Modern Missile Design

(Version 1.08 - Last Modified: 11/27/2005)
Heavily borrows from Revised and Expanded Missile & Bomb Tables by Chris Curtis, with assistance from Mad Dog and Kitsune.
Some details and warheads are inspired by the Honor Harrington series of books by David Weber.


Introduction

Missiles are very important in modern warfare; they allow attacks to be carried out at long distances, provide a military with the means to precisely strike a target, and can cause high levels of destruction. Missiles have not been well defined by Palladium Books and bombs get even less attention then missiles. This document will attempt to describe the various components of a missile and a bomb. A reader that is familiar with Chris Curtis's Revised and Expanded Missile & Bomb Tables will seem many similarities between that work and this work, but I have incorporated some of the special rules that I have developed.

Each missile is composed six components: size, drive, type, guidance systems, warhead, and design. Each bomb consists of the same components, except a bomb does not have a drive component. The size of a missile determines its durability and how much internal space it has for a drive, guidance systems, and a warhead. The drive determines the missiles range, atmospheric speed, and its rate of acceleration in space. The missile type will determine what warheads are available, may require specific guidance systems, and can give special bonuses or penalties to the missile. A missile's design will often determine its size, type, and sometimes even its guidance systems and warhead. A missile's design could also provide modifications to a missile, such as to its speed and range. The number of guidance systems that a missile can hold also depends on its size. The most important component of a missile is its warhead. The warheads available for a missile vary widely in strength, but the larger the missile size, the stronger the warhead available. The cost of a missile is the sum of the cost of the four basic components. The missile body, represented by its size, has a cost, each guidance system has a cost, and the warhead has a cost. A missile's type and design can also affect its cost.


Missile Size

Their are six standard missile sizes and five standard bomb sizes: mini-missiles, short range missiles, medium range missiles, long range missiles, cruise missiles, intercontinental ballistic missiles, small bombs, light bombs, medium bombs, heavy bombs, and extra-heavy bombs. Mini-missiles are the smallest missiles, have the shortest range, the smallest warheads, and the slowest speed, but because of their small size, they are easy to use with power armor. The short range missiles are larger and more complex then the mini-missiles and they are often employed by tanks, robot vehicles, and fighters. Medium range missiles are usually used against mecha and fighters, as it has the right balance of speed and power. Long range missiles are used to destroy heavily armored mecha and fighters, but more commonly are used against spaceships and hardened fortifications. Cruise missiles are the largest missiles that are commonly available and are used by ground installations or large spaceships and are used against fortifications and other spaceships. Intercontinental ballistic missiles are extremely large and powerful missiles that are only stored on the largest space station and in ground installations, these missiles are used when heavy destruction is desired. Small bombs are used for precise aerial bombardments, usually against infantry and lightly armored targets. Light bombs are used against armored opponents and lightly armored fortifications. Medium bombs are used for sure kills against armored targets and protected fortifications. Heavy bombs are used against hardened fortifications and large installations. Extra-Heavy Bombs are used against buried fortifications and very large targets.

In the tables below, each missile size has a location where it is used, such as Phase World (the Three Galaxies) and Rifts Earth for the M.D.C. worlds and Earth and the Galaxy for S.D.C. worlds. Also listed is the missile's maximum speed in space, while it is possible for missiles to exceed the listed speed they must be specially programmed to do so and for each 0.1c of speed that the missile exceeds this speed, there is a 1% chance of the missile detonating prematurely. Each missile size has an electronics suite that generates ECM and ECCM for the missile, which is usually only important at the moment the missile is launched or when it is fired upon. A missile's ECCM is only used if the missile has any non-autonomous guidance systems. Finally, each table has the missile's M.D.C. and A.R. value for M.D.C. worlds and its S.D.C. value for S.D.C. worlds.

