Damage System

The Ship Values

In Fleet Operations starships have three values which describe a ship’s capabilities in relation to other vessels. Some passive abilities may also affect some values. These values are visible in the unit tooltips.

It is always important to remember to check the tooltips, because there can be some passive abilities which may improve damage done to certain vessel types and / or the ship may have extra resistances against some particular types of weaponry or ship classes.

Multi-Targeting

One small extra note that must be made is that although vessels which are capable of multi-targeting - i.e. attacking several vessels at once with conventional beam or torpedo weapons - generally have higher offensive capabilities, the damage that these weapons do will be split into a maximum of two parts (which is why Offensive Value does not scale accordingly). One of these parts - and the single-target weapons like torpedoes - will follow your orders while the rest will chose their targets independent of your clicks. Likewise, if a conventional beam weapon can multi-target, but is faced with only one threat, usually only one of the two "beam parts" will hit that target.

The Damage System

Each weapon type does damage differently depending on the damage type, ship size, nature of the weapon, and specific abilities of the targeted ship.

• Beam weapons do equal damage to all ship classes and always hit.
• Torpedoes do equal damage to all ship classes, yet they miss 40% of the time against small targets and 20% against medium targets.
• Pulse weapons do only 80% of their damage against medium targets and 60% of their total damage against large targets and stations.

Note that these are only general rules that cover the great majority of vessels in Fleet Operations, as some pulse and torpedo weapons have special hit chances and several ships have reduced hit chances from pulses, torpedoes, and beams as well.

The torpedo hit chance against smaller vessels is reduced because Electronic Counter Measures (ECM) work much more effectively when on smaller objects than on larger vessels. ECM systems generate sensor echos so that a torpedo guidance system detects multiple copies of the potential target (a photon torpedo would "think" it hits, when in fact it flies by). Therefore the hit chance reduction is based on the size and not on the speed (torpedoes can track quickly moving targets, such as other torpedoes for instance) or on the class (a Defiant has a reduced hit chance too, even though it is a battleship). Of course, the torpedo miss rates are also included because of gameplay reasons. If all weapons were the same, it would be rather lame, and since we don't have real terrain in space, at least leave us the weaponry!

Firing Arcs

Many vessels in Fleet Operations have limited firing arcs. This means that although these vessels will be able to attack when facing their opponent, when making an escape, their weapons cannot fire. All pulse based weapons mounted on ships in Fleet Operations are limited to firing solely in a 180 degree, forward-firing arc. As a result, pulse based weapons can be triggered from a strafing position (the ship can fire from the bow, port or starboard, but not from the rear). Other weapon types can also be made to have limited firing arcs - so pay close attention to the unit descriptions in the  various Unit Analyses in the Strategy section, as firing arc limitations for non-pulse weapons are always noted there!

Area of Effect Weaponry

In Fleet Operations you will also encounter area of effect weapons that can do damage, disable subsystems, or affect firing rates and hit chance.

The only area of effect weapons that do damage to friendly units are the Hyperspace Artillery, the BortaS’s Artificial Ion Storm, the Perimeter's AT Charges, and the Serkas' Quadcobalt Torpedo (both normal and special weapon). All other area of effect damage weapons do a fixed amount of damage to each unit that is hit and may only hit up to a certain number of units. All other units in the area are simply not damaged. Some area of effect weapons do damage over time, which can be dangerous if you happen to wander into the affected area even after the graphical effects have vanished (like in the case of the Hyperspace Artillery or Plasma Coil). Area of effect weapons that are "effect-based" (as opposed to "damage-based") are split between those that have "unlimited" effects, and those that have a chance to effect vessels within the targeted area. For all cases, tooltips will generally explain in which way the weapon works.

Special weapons which either improve or diminish the strength of units within a region do not stack unless they perform different functions. For instance, a weapon that decreases firing rate by 10% will not be summed with a weapon that decreases firing rate by 20% to generate a total of 30% decreased rate. The weapon with the most effect will be used. However, if you fire off a special weapon which decreases firing rate and another which decreases the firepower, the affected unit will exhibit both traits.

