One of my prefered ships in T1 and T2 so far has been the Jericho Guided Torpedo Frigates. But at the same time I have been playing the interceptors and fighters as well.
A brief list of my experience… 11 years Active USMC dealing with Airborne and Ground based weapon systems for the US Navy and US Marine Corps, I worked with Missiles and Rockets extensively, Air to Air, Air to Ground, and Ground to Air (shoulder fired and vehicle launched) Missile Systems and Air to Ground Rocket Systems. I did not work with the large Cruise Ship Missiles though, so I cannot say for a fact how those opperate. So I do have some experience with actual Military Grade Munitions.
A few things that I have learned about the Guided Torpedos, Missiles and Rockets in game so far…
1: The weapon design is flawed. The Move by Wire systems are rather accurate as far as movement is based, but a little too much manuverability in them personnally. But the weapon detonation design itself is what is truley wrong.
Personally a Change to the Guided Torpedo I would enjoy seeing is that they become the weapon of choice for killing other Frigates, as that is the type of weapon to take out a larger heavilly armored ship. A weapon like the Guided Torpedo should be doing a shaped charge on detonation, not a 360 deg AOE (even though I love dropping it ahead of the fleeing Intruders or the really stupid ones that charge straight at me). Most if not all modern Missile and Rocket designs use a Shaped Charge as its more effective for piercing Armor. For Rockets its a bit problematic as there are so many warheads to choose from, HE, flechette, Smoke, White Phosphorus, Flare (Infrared or visual), and inert (Non-Explosive, mainly used as training rounds).
A possibility of different grades of Armor comes to mind, but this has its draw backs as well. Not just the total thickness of it, as a Frigate would be able to carry the increased weight and duability of a different type of armor, as it would not need as much flexability as the more nimble interceptors and Fighters would need… This could effect all ships in fact. Interceptors Light Armor, Fighters Medium Armor, Frigates Heavy Armor. This could be done by changing the resists some on the different ships types, but at the same time a negative result of this idea is it would make an Interceptor even less durable than it is currently. So The same armor used on a Fighter would be better off used on an Interceptor as well I think. So perhaps doing the Light, Medium, and Heavy Armor variants is not a good idea in the long run, but two classes of Armor might be better.
2: Is the Range on the Guided Torpedo supposed to be over 10K range in T2? I know the Jericho Frigate I am running atm, I believe is closer to 20K. I can hit any place on the map with some very nice accuracy. Even to the point of arcing the torpedo up and coming down (much like the Harpoon Missile used by the US Navy) from where they won’t see the torpedo coming from or at. Either the same Range as the Disentegrator Frigates would be good (I believe it is still 10K range even in T2+) or unfortunetly increasing the Disentegrator range. So probably using the same range as the Disentegrator would be the better choice.
3: Frigates in general need some defensive help, the possibility of a Radar Dampening Hull module comes to mind, (I know that Modern Aircraft use a Radar Dampening Paint {does not work on vehicles to spoof the police radar}, what the aircraft is made from {Composite Materials}, and the design of the body shape (Stealth Bombers} to dampen the Radar Signature) instead of the Modulesthat are used to increase the energy pool or energy regeneration. On my Frigate I normally do not find myself running low on energy as it tends to stay under cover and hidden much of the time. Basically you would not be able to pick up the Frigate from as far away as a Inteceptor or Fighter. Could possible be an engine modification or something a long those lines.
4: Missile and Rockets speed seems to be coded incorrectly as well A Missile and a Rocket, fired from an Aircraft, start at the speed of the Aircraft then the motor kicks in and adds to that speed. From what I have seen using both Missiles and Rockets so far is that they travel at the same speed reguardless if fired from a stationary or moving platform.
5: The Shields and Armor on a Frigate seem to be fine as they are in my opinion. Interceptors if they are decent, and Fighters if they are good, seem to kill me easilly enough. Just cannot turn fast enough to get to them unfortunetly. That is what I get for using a Frigate though.
6: The classifications of the Fighters confuse a lot of new players (I am still not 100% positive on what the different classifications really mean, but figuring out more of it every day). Perhaps a better system could be used instead. Attack, Bombers, Electronic Warfare, and Command and Control come to mind.
7: An idea for a Deployable item that is used by many modern aircraft platforms is the (unfortunetly I cannot remember the name of it, if you know please let me know) deployable dummy Aircraft that can be configured with glide plans (they can be set to glide in different directions for certain periods of time, to mimic an aircraft in flight) to mislead radar into thinking it is another aircraft. A small flight of aircraft can suddenly become a Squadron of aircraft on the radar screen. Not sure if this would be able to be coded, would be a good idea, or would be necessary though.
Ok enough of my Random thoughts on this subject. Feel free to speak on this subject if you like. Just please no flaming comments, keep it civil and to the point. If you have any ideas of your own or find that I have made an error here please let me know. I can all ways be wrong, things change constantly after all. Especially in the military world.