IR Flares are a module that only appear on bots and stock ships these days. Now it’s more acceptable to take the hit than to waste an active module slot. Instead of keeping it as a useless item that sees no real use, it should instead be given to all ships as a standard ability.
All ships should be given a new key bind “Flare” and an indicator next to modules/missiles or manually placed that shows how many flares you have, as well as cooldown and recharge.
I also propose a change to their functionality.
Instead of simply breaking lock with the missile, they should be given more chance, and more variants. If it has a 50% chance to break lock, and you have 10 missiles on you, about 5 missiles will lose their lock. Etc.
All flares should be able to cause very minor thermal damage to ships that hit them, just to add realism.
Name: IR Flares (stock flares on every ship, if no other flare module is placed in the flares slot.)
Max charges: 5
Charge restoration: 20 seconds
Cooldown: 3 seconds
Tooltip: Fires standard-issue IR flares that have a 75% chance to break the lock of any missile locked on to you.
Name: Heavy Flares
Max changes: 3
Charge restoration: 20 seconds
Cooldown: 5 seconds
Tooltip: Fires a large flare that breaks the lock of 100% of missiles locked on to you.
Name: Smart Flares
Damage: 350/s thermal for 4 seconds
Max charges: 3
Charge restoration: 25 seconds
Cooldown: 5 seconds
Tooltip: Fires a hi-tech flare with automated flight path determination. Flare locks on to a random enemy within 2,500m and draws 75% of missiles locked on to you to them.
Name: Phantom Dodge
Max Charges: 3
Charge restoration: 25 seconds
Cooldown: 5 seconds
Tooltip: Shifts the ship out of phase for 1 second just before missile impact, allowing it to pass through without causing harm.
Name: Radio Shield
Max charges: 3
Charge restoration: 25 seconds
Cooldown: 5 seconds
Tooltip: Causes all rockets and missiles that come within 900m of you to detonate. Lasts for 5 seconds.
Name: Compact Flares
Max charges: 10
Charge restoration: 15 seconds
Cooldown: 1 second
Tooltip: Launches a small flare that has a 50% chance to break the lock of any missiles locked on to you.
Alternative flare modules can be found in loot of ships destroyed in any open space sector, and cannot be upgraded.