Missile Defense Systems (Continued)

Missile Defense Systems adds three tiers of missile-firing defensive turret — Basic, Advanced, and Ballistic. This is a community continuation of kafoaai's original Missile Defense Systems, updated for Factorio 2.0, with the Ballistic tier completely reworked into an end-game rapid-fire artillery launcher.

> Incompatible with the original missile_defense_systems by design — the two share internal prototype names, so run one or the other, not both. The mod portal will prompt you to disable the original if you have it installed.

A Note on How This Was Made

This continuation was assembled with the assistance of Claude (Anthropic AI). The author (Ramasees) provided in-game testing, feedback and design direction throughout, while Claude carried out the Lua implementation, debugging and the Factorio 2.0 API work through an iterative dialogue.

The Ballistic Tier Rework

The headline change. The Ballistic turret is no longer just a longer-range rocket turret — it is now a rapid-fire artillery launcher that lobs arcing rocket barrages across the map. It is meant as the stage after vanilla artillery: less accurate, but a devastating base-clearing weapon that throws a lot of ordnance very quickly.

How it fires

• Barrages, not single shots. When it acquires an enemy structure it fires a full 10-missile barrage at that one point, then pauses for a 5-second reload before picking a new target. Once it commits to a target it finishes the barrage there — even if the target dies mid-volley — as an intentional balance limitation.
• Arcing rocket artillery. Shots fly in a plunging artillery arc, clearing trees, rocks and terrain, and land on or near the target. They are deliberately inaccurate, more so at range — the spread widens the further the target is.
• Structures only. It auto-targets enemy bases and worms only — never wandering biters or spitters. It is a base-clearing weapon, not a point-defence gun.
• 360° slow traverse. The launcher turns slowly to face its target and shows its coverage as the standard artillery range ring on the map.

The banded ammo cartridge

The Ballistic turret feeds on a dedicated banded cartridge: one cartridge is one full 10-missile barrage. Craft a cartridge from 10 of the matching rocket + 2 steel plate (standard and explosive variants). A turret holds up to 10 cartridges loaded.

The targeting remote

A dedicated Ballistic missile targeting remote (free shortcut-bar tool, unlocked with the Ballistic technology) calls in a manual barrage: click a spot and every in-range launcher fires a full barrage at it.

Auto-fire toggle

Each turret's native "Automatic targeting" checkbox turns its auto-barrage on or off (default on). With it off, the launcher only fires when directed by the remote. Alt+T while hovering a turret toggles the same thing.

The Basic & Advanced Tiers

Unchanged from the original — short-to-mid-range rocket turrets with configurable fire pattern, arc and range, exactly as kafoaai designed them.

Credits

Original Mod: kafoaai — Missile Defense Systems

2.0 Continuation, Ballistic Rework, Testing & Design Direction: Ramasees

AI Assistance: Claude (Anthropic)

Licensed under GPL v3, matching the original mod.