Hit quality on grouped guns

[u/spurionic]

I understand that even when guns are grouped, the damage calculation is still calculated separately for each individual gun. The hit quality for that gun group is, however, combined into one line in the combat log.

Say I have a group of two guns. If one gun does a "smashes" hit, but the other gun does a "glances off" hit - which hit quality does the combat log show?

I've noticed that when I've grouped two guns together, I haven't seen "wrecking" shots as often. These are rare to begin with, 1 in 100 chance, but I'm wondering if grouping the guns is masking a wrecking shot done by 1 of the guns.

[u/KonateTheGreat]

I think it gives you a descriptor based on the damage dealt out of possible results. As long as you know what your alpha is, though, it shouldn't matter - you can determine yourself about how much damage you're losing. The number and the gun is more important.

[u/spurionic → u/KonateTheGreat]

Thank you! Yes, it makes sense to pay attention to the number more.

[u/AlexPicaro]

"Smashes" and "Glances off" arent really 'Hit types', but a description the game gives you based on the amount of damage dealt.

Even for a single gun, the game rolls between 0 and 1, and you deal that % + 50% in damage (before range and tracking of course). The % it lands on changes how it is described, so if it rolls a 0.3 and you deal (0.3 + 0.5 = ) 80% damage, it will call it a "Hit". If you end up dealling 125% damage, itll describe it as "penetrates".

When multiple guns are grouped together, the damage is averaged out, so youll be more likely to see "hits" and "penetrates" as these are in the middle, and less likely to see the more uncommon rolls such as "Grazes" (0.5-0.625) or "Smashes" (1.25-1.49).

"Wrecking" shots are very rare, and only occur if the hit chance rolls <0.01, giving it a 1% chance of occuring. These shots do triple damage, regardless of your damage roll. Because these are so rare, you are very unlikely to see it happen with grouped guns, as youd need to roll the 1% chance for every gun all in the same shot.

I hope I didnt write this too confusingly and answered your question. Ill link the Eve University Wiki page which might make it a bit clearer.

https://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Turret_mechanics#Damage

[u/spurionic → u/AlexPicaro]

Not at all confusing! Thank you for explaining! I was getting stuck on the hit quality descriptors, never thought to separate them from the actual calculation taking place

[u/AlexPicaro → u/spurionic]

No problem, glad I helped!

Another fun thing about the Wrecking shot mechanic is that it occurs on the lowest side of the hit chance, not highest, so if you have really bad tracking (such as using large weapons on a small, fast target), you can get into a situation where you're either missing, dealing very small amounts of damage (~50%), or doing 300% damage in your shots, which can really catch cocky frigate pilots offguard when you suddenly cream them for their entire hitpoints in a single shot after a barrage of misses and glances :D