Ship Categorization

Throughout the guide, ships will generally be categorized using the “small, medium, large, station” nomenclature, because these are the general rules for Fleet Operation weapons. However, you will also notice that vessels are described as “cruisers,” “battleships” and other similar terms. These two classification systems stack in Fleet Operations to allow vessels to have a great deal of flexibility. Consequently, you will notice that certain weapons do increased or lessened damage versus battleships for instance, which is independent of the specific vessel’s size classification. In other words, if a torpedo weapon that does 2/3 damage against battleships is deployed against a medium sized battleship, this weapon will miss the targeted vessel 20% of the time and deal 2/3 the damage to that warship.

Nonetheless, as was stated earlier, Small roughly equates to scouts, freighters and destroyers, while Medium is usually equivalent to cruisers, and support ships, Large to battleships, and Station to, well, stations. Note that the Station designation is considered a separate category from Large for damage calculations (weapons that deal increased damage against "large" vessels, do not deal increased damage against stations, unless otherwise written in the tooltip for instance).

Passive Abilities

To guarantee the unique position of vessels in Fleet Operations (as well as their comparable role in the Star Trek series and movies) many of these warships and exploration vessels have been given special ability called ‘passives’ (of course, many defensive structures have also been granted these traits as well to underline their importance and use). These passives grant particular units an aptitude for certain tasks - whether it be reducing damage from short range attacks, dealing increased damage to long range attackers, or dissipating the effects of special weapons more rapidly. Bear in mind that many passives also have downsides and thus you should pay close attention to what the passives do before accidentally fielding a warship against its counter unit. Although there are no hard counters in Fleet Operations (that is to say, you do not automatically lose just because your opponent picked a unit good against your own), you will get the greatest effectiveness if you understand what your vessels are capable of.

The precise percentages of all passives can be found in the descriptions of the appropriate vessels in the Database section, however, here are a few of the most common, strongest, (and shared) passives:

Extra Energy Stores

Affected Vessels: C-17 Siege Cruiser, SuS’a’, Rhienn Torpedo Refit

Effects: Deals 31% increased damage to stations and has reduced shield regeneration rate.

Single Stage Energy Conduits

Affected Vessels: Breen Cruiser, Breen Battleship, K’Vort, Leahval, Torpedo Platform

Effects: Deals 31% increased damage to medium range vessels and has more easily damaged and disabled subsystems.

Autonomous Defense AI

Affected Vessels: A-20 Attack Destroyer, Intrepid, Excelsior, LuSpet, Eresis, Defense Battery

Effects: Takes 31% less damage from medium range vessels (and medium ranged specials) and to support vessels it deals 61% less damage and receives 24% more (including from specials carried by support vessels).

Tactical Weapon Arrays

Affected Vessels: S-2 Escort Cruiser, Defiant, Galaxy, B’rel, Negh’var, Norexan

Effects: Deals 50% increased damage to long range vessels and takes 24% increased damage from short range vessels (and short ranged specials).

Fast Tracking Computers

Affected Vessels: A-26 Bomber, Canaveral, Chargh, Shrike, Generix Specter Refit, Heavy Weapons Platform

Effects: Deals 50% increased damage to short range vessels and takes 24% increased damage from long range vessels (and long ranged specials).

EPS Control Nodes

Affected Vessels: Nova, Nova - Rhode Island Refit, Centaur, Phaser Sentry

Effects: Deals 20% increased damage to shields and takes 20% increased damage from pulse weaponry (and pulse specials).

Ablative Armor Plates

Affected Vessels: T-15 Heavy Cruiser, Defiant, Sovereign, Vor’cha, Heavy Weapons Platform, Pulse Platform, Torpedo Platform

Effects: Takes 50% less damage from short range vessels (and short ranged specials) and does 10% less damage to long range vessels.

High Density Shield Generators

Effects: Takes 50% less damage from long range vessels (and long ranged specials) and does 10% less damage to short range vessels.