Missile Damage Calculation Tool

Below is a tool I made for looking at how different ammo, skills, and equipment affect missile damage. As with my prior posts, I am personally most interested in looking at the situation with cruise missiles for use against battleships. Therefore, for now, the drop down select lists only include cruise missiles and a small number of sample NPC battleships. However, you can set the drop downs to Custom and enter values for other missiles and ships.
Take note of the field labeled "Avg Max Velocity". Originally, I just labeled this as Max Velocity. However, the maximum velocity of most NPC battleships, from the data I found online, is actually much higher than the values I am using; somewhere in the neighborhood of 1200 - 1400 m/s. The reason I didn't use those values is that the NPC battleships almost never actually go that fast. They usually hobble along at much lower speeds. We are most interested in what will happen most of the time, not in the fringe cases where they actually burst up to top speed. The numbers I therefore used are their orbital velocities, as those values are accurate for orbiting and I think not too far off from what is typically seen when they approach.
I also have a few assumptions at play here. First, I am assuming that multiple affects (for example, if using 2 Rigor Catalysts) will stack in a manner similar to how multiple resist mods stack. Furthermore, I am assming that Target Navigation Prediction reduces the target velocity in the equation, which is also why you will see the graph X axis go up to a lower number than the value in the Avg Max Velocity field with the axis labeled as Effective Target Speed -- because it has the Target Navigation Prediction skill applied to it.

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Show/Hide Equations

xr	Missile Explosion Radius
xv	Missile Explosion Velocity
d	Damage Reduction Factor
sr	Ship Signature Radius
sv	Ship Max Velocity
kr	Skill: Guided Missile Precision explosion radius percent
kv	Skill: Target Navigation Prediction target velocity percent
p	Target Painter signature radius percent (0 if not equipped)
r1	Rig 1: Rigor Catalyst signature radius percent (0 if not equipped)
r2	Rig 2: Rigor Catalyst signature radius percent (0 if not equipped)
r3	Rig 3: Rigor Catalyst signature radius percent (0 if not equipped)
f1	Rig 1: Flare Catalyst explosion velocity percent (0 if not equipped)
f2	Rig 2: Flare Catalyst explosion velocity percent (0 if not equipped)
f3	Rig 3: Flare Catalyst explosion velocity percent (0 if not equipped)
xrf	Missile Explosion Radius: Final
xvf	Missile Explosion Velocity: Final
srf	Ship Signature Radius: Final
svf	Ship Max Velocity: Final
B	Zero Velocity Damage Percentage Applied
C	Max Velocity Damage Percentage Applied

x_rf = x_r * (1 - k_r) * (1 - r₁) * (1 - r₂) * (1 - r₃)
x_vf = x_v * (1 + f₁) * (1 + f₂) * (1 + f₃)
s_rf = s_r * (1 + p)
s_vf = s_v * (1 - k_v)
B = s_rf / x_rf
C = [B * (x_vf / s_vf)] ^ [ln(d) / ln(5.5)]

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Missile	Exp. Radius	Exp. Velocity	DRF
Custom

Target Ship	Sig. Radius	Avg Max Velocity
Custom

Target Painter: None Target Painter I (25%) Target Painter II / Generation Extron (30%)

Rig 1: None Rigor Catalyst I Rigor Catalyst II Flare Catalyst I Flare Catalyst II Rig 2: None Rigor Catalyst I Rigor Catalyst II Flare Catalyst I Flare Catalyst II Rig 3: None Rigor Catalyst I Rigor Catalyst II Flare Catalyst I Flare Catalyst II

Guided Missile Precision Level: 0 1 2 3 4 5

Target Navigation Prediction Level: 0 1 2 3 4 5

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Zero Velocity Damage Applied
Max Velocity Damage Applied

T2 Cruise Missiles -- Well, Okay, Maybe More Rigors

Today I want to do a review of the 3rd and most complex component of the equation that determines how much missile damage is applied, and what it means for T2 cruise missiles.

The damage modification is uses the lesser of the value 1, the target signature radius divided by the missile explosion radius, or another more complex equation that takes target velocity into account.  The goal is to get each part of the equation up to a value of 1 or more to apply full damage.  In my prior T2 cruise missile post, I looked specifically at the 2nd part of the question, to determine how we make sure full damage can be applied.  But this is only guaranteed for targets standing still.  For the full damage to actually be applied, we need to make sure the 3rd part of the equation approaches 1 as well, and it turns out this is pretty significant when it comes to T2 cruise missiles.

