History Main / HomingBoulders

* The TropeNamer (but not the Ur-Example) is ''CityOfHeroes''. The damage also isn't applied until the boulder actually hits, although the decision of whether it does is made as soon as its thrown. Hits not only curve and chase you, but will go through walls to impact you. If you aim at a Teleporter, this can lead to some truly amazing boulder throws or sniper shots. Curiously, misses always travel in a straight line.

* The ''TotalWar'' series has archer units, some 200-man strong, and all arrows are animated with ballistic trajectory. You can actually move your camera to watch the volley of arrows fly all the way to the target. They do not always hit, of course. Also the trajectory means that arrows can hit friendly units in the back if they are in the way, although archers usually fire upwards over the heads of friendly units when necessary.

*** Even more hilariously, while such ordinance (rockets ''and'' artillery shells, including shells designed to be fired from tank cannons) exists in real life, it was only invented during the Cold War - and even currently existing state-of-the-art models don't have such {{Robotechning}} capability! StupidJetpackHitler in action, maybe?

* ''CompanyOfHeroes'', using the same engine as ''Dawn of War'', has the same issues - though it fixed the missile issue. When a unit fires a projectile, it rolls to hit based on the weapon, distance, cover and any other modifiers. If a hit is rolled, the projectile will track the target and deal damage on impact, which can lead to fairly slow projectiles like bazooka rockets curving mid-flight to follow a fast-moving target. However, if a miss is rolled, the projectile will still be fired in the general direction of the target, with different weapons having different scatter angles. The projectile will then hit the first thing it clips with, whether terrain, obstacles or units. If it hits a unit, it will do damage to that unit in the normal way.
** On the other hand, projectiles rolled to hit will follow the terrain to avoid colliding before hitting the target, even though this is cleverly hidden by the line-of-sight limitation of most weapons. This anomalous projectile tracking can be easily observed in action on the Sottevast level of the vanilla campaign, abusing the German installation's wonky hit detection allowing units on the ground to shoot up at the roof from certain spots and vice versa. Moving an infantry unit into range of the [[{{BFG}} 88mm flak cannon]] on the roof will cause the flak cannon to hit the roof due to the inherent accuracy penalty almost always rolling a miss. However, moving a Sherman to the same spot will cause the flak cannon's shot to streak across the roof then {{Robotech}} vertically downwards to hit the tank.
*** Even more hilariously, while such ordinance exists in real life, it was only invented during the Cold War. StupidJetpackHitler, maybe?

* The arrow examples come from the earlier ''Videogame/AgeOfEmpires'' games.

* ''CompanyOfHeroes'' has a somewhat interesting duality in this respect. When a unit fires a projectile, it rolls to hit based on the weapon, distance, cover and any other modifiers. If a hit is rolled, the projectile will track the target, which can lead to fairly slow projectiles like bazooka rockets curving mid-flight to follow a fast-moving target. However, if a miss is rolled, the projectile will still be fired in the general direction of the target, with different weapons having different scatter angles. The projectile will then hit the first thing it clips with, whether terrain, obstacles or units. If it hits a unit, it will do damage to that unit in the normal way.
** Or, even more ludicrously, a shell from a Pak 38 anti-tank gun curving into an M-8 armoured car.

* Rockets shot at aircraft in ''CommandAndConquerGenerals'' will home in on them for quite some time. If you, however, manage to evade them long enough, [[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything you will see them burn out and slowly descend to the ground before exploding]].

* ''DawnOfWar'' has an unusual example with the Sky Ray tank's missiles. They seem to miss more often than not, but when they hit they often overshoot the target before suddenly pitching more than 90° to crash back into the target.

* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3D'', one of the Zolephant dream eater's attacks is to carelessly chuck a boulder straight into the sky and out of sight, after which it'll proceed to land directly on your head a moment later if you aren't moving when it comes down. It also inexplicably ''multiplies'', becoming a rain of equally sized boulders that'll hit every enemy or ally in the near vicinity.

