Roboteching: Difference between revisions

 

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

** This is a parody of several missiles fired in ''[[Super Dimension Fortress Macross]]: Do you Remember Love?'', where some of the missiles were drawn as cans of beer.

* In ''[[Transformers Energon]]'', [[Combining Mecha|Wing Optimus's]] "Meteor Attack Mode" fires a [[Beam Spam]] along with a small [[Chest Blaster]], which then absorbs the individual streams of energy to form an insanely powerful [[Wave Motion Gun]].

* The beam fired by the [[Arm Cannon|Psychogun]] in ''Space Adventure Cobra'' can swerve around obstacles to strike unerringly its target, since it is mentally controlled by the hero.

* In ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]],'' Gokudera's Rocket Bomb attack does this with hand-thrown dynamite by having secondary and tertiary charges explode to allow him to control the trajectory. At least some mention is made of how difficult a technique this is.

* Many of the ships in ''[[Gall Force]]'' do this too, as lasers will be shot out at right angles to their ship, and once clearing the hull profile, make a 90-degree turn forward to bombard their target.

* In ''[[Strike Witches]]'' the neuroi attack using ''beams'' that robotech, even when the targets are very close.

** Even when they're not controlled by the computer, [[The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard|the Elite Four are cheating bastards]]!

* [[Playing with Fire|Hikaru's]] [[Kill It with Fire|Flame Arrows]] in ''[[Magic Knight Rayearth]]''. Much more egregious in the [[OAV]] continuity where, even though they're shot straight at an enemy, the fire bursts robotech ''around and past'' the target and then strike it in the back.

* In ''[[Uchuu Senkan Yamato]]'', Gamilus uses mirror satellites to direct their reflex cannon at the Yamato even when it is on the other side of a planet from their base. [[Fridge Logic]] asks, if they have something that [[Frickin' Laser Beams]] just bounce right off of, why not use it for shields? {{spoiler|Eventually the good guys do exactly this to defend against the Desler Cannon. It's a pretty awesome [[Deus Ex Machina]], but it doesn't explain why the Gamilusians didn't think of it first.}}

** Of course, any surface that can reflect combat lasers is a case of [[Did Not Do the Research]]. Only partially focused beams would be reflected easily (which is how mirror sattelites would work); fully focused beams used to cause actual damage would roast any mirror in microseconds.

* Similarly, some robot-controlled planes in ''[[RahXephon]]'' are launched straight upwards and suddenly turn downwards to attack their target from above.

* Beams fired by Nobles' ships in ''[[Wolf's Rain]]'' will maneuver quite extensively to track their target, if they don't hit it straight. At one point, a single beam splits in two to hit different targets.

* In the film adaptation of the comic book ''[[Wanted]]'', this is [[Improbable Aiming Skills|the power]] of all the main characters. They do it with ''bullets.'' Fired from ''regular guns.''

** The ''bullets'' are far from regular, though. They're shaped to be capable of curving as needed (even to hit a specific spot across town if fired from ''exactly'' the right place. It's improbable, yeah... but not ''quite'' as ridiculous as normal weapons and ammo doing this for no reason.

* The film ''[[Runaway]]'' includes a handgun that fires target-seeking minimissiles.

* There looks to be some of this in the upcoming ''[[Battle: Los Angeles]]''

* One episode of ''[[Airwolf]]'' had a missile fired in '''very''' approximately the direction of the enemy ground troops. They laughed when they saw the missile's flight path wouldn't bring it near enough to hurt them. Then the gunner activated the terminal-guidance laser....

* [[Kamen Rider Double]]'s '''{{color|gold|Luna}}{{color|blue|Trigger}}''' form fires Roboteching [[Energy Weapons|energy bullets]]; its [[Finishing Move|Maximum Drive]], Trigger Full Burst, fires a barrage of them.

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* Similar to the Magic Missiles, one of the Ghost elemental mage spells, Soul Strike, in the MMORPG ''[[Ragnarok Online]]'' summons a varying number of white glowing orbs which then streak towards the target.

* The swarm-firing missiles in [[Simulation Game|space sim]] ''[[Free Space|Descent: Freespace]]'' and its sequels. More advanced versions even ''corkscrew'' all the way to their targets. Later games in the ''[[Wing Commander (video game)|Wing Commander]]'' series also included this trope.

* ''[[Zone of the Enders]]'' and its sequel had Jehuty, the player's [[Humongous Mecha]], equipped with a laser weapon whose beams Roboteched out of thin air to home in on locked targets, in a bright-blue rendition of a [[Macross Missile Massacre]].

