Needs Help: Homing Projectile

Greetings

The Homing Projectile is a trope about projectiles that home in on their target however the description clearly states that this is a videogame only trope. My problem is that there are other examples in both real life and other media so the trope as it reads is overly narrow. So it seems that if I asked myself “Does this trope have to be limited to videogames?” my answer would have to be no.

I was just wondering if the TRS could provide a consensus as to wither or not this is a problem (to which I add that Macross Missile Massacre and Roboteching are similar sister tropes not limited to any particular media) and what to do about it ie redraft the description, launch a new trope, etc.

The question would then be: Is it a trope outside video games? Or is it just, "they fired a missile, which happens to be homing, because that's how missiles work," (which really is something better fit under Useful Notes)?

edited 28th Mar '12 1:06:46 AM by Feather7603

The Internet misuses, abuses, and overuses everything.

Don't seem to be any on this page.

Rhymes with "Protracted."

All missles are homing in one way or another that is just Not A Trope that is what a missile means really, if not it is just a rocket.

In games Homing has different aspects that affect how it's used, various levels of homing etc.

When they make impossible turns, stop etc that is Roboteching most media examples that show homing anything visually actually fall under this.

Now I could see an Unlikely Homing Projectile general trope for non-missile examples like Magic (Mass Effect's Pull or tech based homing fireball called Incinerate, Negima's Magic Missile style Arrows of Light spells.) They might use Roboteching or they might not, Mass Effect's ones do not use it but Negima's can and can use the Macross Missile Massacre style of attack.

edited 28th Mar '12 1:02:31 AM by Raso

Sparkling and glittering! Jan-Ken-Pon!

That's Homing Boulders.

edited 28th Mar '12 1:58:17 AM by troacctid

Rhymes with "Protracted."

That might need a rename/redefine there, it doesn't cover magic at all and right now it has massive underuse.

I can think of plenty of Homing Magic Missiles Homing Fireballs etc.

edited 28th Mar '12 2:24:34 AM by Raso

Sparkling and glittering! Jan-Ken-Pon!

Missiles vs rockets (homing) is connotation only, not officially endorsed by physicists. Missile will sometimes be used as a synonym for projectile for instance.

Fight smart, not fair.

Etymologically speaking, the word "missile" means literally "to send" and therefore can technically apply to any projectile. Rocks, arrows and spears were the missiles of their day.

I think the interactive nature of videogames gives Homing Missiles a distinct quality (it's chasing down not just anybody, but chasing down YOU) as dodging one requires special tactics (if it's even possible at all). In non-interactive media, homing missiles are barely distinct from non-homing missiles.

An Ear Worm is like a Rickroll: It is never going to give you up.

@ Feather 7603

I'd say yes

@ troacctid

Which would be the problem. The trope as it stands is limited to videogames with the only distinction being drawn is about who fired you or your opponent.

@ Raso & Stratadrake

Would that mean that the trope can be expanded into other interactive media, such as other game types, in your opinions?

The trope is explicitly about a type of video game attack, though.

Becky: Who are you? The Mysterious Stranger: An angel. Huck: What's your name? The Mysterious Stranger: Satan.

And I'll say no unless you can come up with a good description of why, and a few examples.

edited 28th Mar '12 10:43:10 PM by Feather7603

The Internet misuses, abuses, and overuses everything.

I think Guided Missiles are a different trope.

@ Feather 7603

While guided missiles may or may not be People Sit On Chairs this trope is about “projectiles” which could be anything such as eyes, spears, or other forms of physical objects or “attacks” presumably eyebeams, Swordbeams, ki attacks, or anything other than melee attacks such as kung-fu. And there are plenty of “projectiles” and “attacks” in other media or real-life that could be added, but aren’t, because the trope is arbitrarily limited to videogames only.

Examples:

• Runaway: a gun is introduced that acts like a tiny guided missile that performs exactly as the trope described
  • A similar weapon called a gyrojet was also developed in real life.
  • Sandia Labs recently announced that they are looking for a manufacture for a similar concept.
• Mutants And Masterminds: an advantage one can buy allows any power an additional opportunity to hit fitting in the “attack” aspect.
  • There is a similar system represented in GURPS.
• the Ben 10 movie Destroy All Aliens has both homing and non homing projectiles.

Well, the runaway entry has two little followers that don't need to be there.

Fight smart, not fair.

So what you're really saying it more like Homing Boulders but for non-videogames? That is, objects that shouldn't be homing but are?

As for just a guided missile (of the rocket kind), I just don't see a trope in it. Magic, maybe.

Also, the limit isn't arbitrary. It's a gameplay design feature more than it is a trope in the same way it would be out of games.

Either way, I'm not sure I see it as the same trope.

The Internet misuses, abuses, and overuses everything.

… well I asked for a consensus and apparently I got one.

As I see it I have three options:

Option One: suggest renaming the trope into something that sounds like a videogame trope to match the description, such as Hero Tracking Attack, etc. My history with the TRS does not lead me to believe that this would be viable.

Option Two: suggest moving the “videogame only” bit to Homing Boulders since the description and the examples fit a videogame only trope while opening Homing rojectiles to other interactive media such as table top games, adventure books, etc. My history with the TRS does not lead me to believe that this would be viable.

Option Three: ask for this page to be locked, it’s taking up room and while I’ve failed to ratify or alter anyone else’s opinion my own is not changed. My history with the TRS leads me to believe that it is better to agree to disagree.

Sorry for wasting your time, cheers. —GSC

Well, you could simply ask for a crowner.

This trope as it stands now strikes me as redundant to Homing Boulders.

"Ranged attacks that home in" is apparently a Missing Super Trope Syndrome, and should not be limited to missiles or to video games.

Rhetorical, eh? ... Eight!

Seem to find a new surprise here every day.

Okay then, should I start a single proposition crowner or another kind?

Homing Projectiles should be a supertrope to:

• Missiles
• Homing Bolders
• some trope to deal with inanimate objects that behave like missiles (rocket fire optional)
• Boomerangs
• Objects that behave like boomerangs, but shouldn't

If there are any pre-existing tropes that deal with any of this, please tell me.

edited 1st Apr '12 5:45:33 PM by spacemarine50

Precision-Guided Boomerang

Rhymes with "Protracted."

I don't think this is the right place for this, but I think Precision-Guided Boomerang should be split, probably into the other tropes I suggested before.

@19

Action Bomb, Magic Missile, Super-Persistent Missile, Probably Roboteching and Macross Missile Massacre.

Also I started a single proposition crowner here.

Bump.

Plus, if there's no opposition, I'll start a thread here on Precision-Guided Boomerang.

If you just want to split off subtropes, you can just do that in YKTTW.

Rhymes with "Protracted."

I read the trope. I think it's several other tropes that collided with each other. More when I start the thread. I wan tit split up.