Can someone explain off axis shots a bit

[Primus203]

So I'm designing a unit but this is a rules question so I think it belongs here rather than fan design. If I have missiles on both broadsides can I use both the left and right broadsides to hit a unit on one side? If no can the two broadsides concentrate fire on a nose or aft target? What are the penalties of using off axis shot?

[DevianID]

The rules for 'turning' a missile are found in strat ops, my page is 100 but I have the old book.  You take a small +1 penalty, but can 'torso twist' the missile from its firing arc as long as the twist happens in the first 1-3 hexes of movement, so its not quite as good as a torso twist (which is an arc change in hex 0, not 1-3). 

EDIT: To turn a missile more then this 1 hex turn using 'capital missile waypoint launches', you need tele-operated missiles, which have lower velocity then normal missiles but can turn more.

[Primus203]

So my hypothetical armed space station should be able to fire it’s fore and aft missile broadsides at the target the nose is pointed at and shooting at?

[glitterboy2098]

So my hypothetical armed space station should be able to fire it’s fore and aft missile broadsides at the target the nose is pointed at and shooting at?

no, more that a ship can fire it's missile weapons into the neighboring fire arcs. so that aft mounted tube could fire at a target in the aft-right or aft-left fire arcs.

if you fit teleoperated missile tubes, you could fire tubes facing any direction and send the missiles at a target anywhere on the map, but you'd have to fly the missiles there manually like fighters.

[Lagrange]

So my hypothetical armed space station should be able to fire it’s fore and aft missile broadsides at the target the nose is pointed at and shooting at?

It is possible to get 5 arcs on a station or 7 arcs on a warship to hit the same target with standard missiles.  To succeed however, you need to use both pre-programmed waypoints and bearings-only launch.

Suppose the warship is pointing directly at the target.  Only the nose arc can fire directly.  The front-side arcs can't fire directly because they have a gap in coverage of 1 hex.  Using a preprogrammed waypoint makes fire possible because you'll need to shift much less than one hex side to fire at targets.

The broadside and aft-side arcs can use a preprogrammed waypoint to effectively exercise for fore-side arc.   That puts them within one hex of being able to hit something on the nose/aft axis.  Adding on a  bearings-only launch, the missile fires with preprogrammed waypoint shift towards the nose, coasts for a ways, activates, and then seeks the target (assuming there are no distractions).