History Main / Roboteching

* In the FunOrb game "Arcanists," several arcane spells fire homing energy attacks that can turn on a dime to hit enemies around a corner.

* The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EXACTO EXACTO]] project funded by DARPA is this for ''bullets'', although it's still pretty far away.

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

** In ''[[VideoGame/BattlefieldBadCompany Battlefield: Bad Company 2]]'', players can unlock a dart gun that allows friendly engineers to lock their missile launchers on to enemy vehicles... Or other enemy players. Because the dart gun is so accurate, it makes it an [[AwesomeYetPractical effective way of dealing with snipers]].

* Tau Smart Missile Systems in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' are said to work like this.

* In ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'', Lancer has the ability to do this with his ''lance''! To be more specific, his Noble Phantasm, Gae Bolg, reveres cause and effect: the opponent's heart is pierced, and ''then'' the lance strikes. Reality literally rewrites itself so that no matter what, the lance will hit. It is impossible to dodge, although having an insane amount of luck may mean that it "only" impales you and misses your heart, rather than piercing the heart directly.

* In ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'', Lancer has the ability to do this with his ''lance''!

* ''{{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.

** Perhaps the first straight forward example of this for beam weapons goes to the Forbidden Gundam from ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeed]]'' which featured the deadly ability to curve it's beam cannon shots using its Mirage Colloid technology to bend the particles around the attack. On the flip side, it did the same thing to incoming beam attacks, bending them away from it so they couldn't hit.

* Guided missiles in the ''[[VideoGame/{{X}} X-Universe]]'' games fire from ventrally-mounted, forward-facing tubes (or flank-mounted tubes, in the case of missile frigates) and immediately curve off after the target. Leads to some [[VisualEffectsOfAwesome spectacular visuals]] when you're dealing with [[RecursiveAmmo swarm missiles]], which tend to fly in a spiral pattern.

** Another example with Piccolo occured much earlier when he was still an antagonist in the 23rd Tenka'ichi Budokai, when he fires a powerful [[KiAttacks ki attack]] at Goku, leaving him to run and fly around the arena. Goku, however runs towards him, and {{Flash Step}}s out of the way, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard severely injuring Piccolo]]. Though, this is the first time Goku learned that [[GoodThingYouCanHeal it wasn't much of an inconvenience for Piccolo]]...

** Yamcha's So Ki Dan (Spirit Ball in the english dub) which he could continuously redirect at its target.

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* ''Series/RedDwarf'': The episode ''Polymorph'' features bazookoid weapons that fire ''heat-seeking laser bolts'', which are eventually trapped going round and round in a circle on a deserted deck [[spoiler:and eventually pop up as a ChekhovsGun to kill the enemy]]. Unusually, the novelisation still calls them laser bolts and does not substitute something more scientifically accurate, which it does for several other technologies from the series.

* ''VideoGame/ProjectSylpheed'', in this game there was a dumb fire rocket with no visible exhaust that after a couple of seconds would explode into 4 smaller homing missiles with huge streaking contrails. You could truly robotech by firing dozens of the dumb fire rockets at a time with missiles targetted to home on multiple different enemy fighters.

** MLRS units can also do this in some games of the series, aswell as in other games. ''WorldInConflict'', for example.

** Eh, not really. The missiles of the Hiigaran Torpedo Frigate are the only ones which find a new target if the original is gone. Vaygr fusion missiles are not that advanced. On the other hand, missiles in the first two games also did this, though the Missile Destroyer's SecondaryFire greatly decreased their Roboteching capabilities in favour of a [[MacrossMissileMassacre higher output rate]].

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* KamenRiderDouble's '''Luna Trigger''' form fires Roboteching [[EnergyWeapons energy bullets]]; its [[FinishingMove Maximum Drive]], Trigger Full Burst, fires a barrage of them.

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** The Superman series example is quite a PlayerPunch moment, as it kills TheCommissionerGordon "Terrible" Turpin.

* ''DungeonsAndDragons: The TempleOfElementalEvil'' had the Magic Missile spell animated like this. Considered [[RuleOfCool a very cool effect]] for the spell by even table-top D&D players. The effect is similar to the spell's depiction in ''BaldursGate'', and ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights''.

* The [[StarWars Death Star's]] superlaser does this: it fires eight sequenced 'tributary beams' which then merge to form the [[WaveMotiongun main]] [[EarthShatteringKaboom blast]]. The second Death Star could even direct the main blast to go off on a tangent, allowing it to target large ships.
** A much smaller version of the same effect occurs with the [[BigDamnGunship gunships]]' weapons from Attack of the Clones.
*** In-universe this is referred to as 'composite-beam lasers', with EU stating there are some very dangerous handheld versions.
*** This has it's own trope, ConvergingStreamWeapon.

* The ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' novels introduce in later novels 3 stage missiles and off-bore firing capacity allowing both broadsides to be delivered to a target without fancy maneuvers to bring them directly to bear. Later Apollo Technology is designed with very long range control allowing the missiles to go ballistic before engaging the third drive allowing Roboteching over several light minutes. However, there is no "vertical" launch system for missiles because there is not enough clearance to activate the missile drive before it crashes into the ship's own wedge.

* Battlefront 2 plays this trope straight and averts it. Interceptor fighters' and Imperial and CIS shuttles have small guided missiles that can sometimes dodge around things to catch their targets (though their targets are more maneuverable), while normal anti-tank rockets mostly just travel in a straight line.

{{Subtrope}} of HomingProjectile. [[FrickinLaserBeams Lasers]] certainly cannot act this way. See also MagicMissileStorm, which is likely to involve this trope.

* You can Robotech the shots of the [=RPG=] in both the original ''{{Half-Life}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Half-Life 2}}'' by waving the laser targeting. It's actually necessary in the second generation, as gunships will try to shoot your missiles down, and they ''will'' succeed if you aim them in a straight line.

** 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 above is '''''ONLY''''' true of the bullets fired from ridiculously long ranges. Most of the bullet-curving is done with ordinary bullets, fired from ordinary guns. The ability is explicitly stated to be that of the ''people,'' not the guns or ammunition.

{{Subtrope}} of HomingProjectile. [[FrickinLaserBeams Lasers]] certainly cannot act this way.