Wednesday 31 August 2011

Faction Launchers Vs Tech-2 Launchers

Please note the edit at the bottom of the page

For a fair while I've been scratching my head over missile launchers.

I had a look at Caldari Navy Heavy Missile Launchers on EFT, but no matter what I tried I could not get the DPS figures of my Nighthawk to read anywhere near the damaged caused by Tech-II heavy launchers with Tech-II ammo.

So why are people choosing the expensive Navy varient when the Tech-II 's are delivering far more damage?

With no obvious reason standing up and punching me in the face, I put it down that folks just couldn't wait to train for Tech-II launchers. Which is mad. However, a very recent conversation brought to light an interesting fact. EFT is a wonderful and extremely useful tool. However, it does run into a few problems when it comes to accurate DPS readings. There is an issue due to the fact that the program cannot take into account a few factors. The juciy DPS figures that are displayed are based on a perfect shot. This is very rarely the case when the target's speed, size, etc are added to the equation.

However, the individuals I had engaged in this conversation were adament that Caldari Navy HML's loaded with Tech-I ammo would do a better job than the Tech-II HML loaded with Tech-II ammo. True, the CN HML's have a faster firing rate, but the Tech-I heavy missiles are noticeably inferior to the Tech-II's. I can't even squeeze anywhere near as much DPS when I fit the Caldari Navy ammo to the Faction launchers.

I'm very sure that the Caldari-Navy HML's are better, otherwise they wouldn't be so pricey. I've looked over the attributes in the missile info and I still can't see the benefit of the slightly faster firing rate over better missile damage. Although I've not done any deep research through the web, the searches I did were not as fruitful as I hoped.

Any pointers in the right direction will be greatly appreciated.

Edit:
I've had some comments come through both on here and in Twitter. The points made about the explosive radius were absolutely correct. Although I've only managed to test the new fit out in only one mission, I could instantly see the differences.


What I have found is that Battlecruisers and below pop A LOT faster with the Faction launchers and T1 ammo. It's all to do with the 'explosion velocity' of the missiles, and T1's and Faction are much better than T2's. However, this does mean that the battleships do take longer to fall. Overall, I'm more pleased with the set-up, especially as T1 ammo is much cheaper and easier to make. Now I can just sell the T2 ammo that I produce.


Verdict:




Addtional: I have been corrected with credit to @Khanhrhh. EFT can show the applied DPS through the DPS graph. Apologies for my naivety!

6 comments:

  1. I was in the same boat a while back in Null sec. I was using a CNR with CN Cruise Launchers and t1 ammo. After I started playing around with EFT I saw that I could increase DPS considerably with T2 launchers and ammo. I paid our logistics group and had those items brought down. It took a full 5-7 minutes extra to clear a Haven in 0.0 with T2 ammo vs the CN launchers and T1 ammo. Why this is, I could not figure out with numbers and EFT but in practice the faction equipment was indeed better and more efficient.

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  2. Thanks for your comment! I might look into getting the Faction launcher then :D

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  3. It's to do with the explosion radius of the ammo. Faction heavies have a smaller radius than rage missiles, which means they deliver their full DPS to smaller targets than t2 rage missiles do. So in spite of the higher paper DPS for rage missiles, you won't see that gain except when you're shooting at battleships. Your DPS against cruisers will be /lower/ with rage than with faction.

    Precision missiles will do their full DPS against smaller targets than even faction missiles, making them better for taking out frigates etc, but their "on paper" DPS is lower than faction ammo. This means that even though both do full damage against cruisers, "full damage" is lower on the t2 precision

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  4. Many thanks for your comment! I've tried and tested now, and you're absolutely right!

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  5. Next time you should credit me by name, or I'll charge ;-) (RE: EFT and graphs)

    FWIW stapping a target painter into your fit, and/or some rigs to reduce the explosion radius or increase the speed, will lead you to a much higher applied DPS.

    If you have a target painter on the fit, EFT will even factor it into the equation :)

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