  1. Mini-Missiles:

  2. Short Range Missiles:

  3. Medium Range Missiles:

  4. Long Range Missiles:

  5. Cruise Missiles:

  6. Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles:

  7. Free-Fall Bomb Range:

  8. Small Bomb:

  9. Light Bomb:

  10. Medium Bomb:

  11. Heavy Bomb:

  12. Extra-Heavy Bomb:

Missile Drive

Unlike a bomb, a missile has to propel itself from its launcher to its target. A missile travels from its launcher to its target by using its propulsion system. The missile's drive determines its atmospheric speed, its rate of acceleration in space, and its range in an atmosphere and in space. Also listed is the number of melees that a missile can use its drive system in space; the maximum range in space is calculated from the number of melees that the missile's drive can remain active at the maximum rate of acceleration. The most common type of drive system used on Rifts Earth and in the Three Galaxies is a simple chemical rocket, although other forms of propulsion have been experimented with and some anti-gravity drives are used by the more advanced groups in the Three Galaxies, like the CCW and the Transgalactic Empire.

Unless programmed otherwise, missiles in an atmosphere will reach their maximum speed within seconds of being launched and will travel at their maximum speed until they hit their target, reach their maximum atmospheric range and run out of propellant, or they detonate for any other reason. Missiles function differently in space and each drive system possesses a different rate of acceleration. Missiles accelerate at a rate of acceleration set prior to their launch and then accelerate at that rate for as many melees as listed in the description of that type of propulsion system, at which point they can be programmed to either continue traveling in that direction or they can become inert. Missiles with the Command guidance system can change their rate of acceleration after it has been launched and can deactivate the missile at any time. Missiles can be set prior to their launch or at any time if the missile has the Command guidance system to turn off their drive systems, extending their range dramatically, but during the time that the drives have been turned off, the missile cannot maneuver and loses any dodge bonus.

Missiles launched in space are affected by a maximum speed, like starships are, even though a missile's life span after launch is brief enough that radiation and particle damage is not much of a factor. The maximum safe speed that a missile can travel at is listed for each missile type in the missile size section. Although many of the shorter ranged missiles do not come close to reaching this maximum safe speed before they run out of propellant, all of the larger missiles are affected by this and each missile has enough propellant for its main engines to reach its maximum safe speed before that fuel is wasted, after that the missile has fuel to only perform maneuvering and navigation adjustments based on small initial errors at the time of launch and to compensate for a moving target. Once the fuel used for maneuvering is exhausted, a missile has reached the space range listed below. Missile acceleration is affected the same way starship accelerations are effected; see the Revised Starship Rules for Phase World for more details.

In space, missiles can be used to hit targets beyond their maximum range because missiles will travel in a straight line once they run out of fuel. They are, of course, affected by gravity wells, but the launching craft can calculate for that. Targets that do not move are ideal for this type of strike. These targets include orbital bases and cities. There are no penalties to hit these targets, but to hit specific targets, such as an individual building in a city, the missiles have a penalty of -8 to strike. To hit a large moving target, such as a large spaceship, the missiles have a penalty of -16 to strike. Mobile targets smaller then about 5 million tons (4.5 million metric tons) cannot be hit by this type of attack.

  1. Mini-Missiles:

  2. Short Range Missiles:

  3. Medium Range Missiles:

  4. Long Range Missiles:

  5. Cruise Missiles:

  6. Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles:

Missile Guidance Systems

To control its flight path, a missile or a bomb will have a guidance computer and an autopilot. The autopilot is a set of electronic instruments and electrical devices that control the motors and fins to steer the missile or bomb towards its designated target. In the absence of signals from the guidance computer, which receives its information from the guidance systems, the autopilot maintains the correct missile attitude and maintains the missile flight in a straight line. If the guidance computer tells the autopilot new information, then the missile will change its flight path accordingly, while continuing to stabilize the missile. The guidance computer receives all of its information from the various guidance systems located on the missile or bomb. It will interpret the information from the systems, recognize if the target has changed position, and forward the new information to the autopilot. The guidance computer is also equipped with electronic warfare equipment that generates both ECM and ECCM. Larger missiles and bombs have larger guidance computers which enables them to receive information from more guidance systems and generate more ECM and ECCM.

