Talk:Missile Defences
Missile Defenses in Minecraft
I am building an X-COM Base in Minecraft (From the older game) and I need to find a way to make missile defenses for it, of course, the base has an Avenger craft in it, so Missile Defenses would be useless at that phase of the game, but still, I would like to build a Missile Defense Module. Does anyone know how I could do it? Daylight Sensors on the tips of rocket-shaped structures of Iron Blocks sound good, but, I don't know any other way to make a Missile Defense in Minecraft? Are there any suggestions?
Are Missile Defences worth building?
I cannot recall the last time I built those. Laser Defences come quite early, and for the gap between I find it better to rely on a garrison with a couple rocket HWP's.--Trotsky 03:39, 26 June 2006 (PDT)
It's arguable that none of the defence modules are worth building - except the mind shields. Well, that's not entirely true. Defences don't stop an attack. They just slow them down.
The aliens will just send another battleship continuously until one gets through. You can only suffer so many battleships that you'll end up dismantling your defences just to let them through. Also damage to the battleship has no control on the aliens that actually enter the base.
But for the missile module... Let's see. The main one would be to build a huge battery of missiles. This is cheap (in relation to a huge battery of fusion modules) and can be incredibly effective when coupled with a grav shield. It unnecessarily expands your base, but with so many missiles firing, it'll be very hard for any battleship to break through. It also makes each ufo attack take a long time to complete, and as the aliens will just send another battleship, it's never ending.
Now, its other use, check the lower level corridor layout of the missile defence module. It's quite unique when compared to most of the other modules. With careful planning, you can use this to control movement through the base.
It's sad, but the missile module is more useful in a purpose other than what it's there fore.
- NKF
Thanks for confirming that damage upon incoming battleships has no effect on the tactical battle - I have been wondering about that. As for defences not being worth building: I agree with the idea of defences being only useful as slowing the aliens down (I remember playing a TFTD game in which they would send more than a ship an hour - I would love an option to "turn defences off", so that one could just put an invasion off until ready to face it). However, missile denfences are double worthless, since not only they are only capable of delaying an invading force, but also very poor at doing so. I found that bit about the module being valuable in tactical combat quite interesting - perhaps it should be added to the main article?--Trotsky 06:33, 26 June 2006 (PDT)
I had frequent crashes when running base defence missions with missile defences built. I now don't use them and don't miss them. I heard a rumour that base defences reduced the number of attacking aliens when they hit but since I don't use missiles any more I can't confirm that. Egor
There can be any number of reasons for a base crash, and it's hardly just the missile defence module that's at fault. But this will vary from player to player.
As for the number of aliens - don't worry about it. This has already been tested and confirmed that the damage done to the battleship doesn't affect alien numbers.
- NKF
Notes about missiles in comparison with other modules
I did a few calculations and found that you need 7 missile modules + grav shield to have the same effect as 2 fusion ball defences + grav shield (in terms of chance to destroy a battleship). This makes it less economically viable to build missiles for defences than fusion balls. In fact, fusion ball defences are by a small margin, the cheapest defences structures to set up. The following is a table of chances to kill a battleship
| Structure | Min | Min + 1 | Min + 2 | Min + 3 | Min + 4 | Min + 5 | Min + 6 | Min + 7 |
| Missile | 7 | 0.39% | 1.95% | 5.47% | 11.33% | 19.38% | 29.05% | 39.53% |
| Laser | 6 | 3.80% | 10.64% | 23.18% | 38.23% | 53.28% | 66.52% | 77.12% |
| Plasma | 4 | 16.81% | 42.02% | 64.71% | 80.59% | 90.12% | 95.27% | 97.84% |
| Fusion | 3 | 40.96% | 73.73% | 90.11% | 96.67% | 98.96% | 99.69% | 99.91% |
(Min is the minimum required to kill a battleship -- the chance of these succeeding are virtually 0).
Clearly, you a lot less fusion ball defences to get to the same level of protection as with missiles. With 14 (Min + 7: costs $70.000/month) missile structures you have a slightly worse chance of killing a battleship than you do with only 4 (Min + 1: costs $56.000/month) Fusion ball defences. Even factoring in that missiles need only 7 modules ($35.000/month) and a grav shield ($15.000/month for a total of $50.000/month) and that fusion ball only need 2 modules ($28.000/month) and a grav shield (for a total of $43.000/month) for the equivelant protection level, the economy is definetly on the side of fusion ball (and all the XCOM games are basicaly just economy), especially considering that just having 3 fusion ball defences and a grav shield, costing 4 base slots and $57.000/month, the aliens will have a chance of less than 10% that a battleship will get through.