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!
