Munition:sdm-1-lunge

This missile takes the tried-and-true SGM-1 Riposte body and adds a high speed boost stage, allowing the missile to get out to long range quickly before switching to a more maneuverable but slower second stage. This missile is significantly longer than the basic riposte, and doesn't fit into the compact VLS systems.

SDM-1 Lunge
Type	Boosted, Conventional
Size	1
Integrity	10 HP
Wall Thickness	0.05 cm
Socket Weight	0.33x
Programming Time	6 sec
Available Warheads	BF/BFEL
Component Slots	W, G, Seek
Body Cost	0 pt
Faction

The SDM-1 Lunge, commonly referred to as an "SDM1", is a highly performant anti-craft missile available exclusively to craft, with its performance owing to its booster stage substantially increasing its lethality.

Design Considerations

Warhead

The SDM-1 cannot be used for Anti-ship, as it does not have access to HE shaped or HEKP warheads.

Anti-craft warheads are almost always Blast Frag, as EL does not bring useful benefits against craft and costs significantly more. This is because craft, unlike missiles, take 50% damage on a failed roll instead of 0 damage, in addition to HE-frag warheads being less likely to fail against craft. BF warheads are seen in either size 3 or size 4, which one you use depends on the faction you are playing. ANS uses size 4 warheads to defeat the higher health of Barracuda fighters, while OSP uses size 3 warheads which are sufficient to defeat Tanto fighters. This difference in warhead does not significantly affect the missile's ability to kill bombers, but does provide a slight range advantage to OSP.

Anti-missile warheads can use either form of HE Frag, with both Blast Frag and Blast Frag-EL seeing use depending on desired investment and reliability. BF warheads are only ever around 50% reliable at best against missiles, often requiring twice as many AMMs fired at a target to defeat it. As such, the most common BF warhead size is 4, under the assumption that if the warhead successfully hits it had better kill. This allows for a generalist missile that can reliably semi-reliably defeat any size 2 missile or size 3 hybrid type missile in two shots and remain effective against enemy fighters, if with less range than a dedicated ACM tuning.

EL warheads are significantly more reliable, often requiring half as many AMMs fired at a target to defeat it. However their high cost dictates that the most common forms of EL warhead are size 1 and size 2; the former can one-shot size 2 missiles and two shot size 3 hybrid types, while the latter is more effective against size 3 hybrid types using hardened skin and retains the ability to two-shot them, but is less cost efficient against everything else.

Stages

As a boosted missile, the SDM-1 has a fast first stage (the "Boost" stage) and a slow second stage (the "Main" stage). The staging is triggered when ANY of the following occur:

• A range-capable seeker (e.g. ACT, EO, CMD) sees a target AND the missile is within staging range of the target
• A direction-only seeker (e.g. ARAD, HOJ, SAH, WAKE) sees a target
• Seeker is jammed (e.g. ACT will stage when radar jammed)

The Boost stage on SDM1 is generally tuned to have minimum maneuverability, with the fastest speed that attains the desired range. SDM-1s typically use max or near max speed, as the ~3km range is more than enough, while the high closing velocity provides improved target discrimination and helps secure first shooter advantage.

The Main stage on SDM1 is effectively identical to the S1/SSM-1 engine, though generally they bias towards speed/range and away from maneuver. Defensive Anti-craft S1s will typically seek to achieve ~4.5 G and around 300+ m/s to get a good probability of kill and a good No Escape Zone against their targets. Note that direction-only seekers force a minimum range (e.g. ARAD forces the main stage to have at least 3km range, preferably more).

Common Missile Designs

Cruise Missile Designs

Cruise missile designs for the SDM1 are non-existent, as craft cannot use them.

Direct Missile Designs

Offensive Direct Types

Offensive missile designs for the SDM1 are non-existence, as they cannot fit an offensive warhead

Defensive Direct Types

• CMD - Requires radar coverage of decent positional error, and on fighters needs a missile control computer to launch and guide. Can only be fired one at a time due to this. Halberds come with one channel built in.
• ACT - Can be jammed or seduced
• EO - Some of the least efficient damage per point in existence. Struggles with some fast or complex targets due to the seeker not seeing velocity.
• ARAD - Incredibly niche as an ACM. It will track craft radars and jamming pods, but will trigger targeted craft to evade; this can be over-ridden by issuing another order.
• SAH - Requires illumination; Can be jammed or seduced. Cannot lead fast or complex targets effectively due to the seeker being unable to see range.
• WAKE - Cannot see missiles. Can see craft in rear aspect, but craft softkill it trivially by either dropping countermeasures or turning around in half a second.

Common SDM1 Fleet Archetypes

• Carriers
• Ships with craft backpacks

Detailed Stats

Main Speed	Thruster Speed	Range	Acceleration	Top Speed In	Turn Rate	Radar box, m (width × height × length)	Side-on	Nose-on	45° off nose, level	Peak, banked 45° (angle off nose)
650-850 m/s Boost 250-400 m/s Main	30-40 m/s Boost 40-50 m/s Main	1844-3795 m Boost 958-11911 m Main	153.1-204.1 G Boost 35.7-76.5 G Main	0.3-0.6 sec Boost 0.3-1.1 sec Main	6.5-17.5 G Boost 3.9-13.3 G Main	25 × 25 × 38	950	625	1,114	1,482 (65°)

Engine/Warhead Size	BF/BFEL Damage	Min Range	Max Range
2/5	73.05	958 m	3,911 m
3/4	65.34	1,458 m	5,911 m
4/3	56.58	1,958 m	7,911 m
5/2	46.20	2,458 m	9,911 m
6/1	32.67	2,958 m	11,911 m