The number of guidance systems that can be placed on a missile or bomb depends on its size, and even then, some guidance systems are too large to be placed on some missile or bomb sizes. If a missile or bomb has more then one guidance system, then all bonuses from those systems are cumulative. If a guidance system is blinded, then the missile or bomb will continue towards its target as an unguided projectile and the roll to strike must be rolled again, but the target's same dodge roll, if applicable, is still used. If a missile or bomb had multiple guidance systems and only one was blinded, the roll to strike must still be rolled again, but only the blinded system's bonuses do not apply, all other bonuses function normally.

There are two main types of guidance systems: autonomous and non-autonomous. Autonomous systems allow a missile or bomb to be completely independent from the launching vehicle and the launching vehicle's bonus to strike are not applied to the missile or bombs strike bonus. A non-autonomous system is directly controlled or influenced by the launching vehicle or another system. The influencing force is allowed to use its bonus to strike to assist the missile or bomb in hitting the target. Non-autonomous and autonomous systems can be mixed on the same missile or bomb. Most autonomous systems generate their own ECCM, in addition to providing a bonus to strike, but if a missile is equipped with one or more non-autonomous systems, then the missile will also use the ECCM of the launching vessel as well. Missiles always use their own ECM, never the ECM of the launching ship. A missile without any guidance systems are considered to be unguided and are easily confused by ECM. Unguided missiles receive no bonuses to strike, not even bonuses from the launching vehicle, and if the target forces a new strike roll for any reason, such as launching Chaff or increasing its ECM, an unguided missile automatically fails.

When a missile is launched at a target, the attacher determines all bonuses to strike and ECCM for the volley of missiles and then rolls to strike the target applying any penalties to strike and ECM. As the missile travels towards its target, some or all of its guidance systems may become disrupted, if this happens, a new strike roll must be made to determine with the missile continues to hold a lock on the target. Unless a missile has a Simple, Smart, or Expert Guidance system or Loiter Capability, once it has lost a lock on the target, it cannot regain the lock. If the target gains additional ECM at any time a missile is traveling towards the target, the missile must regain the lock on the target.

Munitions Type Abbreviation Number of Guidance Systems Base ECM Base ECCM
Mini-Missile MM One non-autonomous system 2 0
Short Range Missile SRM One guidance system 2 0
Medium Range Missile MRM Two guidance systems 2 0
Long Range Missile LRM Three guidance systems 3 0
Cruise Missile CM Four guidance systems 3 1
Intercontinental Ballistic Missile ICBM Six guidance systems 4 1
Small Bomb SB One non-autonomous system 1 0
Light Bomb LB Two non-autonomous systems 1 0
Medium Bomb MB One guidance system 1 0
Heavy Bomb HB Two guidance systems 2 0
Extra-Heavy Bomb XHB Three guidance systems 2 1
  1. Active Radar Homing (ARH):
  2. Anti-Radiation (AR):
  3. Command (CMD):
  4. Expert Guidance (EXRT):
  5. Global Positioning System Homing (GPSH):
  6. Guide By Wire (WIRE):
  7. IFF Identification:
  8. Infrared Homing (IRH):
  9. Loiter Capability:
  10. Neutrino Homing (NTH):
  11. Optical Guidance (OPT):
  12. Passive Gravity Homing (PGH):
  13. Semi-Active Laser Homing (SALH):
  14. Semi-Active Radar Homing (SARH):
  15. Simple Guidance (SMPL):
  16. Smart Guidance (SMRT):
  17. Surface Skimming:

Missile Warhead

A missile or bomb warhead is the single most important component; it is the reason for having a missile or a bombs and is the destructive force that the rest of the missile or bomb is designed to assist. There are many different types of warheads and a few require special rules and descriptions.

