Missile mechanics

This article takes a look at mathematics behind missiles. We look at the equations that govern how far your missiles will travel and how much damage they deal. There's some math at the beginning, but you can skip over this if you wish.

Missile Damage Output

Damage Equation

Here is the equation for missile damage:

Here are the terms in the equation:

S	Signature radius of target	Note: The bigger the better
Vt	velocity of target	Note: The smaller the better
D	base damage of missile	Note: The bigger the better
E	explosion radius of missile	Note: The smaller the better
Ve	explosion velocity of missile	Note: The bigger the better
drf	explosion velocity of missile	Note: The smaller the better

• drf: damage reduction factor of missile (Note: the smaller the better)

Note that unlike the turret damage equation, the missile damage does not care about angular velocity, but absolute velocity.

To find your damage, the game computes each of the three numbers you see, picks the smallest of them, and multiplies that by the base damage.

You can also write the form more abstract as a = b1 * min (c1, c2, c3). the lowest of the 3 numbers (c1, c2, c3) will be multiplied with b to result in a.

Finding the target values

Target velocity / the speed of the target (*V_t): if you set up the overview to the Overview Guide, you can see the velocity of any ship near you on your overview.

Target signature radius (S): The target signature radius is not displayed in the overview and is affected by various factions. The main factor is the ship size it self, the bigger the ship, the bigger its signature. But other things like modules, rigs, skills and implants and more affect the signature of a target ship. The article Signature radius can give you a general overview about the expected signature size of a ship.

Finding the missile values

Base damage of missile (D):
You can find this in the missile information under" EM damage", "Kinetic damage", "Thermal damage" or "Explosive damage", Base Shield Damage and Base Armor Damage are not relevant here.

Explosion radius of missile (E):
You can find this in the missile information under "Explosion radius".

Explosion velocity of missile (V_e):
You can find this in the missile information under "Explosion Velocity".

Finding the damage reduction factor of a missile

The quite mysterious "damage reduction factor" of a missile is not mentioned in the game, however it is included in the data that CCP publishes [1].
The current table is based on Inferno 1.2.

Missile Type	DRF
Precision Light Missile	2,6
Precision Heavy Missile	2,7
Auto-Targeting Light Missile	2,8
Light Missile	2,8
Rocket	3
Heavy Missile	3,2
Auto-Targeting Heavy Missile	3,2
Javelin Rocket	3,2
Fury Light Missile	3,2
Precision Cruise Missile	3,5
Cruise Missile	4,5
Auto-Targeting Cruise Missile	4,5
Rage Rocket	4,5
Citadel Cruise Missile	4,5
Fury Heavy Missile	4,5
Heavy Assault Missile	4,5
Javelin Heavy Assault Missile	4,6
Fury Cruise Missile	4,78
Rage Heavy Assault Missile	4,8
Torpedo	5
Javelin Torpedo	5,2
Rage Torpedo	5,2
Citadel Torpedo	5,5

Typical S/E Values

Below is a table that lists some expected values for S/E for each missile type against various hull sizes:

Speed Tanking Missile Damage

We will now look at what velocities you can speed tank missile damage, and how much damage reduction you can get from speed tanking. To start, we'll assume that S/E = 1. Of course, the table above shows that this is very wrong, but you can factor in this by multiplying the explosion velocity V_e by S/E, which will adjust the figures appropriately. Hence, if a ship fires a standard light missile at a frigate then we multiply the explosion velocity of 170 by S/E, which will be about 80%, which gives us an effectively explosion velocity of about 136. Below is a list of explosion velocities for most missiles.

Explosion Velocities for Missiles

Rockets	Standard	150
	Anti-Ship	150
	Range	150
Light	Standard	170
	Anti-Ship	174
	Precision	179
Heavy	Standard	81
	High Damage	97
	High Precision	87
Heavy Assault	Standard	101
	Anti-Ship	93
	Range	101
Cruise	Standard	69
	High Damage	58
	High Precision	71
Torpedoes	Standard	71
	High Damage	61
	Range	71

One final chart will be needed. This chart will indicate how many times faster than the missile's effective explosion velocity you must travel to reduce the incoming damage by a given amount, roughly.

Using These Charts

How can we possibly use these charts effectively? Well, suppose I'm firing standard light missiles at a target. My explosion velocity sits at about 170. If I'm shooting this missile at a frigate, then my effective explosion velocity becomes 136. Since he's webbed and has his afterburner on, he's going at about 400 m/s, which is roughly 3 times my explosion velocity. We look at the proper row in the table above and scan across until we see which columns 3 lies between. We then look up and see that I'm doing about 50% reduced damage on him. If we were allowed to travel without the web, he could easily hit 10 times my explosion velocity, at which point the damage drops to 30-40%. From this, you should take away the fact that even a target that's the right size for your missiles moving even at very normal speeds might cut your DPS by 50%, much like a turret tracking something of the right speed and size might take a similar DPS cut.

From this, take away that ships do not need to be moving very quickly to slice missile damage, as the explosion radii are typically quite low.

Increasing Missile Damage

There are many things a player can do to increase the missile damage.

Skills

• Guided Missile Precision

The target signature radius has less impact on the damage. This effectively decreases the explosion radius of the missile by 5% per skill level. Notice that this only affects guided missiles (Light, Heavy and Cruise Missile).

• Target Navigation Prediction

The target velocity has less impact on the damage. This effectively increases the explosion velocity by 10% per skill level. Works for all missiles, guided and unguided.

• Warhead Upgrades

A straight forward 2% more missile damage per skill level.

Keep in mind these are only skills that affect the missile damage as such. For a more information about skills that affect missiles and their launchers in general review the article about Missile Launchers.

Modules and rigs

Ballistic Control System
This low slot module increases, among other things, the damage of the missile.

Warhead Calefaction Catalyst I
This rig increases the damage of the missile by 10% at increased CPU requirement for the launcher.

Warhead Flare Catalyst I
This rig increases the explosion velocity of the missile by 15% at increased CPU requirement for the launcher.

Warhead Rigor Catalyst I
This rig decreases the explosion radius by 15% at increased CPU requirement for the launcher.

While other rigs affect missiles and launchers as well, they do not affect the missile damage as such.