Like the title says, wondering which one has better damage application. I’ve used mostly turrets/drones/the ubiquitous RLMLs. Including precisions, do HAMs or heavies have better damage application?
shorter range missiles always have better application but you can moify long range missiles for application
It’s pretty situational, pve or pvp? on what ship?
The difference between heavies and HAMs is basically the same as the difference between rockets and light missiles. One is for short range, high dps; the other is for long range and keeping you out of harm’s way, with the drawback of having lower dps. On the other hand, the longer range weapons, while having lower dps, tend to have higher alpha but with a slower fire rate.
I understand that bonuses matter. I also understand that heavies are more of an alpha weapon. I would generally be using a tengu. I have nearly perfect missile skills. I plan to fit one for pvp and generally I’d go for HAMs due to higher damage but of course…dealing with the frigate menace is of utmost concern for any PvP fit.
So basically I’m asking if precision or navy heavies apply better to things like interceptors and AB cruisers than HAMs do?
There isn’t an interceptor in the game that has the dps capabilities to take out a tengu solo, so the only way you’re going to get into a fight with one is if he catches you and has a bunch of friends, in which case, you’re screwed anyway. What you should be concerned about, in a Tengu, are ships capable of neuting, such as Cruor/Sentinel. Same rules apply for precision missiles be they HAMs or heavies, both kinds of missiles, even precisions, are relatively weak against frigates, but you might have enough dps to kill a Cruor or Sentinel. Possibly. Don’t quote me on that. That being said, most people in frigates, as a general rule, won’t engage a Tengu without a pack of friends, in which case you’re screwed anyway, so don’t fit for fighting frigates. There’s no point. Unless you’re in a drone boat, of course. Fit for punching in and/or above your own weight class.
Cap batteries provide decent resistance against neuts. Aside from that it’s quite possible to fight a small gang with an active shield booster tengu + crystals and blue pill. I just need to know which weapon system applies better damage to cancerbutions.
A small gang, sure.
Any frigate PVP’er worth their salt, however, isn’t going to bring a small gang.
I have already answered your question. The same rules apply: HAMs for DPS, heavies for range and alpha. The only difference is you’ll be using precision missiles which give you a smaller blast radius. They also have less dps overall, but you’ll get better dps against frigs with precisions due to the difference in blast radius. That’s all there is to it. HAMs for dps, heavies for range and alpha.
At the end of the day, if you’re so concerned with frigates, then fit RLMLs.
Just figured I’d drop in to add a bit of general advice. While on the frigate scale, rockets have really good application and precision light missilles get a HUGE bonus to appllication, so that they can be effective against interceptors. But precision heavy missiles (and precision cruise missiles as well) don’t get that much of a bonus. Think of precision heavy missiles as designed for hitting fast cruisers, rather than for hitting destroyers and frigates. And HAMS, although they seem to have better application on paper than heaviies, really need a web to apply fairly well even to cruisers.
I have a web. According to the stats javelin missiles should have equivalent application to precisions. And of course the higher overall DPS helps.
Hi
I fly a TON of HAM and heavy Missle boats for various purposses, including Tengus, Lokis, Sac, Drake, Cerb, Ravens, Scorps, Widow, and the kitchen sink. Its my fav weapon system in the game so I can answer your question.
Unfortunately, there is no ubiquous answer because it varies from ship to ship and fit to fit. For example, there is a huge difference between trying to land damage on a full speed moving Phantasm, a 100MN VNI and and Ishtar or Deimos or an Eagle. It all varies. However, there are some general rules that apply most of the time.
Shield fits usually have a bigger sig radius (note the word usually, but not always) because extenders and rigs cause sig penalty, while armor fits usually have a really small sig radius but move slower or have to use MWD.
So as you see, even cruisers can have anywhere between 130ish to 200ish sig. You do need to have at least 1 Rigor rig to comfortably hit sigs of 130-150 range. This is just sig, not movement. Then you take movement into account. For movement, you should check your missle velocity once in game, just right click and hit “show info”. If the missle velocity is below 4200, add some velocity, you do not need too much, but don’t fall below the 4200 mark, 4500 is better.
Then you scale down into frigates and destroyers will stay in middle, so lets just do frigates. For frigates, unless its something liek a succubus, or a frigate flying at full speed using a 10MN (not 1MN) afterburner, you need eitehr 2 rigor rigs or 1 rigor + 1 computer running precision script + some extra velocity as many of those type of frigate fits move at 4k+ and you need to stay around 500ish ahead of their movement on missle speed.
HAM launchers have a 10 sec reload time so you can switch ammo types. You do have an option of switching ammo and fitting 1 less Rigor or Computer, then switch to the high DPS ammo for targets that you do not have trouble hitting.
Regular T2 Heavy Missle launchers lack the flexibility of the HAM launchers and you get kinda “stuck” sometimes. My default fits are 1 Rigor Rig + 1 Computer with Precision script + carrying 3 different ammo types with me and having the option to load up whatever I need for any given situation. I also carry a Range Script. But I use it rarely because the computers have a very long cycle time and you can’t reload a different script until it finishes the cycle. With this configuration I can hit everything from those super fast moving frigates to the slow moving cruisers, providing I load the correct ammo and script before engagement. Switchign ammo mid combat is not too bad (10 secs), but switching the script is a no go, have to do it before.
Battlecruisers and Battleships you might as well not worry about at all, its like hitting a barn with a pistol while standing in front of it.
So overall I vastly prefer HAMs over heavies. Yes the range is shorter but the ease of flexibility in hitting any target I want to hit far outweighs that.
Except for torps
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