Torpedo command

The TORPEDO command attempts to launch one guided torpedo at a selected ship. Torpedoes use impulse-space guidance and do not consume neutron flux.

Syntax

TORPEDO ship-letter
TORPEDO @

The command may be abbreviated to TOR. A ship letter selects a target from the current scan table. @ selects the ship remembered by LOCK. That remembered target is only a selection shortcut: every launch still performs a fresh torpedo guidance lock calculation.

Launch checks

The firing ship must have torpedo launchers and at least one torpedo in its inventory. It cannot be in hyperspace or actively cloaked. The target must be valid, visible, within scanner range, and outside neutral-zone protection. The firing ship must also be outside the neutral zone. Fire control must obtain a guidance lock, the target must have an open incoming-torpedo slot, and a ge-next launcher must be ready. A ship already at 100% damage cannot fire.

Torpedoes can be launched while stopped, moving at impulse, or orbiting a planet. A target traveling at warp cannot be locked by a torpedo. Classic rejects launches when fire control is damaged and blocks them under its jammer condition. ge-next tracks torpedo-launcher damage separately, blocks severe jamming but permits light jamming, and reloads a limited number of launchers per ship-state update.

The guidance lock is deterministic rather than random. Distance and the combined speeds of the two ships affect it; the exact formula and practical range are described on Torpedoes.

Failed attempts and shields

Only a successful launch consumes a torpedo. ge-next waits until launch checks succeed before lowering the firing player's raised shields, so a failed attempt leaves them up. Classic lowers shields earlier in command processing; failures such as no ammunition, an invalid or missing target, a failed guidance lock, or a full target slot can leave shields down without launching a torpedo. Classic can also start combat-exit timers on a failed guidance attempt, while ge-next starts those timers only when a projectile is actually launched.

A successful launch notifies the target and places both ships in combat. In classic, merely attempting a qualifying lock against a Cybertron can provoke it before the guidance calculation succeeds. ge-next provokes an NPC only after a successful lock, preventing out-of-weapons-range attempts from baiting it. An explicit LOCK remains a hostile act in ge-next.

Syntax

Launch checks

Failed attempts and shields

See also