Include a graphic showing how the shots randomly hit within the signature resolution then compare it to the ships signature radius.
This refers to a method of describing how signature resolution works, and it's a method I've used in the past when explaining it to people. The fact is, unfortunately, that it is wrong. Since I may partly be to blame for giving people this impression, I thought that it was only right I set the record straight.
The graphic he's referring to is what I call the 'shotgun' explanation, and you can see it below:
 |
| The 'shotgun' explanation |
The idea is that signature resolution is like the spread of your shots - all shots will fall within that radius, with a higher signature resolution meaning a wider spread, and a smaller signature resolution meaning a narrower one. When the spread is larger than the target (i.e. signature resolution is larger than the target's signature radius), some shots will miss.
It's a simple explanation, and it's an easy one to understand. However, it's not actually correct.
The shotgun explanation would suggest than even when stationary or moving slowly, a large proportion of your shots would still miss a small target, simply because it is small. We know that isn't the case though - if a small target is moving slowly enough, we can still hit it almost 100% of the time.
The true explanation then is slightly more complex. Ready? Let's go.
Signature resolution is a modifier of your tracking speed, nothing more.
Your tracking speed is not constant - your guns can track faster when shooting at larger targets, and will track slower when shooting at smaller targets. When you think about it, this makes a lot of sense - if you imagine trying to keep a gun pointed towards a fast moving object, it's much easier to do that if the object is big than if it's small.
What your signature resolution represents is the kind of target for which the gun will track at the speed it says on the box. When you say a turret has a tracking speed of 0.5 rad/s and a signature resolution of 150m, you're actually saying 'this turret can track a 150m target at 0.5 rad/s'* (say it like a space captain and it actually sounds kinda cool). The same turret would also track a 300m target at 1rad/s and a 75m target at 0.25rad/s, but rather than give you a meaningless figure the turret attributes just give you the one for the ships it thinks you'll be fighting most (that is, cruiser guns tell you how well they would track another cruiser, while battleship guns tell you how well they would track another battleship).
Think of it like this: The tracking speed listed on your gun is how fast the turrets can track when they're operating as designed, and the signature resolution tells you what kind of targets they are designed for. If those turrets are firing at something smaller than they are designed for, they aren't able to keep track as easily. When their target is larger than design, it's so easy to keep track of it that they can do so even if it's moving faster than they can normally track.
*For simplicity, I'm taking 'can track' here as meaning you're able to deal meaningful damage to your target. When a target's angular velocity is equal to your tracking speed your damage output will still be significantly lower than it would be under ideal conditions, but you should be hitting around 50% of the time.