* ''Jumpman'' for the Commodore 64 has projectiles that move slowly from the side of the screen. Once they get a clear aim at him (i.e. save horizontal/vertical position), they accelerate and move in.

* Several warships in the ''[[Xenosaga]]'' series fire beams at angles away from the ship, which then make a sharp angled turn straight ahead.

* In the ''[[Super Robot Wars|Super Robot Wars: Original Generation Divine Wars]]'' (yes, [[Word Salad Title|that's the title]]) [[Blow You Away|Cybuster]]'s Cosmo Nova special attack is depicted as a Roboteched [[Beam Spam]].

* You can Robotech the shots of the RPG in both the original ''[[Half-Life]]'' and ''[[Half-Life]] 2'' by waving the laser guiding dot around. [[Justified]] because of some nebulous technology that causes the rocket to seek the guiding dot out, and a necessary gameplay element as Combine gunships will attempt to shoot the rockets down and will succeed if you don't bother to Robotech.

*** Actually, manually guided missiles really move quite slow, which is why they were phased out.

** Also, this partially makes up for how slow the missiles travel to target, in comparison with real life.

** Likewise in both games, the AVRiL anti-vehicle missiles only home in to a vehicle while you're aiming at it, allowing you to turn them at the last minute, making them harder to dodge or shoot down. Further, the target only receives a "Missile Lock" warning when you are tracking them, making it a viable strategy to dumb-fire a rocket to near the target and only lock on when it is close by.

* A late weapon in the ''[[X-COM]]'' games was a guided rocket launcher that you set waypoints for the rocket to pass through before striking its target. More specifically, the first game had the Blaster Launcher while the second had the similar Distruptor Pulse Torpedo Launcher.

** ''X-Com Interceptor'' had a missile with vector thrusters. It was designed to be capable of extremely sharp 180° turns thus outmaneuvering it is impossible.

** For that matter, ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 2'' had a missile that, once fired, the player would control in first person view. One puzzle required the player to guide said missile through a maze of ventilation ducts. I am not making this up.

* In ''[[Fable]]'', the arrows generated by the "multi-shot" spell do this on their way to the target.

* ''[[Drakengard]]'''s Dragon has a lock-on attack that fires several fireballs that robotech. The Chaos Evolution of the Dragon has fireballs that robotech in straighter lines with more angular turns.

** ''Armageddon'' also has the Magic Bullet that is Roboteching set to ''eleven''.

* The Drunken Missile launcher in ''Rise of the Triad'' fires a salvo of missiles which fly in random directions until they sense a target, at which point they converge on the target from all angles making it difficult to avoid all of them.

* In ''[[Call of Duty]] 4'' the Javelin missile launcher does this, quickly popping up after being fired and then slamming down on the targeted tank from almost directly above; see Truth in Television examples.

* ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni|Higurashi Daybreak]]'' has this, in the form of Rika's charged ranged attack. She fires a bunch of purple missiles that robotech to the person you're currently locked on to.

** Especially obvious if the target teleports while the attack is in flight; partnering a [[Mighty Glacier|sniping power]] with [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Teleport Foe]] often resulted in the over powered attack making u-turn.

** The Bullet Rain power in the Dual Pistols set does this whether or not the target moves; your character fires a spray of bullets in a cone, which then all arch back toward your target, hitting them and the targets around them.

** The latest variant of the Sidewinder, the AIM-9X, has an ability to be aimed via a helmet-mounted sight and obtain lock-ons from almost 90 degrees off the direction of the firing fighter's nose. Furthermore, it can robotech a full 180 degrees off its rail to pursue a target. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4g4_jzqBJnA Check it out here.]

** The Russian [[wikipedia:Vympel R-73|Vympel R-73/AA-11 Archer]] is also aimed by a helmet-mounted sight, can can "see" targets up to 60° off the missile's centerline - and entered service 18 years earlier. After NATO learned about the capabilities of this missile, development of the AIM-9X, the IRIS-T and others was started.

** Pretty much the point of guided weapons ''period.''Thrust vectoring and hover/loiter capabilities on newer missile designs will most certainly take future ordnance in this direction.

* Modern torpedoes behave like this. The United States Navy's ASROC weapon system fires a rocket off a destroyer/cruiser on a ballistic path that drops a torpedo into the water miles away. The torpedo will then go around in one of several search patterns so the torpedo's sonar system can lock on to the target sub before finally closing to attack.