I am going to keep this simple, and ignore the parts that we don't really care much about.  The 3rd part of the equation has an exponent that involves the natural log and some mysterious damage factor, but we can actually ignore this for what we are doing.  When we approach 1, the exponent will have no effect.  And even when under 1, the effect is less with cruise missiles than it is with other types of missiles.  So lets just keep it simple and ignore it.  (If you want to see the gory equation specifics, check it out on Eve University)

What we are left with is S / E * X / V, which we want to raise to the value of 1.  S is sig radius of target, E is explosion radius of missile, X is explosion velocity of missile, and V is velocity of target.  Now S / E was the equation from the prior blog post.  We have already looked at what we need to do to make sure this is 1.  Looking at the stats for Fury Cruise Missiles, we find that the explosion velocity X is 58.  This means as soon as the target exceeds a speed of 58 m/s, the damage applied starts to drop!  And it can drop a lot, when explosion velocity is only 58.

How do we fix this?  Our options are:

1. Slow the target down.  Webs.  But you have to be pretty close for webs, so this is out.
2. Increase the explosion velocity.  This can be done, but how much effect will it have?  There is the Target Navigation Prediction skill, and probably some modules that can help.  But will it be enough?
3. Compensate for X / V being less than 1 by making S / E more than 1.  Ah ha!  Other writings don't always make this clear, but this is why you might go overboard with increasing signature radius of the target and decreasing explosion radius of the missiles -- not because of the 2nd part of the equation, but rather because of the 3rd -- to compensate for explosion velocity being less than the target's speed.

I'll look at doing some specific calculations in a later post, but the moral of the story for today is that target speed can be a problem for T2 Fury cruise missiles. We need more missile explosion velocity, less missile explosion radius, and/or more target signature radius.  Maybe I should sacrifice a mid slot item for a target painter.  And maybe a 2nd Rigor Catalyst is a good idea after all.

High Sec Militia

Anti-gank forces continues to advance, evolve, and organize.  While I have been an advocate of friendly folks joining up in anti-gank militias, I haven't actually tried to organize one myself.  However, there are people out there now doing exactly that.  If you are interested in joining an anti-gank militia, or just are interested in reading more about anti-gank efforts, I recommend checking out the following blog: 

High Sec Militia Blog

I've been impressed with their efforts.  I had no hand in the creation or administration of their blog or their militia.  I am, however, a recruit in their militia and look forward to meeting any new brave souls who join up to protect the good folks in high security space. 

Ode of the Caldari Cruiser

Ode of the Caldari Cruiser

Not much going on lately, so time for another dumb poem (my apologies to the Caldari Cruiser pilots out there!)

The Osprey climbed out of a garbage pail, the Caracal is a shoe lace.
The Blackbird is a Duplo fail, and the old Moa is a giraffe with a suitcase.

The old Moa

T2 Cruise Missiles -- Do I Need Multiple T2 Rigors?

I've been wanting to increase my DPS on L4 security missions.  I currently use an Armageddon outfitted with cruise missiles and sentry drones.  On a typical L4 mission, I have my sentry drones take out the smaller stuff while I keep the cruise missiles targeted almost exclusively on battleships.  Usually, my cruise missiles are still pecking away at the battleships after my sentries have cleared the field of everything else.  And on occasion, I have to either skip a battleship or switch my sentries to the same battleship my cruise missiles are firing upon before the smaller stuff is cleared, as I occasionally run into NPC battleships that can restore armor or shields as fast as I can apply damage with the cruise missiles.

I need to keep the cruise missiles focused on larger targets to ensure they can apply their max damage due to how missile damage is applied.  To apply max damage with a missile, the explosion radius for that missile needs to be less than or equal to the signature radius of the target.  I could work on increasing drone damage further, but then what do I do with my cruise missiles that can barely break some NPC battleship tanks?  I could focus cruise missiles on mid size ships leaving only battleships at the end, and then focus fire of the drones and missiles together on all the battleships. But what I really want is more cruise missile DPS to take down those battleships better.

There are skills I can train higher to improve missile damage further.  That's part of the plan, but I also want to consider T2 launchers and missiles.  T2 cruise missiles come in two flavors -- precision and fury.  Precision are for small targets and fury are for large targets.  Given my situation, I'm not terribly interested in the precision missiles, but I'm very interested in the fury missiles to take down those battleships.  So I will stay focused on that for now.

The main issue with a T2 fury cruise missile is that it has a huge explosion radius of 567 m.  Since I want to increase my missile DPS as much as possible, I need to make sure that max damage will be applied against NPC battleships.  To do this, I need to make sure the explosion radius is less than or equal to the NPC signature radius.  Now, I've read some threads that talk about going to what I would consider extreme measures to do this, but I don't think that's the right approach.  If you overdo it, you may be using modules far more expensive than they need to be or unnecessarily using fitting slots that could have been used for something else.  We need to look at precisely what is needed for the situation without going much further.

