History Main / Roboteching

* ''Videogame/MechWarrior 2'' and 3 do this with Long Range Missile pods and guided (Streak) Short Range Missiles. 2's expansion pack especially - the player can tag the target with a NARC Missile Beacon, turn 180 degrees away, switch to LRMs, and the missiles will immediately do a "Fifth Element" impression. In ''[=MechWarrior=] Living Legends'', one can easily make missiles Robotech by turning on a TAG TargetSpotter laser once the missiles are already airborne - which will cause the missiles to abruptly swerve to hit the TAG beam. Or you can simply toss a [[http://i.imgur.com/o8Co3.gif NARC missile beacon on yourself and fire your missiles]] for maximum MacrossMissileMassacre.

** When Piccolo was still an antagonist in the 23rd Tenka'ichi Budokai, when he fires a powerful {{Ki Attack|s}} 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]]...

* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3D'', the Thunderaffe dream eater's Refract Beam attack does this constantly, pausing each time it moves to readjust its trajectory so it's heading straight for the target.

* ''LightNovel/FateZero'': The dogfight between Gilgamesh and Berserker has the former's StormOfBlades and the latter's Knight of Owner-corrupted missiles zig-zagging wildly in a deliberate ShoutOut to ''Macross''.

* 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 [[SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome spectacular visuals]] when you're dealing with [[RecursiveAmmo swarm missiles]], which tend to fly in a spiral pattern and close in on their target from all directions.

* Despite public perception to the contrary, certain missiles designed to home in on a target will often behave in a way that seems a lot like this. Because explosions tend to damage a large area steering system are often very simple and use the "bang-bang" method. After determining what direction the target is in the missile will turn as hard as it can in that direction. Eventually, it will oversteer and have to correct in the same way. This results in the missile seeming to spiral to snake through the air depending on the perspective it is seen from.
** More directly analogous, many missiles launched out of vertical tubes on warships will robotech almost exactly: the missile goes straight up (to clear the ship), then abruptly change direction. On their final approach to a ship, they will "pop-up and dive" onto the top of the vessel. Some anti-tank missiles will do the same thing, flying over the tank then dropping straight down.

** The AIM-9 Sidewinder missile series reputedly got its official designation from the side-to-side wavering performed by early models, similar to that of the Sidewinder snake. "Top attack" missiles designed to fly straight to a target, climb to a high altitude nearby, and "drop" on top of enemies are a standard of NATO military forces, under the rationale "people don't armour the top sections of tanks as much as the front or sides."
*** The top of the tank is almost always the weakest point, and tanks have not been redesigned since these missiles have begun to be deployed en mass. However, it is likely that newer tank designs will sport significantly stronger armor on the top because of this trend unless an effective [[PointDefenseless anti-missile system]] can be developed, as that would be much lighter and easier to mount on a tank than the amount of armor required to protect that much surface area.

*** The Archer doesn't quite have the same ability to dog a target from hilariously unlikely angles as the -9X, that said. But again--18 years earlier! That said, the current version in active service is capable of 75° off centerline, with plans for new models to match or exceed the 180° of the AIM-9X.
** Any of the swarm rocket launchers or calliopes from WWII did this -- though not on purpose, because of technical limitations on the rockets themselves (designed to be cheap, easily-produced area denial weapons). This is lampshaded in the histories by saying that the weapons "were not terribly accurate". Examples being the Katyusha rocket launchers from Russia, the Nebelwerfer rocket mortar from Germany, and the Calliope tank-mounted rocket launcher of the Allies.

** One of the most impressive examples hitherto documented on video: the [[UsefulNotes/IsraelisWithInfraredMissiles IDF]] Iron Dome countermissile system, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_e9UhLt_J0g shown here intercepting a multitude of unguided rockets at once.]]

*** The top of the tank is almost always the weakest point, and tanks have not been redesigned since these missiles have begun to be deployed en mass. However, it is likely that newer tank designs will sport significantly stronger armor on the top because of this trend.

* A deliberate ability of {{ComicBook/Darkseid}}'s Omega blast, from ''Franchise/TheDCU''. He targets exactly where he wants it to go, and it will avoid obstacles in the way.

* In ''Manga/PokemonSpecial'', the Elite Four all have special powers from out of freaking nowhere, and Lance's is that his {{mon}}s' Hyper Beams can robotech.
** Even when they're not controlled by the computer, [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard the Elite Four are cheating bastards]]!
** And then in ''Best Wishes'', there's the two-part special wherein Landorus' Therian Forme uses Stone Edge, and the rocks fly all over the place seeking out Iris' Dragonite. Especially bizarre given ''no other Stone Edge has been shown to have this...effect.''

* ''VideoGame/AceCombat'':
** This is the key ability of the Quick Maneuver Air-to-Air Missiles, given how wimpy the standard missiles are at tracking and staying with targets. Some anti-ground missiles also make sharp turns to hit their targets from above. You also sometimes have cruise missiles leading you on a rather spinny chase.
** A better example would be the CFA-44's All Direction Multi-Purpose Missiles from ''VideoGame/AceCombat6FiresOfLiberationV'', which launch at unlikely angles at the target.