** In particular, the ''VideoGame/GundamVsSeries'' grants better homing abilities to attacks when executed at closer ranges. A couple of the games have a GoodBadBug wherein one can trick the game into giving the improved homing at any range, giving the player quite literally inhuman accuracy.

* Cheerfully played UpToEleven in TheGamers where an extremely difficult shot is made against an enemy fleeing through a forest. With the modifiers for cover, distance, movement and so on piling up, it can only hit on a [[CriticalHit Natural 20]] - which it does, of course. Ingame, we get a scene of the arrow almost stalking its target, changing course multiple times before hitting it from an entirely different direction.

** In particular, the ''GundamVsSeries'' grants better homing abilities to attacks when executed at closer ranges. A couple of the games have a GoodBadBug wherein one can trick the game into giving the improved homing at any range, giving the player quite literally inhuman accuracy.

** Some weapons can miss though. Like in ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} III'', Human Mortars, in ''Franchise/StarCraft'', Terran Siege Tanks.

** [[{{Warcraft}} WarCraft II]] has it for some projectiles. Although cannonballs and [[{{BreathWeapon}} dragon breath]] fly in straight lines, arrows (from archers or towers) curve to track their targets. Most units are slow enough that the effect is barely noticeable, but against certain fast units the arrows can sometimes be seen making 90 degree turns in midair.

* Gigas in ''Videogame/FinalFantasyXI'' toss boulders as a ranged attack. Said boulders travel to their target in a straight line and always hit in the animation, gravity and obstacles be damned.

** This also occurs in ChampionsOnline. The player character can be teleporting (read: an intangible, invisible mass of energy) and whatever projectiles were launched will pursue you to the point of staying at the exact point where your character is floating. Amusingly, they will not register the hit until after the player completes the teleport.

[[AC:Fighting]]

Compare StalactiteSpite. Use of this trope may grow less frequent over time as proper physics rendering becomes more advanced, easier to do and ''expected'' by players of genres where it was once endemic but at the same time it may be continued as a {{Retraux}} touch.

* Blizzard's games are notorious for this: ''Videogame/{{Starcraft}}'' (at least) feature projectiles which can track a fast enemy all the way across the map- easily 20 or more times the official range of the unit which fired them.
** Some weapons can miss though. Like in Warcraft 3, Human Mortars, in Starcraft, Terran Siege Tanks.
*** A literal example in Warcraft 3. Ancient Protectors(treants which double as towers for the Night Elves) throw boulders at both grounded and flying units. If the unit moves just within range, then runs/flies at high speed at a different angle, the boulders can follow some truly ridiculous trajectories.
** One of the most ridiculous example would be the attack of the Zerg Devourers, a spray of acid that move slower than any other projectile in the game If the Devourer attacks a Carrier's [[AttackDrone Interceptor]] (fastest unit in the game) the acid cloud will start orbiting the Carrier, while trailing the interceptor.

* The ''{{Myth}}'' series is another notable example of free-flying projectile physics, (in)famous for the [[VideogameCrueltyPotential horribly messy friendly fire]] caused by only somewhat accurately aimed arrows, spears, and ''high explosives'' arcing over the terrain and interacting unpredictably with objects.

* ''Videogame/DragonAge'' does this with arrows (anyone see a pattern?) but the boulders don't track. Just their damage. Which isn't annoying at all.

* Machinegun bullet streams and lasers in many ''Anime/{{Gundam}}'' games tend to do this as well, but most players don't seem to mind.

* [[Music/WeirdAlYankovic Weird Al's]] UHF, in a parody of ''RaidersOfTheLostArk'', started with the boulder rolling down the track to the adventurer, then continuing to follow him '''outside''' the cave and into a city, where it chased him down city streets--even doubling back on its track.

[[AC:Western Animation]]
* [[WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadrunner Wile E. Coyote]] is often assaulted by these.