Velocity

Velocity

This section will explain the meaning of three kinds of variables related to velocity. Velocity itself can be described as the vector, i.e. both a magnitude (speed) and direction, by which an object in motion moves. In EVE, velocity is almost always in units of meters per second (m/s). This is often displayed as a scalar quantity, which can be misleading or confusing since they really mean speed in most cases. For the purposes of EVE, we will relax this formalism to aid in understanding and simply say that velocity is the speed of an object.

It is important to note that radial, transversal, and angular velocity are the same for both you and an object. For example, if you have a transversal velocity of 500 m/s with respect to another player's ship, then he also has a 500 m/s transversal velocity with respect to your ship.

Radial Velocity

Radial velocity describes in EVE the speed at which the distance between you and the object changes. If the distance between you and the object increases, then the value is positive. If the distance between you and the object decreases, then the value is negative. In other words, as you move toward the object, both you and it have a negative radial velocity.

Just to provide another explanation, consider a sphere centered at your ship so that the object is on the surface of the sphere. As you and the object move around, the sphere follows you and also adjusts its size. The speed at which the sphere's size changes is determined by its radius, hence the term "radial" velocity.

Transversal Velocity

Transversal velocity in EVE describes the speed at which an object moves perpendicular to you, i.e. its orbital velocity. In other words, it is a metric used to describe the sideways movement of you and an object relative to one another. To get an sense of what this means, below is a list of some examples.

A high transversal velocity occurs when:

• Two ships orbit one another at the same speed in opposite directions (maximal transversal)
• One ship orbits a stationary ship
• One ship flies "north" and the other flies "east/west" with respect to one another

A low transversal velocity occurs when:

• Two ships fly directly away or toward one another (zero transversal)
• Two ships fly perfectly parallel to one another at the same speed (zero transversal)
• One ship chases the other ship

The transversal velocity is computed by subtracting the two velocity vectors (i.e. both magnitude and direction) from one another, and then finding the length of the vector. This differs from angular velocity (below) in that it is not affected by the distance between both objects.

Angular Velocity

Angular velocity describes in EVE the speed at which you and an object rotate around each other. It is measured in radians per second. For example, if you have an angular velocity at 6.283 rad/sec, then you are orbiting a full circle every second (since 6.283 = 2 * PI). Angular velocity has a very important relationship with transversal velocity.

People often debate between using either transversal or angular velocity in an overview setup. Both variables display similar information; however, angular velocity is much more useful in practice, due to its use in turret to-hit calculations. It essentially allows for an easy comparison between your (or your opponent's) turret's tracking speed and the angular velocity. If the angular velocity is greater then the turret's tracking speed, you'll begin to miss, but having a smaller angular velocity than the turret's tracking speed means maximizing the hit chance.