There are two optional rules that the author recommends be used when determining the damage inflicted by a missile or a bomb. The first optional rule is the damages listed are for being caught within the blast radius of an explosion. Everything within the blast radius takes the damage listed. If the explosion hits the target directly, then double damage is inflicted. To determine whether the target was hit directly, use the natural, unaltered, strike roll. If the roll was 18, 19, or 20 then the target was hit directly, otherwise it was only caught in the blast radius. Effectively, this means that in this case critical strikes are on a roll of 18, 19, or 20 instead of only the normal 20. If this optional rule is used, then it supercedes the normal rule where a natural 20 causes a critical strike that inflicts double damage. The second optional rule concerns how to handle multiple targets belonging to the same vehicle caught within a single explosion. For example, if a suit of power armor was struck by a missile, this optional rule affects how the explosion will damage the entire suit of power armor if it was caught within the blast radius. This rule is called Optional Missile Blast Damage and is hosted on Kitsune's Web Page.

If one of the other components, such as the type or design, says it reduces or increases the strength of the warhead, then that means that the warhead module is smaller or larger, depending on how it is modified. If the warhead size is modified then the damage and blast radius are increased / decreased accordingly, and any of the special warheads that contain smaller munitions, such as the multi-warhead and the cluster warhead, have their capacity increased / decreased accordingly.

Standard Warheads

  1. Mini-Missile Warheads:

  2. Short Range Missile and Small Bomb Warheads:

  3. Medium Range Missile and Light Bomb Warheads:

  4. Long Range Missile and Medium Bomb Warheads:

  5. Cruise Missile and Heavy Bomb Warheads:

  6. Intercontinental Ballistic Missile and Extra-Heavy Bomb Warheads:

Combat Warheads

  1. Armor Piercing:

  2. Cluster Grenade:

  3. Deployable Minefield:

  4. Fragmentation:

  5. Fuel Air Explosive:

  6. Fusion:

  7. High Explosive:

  8. Kinetic Energy:

  9. Multi-Warhead:

  10. Nuclear:

  11. Plasma / Napalm:

  12. X-Ray Laser:

Non-Combat Warheads

  1. Fire Retardant:

  2. Illumination:

  3. Smoke:

  4. Tear Gas:

Electronic Warfare Warheads

These missiles do not generally target an enemy when they are launched, and often passively follow other missiles in the volley. The proper mix of electronic warfare warheads to standard warheads is often debated in modern militaries, but the more EW warheads used, the higher the chance of regular warheads reaching their targets.

  1. Chaff:

  2. Deployable Electronic Jamming:

  3. Dragon Teeth:

  4. Electronic Jamming:

  5. Penetration Aid:

Missile Type

The Missile Type will determine what warheads are available for a missile, may require specific guidance systems, and can give special bonuses or penalties to the missile. On Rifts Earth, the most common missile type available is the Multipurpose Missile, which possesses no penalties against any target, but provides no bonuses. The other most popular missile types are the Anti-Spaceship Missile and the Infantry Missile. While the Missile Types seem similar to the guidance systems available for missiles and bombs, and most of the types take space away from other guidance systems, it is important to note that instead of detecting a target through a sensor system, such as the Anti-Radiation guidance system, these missiles provide bonuses against targets in a specific environment, such as on the ground or in the air, or targets with specific characteristics, such as their size.

  1. Air-to-Air Missile (AAM):
  2. Air-to-Ground Missile (AGM):
  3. Anti-Missile Missile (AMM):
  4. Anti-Spaceship Missile (ASM):
  5. Atmosphere-to-Space Missile (ASPM):
  6. Infantry Missile (IFM):
  7. Multipurpose Missile (MPM):
  8. Space-to-Atmosphere Missile (SPAM):
  9. Space-to-Space Missile (SPM):
  10. Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM):
  11. Surface-to-Surface Missile (SSM):

Missile Design

Some groups have developed special missiles, such as the pre-Rifts United States' AGM-84 Harpoon missile first developed in 1977, and a missile's design will often determine several characteristics about a missile and possibly provide several modifications to a missile's properties, such as velocity and range. While most missiles on Rifts Earth and in the Three Galaxies are built on generic designs, there are a few missile designs that are available to most groups.

  1. Anti-Armor Missile:

  2. General Purpose Missile:

  3. Ground Penetrating Missile / Bomb:

  4. Hypervelocity Missile:

  5. Multi-Stage Missile: