thank you
I've been kinda working on the building the ICBM so far I've had trouble building it
mostly trying to place the side thrusters without it looking like a freaking brick.
i also saw the whole how to get decoys to help the missile,
avaness's Workshop has leader follower scrips that in theory would let you slave waves of decoys to you ICBM from what i understand of the scrips you can even have them in front of what ever there following of course this requires you to fire more then one missile at a time,
or make one "super sized" missile that breaks apart after lunch into the separate missiles with the aid of timers it could be as simple as explosives set to the timer on ground down armor blocks that link the missiles together so as complex as well.
I've seen you work could probably come up with something way cooler looking

An interesting idea. I set aside this project to finish other projects, but I'll sure look into your suggestion. Thanks.

Have you though about using PAM for the guidance package you might even be able to use SAM (to be fair i can never get sam to work right there has to be something i'm doing wrong)
After all real ICBM's are meant to hit cities so jut having one or two way points on there autopilot path would let it mimic the real life flight path.

Also, real missile silos load propellants from the side. Why don't you do the same?

Use side connectors on your missile and pistons inside your silo walls. When the missile fires the pistons retract at high speed, flush against the wall.

I think you should try something a little bit different.

Instead of thrusters have the release be on internal timer blocks. Set them up so that the decoys release before the main payload and let terminal gravity do its' work.

Ah...the ultimate challenge...designing a missile that actually works and gets its explosive payload to the target.

I've given more thought to the missile. It needs to be designed first, then wrap a facility around it. To be effective, the missile needs to deploy its decoys first, slow a bit to get the decoys out in front so they're targeted instead of the warheads, then release the warheads. Most decoy deployment systems I've seen use a single thruster to push away each decoy, but a thruster requires power, and power requires a battery or reactor. Thus, each decoy would be at least 4 blocks long. Or, the decoys could be attached to a block scaffold, then a single thruster mounted to the missile body would fire, shatter the scaffold, and release the decoy(s). To disperse them, however, would require spinning the missile so centrifugal force drives them away. But, given the wanky physics in SE, that may not work.

If there's a way to make the radius bigger, go for it!

Yeah, about that. In that case, the current 17-block radius may not be sufficient to house the missile and automated missile-building welder system. I guess I could abandon the idea of the latter and simply support a spawned-in missile off a bottom connector (or merge block) until launch. I was hoping I could have a silo that was reloadable via an integrated printer system.

Also to have the proper detonation strength (remember, this is meant to be a nuclear weapon) the warheads have to be large-grid. And a ton of 'em.

Right. I knew that.

They're not MIRVs, but penetration aids.

They're all meant to come down on the same target. The decoys act as "fake warheads" - they're there to prevent turrets from targeting the actual warheads during the descent to the target.

I'm thinking that *if* I go ahead with this project to design a missile silo, then it should have an automated welding rig that welds that missile(s) right there in the silo, probably temporarily connected via a merge block at the base. I have an idea how to accomplish that part, but designing a decent missile I'm just not sure about. I like the idea of MIRVs, but how do you distribute them? Perhaps doing a yaw override with the missile's gyros to force it to spin about its long axis, then releasing the payload so they'll distribute? I dunno...

Then there's the question about silo depth and top opening size. I can size the silo for a reasonably large small-grid missile. Then what about guidance? I guess all that's needed is an antenna at both ends to drone-fly it to its target. So many questions...so much confusion...

I can at least make you a set of "reentry vehicles" for the missile. One warheads, one decoys.

I, too, like Sektan's hangar doors. There was a mod that allows hangar doors to operate much more quickly, but I couldn't find it.

You could always make the missile a drone. As for hangar door mods, I find the S-Hangar Doors mod to be really good.

I wish blast doors in this game worked more like hangar doors. One block instead of this "some assembly required" stuff.

Also, to really make a missile silo door, they need to move back a lot faster than the vanilla hangar doors. Silo launch doors, at least here in the US, don't really retract so much as they are thrown clear, moving really fast.

One final thought...I wish I had spent more up-front time experimenting with shapes. My octagonal shape for this build was a 7-block long straight side and 5-block long angled side through the body of the station (not at the top where it necks down). I could have gained additional inside space if I'd used a 9-block long straight side and 3-block long angled side; sure, it would have been a little less balanced from a regular octagon standpoint, but it would have made finishing the inside much, much easier and the hangars could've ended up being a couple blocks longer (which would have been nice).

I just wish KSH would add longer hangar doors to the vanilla game! I may have to build the next one with a hangar door mod to get larger doors, depending on what I do.

I wanted to post some pictures, but Imgur isn't cooperating right now.

I'll need to give this idea some more thought.

Excellent ideas all. Designing a targetable missile would be challenging, and I suspect it would need to be driven to its target by someone to be really effective. Someone can easily string together multiple modules, and as I mentioned earlier it would be pretty easy to build a deeper crater.

With a spherical diameter of just under 19 blocks, I've found that setting off a warhead at the surface, spacing down 6 blocks (putting another warhead at the bottom of the 6th block), then spacing down 12 blocks (again, putting the next warhead under the 12th block), and so on that you can produce a very neat cylindrical hole with an inside diameter of 17 blocks and a depth of whatever you want. The actual cross-section of the silo can either be an octagon, dodecagon (12-sided), or hexadecagon (16-sided); I prefer octagonal because it's a lot simpler with which to work when trying to trick-out the interior.

Here's how the real-world does an ICBM launch.

https://youtu.be/lOHHtIVP8Pw?t=210

It'd make you the ultimate PvP or PvE guy, at least on planet. It would also allow you to fuel and launch a rocket in safety.

What about making a silo launch complex like those used for Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles such as the Titan II?

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/16/44/4a/16444ad128fa366a01602332f91f023c.jpg

Three major facilities, only one visible above ground (aside from the tiny entrances to the launch control facility), and capable of launching a devastating attack on pirate and player bases alike.

You could even put a missile in there that has a Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicle (MIRV) unit on top containing 1-2 warhead stacks and 4-5 decoy stacks to distract turrets!

The enemy wouldn't know which of the six incoming grids were actual warhead stacks and which ones were just decoys!

(Each "stack" would contain 4 warheads or decoys and a merge block. Once the final piece of the missile gets close to the target, the MIRV unit, called a warhead bus, separates each of the stacks.)

Thanks, everyone. I've thought about doing a double-crater or even a triple-crater bunker, too. I think that would be interesting. Hm-m-m...my next project.

This is a beauty of a bunker. It reminds me of the Titan II Missile Museum in Green Valley, Arizona. (Now all it needs is a silo and a missile.)

Spiff, you've done it again!

Neat idea! Prebuilt underground bunker is a really cool concept. Great execution! Love that you have instructions for how to get it set up in survival.

Thanks. It's a rare critter I build that can't pass gas.

Very cool, especially since it's airtight