I researched a number of NPC battleships, and the low end of NPC battleship signature radius appears to be about 340 m.  So my target is to either raise that signature radius and/or lower the explosion radius until they are close to equal.  Do I really need 2 T2 Rigor rigs and 1 T1 Rigor rig to do this, as was suggested in one thread I read?  I don't think so.  Lets look at the ways we can change either the signature radius or the explosion radius:

1. Target Painters -- these increase the signature radius of the target by up to 30%.
2. Guided Missile Precision skill -- this decreases the explosion radius by 5% per level.
3. Rigor rigs -- these decrease the explosion radius by 15% for T1 rigs to 20% for T2 rigs.

Now, I'm not entirely certain how the percentages are applied (e.g. do they all add directly, or are they applied more like multiple resist mods), so I am making a few assumptions in my calculations.   In my case, I really don't have anything I am willing to switch out for a target painter, so I am going to ignore those for now, even though they are quite nice.  And then I'm going to see what we can do without going crazy.

With target painters out of my plan, that means I need to reduce the explosion radius by about 40%.  That's (567 - 340) / 567.  To keep things reasonable, I'm not going to suggest pushing Guided Missile Precision to 5, but we do have a ways to go, so lets say push it to 4.  That's a 20% reduction.  A single T1 Rigor rig is an easy fit.  That's another 15%.  If they add directly, we are already at 35%, or roughly 32% if they stack more like resists.  That's already enough for a large number of NPC battleships.  If we want to push it down all the way to the target 40% reduction, which may not even be worthwhile, we can either switch out the T1 rig for a T2 rig, train the skill up to 5, or maybe use 2 T1 rigs and not worry about training the skill up past 3.

The whole point of this exercise is this -- if you want to really optimize your fit, consider your needs carefully, and if needed, do the math to figure it out.  Do I need 2 T2 Rigors, maybe also a T1 Rigor, and maxed GMP skill?  No!  As I determined above, that is major overkill considering I only want to use T2 cruise missiles against the battleships.  I can get by just fine with a single Rigor rig and GMP skill at 4.

Anti-Gank: Uedama, 9/7/2014 00:00

A good night for anti-gank forces.  Criminal forces were driven out of the Uedama system completely.  I unfortunately didn't get into the action until it was winding down, but then again, it was winding down thanks to the anti-gank forces.  A victorious night for all of high sec.

I leave you with one particularly notable kill worth sharing:  Machariel Bumper Downed By Anti-Gank Forces

Amusingly, CODE. would have ridiculed such as ship -- if it weren't being used as one of their own bumpers -- probably using their favorite term "anti-tanked".

Anti-Gank: Uedama, 9/4/2014 04:00

I joined a small fleet of anti-gank militia in opposition of more CODE. freighter ganking. We had some success, and learned a few things, but there are areas that still need improvement.

One freighter pilot I talked to suggested we place cans with warnings near the system with date/time information. This is something we haven't consistently done, and should probably start doing with more regularity.

Saving freighters from second attempts after a first failed gank also needs improvement. I have now moved repair assets into place to provide more prompt and complete repairs in the future. Repairing structure will remain a problem though. I have the skills and equipment for it, but freighters have a ton of structure hit points and structure repair is slow; probably too slow to be done in a 15 minute timer window. We might need multiple people doing repairs or come up with other strategies like interrupting bumping to save more freighters.

I also tried out a new ship tonight -- an Oracle. This is the Amarr version of a Battlecruiser fitting Battleship weapons (like a Tornado). If you are careful with your fit, this type of ship is a viable anti-gank option. I was able to kill Destroyers before Concord arrival. Be careful with tracking though, as tracking speed is pretty slow. I fitted a tracking computer with tracking script to help. But I think my fit still needs some tweaks.

Fly safe!

Anti-Gank: Aufay 9/1/2014

A few CODE. were active around Aufay causing trouble.  I decided to try out an Interceptor that I only recently finished the skills to fly.  So far I think it is a great ship, and it doubles as a pretty nice shuttle when not using it for it's intended purpose.  It can't do much damage, but then it doesn't have to against opponents flagged as criminal.

A good first run -- I caught loyalanon coming out of the Aufay stargate into Balle.  The Interceptor's speed and scan resolution were instrumental in the engagement:  https://zkillboard.com/kill/41025553/

I sent loyalanon an Eve mail to inform him or her of the reason for the engagement:

Your Moa in Balle on 2014.09.02 03:00 was detained for your being in violation of the Eve Principles of Interstellar Conduct (EPIC). 

Please review and adhere to the EPIC to avoid such consequences in the future.

http://gankerbumpingtoo.blogspot.com/2014/08/eve-principles-of-interstellar-conduct.html