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I can't see anyone else asking this question, but it bugs me:
I note that when a gunner fires a tracking weapon, and the missile is still in flight next turn - a new gunnery roll is needed.
Who/what makes the gunnery roll?
Does the Gunner use their turn to "steer" the missile to the target until it impacts or is lost?
Or does the missile "track" its target and home in on its own.
Or, to put it another way:
Turn 1 I fire a missile at range 30, and it closes by 10 hexes.
Turn 2, I'd like to follow up with a second missile, while the first gets on with the job and tracks its target.
I think the missile homes in on its own, hence why you lose assorted bonuses like "the actions of fellow crew members". who can't reach out to the in-flight missile - it's on its own. (It sets off with "good" or "bad" coords according to the skill and ability of the initial gunner, so presumably users their numbers in the subsequent tracking rolls.)
A tracking weapon’s projectile has a listed speed; once fired, it moves that number of hexes toward its target. Each subsequent round during the gunnery phase, it must succeed at a gunnery check against the target’s TL to continue to move its speed toward its target.
So it is actually the missile itself that is making the gunnery checks on each round after the first. The question then is how to calculate its gunnery check bonus.
Gunnery Check = 1d20 + the gunner’s base attack bonus or the gunner’s ranks in the Piloting skill + the gunner’s Dexterity modifier + bonuses from computer systems + bonuses from the captain and science officers + range penalty
If it intercepts the target before it reaches the end of its movement, it explodes and deals damage as normal (see Damage below). If not, attempt a new gunnery check at the start of the next gunnery phase to determine whether the projectile continues to move toward the target; you don’t receive any bonuses from computer systems or actions by your fellow crew members from previous rounds or the current round, but you can take penalties, such as from an enemy science officer’s improve countermeasures action
I can't think of any other way of running the calculation than to use the original Gunner's base attack bonus or Piloting skill ranks, and DEX mod. The tracking weapon's don't have their own stats for those, and rolling just 1d20 + nothing would not be useful.
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In general, tracking weapons are mathematically locked into close combat only. The chances of successfully landing an attack with a tracking weapon drops exponentially with the number of gunnery checks you have to make. For long range combat, use direct fire weapons. The range penalty with only one attack roll is much better than making multiple rolls even if the second and subsequent gunnery checks have lower range penalties.
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I would also say that keeping a tracking weapon "on course" is no action for the gunner, it's done by the missile.
I don't really like that you have to use the gunners skill for this role. I think it would be better to do something like 1d20 + ship tier + computerbonus + bonus as long as the missile is within first range increment of the ships sensors.
You could even create a new science officer action which allows the science officer to aid missiles to stay on course.
In general, tracking weapons are mathematically locked into close combat only. The chances of successfully landing an attack with a tracking weapon drops exponentially with the number of gunnery checks you have to make. For long range combat, use direct fire weapons. The range penalty with only one attack roll is much better than making multiple rolls even if the second and subsequent gunnery checks have lower range penalties.
I've found long-range missiles to only be useful for NPC enemies, with "missile boats" firing large broadsides, to make for interesting encounters.