Missiles

General Knowledge

Missiles are an oddball here (like in many things)

• Large size, high dps, short range, slow: Torpedos (Siege launchers)
• Large size, low dps, high range, faster: Cruise
• Med size, high dps, short range, fast: HAMs (Heavy Assault)
• Med size, lower dps, high range, slower: HMLs (Heavy launcher)
• Med size, low dps, shorter range, fast: Standard (Assault launcher)
• Small size, high dps (yeah lol), short range, fast: Rockets
• Small size, lower dps, more range, slower: Standard (Standard launcher)

• FoF Missiles come in all standard, heavy and cruise missile sizes and do not require a lock-on to fire, however they are not controlled and will fly towards a random hostile target within range.
• Defender Missiles can be fired from any size launcher and are able to destroy missiles currently in flight. They are one of the few ways to reduce incoming missile damage, but are mostly only used by NPC's, as they are not very reliable and reduce the user's DPS.

Assault launcher uses the same small Standard Missiles but is a medium-sized module(as far as fittings go with higher firing rate and capacity. Fittings vary around the lineup, with HAMs having such absurd requirements it is almost impossible to properly fit them in most cases other than a Drake (don't even try on a Nighthawk, for example). Also, short range versions are UNGUIDED, not affected by the precision skill. They also have slower explosion velocity than the guided ones (the long range version).

Rockets suck all around.

Missile Specifics

Determining Range

Range of missiles generally tends to be one of the tougher things to figure out as the modules loaded with missiles do not show their range. One option would be to use EFT, however note that it does not take acceleration time for missiles into consideration, thus you would need to take approximately 2-3% off the flight range predicted.

If you decide to do a calculation manually, you will need a calculator. Formula would be (Missile Velocity*Missile Flight Time)*(skill/ship modifiers). Skills that affect range of missiles are Missile Bombardment (Rank 2) and Missile Projection (Rank 4). There are several ships that increase missiles' velocity and flight time, Caracal and Raven among them.

As a rule, the guided versions of the missiles (Standard Missile, Heavy Missile, Cruise Missile) do less damage but have much greater range than their unguided cousins (Rocket, however this one is an exception for damage, Heavy Assault Missile, Torpedo).

Missile Damage

Missile damage is based on several factors, main ones being the speed of target ship and its signature radius. As missile launchers do not need to track, tracking disruption and fast-orbiting does not decrease missile damage.

When determining damage, target ship's signature is measured against the missile's explosion radius; the smaller explosion radius is as compared to signature radius of a ship, the more damage it does, however it will do no more than its full damage if explosion radius is as big or smaller than the signature radius. Modules that increase ship's signature radius are Target Painters on the attacker's side and Shield Rigs, Shield Extenders and active MicroWarp Drives on the target's side. The guided missiles get a bonus to their explosion radius with a Guided Missile Precision skill, which does not affect the short-ranged missiles, as noted above.

The speed of ship also affects missile damage and is measured against missile's explosion velocity. The faster the ship is moving, the less damage it takes from the missile, it is even possible to outrun a missile, evading the damage completely. However, even if ship is stopped, it will not take anymore than full damage possible. Target Navigation Prediction (Rank 2) skill affects the missile explosion velocity, there are also rigs that increase the missiles' explosion velocity and explosion radius as well as stasis webifiers that simply slow down the target.

As a rule, the smaller the missile type, the higher its explosion velocity and smaller its explosion radius, thus a heavy missile(which is considered a cruiser sized missile) would do full damage against battleships but would do greatly reduced amount of damage against fast moving frigates. Torpedoes have the largest explosion radius and slowest explosion velocity followed by cruise missiles, heavy missiles and heavy assault missiles generally have similar explosion velocities/radii, standard missiles have the highest explosion velocity and rockets have the smallest explosion radius.

Missiles do a single type of damage and thus are considered the best way to deal damage in PvE, as all pirate factions have at least one weakness to a particular damage type which can be exploited entirely by the missile user. Certain ships give damage bonus to only certain missile damage types, for example Drake and Caracal, while others generally increase the damage through firing rate increase or general damage increase.

The only module that directly increases missile damage is a Ballistic Control System that increases both damage and firing rate ,there are also two rigs that increase damage potential of missiles, Warhead Calefaction Catalyst(which increases damage) and Bay Loading Accelerator(which increases firing rate), note that they have a high calibration requirement.

Tech 2 Missiles

Tech 2 missiles are separated into two kinds: the high-damage damage or Fury/Rage version, which has shorter range, faster explosion velocity and larger explosion radius as well as more damage and increasing the user's Signature Radius, and the long-range or Precision/Javelin version, which has a greater range, slower explosion velocity, smaller explosion radius and lower damage at the expense of user's Ship's Velocity. All Tech 2 missiles require Tech 2 launchers for them to be usable and are much more expensive than their Tech 1 versions.