Target-Seeking Missile Challenge

[mockingking]

Now here\'s a challenge by me, because I\'m too stupid to make it work and I need someone to do it for me.

Build a target-seeking missile.

I don\'t care if it\'s a cruise missile, an ICBM, a short-range KSC-local debris cleaner, a cluster bomb, MIRV, a kinetic kill vehicle, guided by MechJeb, by Lazor or by any other means, if the rocket is the missile or if the missiles detach from the rocket...

The rules

1. Needs to be able to hit a target without the player steering the rocket.

1.1. The player may trigger staging, and the player may alter MechJeb/Lazor/What-Have-You Settings.

2. If it cannot hit accurately, then it needs to be explosive / full of clusters enough to take out the target anyways.

3. The target needs to be called prior to the launch, and may only be an active vessel or debris.

4. The target needs to be destroyed.

5. If the rocket flies straight from launch to target without changing its direction, it is not considered target-seeking.

6. May not contain members of the Kerman Family.

Contest Categories

1. Local Area Direct: Hit a target around the KSC by sending a missile in an angle below 45°

2. Local Area Indirect: Hit a target around the KSC by sending a missile above an angle of 45°

3. Medium Range: Hit a target not visible from the KSC

4. Long Range: Hit a Target at least 1/4th of Kerbin\'s circumference away from the KSC

5. ICBM: Hit a target on another continent

6. Orbit-to-ground: Take a rocket from a stable orbit and make it hit a called target

Suggestions

1. Try Romfarer\'s Lazor 'Fly by Lazor' feature.

2. Launch to a very high altitude and use the MechJeb 'Land at Target' feature.

3. Don\'t hurt the Kerbs. Either manage to send rockets separated from the main stage containing the crew, or use an unmanned pod.

Good luck, gentlekerbs.

[Majiir]

If we can\'t control it and the target must be called before launch, how is it target-seeking? Or do you just mean 'targeted'?

[mockingking]

Wouldn\'t 'targeted', strictly speaking, imply that the missile is being targeted by something else?

I mean you give the missile some coordinates, a vehicle, or a particular piece of debris, and it does the rest. (Apart from staging / settings). Ultimately, it comes down to not touching WASDQE or a Joystick.

[Fendleton]

You could do it with mechjeb by using ascent autopilot to get up, then telling it to 'land' at a few hundred (or thousand) metres per second. Probably wouldn\'t be the most accurate system though.

[mockingking]

Tried that. Accurate to 300-1600 meters. Useless.

(And it\'s already mentioned in the OP. Gimme new stuff!)

My latest attempt was the MechJeb rendezvous module, using the +TGT command. Surprisingly accurate from a high angle (20 meters with an unarmed craft, at a target 2 km away from the pad), but does not compensate for gravity and therefore falls short.