Upcoming Balance Changes
We are preparing to make some balance changes. Several are intended to make smaller ships more survivable versus weapons designed to fight larger targets. That is, large battleship weapons versus frigates, and so on.
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The accuracy formula has been adjusted to make the Signature Radius ship stat much more significant when determining the tracking penalty. Battleships will need to use secondary methods against smaller ships by, for example, fitting smaller turrets, carrying drones or having a cruiser or frigate escort.
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We are attempting to keep tracking behavior within a ship-class close to what it was before, though with a new system requiring new numbers it won't be identical. Some other adjustments to turrets or ship's Signature Radius may be necessary, as well.
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The damage done by a 'normal hit' is no longer 100% damage every time but now simply any hit that does between 75% and 100% damage. The full range remains as it always was, 50% to 150%.
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Wrecking hits (300% damage) have been altered so that they no longer occur simply one in every hundred shots, but rather one in every hundred shots that are already a hit. This change is already on Chaos and will be out with the next Tranquility update.
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Orbit functionality has been improved significantly and is more tactically viable. This is also already on Chaos and will be out with the next Tranquility update.
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We are now testing physics engine adjustments to missiles (which were previously mentioned) that will allow them to be tuned such that larger missiles will be less effective against faster, smaller targets at close range.
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We are considering adding more missile oriented bonuses to Caldari ships and adjusting the hybrid turret bonuses on the caldari gunships.
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We are working on new skills that will allow more specialization in missile combat.
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We plan to apply the new turret accuracy system to drones, such that Heavy drones will no longer be effective against frigates, etc.
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Drones are planned to get speed adjustments allowing them to reach longer range targets, though possibly the heavier drones will be more sluggish in a way similar to large missiles to make them less effective against more nimble targets.
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We are working on new skills that will allow more specialization in drone operation.
The Details of Accuracy
Signature Radius is used for two things. To determine the time it takes to lock the target (along with the targeter's scan resolution), and to determine how hard the ship is to hit while moving.
The difficulty in hitting a target is not based on absolute speed, but rather how quickly you or your target are orbiting. This can be measured in transverse velocity at range (the number in the scanner), in angular velocity (radians per second is the value in turrets), or roughly as Orbits/Rotations over time (RPM).
Ignoring signature radius, a turret with a 0.1 Radians per Second tracking speed will have a 50% chance of hitting a target moving at 0.1 Radians per second angular velocity.
A turret firing on a target with half the signature radius needs twice the tracking speed (0.2) to have the same 50% chance of hitting at the same angular velocity. If the target has twice the signature radius the turret will need half the tracking speed (0.05) to have the same 50% chance of hitting at the same angular velocity.
Also, the precise behavior of falloff has been tweaked slightly. There is no longer a sharp drop-off as you go beyond your optimal range, but instead a smoother one that reaches 50% accuracy at Optimal + Falloff range.
Red is the old falloff.
Blue is the new falloff.
Putting it all together using this fictional turret with 0.1 tracking, 5km optimal and 10km falloff we have:
And firing at a target with half the signature radius would be:
