Damage mechanics

Damage type bonus

Different ammo and weapons do different types of damage, and some of these have bonuses.

Type	Vs Shields	Vs Hull	Damage text color	Data/client/ini/fc_cpit.ini definition
Plasma	x1.2	x1.0	Violet	VictimDamagePlasma / FA_VIOLET
Chemical	x1.0	x1.2	Green	VictimDamageChemical / FA_GREEN (this is shared between Chemical and Repair)
EMP	x1.0	x0	Light Blue	VictimDamageEMP / FA_LIGHT_BLUE
Energy	x1.0	x1.0	Yellow	VictimDamageNormal / FA_YELLOW (this is shared between Energy, Explosive, and Impact)
Explosive	x1.0	x1.0	Yellow	VictimDamageNormal / FA_YELLOW (this is shared between Energy, Explosive, and Impact)
Impact	x1.0	x1.0	Yellow	VictimDamageNormal / FA_YELLOW (this is shared between Energy, Explosive, and Impact)
Critical	x2.0	x2.0	Red	VictimDamageCritical / FA_RED
Repair	x1.0	x1.0	Green	ShieldDamage4 / FA_GREEN (this is shared between Chemical and Repair)

Understanding damage numbers

The numbers you see above enemies as you shoot them indicate the total damage done plus the adjustment due to deflects
When calculating pre-deflect damage you may end up off by one, this is due to how decimal results are formatted for display.

Damage numbers display in various forms
Damage	Summary	Detailed Description
Damage with no resists or weakness.	3702 is total damage dealt to mob	Seeing only the damage dealt number with no (###) means the mob has 0 resist to the damage type (Impact).
Bonus damage due to weakness to Plasma	936 is total damage dealt to mob (+392) of that was from the mob's weakness	This means you did a total of 936 damage, with 392 of that damage due to (Plasma) weakness.
Reduced damage due to Plasma resistance.	376 is total damage dealt to mob (-487) of that was resisted by the mob.	This means you did a total of 376 damage, with 487 damage resisted due to (Plasma) resistance.
0 (-123)	0 is total damage dealt to mob (-123) of your damage attempt was resisted	If you see a zero in damage done, the target is immune to the damage of that type. Or you are using EMP and they have no shields left
Immune and healing instead of doing damage.	272 is total healing applied to mob (+271) is how much healing/repair you did	Some mobs are healed/repaired by certain damage types. It can be confusing when using Chemical damage on a target since the color is the same. If a target is being healed/repaired, you'll usually see the total and +(###) numbers being close to equal.

Damage Formula

Damage (the numbers you see) is calculated like so:

(base damage) * (damage modifier) * (resist modifier) * (type-specific bonus.)

* Critical hits are a 2x multiplier on damage.

Base damage

This is the number listed on the weapon or ammo. e.g. vendor Zet Rocket is 1030 per round. 200% ghost's edge is 1089.

Damage Modifier

The base damage modifier is 1.0. The following things effect the damage modifier:

Each level of weapon skill after level 1 adds 0.25. (+2 at level 9)
“Enhance” buffs, e.g. Intolerance, AWCS, Sting device, Seal of the Dragon
combat cloak adds +2 to damage modifier for beams only.

Examples:

character with Lv9 weapons, Intolerance device has a 3.40 damage modifier (1.0 + 2.0 + 0.4)
same character with combat cloak has a 5.40 damage modifier (1.0 + 2.0 + 0.4 + 2.0)

Turbo

Turbo impacts your overall DPS by reducing the delay shots. It is applied as a simple modifier: 40% turbo increases your DPS by 40%. It does not change the damage numbers you see in game.

Stacking turbo is additive, so if you have 40% + 20% + 12% + 5% you will do 77% more damage per second. If you have 40% and 40% they will not stack

A 200% lv9 Zet firing 100% ammo with 100% critical hits does 803 DPS.

If you add 40% turbo, it does 1124 DPS.
If you add 40% enhance, it does 910 DPS.
If you add both, it does 1273 DPS.

Resists Deflect modifier

The deflect modifier is calculated as:

(deflect stat / -100) + 1.0

Every NPC has an innate deflect stat for each damage type, there are also many items and skills which reduce target deflects by certain amounts. For devices, the exact amount is listed in the hover text. Lv5 and Lv7 Gravity Link reduce Explosive and Impact deflects by 30.

The deflect modifier can be negative, in which case the target is healed instead of taking damage. In testing with a mob that has no innate deflect, the deflect stat appears to cap at -72. It is not currently known if this cap is the same for all NPCs, or if it is relative to their innate resist.

The modifier for damage dealt generally falls into one of three ranges:

<0: the target may heal instead of taking damage.
0 to 1: the target will resist a portion of the damage dealt.
>1: the target will receive extra damage due to weakness.

It is not clear if mobs will always heal for negative deflect modifiers or if this is a flag which is enabled for certain mobs only.

At or above 100 deflect, a NPC will take no damage from a certain damage type and may heal. If you debuff them below 100 deflect, they will take damage, however it is likely that there is a better damage choice for you to use.