DPS
Contents
DPS (Damage Per Second)
DPS is an acronym for "Damage Per Second", and is the convention typically used by players for comparing the damage output between ships and fittings. Actual DPS varies from the 'calculated' or 'conventional' DPS, as discussed below.
1. Actual DPS
It is the sum of the theoretical damage done by firing all weapons consecutively averaged over one second. The theoretical DPS would be expressed as the sum of the products of the rate of fire plus flight time and theoretical damage output per cycle, all multiplied by one second:
Equation 1
DPS(for z modules) = Sum(1 to z){[rate_of_fire(1)+payload_flight_time(1)]*damage_per_cycle(1),..., [rate_of_fire(z)+flight_time(z)]*damage_per_cycle(z)}*1sec
2. Theoretical Damage
As a setup-specific value, DPS is dependent on bonuses from ship type, other fitted modules, and fitted rigs. Character skills and implants in-turn affect DPS directly and indirectly via ship, module, and rig bonuses.
3. Conventional DPS
Due to the varying amount of time required for different weapon modules to cycle and for payload delivery, the actual moment at which the damage is done does not occur over each second, but rather at the time of weapon contact with the target. In the case of laser weapons, this is effectively instantaneous. In the case of propelled weapons such as missiles, flight time affects actual DPS. However, due to the environment-specific nature of the 'flight_time' variable in Equation 1, it is dropped from the equation, leaving the expression typically referred to by the term 'DPS':
Equation 2
DPS(for z modules) = Sum(1 to z){rate_of_fire(1)*damage_per_cycle(1),..., rate_of_fire(z)*damage_per_cycle(z)}*1sec
Therefore, the practical accuracy of the DPS value for a given ship and fitting approaches actual output as the period of time being considered increases and flight time becomes a smaller fraction of total payload delivery time.
For the specific case of identical weapon modules and an instantaneous payload delivery, the DPS calculation can be simplified to:
Equation 3
DPS(for z modules) = (rate_of_fire*damage_per_cycle)*z*1sec