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Unguided rockets are a part that could have many uses. I'll explain them below, and hope they get added in the game. I could, of course, ask one of my mod-making friends to make them, which I initially intended to, but I think iOS users should have these options on their disposal.
About unguided aerial rockets:
Unguided rocket is a kind rocket-propelled weapon/munition used since the WW2. Most informations I have about them agree that Russians were the first to use them.
Unguided rockets have shown great effectiveness during the later stages of WW2, where they were used as anti-tank and anti-bomber weapon, strapped under wings of fighter aircraft. Those early designs were inaccurate and unreliable, and due to their launch configuration, aircraft could carry only a few of them.
Near the end WW2, aerial rockets get a completely new design, allowing aircraft to carry more of them. They were made with folding fins, and stuffed in barrels. Those barrels were connected to get multiple launchers. One of the most famous of those launchers was a Soviet UB-32 launcher, often seen under the wings of Su-25 or Mil Mi-24 Hind attack helicopter.
UB-32 launcher
Unguided rocket as SimplePlanes part
On SimplePlanes, unguided rocket would have many uses. I have devised ways to use them as flares, MLRS rockets, and RATO boosters (to be explained below, under "Uses"). You may be able to find more uses.
As a part, rocket shouldn't be difficult to develop. It's a stick with a cone on one end, and a hole on the other. Fins would spawn as the rocket is launched. Design would optimally be based on S-8 Rocket, as well as performance. Rate of fire would be adjustable from 0.1sec (for aerial rocket pods, like abovementioned UB-32), to 1sec (for WW2 planes), or maybe up to 5sec (for custom purposes). One attachment point would be on the top side of the weapon, just like on all ordinance currently in game.
Uses
As mentioned above, I have already found a few uses for these rockets, besides the obvious one. Those are:
MLRS
Unguided rockets can be used as ammunition for Multiple Launch Rocket Systems. Put it in a tube, connect a lot of tubes, and there you go.
RATO Boosters
Attach the rocket to the bigger end of detacher. Attach the rear (flat) side of the detacher to the plane. The rocket will fly with a detacher, puling the rest of the plane.
Flares
Scaling rockets short and setting the delay between them to 0.1sec, you can use them as improvised flares. They wouldn't actually attract missiles, but you would get the visual effect.
I hope that this will get added in the upcoming update.
@ClarkSpernato it depends on the launch angle and starting altitude. You can also adjust burn timer and reduce their mass through XML editing to get them to go further.
Question: How far do rockets go?
@Lightsaber70 why upvote this? This suggestion has already been fulfilled.
This sounds cool
@Minecrafter50 I know. I'm using 1.7 beta update. Thanks for noticing.
Its in beta right now! It will be out soon
@Weaverfish nope. Last I know is that it's being worked on, and that it'll be relatively soon (a month or two is an estimate, not sure tho). It'll have rockets and torpedoes.
@EternalDarkness Hello! Any whispers from the master chat about the update progress?
@Benkelmans "You can equip detachers with missiles and set them to FireGuns as some kind of missile rack." I'm trying to do this with xml editing, but its not working. Do you have an example of this somewhere?
@Benkelmans if you don't want rockets, you don't have to use them. I was notified that this is on "to do" list for the update now (perks of being on the Masters chat), and I'm celebrating.
@Benkelmans with only seven rockets. Also, they shoot too slow, you can't launch a rocket pod as a WW2 rocket, can't use it to propel a plane, can't use it as MLRS, etc. Of all weapons, since I discovered a better way to load a cannon, I've been using rocket pods the least, as they just don't suit any real life role. Not even the real life role of rocket pods, which is to fire bursts of rockets to cover a small area that'll probably include a tank you were targeting.
So, I've been wondering about this for awhile...is there any way to easily mod a rocket to fire at air-to-air targets? Perhaps an additional line in Overload set to say..."Selection [not sure what the command should be] = Air-to-Air"? I would try it out, but I'm not in front of my PC much these days and keep forgetting to try it out.
Yay we can make realistic WR pinatas and orkans with them
@AndrewGarrison can you also add something like the HVAR for WWII replicas please? Thank you. -Gemista
@RailfanEthan that gives you only seven rockets, and only if you are not using any group for something else. That means I can only make a custom rocket pod even more useless than the current one.
@Alienbeef0421 seems unnecessary. If the rocket would have a delay slider or other (usual for SP) form of delay adjustment, it could be easily used to make those pods. Also, bombs should have delay settings too.
@EternalDarkness @AndrewGarrison
I genuinely think that it should be 2 separate weapons, one a rocket pod with 32 rockets in it, and the other a rocket as big as an Interceptor (well its your call if you want to add fins on it) that can be launched via LaunchWeapons.
Ingame Settings for Large Rocket Pod:
-Delay (how long a rocket will launch after another): [0.1- 2] in increments of 0.1,
-Lifetime (how long a rocket lasts before it burns out): [3-10] in increments of 0.1,
Also, launching a barrage of rockets should be possible by holding the LaunchWeapon button.
And for the Unguided Rocket:
Lifetime: [5-30] in increments of 0.1,
Explosive Weight (should adjust the power of the explosion AND hurt the range): [0lbs-1000lbs] in increments of 50.
Well, you kind of already can. Just have a rocket attached to a detacher and have it set to a activation group. Activate the number and your rocket will launch.
@AndrewGarrison thank you. There might be more soon. I have ideas, but I have yet to adapt them to SimplePlanes multi-purpose parts policy, and such a design that its implementing wouldn't (in my opinion) take a lot of time and effort to the dev team. I understand you are working hard, and have no time for parts that would be used by just a few users, so I'm trying to present full concepts of the part design, function, and use.
Now, this is how to suggest an idea. Nice post!
@AndrewGarrison could you please at least consider this? Shouldn't be too hard to make, and it has many uses, some of which I have described above.