With how widespread missile rats seem to be in ranked play, missiles have been quite the subject of discussion - and for good reason. As the only "true" long-range weapon in the game, completely unaffected by the ricochet mechanic, they allow for that kind of gameplay everyone hates to face.

So, with all the wishes for some proper counter to this - and there's so many great ideas from the community already - I wanted to point my finger towards a mechanic that existed since the beginning of Armored Core.
Do you see the "gun" at the center of Melander cores? In old gen games that was a an anti-missile laser, that would automatically try and shoot down any missile that got in its range. It wouldn't destroy them all, but was very helpful in mitigating their pressure.

Originally that was a mechanic of all cores, but eventually new anti-missile parts and mechanics became available and not all cores had one pre-installed anymore. And well, in VI there are no missile counters at all, so...

My idea is simple: add a certain anti-missile stat to each core. Some models, like the Melander and Orbiter, could already realistically have a counter laser like those of the old games, while I was thinking others might have some form of lock disruption, causing your enemy's missile lock-on to take longer than usual.

Some cores could add a flat amount (like 1.5s lock time) which would mostly affect smaller missiles, while others could add a percentage (like 30% lock time), barely affecting the little ones while crippling the slower-locking warheads. You could also have cores that disrupt the missiles' accuracy, making them more inconsistent in hitting their intended target (imagine kinda like the Aurora innately does with its mechanics).

I think it would be a great way to balance missiles without affecting the PvE side of things too much, while also adding more depths to the core part, possibly making some lesser-used ones more viable in a PvP setting.

What are your thoughts on this? I think it'd be a nice and simple addition to the game that could help a lot with balance. I'd like to know what you all think of something like this. c: