EVE New Citizens Q&A

just getting back into game. Trying to do mission in deadspace, targets are locked but all messages say missed target completely

Mouse over your weapons and see if the ships you are trying to hit are in range.

Depending on how long ago you last played, there could have been changes to the ships or modules that you are not aware of.

It could also be something amiss with your Eve client setup. Try clearing the cache and see if that helps.

Quick run-down of basic turret mechanics:

To examine turret properties: in space or in dock, right-click on the turret in question and click "info", preferably while your ammo of choice is already loaded for simplicity. The three stats you'll want to know offhand are OPTIMAL, FALLOFF, and TRACKING.

How far away to shoot your target from:
-- The range-based hit chance is 100% from 0m away to optimal away. Roughly speaking, you can call the range-based hit chance 50% at OPTIMAL+FALLOFF, and very small (like 5-10%) at OPTIMAL + 2*FALLOFF.

How fast a target can you hit:
-- Set your overview to display your target's ANGULAR VELOCITY
-- The tracking-based hit chance of something sitting perfectly still is 100%
-- The tracking-based hit chance of something moving at TRACKING radians/s around you is roughly 50%
-- The tracking-based hit chance of something moving at 2*TRACKING radians/s around you is about 10%

There is an additional factor related to signature radius, but you can't do anything about that once your ship is fitted.
Total to-hit chance is multiplicative, so if you have a 50% range hit chance and a 50% tracking hit chance, your total is 0.5*0.5 = 25% chance to hit.

Generally speaking, NPCs orbit you. This means that their angular velocity is roughly their TOTAL SPEED divided by their distance from you (RADIAL distance). This means that the closer you are, the higher their angular velocity will tend to be. This makes picking your range a TRADE-OFF between getting a decent chance to hit range-wise by getting closer versus getting a decent chance to hit angle-wise while moving away.

Strategies for reconciling this:
1. Use very long-range weapons (artillery, etc) and stay far away, so that the only thing you have to worry about is range-based miss chance.
2. Use short-range guns with very high tracking, fly close enough so that range is not an issue.
3. Fly in a pattern that forces the NPCs to not orbit you, but follow you at a range where you can hit them at low angular velocity. Usually works better with long-range guns and flying away, though flying directly toward them does this too. Note that you forfeit your own angular velocity to do this, for the most part.

What is the optimal range of your guns?
What is the falloff range of your guns?
What is the distance the rats are at?

What is the angular velocity of the rats?
What is the tracking rate of your guns?

What ship are you using?
What guns are you using?
What class of rats are they (frigates, cruisers, battleships)?

WE need more info other then just: I can't hit them. There are tonnes of parameters that make you hit or miss.

The 2 biggest things that make you miss are speed and range. If the target is out of range you'll miss, if its too close, you'll miss also. Check your guns info for their optimal and falloff, that will tell you the min and max range they work at. If you want to snipe safely from a distance use longer range weapons. These hit far but do less damage then short range guns and have a large falloff, meaning once the enemy is too close they will miss a lot. Short range guns do more damage and are better for things closer to you but you have to get in close to use them which is more dangerous since your ship will cross thru their optimal range while you move in.

Once you are in optimal range and you are still missing then that means your enemy is probbaly flying a smaller, faster ship and your ship's turrets can't keep up with it. Smaller ships move faster so you need fast guns. Every gun has a turret speed, the faster the speed the faster it moves. Short range guns usually have faster turret speeds then the longer range guns. So you want to plan accordingly.

Each set of weapons has 2 versions, a long range version and a short range version. Hybrid turrets have railguns for long range, blasters for short range. Laser turrests have beams for long range, pulse for short range. Etc. You can tell the difference just by looking at their attributes in the market and comparing optimal range and turret speed.

Bascially it all boils down to your play style. If you want to shoot from afar then go with long range, slow speed guns and outfit your ship with mods that work to keep you at a distance from your enemy.

If you want to get in close then you need short-range, fast tracking turrets and outfit your ship to keep yourself as near to the enemy as you can.


Your best bet is to focus on one of those 2 and optimizing your ship for it. Trying to do both isn't very efficient.