Guided Weapons

A “guided” weapon is a projectile
that can receive steering commands in
flight. This enables the firer to keep it
on course. The weapon relies on the
operator’s skill to reach its target. Early
guided missiles had to be steered by
the operator using a joystick. Modern
systems merely require him to keep
the launcher’s sights trained on the tar-
get; the missile and launcher’s elec-
tronics do the rest.
Most reference works categorize
guided weapons according to how the
launcher communicates with the pro-
jectile. For instance, a “wire-guided”
missile or torpedo receives commands
via thin wires that spool out behind the
projectile in flight, while a “radio-guid-
ed” weapon receives commands via
radio. There are many other systems!
Treat an attack with a guided
weapon exactly like any other ranged
attack, except for these special rules:
Aim: If you Aim a guided weapon
before you Attack, you receive its Acc
bonus – but you don’t have to aim. If
the projectile takes multiple seconds to
reach its target (see Time to Target,
below), the attack is automatically
aimed and gets its Acc bonus.
Attack: If the target is within the
weapon’s 1/2D range, the weapon can
hit on the turn you fire it. Use an
Attack or All-Out Attack maneuver to
fire. If the target is more distant, use a
Concentrate maneuver – and since the
projectile will be in flight for several
seconds, you will also have to take
Concentrate maneuvers on one or
more subsequent turns.
Modifiers: Treat a guided weapon
as any other firearm when assessing
modifiers, but ignore range modi-
fiers! Your target might have “elec-
tronic countermeasures” (ECM) that
give a penalty to hit. Details depend
on the ECM and the guidance system,
and are outside the scope of the
Basic Set.