Signature Resolution
From Eve
In order to balance combat between all ship sizes, two main factors play very important role when battling in EVE - Signature Radius and ship velocity.
All ships, stations and structures in EVE have a certain signature radius, this is basically the size of a targetable object in space. It should be noted that the radius does not reflect the actual size in space, but is in a scale of itself. This size is measured in meters and ranges everywhere from small drones of 25 meters to huge titans and stations of 1500 meters or more. Turrets of different sizes also have a corresponding measurement of size called signature resolutions. Typically, small guns made for frigate-size vessels have a resolution similar to that of frigates, while large guns found on battleships have a signature resolution around 400 meters, which is also similar to the signature radius of battleships. Missiles also need to be balanced in this manner, their corresponding attribute is called explosion radius. This value works similar to signature resolution and is applied onto signature radius in the same manner and scale.
One can very easily understand how this balancing mechanism works by imagining the signature radius as a circular dart target. The signature resolution of a turret would be another circle placed on top of this target. This second circle is an area within which all shots hit. It can be logically assumed that the bigger the signature resolution circle is than the signature radius circle, the higher percentage of shots fired by the gun misses, and that's how the system works. Explosion radius works in the same way, but since missiles can't miss, the damage of the missile is mitigated in a scale depending on how much bigger the explosion radius is, rather than affecting hit percentage.
This system prevents, for example, a huge capital torpedo from obliterating a small frigate with only one salvo. Smaller ships are, as one would expect, not at all penalized for attacking bigger targets, but their individual damage usually isn't enough for breaking through the defenses of bigger ships.
The second factor, speed, is another system with the same balancing purpose. Turrets need to track moving targets in order to hit them, see below. The corresponding attribute of missiles is called explosion velocity, and is pretty much self-explanatory. A ship travelling in a speed higher than the explosion velocity of the missile which hits it, mitigates the damage by seemingly "fleeing" from the explosion. Just like explosion and signature radii, the bigger the difference between a larger missile and a smaller ship, the higher the mitigation.
