Torpedo Bombers have +750 extra range

[SethDGamre]

Description

The range of the torpedo as defined in its unitdef seems not to start until the "bomb" phase of the torpedo hits the water. Then it continues from that collision point until it reaches its intended target.

Here is a quote from Rippsy https://discord.com/channels/549281623154229250/1295107209583263785/1297286384461025333
"It takes 50 frames @ 30fps - so 1.66r seconds for a bomb to land in the water after being loosed or there abouts, they hit the water slightly behind the plane, so deduct some for that.

So say about 1.25 x unit.Speed travelled due to ballistics.

The outer pink line is 1500, the inner pink line is 1400; Arm torp bomber drops about half way between the two, giving an effective range of around ~1450, by the time the 3rd torp is dropped its just around 1300range and then you can begin its turn if 100% micro'ed it will just fall inside 1150 and get shot at by an Eradad or Chainsaw if naval ones existed

Tweakunits of the modified Erad / Chain with ranges as reference points:
ew0KCWFybWNpciA9IHsNCgkJd2VhcG9uZGVmcyA9IHsNCgkJCWFybV9jaXIgPSB7DQoJCQkJcmFuZ2UgPSAxNTAwLA0KCQkJfSwNCgkJfSwNCgl9LA0KCWNvcmVyYWQgPSB7DQoJCXdlYXBvbmRlZnMgPSB7DQoJCQljb3JfZXJhZCA9IHsNCgkJCQlyYW5nZSA9IDE0MDAsDQoJCQl9LA0KCQl9LA0KCX0sDQp9"

Here is a demonstration of its abuse in game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKwuwdWxSrs

Expected Behaviour

Zecrus approved on 10/19/24 calibrating the behavior until the effective torpedo range is slightly below all sea AA options. He also cautioned this abusable range is a compromise to make the unit consistent and prevent overshooting.

There are some suggested approaches here:
https://discord.com/channels/549281623154229250/549282166543089674/1297256712776192115

Actual Behaviour

See the above

Reproduction steps

Give attack orders to sea units with torpedo Bombers, as soon as they let loose their torpedos turn them away. They will outrange all sea AA options despite their 650 range.

Other

No response

[MeSaber]

You also have extreme range increase based on elevation:

Comin from sea you get shorter range:

Images shows torps being dropped from different ranges. You can start your dodging process (turning) just as first torp is being dropped.

This is also true for torp gunships where their acceleration (just like torp bomber) has huge impact on the range at which torp is launched, elevation is also a factor but torp gunships torpedo has a shorter lifetime until it self-explode so elevation could cause duds.

Its possible to avoid sea AA with both these units with perfect micro. Less so needed for torp bomber seeing how elevation can be abused and the unit already flies at max speed at all times compared to torp gunship. You need more of an acceleration strip with torp gunship.

In any case this is what makes torp bombers so strong, while torp gunships can also be strong if used correctly but its more experimental stage rather than 'this is how you should use torp bombers' which by default should be release torps then turn.

The attack range indicator of both these units are completely wrong cause of this. You could say the same for regular bombers where it shows 1000+ range which isnt really true. Corhurc for example 1280 range.
This is where bombs are released compared to its attack range:

[SethDGamre]

I think I have an idea for a solution.

• Give it a dummy weapon (steal from legvcarry.lua),
• give it the 650 range same as torpedo launcher,
• make torpedo launcher slaveto dummy weapon
• in animation script, do some wizardry probably by blocking weapon query? To prevent torpedo fire until dummy fires

I didn't see any promising gadget options so far.
Best guess is dynamically adjusting altitude down to an "attack" altitude to reduce the drop time of the torpedo projectiles.

[SethDGamre]

Another possible solution:

Specifically for guided projectile, if it ever goes outside the range of the unit that fired it, either destroy the projectile or ideally make it lose its guided characteristics.

Option 1 would mean you have to follow the torpedos all the way to their target. If you peel away, the projectiles explode as soon as they're out of max range of the torpedo bomber.

Option 2 would mean preserving the advanced technique somewhat of the set target asymmetry.