Missile mechanics: Difference between revisions

When a missile crosses the signature radius of its target, it explodes. A ship's [[signature radius]] is an invisible "bubble" that most weapon systems see when trying to lock on to a ship. Generally, the bigger the ship, the bigger the signature radius.

[[File:QSG_missile_terms.png|thumb|right|upright=0.8|A Missile Explodes|alt=drawing showing SR and ER]][[File:QSR_missile_hit.gif|A Missile Explodes|alt=animation of missile hitting ship]]

Every missile has a <span style="color:#ccffee">''Base Damage''</span> – which is listed as "explosive damage", "kinetic damage", or so on in the Attributes tab of the missile's Get Info window.[[File:SampleMissile.png|thumb|Heavy Missile Attributes|alt=Get Info window showing heavy missile attributes]] This amount may be augmented somewhat by certain skills and/or equipment, and when the term "Base Damage" is used here, it means the listed damage of the missile plus any augmented damage … in other words, the damage you expect the missile to do if it scores a direct hit.

{{Note box|In the simplest terms: big, slow ships can take up to 100% of missile damage. Small, fast ships often take less damage. It is '''NOT''' the speed of the missile that matters; but the speed and size of the explosion.}}

If you have been using missiles, this probably does not surprise you, and you may want more details, but since the actual damage number depends on target speed, missile speed, signature radius and so on, there is no way to give a simple summary or table of how much damage a particular kind of missile will do against a particular kind of ship.  

*If you are using missiles, you want a faster explosion (''more explosion velocity'') and a smaller one (''less explosion radius'') – in other words, a short, tight explosion is more effective than a long, loose one.

*Because damage is related to both speed and Signature Ratio, using a microwarp drive, which increases both speed AND Signature Ratio, will not significantly reduce damage. Afterburners do not affect Signature Ratio, however, and so could possibly help.

As an illustration, here are the basic statistics for the Inferno Light Missile. These are sorted on explosion velocity.

Note that both of these are most effective if you are firing missiles at small, fast ships. They may be completely unhelpful if you are firing at very large ships.

The equation for missile damage is as follows:

Unlike the turret damage equation, missile damage takes the absolute velocity of the target into account, not the angular velocity. To create missile damage, the game computes two values. These values are compared to 1, and the smallest is chosen. That number is then multiplied by the base damage to get the amount of damage applied to the ship.

Target velocity <b>(V_t)</b> is the speed of the target. The maximum speed of a ship can be found in its description, but this speed will vary from the maximum during combat. Keep in mind that the speed of the missile is not a factor. What matters is the speed of the ship at the time the missile arrives.

Target [[signature radius]] <b>(S)</b> is the effective size of a ship. It is affected by various factors, such as the ship type, modules, rigs, skills and/or implants. It cannot displayed in the Overview, but it is listed in the ship's Get Info Attributes.

The base damage of a missile <b>(D)</b> can be found in the missile information under “EM damage”, “Kinetic damage”, “Thermal damage” or “Explosive damage”.  Base Shield Damage and Base Armor Damage are not relevant for this calculation.  

All three of these can be improved through the use of rigs and/or implants.

The “damage reduction factor” <b>(drf)</b> of a missile is not mentioned in the game, it is however included in the [http://community.eveonline.com/community/fansites/toolkit/ data that CCP publishes], and you can easily view it in the EVEMon item browser. You can also see the value 5.5 from the above equation in the same data – it is called the damage reduction sensitivity.  

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As of as of EVE release 118.6, the term (ln(drf)/ln(5.5) has been pre-calculated and is stored in the variable: aoeDamageReductionFactor '''(ADRF)'''. Thus, the equation can be written in this format:

The equations also show that there is a minimum speed that a ship needs to fly before its velocity can reduce the missile damage at all. If the ship is moving below a specific threshold, the explosion velocity and the speed of the ship do not affect the missile damage. In that case, only the signature radius of the target and the explosion radius of the missile can have an effect, and further decreases in the ship's speed will not increase the damage. However, increases the signature radius can, until the damage reaches 100%.

Note that all examples assume all 0 skills.  Higher acceleration control will result in propulsion mods being significantly more effective at mitigating damage.