mode' lines in the above image. Some guidance types require mounting special equipment - Radars or Targeting Cameras - in order for the missile to acquire targets and function, while others limit the targets the weapon can be fired at - Don't expect success trying to use AGM (Air to Ground) missiles against air targets, or AAM (Air to Air) missiles against ground targets. Additionally, it is also important to pay attention to the ranging and boresight information; the missile will not fire if outside these values.

Guidance Types

Missiles can use several different types of guidance, each with its own quirks.

• HeatSeeking: The simplest missile guidance type to use, heatseekers (e.g. the BDA AIM-9 Sidewinder) require only a heat source (generally engines, but an overtaxed ISRU Converter could just as easily provide the necessary Heat signature) to lock on to a target, and will pursue that target to the best of their ability.
• Radar Guided: Radar guided (SARH) missiles generally have longer range than Heatseekers, but require a Radar mounted on the craft to provide targeting data. Additionally, Radar guided missiles fall into two categories, Active and Passive. Active radar missiles require a Radar to detect a target, and then, once fired, will then lock on to the target with an on-board radar in the missile (e.g. AIM-120 AMRAAM Missile). Passive Radar missiles lack on-board radar, and require the craft's radar to guide the missile to its target (e.g. PAC-Intercept Missile)
• Laser Guided: Laser Guided (SALH) missiles (e.g. AGM 114 Hellfire) are generally short to medium range, and require a Targeting Camera mounted on the craft to provide a laser dot for the missile to home in on.
• GPS: GPS guided missiles (e.g. RBS-15 Cruise Missile) require GPS coordinates, either manually entered, or obtained via a Targeting Camera mounted on the craft prior to launch in order to fire and home in on a target. GPS guidance does not target a vessel, but rather targets a location, making GPS guidance best suited for immobile or slow moving targets.
• AntiRad: Anti-Radiation missiles are one of the more niche guidance types. AntiRads (e.g. AGM-88 HARM) do not require a Radar on the craft to fire. Instead, they require a Radar be present on a target to provide a source of guidance to home in on, at which point they function similarly to GPS missiles and home in on the target location.

Configuration

Missiles have several options and settings that can be adjusted to tweak missile behavior.

Direction: The [Direction] Button at the top of the PAW toggles if the missile, on launch, is decoupled Forward, or Lateral (downward).
Decouple Speed: This works the dame as standard KSP decouplers, and adjusts how much force is applied to the decoupled missile on launch.
Detonation Distance Override: This allows the user to set a custom proximity detonation radius for the missile.
Drop Time: This tells the missile how much of a delay it should wait for between decoupling from the launching craft and igniting its engine.
In Cargo Bay: The [in Cargo Bay] button toggles whether or not the missile thinks it is in a Cargo Bay. Missiles in a Cargo Bay with In Cargo Bay set to False will not fire, due to having an obstructed path to their target. Setting this to true tells the AI to temporarily open the Cargo Bay to allow the missile to exit the craft.
Engage Range Min and Engage Range Max: These allow limiting the missile to only fire within certain distances. Useful if you don't want to accidentally blow yourself up with a missile launched too close, or want a craft to prioritize guns close in, or simply to not waste missiles on too distant targets.
Engage Air, Engage Missile, Engage Surface, Engage SLW: These 4 toggles set if the AI will consider trying to use the weapon against the currently selected target. If no weapons on a craft are set to toggle a certain target type, the AI will not consider it a potential target, and will ignore it in favor of something that can be targeted by the weapon(s) on the craft. TNT mass equivalent and Blast Radius: These simply provide the same data from the part's info card, but in a more convenient location.