EVE General Discussion

How the heck did projectiles become explosive and missiles become kinetic damage types? Do physics work differently in Iceland? Surely a bullet striking something is purely kinetic energy and a missile exploding is, uh, explosive. So why, then, did the game ever turn these two common sense, real world damage types around??

I once heared of a exploding bullet, I kid you not.

First of all don't think of projectiles as small caliber bullets. eve projectiles are more like artillery projectiles. and are able to carry specific loads that allow it to deal different types of damage. the smallest projectile in game is 125mm that is roughly 5 inches in diameter more then capable of carrying different loads.

the same goes for missiles you can have a missile that is like a arrow that has a hardened head that slams into the target causing straight kinetic damage. you can have the missile with a emp generator that explodes right before impact causing emp damage. the thermal could be like modern shaped charge missile that use a explosion to send a jet of molten metal thru the armor causing thermal damage. and then your standard high yield explody missiles


edit PS. explosive is technically not a real damage type it is a damage cause. a explosion would be kinetic and thermal damage. kinetic from the blast wave and thermal from the heat.

Not really sure what you're on about, here. Both have warheads, both do a variety of damage.

They put explosives in the bullets and bullets in the missiles. Kind of like the chocolate and peanut butter thing. Two great tastes that go great together....

Incindiary Rounds, Tracer Rounds, AP rounds ... in 50,000 years who's to say they can't have more choice

Missiles can have have different payloads, Nuclear warheads, Kinetic warheads similar to a tank sabot shell

EM missiles are being tested in the present

As a former tanker in the US military, we used a round called a sabot which is a depleted uranium projectile. Even though the sabot had no explosives it would create a explosion upon impact, just from the kinetic force alone.

I'm actually quite surprised at the amount of responses! Thanks so much for your inputs. Actually, seeing the actual data on damage types--including current real-world weapons--makes the in-game damage profiles make somewhat more sense now, even if common sense would say otherwise. ;)

If you look at it closely, even missiles that explode, do so to do kinetic damage. For instance, the AIM-120, explodes near an aircraft, but that explosion is simply a way to get the steel coil inside to expand and do kinetic damage to the aircraft engines.

I'm not too keen on anti armor rounds, but from what I understand is that most explosive rounds there are intended to cause kinetic damage instead of thermal.

Plays Internet Submarine Spaceships, asks for clarification on physics.