BALLISTICS & TRAJECTORY

Game Projectile Calculator

Calculate ballistic trajectory range, maximum apex height, flight time, and velocity vectors for weapons, rockets, and physics projectiles.

ESTIMATED MAXIMUM RANGE
254.84 m
MAX HEIGHT (APEX)
63.71 m
TOTAL FLIGHT TIME
7.21 s
HORIZ. VELOCITY (Vx)
35.36 m/s
VERT. VELOCITY (Vy)
35.36 m/s

WEAPON BALLISTICS PRESETS

Click any weapon profile below to simulate its trajectory:

WEAPON VELOCITY / ANGLE EST. RANGE
RPG / Rocket Pod 80 m/s @ 45° 652.4 m
Mortar High Arc Strike 65 m/s @ 60° 372.4 m (Apex 161m)
Tank AP Flat Trajectory 250 m/s @ 15° 3,185.5 m
High-Velocity Sniper Rifle 850 m/s @ 5° 12,790 m
Lunar Gravity Bomb (Moon) 50 m/s @ 45° (1.62g) 1,543.2 m

PROJECTILE KINEMATICS

Ballistic movement in games models unguided munitions, grenades, arrows, and artillery.

🎯
Optimal Launch Angle: Under vacuum/flat terrain, 45° produces the absolute maximum horizontal travel range.
⏱️
Flight Duration: Governed entirely by initial vertical velocity ($v_y$) and downward gravitational acceleration ($g$).
💨
Air Resistance: This calculator models ideal vacuum kinematics. Games with aerodynamic drag (like flight simulators) experience reduced range.

TRAJECTORY FORMULAS

Equations of motion under uniform gravitational acceleration:

Range (R) = (v₀² × sin(2θ)) / g
Max Height (H) = (v₀ × sin(θ))² / (2g)
Flight Time (T) = (2 × v₀ × sin(θ)) / g

Developer Note: In Unity 3D, assigning rigidbody.linearVelocity = initialVelocityVector natively executes these exact physics curves through PhysX.

KNOWLEDGE BASE

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Common questions regarding projectile arcs, raycasting vs physics projectiles, and ballistic math.

Should I use Raycasting (Hitscan) or Physics Projectiles for guns?

For close-quarters combat or ultra-fast bullets, Raycasting (Hitscan) is computationally cheap and prevents tunneling glitches. For artillery, rockets, grenades, or long-range sniper simulation, Physics Projectiles create rewarding bullet-drop and leading target gameplay.

Why does 45 degrees give the longest range?

The range formula includes the term sin(2θ). The sine function reaches its maximum possible value of 1.0 when its internal argument is 90° (2 × 45° = 90°), yielding maximum range on level ground.

How do I prevent fast projectiles from passing through colliders in Unity?

Set the Rigidbody's Collision Detection mode to Continuous Dynamic or Continuous Speculative. Alternatively, cast a forward raycast each frame equal to velocity * Time.deltaTime.
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