* Being the source show for ''Anime/{{Robotech}}''[='=]s Macross Saga, ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross'' is perhaps the "true" codifier of this trope.

** In ''Anime/DragonBallZ,'' Piccolo becomes irritated at Android 17's ability to dodge his attacks, and develops the Hellzone Grenade, which fires a swarm of small energy blasts at seemingly random angles. They hover in a rough sphere around the target, at which point Piccolo exclaims "Try dodging ''this,''" and it goes boom. Predictably enough, in the various ''VideoGame/DragonBallZBudokaiTenkaichi'' games the attack is perfectly dodgeable as long as you time it right, but not in the ''VideoGame/DragonBallZBudokai'' games (entirely different set of games, believe it or not). In those, you can only dodge the initial combo that triggers the cutscene-based attack. The only way Piccolo can screw it up then is if he fails the quicktime event, and even then, it only results in fewer grenades, not a dodge.

* Done in ''Anime/{{Vandread}}'' with any kind of missile spam. The ''Nirvana'' does this with energy shots that can ''dodge friendly vehicles'' when properly targeted on the way to the enemy. An extreme example of gravitational lensing perhaps, although given the abilities of the shows Applied Phlebotinum, the Pixis, it could easily not have even a dubious scientific explanation. Then again, the standard guns of the Dread fighters display a more limited, but similar, principle.

** 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.

* [=TenRyuJin=]'s 'Hikari to Yami no Mai' in ''Anime/GaoGaiGar FINAL'' does this -- she fires off chaff missiles, then bounces maser shots off the chaff (based on an attack the first Bigbad of the series used). And yes, she does comment on how hard the calculations are. When EI-01 used it originally, he was using every computer in Tokyo as a distributed computing network to handle them.

** And then in Best Wishes, we have the recent two part special wherein Landorus' Therian Forme uses Stone Edge, and the rocks fly all over the place seeking out Iris' Dragonite. Especially bizarre given ''no other Stone Edge has been shown to have this...effect.''

* In ''Anime/UchuuSenkanYamato'', 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. FridgeLogic asks, if they have something that FrickinLaserBeams 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 DeusExMachina, but it doesn't explain why the Gamilusians didn't think of it first.]]

** In Yamato 2199, the Reflex Satellites are a force field based satellites - same effect, but no mirror.
* The recent ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' [[Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion remake]] features a bunch of missiles fired at Ramiel that behave this way--fired straight up into the sky and suddenly execute a 90-degree turn to aim at the target.

* In ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders'', the "cowboy" [[CasanovaWannabe Hol Horse]] has the Emperor , a [[BlingBlingBang stylish]] [[RevolversAreJustBetter revolver]] that let's Hol robotech his bullets mid-flight. It helps that Emperor is a [[FightingSpirit Stand]], rather than an actual revolver.

* There looks to be some of this in ''Film/BattleLosAngeles''

* In ''VideoGame/GunstarHeroes'', the chaser weapon homes in on enemies. Combined with lightning, you have a laser that makes constant 90 degree turns.

* ''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 targeted to home on multiple different enemy fighters.

** 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.

** Waypoints are actually be the most effective way to use it. Many players will give it a waypoint twenty feet above the target's head, then another waypoint right on the target, causing the missile to arc over them and then slam down, so that even if it misses by a few squares, it still hits the ground and explodes.

* Missiles in ''VideoGame/SwordOfTheStars'' are one of the few weapons that don't need a direct line of sight to the target and robotech to their target after clearing the firing ship. Beware that they don't crash into other ships before they can start turning if your formation's too tight, though. Planetary defense missiles take it further: they not only robotech after launching from the poles of the planet, but if their target is destroyed, they glide for a bit, criss-crossing where the last target was if they were close enough, and robotech to the next target. Against a fleet of weak destroyers, a planetary defense missile may do this several times before hitting something.

** Especially obvious if the target teleports while the attack is in flight; partnering a [[MightyGlacier sniping power]] with [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Teleport Foe]] often resulted in the over powered attack making u-turn.

* Hit detection for non-ballistic long-range attacks in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' is done upon firing. If the target moves, the projectile will track the target until it hits, even ignoring obstacles. In earlier patches, this also applied to beam-type spells like the warlock's Drain Life or the mage's Arcane Missiles. As long as the magic-user could start casting the spell, it would continue to hit the target, no matter how far the target moved.

** Your "lasers" sure do make some fancy designs when they're fired. For example, red lasers fires twin, interlocking sine waves of red and blue energy, blue lasers [[ReflectingLaser bounce around the environment]], and yellow lasers WallCrawl the floor and cieling. Later installment include powerups that include green lasers which change direction 45 degrees to hit enemy ships, and grey lasers that act like shotgun shells.
** By ''R-Type Final'', every one of 101 ships have some physics-defying effect that comes from a so-called "laser", although this may have something to do with filtering the light through a colored crystal and a baby EldritchAbomination. One of the ships in ''R-Type Final'' has a slow-moving charge shot that can be steered with the right analog stick. [[AwesomeButImpractical You have to reconfigure your entire control setup to be able to use this without losing all self-defense by taking your thumbs away from the face buttons.]] Other ships have wave cannons that chase the closest enemy ship.

