Perfecting the scimitar

[modest pelican]

The scimitar currently is a ramjet missiles, advertised to be able to reach speeds of up to mach 4, giving it an extended and impressive range increase at the cost of price, theres just one issue though :

It NEVER stops accelerating

Taking inspiration from other ramjet/airbreathing missiles, also known as the mbda meteor and the prototype and never build aim-52 acimd, those 2 missiles have a particularity that could be added to the scimitar, increasing its deadlyness while staying realistic :

Throttle control.

Both those missiles have this option, once the acimd or meteor reached the wished speed of mach 4, the missile would throttle down to keep that speed, conserving fuel

Our scimitar, like the meteor, seems to have about 60 seconds of fuel after the initwl booster, while yes it does reach, mach 4 like advertised (everybody thank kramenka industries please) it never stops accelerating, even reaching mach 6 at high alt and losing it thanks to an early altitude drop

So here's my suggestion : giving the scimitar throttle control could not only increase it's range but also stay realistic, for a twist, it would slam itself into max throttle once arriving into terminal phase to spend those last % of fuel going as fast as possible, basically importing the terminal boost of the agm 99 (98 for @restive kelp) and also letting it change its throttle to keep preserving fuel during flight.

No idea how coding works, but i would assume that the scimitar would have a "fuel value" and a "throttle" value, if mach 4 is acheived throttle value goes down and fuel goes down slower, letting the missile hold between mach 3.90 and 4

This could be done anytime thanks to the "additional missile mechanics" in the roadmap, dont hesitate to share your ideas here !

[restive kelp]

9️⃣8️⃣🙏

[upper quail]

i also add here that i would VASTLY prefer an improved loft profile for both the scim and the scythe, as both will immediately dead set on the altitude of the target instead of preserving altitude and speed up high before diving to intercept, this along with the throttling idea would massively help the scimitar while not making it obnoxiously OP

[modest pelican]

Scythe do actually loft though, during my max alt test or min alt but full map shots, they would loft to gain an altitude afvantage, they just dont do a big enought parabolic trajectory

[upper quail]

while youre right, out of principle i will not consider a purposely handicapped half loft a proper loft maneuver

[modest pelican]

Yea wouldnt as well, thats also due to the scythe bs of a glide ratio, thing decelerates from mach 4 to mach 1 in a little over 2.5 minutes of flight

[gentle spoke]

They need to pull harder off the rail to get a real loft going

[modest pelican]

I would love to suggest a at least 20g pull off the rails as of now they pull 5 for 3 second and then go into high numbers, they also seem to always try to turn the hardest at any opportunity

[fair rampart]

They are not predicting the target course all the way to impact, but only limited to 10 seconds or so before impact. So they are not pulling as hard as they could be trying when the target maneuvers.

With more loft they would become a lot deadlier I think, in a good way.

[south kindle]

this is a nitpick but Scimitar's internal motor can accelerate the missile to Mach 1.1 at a standstill, straight up

Meteor needs a tandem booster fatter than the missile itself to accelerate the thing to 1.6

[modest pelican]

Most launch scenarios are almost over mach 1 anyway, scmitars tend to reach mach 2 before engaging the ramjet wich makes more sens than mach 1

Also off topic but isn't copper a better alternative than gold in terms of heat resillience ?

[south kindle]

yeah but with additional buffs to the Scimitar, wouldnt it make sense to have it worse at launching at lower speeds?

[modest pelican]

Yea ? I mean any missiles are wose when launched st low speeds and scimitar are almost obligated to be launched at mach one for them to be usefull

[shadow mountain]

The problem with Scimitar behavior is that ramjets are dynamic thrust machines and the game doesn't represent that

[shadow mountain]

Having said that I have no idea where to start there, the books I've found don't even begin to cover supersonic intake behavior which would be needed.