* The scram cannon in ''VideoGame/{{Oni}}'' does this. The small [[MacrossMissileMassacre macross missiles]] fire out lazily in an unfocused ring, then after about half a second the warheads arm and the missiles lock on to [[KillEmAll anyone nearby]].

* Minogame's "[[SignatureMove Reality Hedge]]" from ''VideoGame/{{Hellsinker}}'' [[UpToEleven cranks this trope up a notch]]. Not only dont the lasers fly straight, they home in on targets and when they reach one they stick to it and tears its health down until the target dies. After that the lasers disslodge themselves and then moves over to other targets and repeats the cycle.

* We see a Medieval BambooTechnology version of this in ''Webcomic/TalesOfTheQuestor,'' [[http://www.rhjunior.com/totq/00550.html here.]]

* Despite public perception to the contrary, certain missiles designed to home in on a target will often behave in a way that seems a lot like this. Because explosions tend to damage a large area steering system are often very simple and use the "bang-bang" method. After determining what direction the target is in the missile will turn as hard as it can in that direction. Eventually it will oversteer and have to correct in the same way. This results in the missile seeming to spiral to snake through the air depending on the perspective it is seen from.

* The CBU-07 Sensor Fuzed Weapon. It dispenses 10 submunitions, each containing 4 individually auto-targetting, self-guiding skeets. They have a VERY complicated way of maneuvering themselves at each stage so that they can effectively saturate an armored force over a substantial area.
* The M982 Excalibur is a GPS-guided artillery shell that can robotech mid flight to curve around obstacles. In one of the tests the shell was deliberately fired 4 miles off target and was still able to strike within a few feet of the bullseye.

* Any missile with a top attack mode, like the FGM-148 Javelin does this to a certain degree. When firing in top-attack mode, missile go up a long way, then shoot back down to hit the lightly-armoured top of the target. The turning is nowhere near as violent as commonly depicted in media.

* 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 and close in on their target from all directions.

Named for the "[[CutAndPasteTranslation adaptation]]" of several {{anime}} known as ''{{Anime/Robotech}}'', in which the behavior was first seen in the West. [[IThoughtItMeant Has nothing to do with]] [[{{Macekre}} the method in which said series was created]].

* In the StargateVerse, Ancient Drone weapons are mentally controlled by the one who fires them, and are ''extremely'' maneuverable, resulting in some seriously impressive {{Roboteching}} at times. They've been known to loop around friendlies, blast through enemies, then turn around to hit them ''again''.

* Taito's Ray Series (''RayForce'', ''RayStorm'', and ''RayCrisis'') and several other shmups by them have Roboteching lasers sometimes fired by enemies.

* ''UltramanMax'': DASH's missiles curve and follow their targets, or randomly fly before hitting them. And it's awesome.

* The page image is a test of a [[RussiansWithRustingRockets Russian]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-300P_Bastion-P Bastion coastal defence battery]] armed with the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-800_Oniks P-800 Oniks]], a missile on which the aforementioned [=BrahMos=] is based, and thus displaying virtually the same launch behavior.

* Despite public perception to the contrary, certain missiles actually behave ''almost'' like this. While they are not fired in massive salvos, as in ''{{Anime/Robotech}}'', often a missile will waver back and forth in flight a moment as its guidance system makes gross corrections.

** And ''[[DungeonsAndDragonsShadowOverMystara Shadow Over Mystara]]''.

** One of the most impressive examples hitherto documented on video: the [[IsraelisWithInfraredMissiles IDF]] Iron Dome countermissile system, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_e9UhLt_J0g shown here intercepting a multitude of unguided rockets at once.]]

* There looks to be some of this in the upcoming ''Film/BattleLosAngeles''

* In ''Anime/DragonBallZ,'' Piccolo becomes irritated at Android 17's ability to dodge his attacks, and develops the Hellzone Grenade, which fires a swarm of small energy blasts at seemingly random angles. They hover in a rough sphere around the target, at which point Piccolo exclaims "Try dodging ''this,''" and it goes boom.
** Predictably enough, in the various ''VideoGame/DragonBallZBudokaiTenkaichi'' games the attack is perfectly dodgeable as long as you time it right.
*** Not in the ''VideoGame/DragonBallZBudokai'' games (entirely different set of games, believe it or not). In those, you can only dodge the initial combo that triggers the cutscene-based attack. The only way Piccolo can screw it up then is if he fails the quicktime event, and even then, it only results in fewer grenades, not a dodge.
** Another example with Piccolo occurred 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]]...
** Goku was once able to control where his [[KamehameHadoken Kamehameha]] was going against Raditz.
*** He did it much earlier against Piccolo (the original one) in the first part of the series.

* Laser beams do this in ''Anime/GallForce'', arcing away from the ship at an angle before tracking towards the intended target.