Not sure if ppl noticed, but I notice there is a damage limit/softcap, sort of like decks/2 on player ships. For example, Lazuli Refinery Center with 15000 hull; the max seems to be somewhere near 500/shot (when debuffed to 600 def, not much difference, certainly not 2x damage). This is a non-linear function even if there is no hard max; if attack is near defense, adding attack will result in about linear gains, but when attack = 2x defense of NPC, it starts to drop off in efficiency adding more attack. So something like:

Attack / Defense (or Attack - Def) = factor
Actual damage = adjusted arctangent of factor (in the range 0-1, or 0-x) * max hull factor

So when they are close to each other, you get the "middle" or half of this max, as you go to a high or low att/def ratio, it changes more slowly towards 0 damage or max hull adjusted damage, meaning diminishing returns when attack is say 2-3x higher than the highest npc defense (but since matched enemies adjust with rank, it'll get harder if you leave attack at some value, and matched enemies are commonplace at higher ranks; the flamehawk tho you can prolly hit harder until something like 10k attack before it levels off).

I just changed to Drannik so I notice this now.

Oh there's definately some level-based damage caps in place. I was running the Zolazin mission a while back, and was doing only 25 dmg to those tiny lvl 10 ships it spawned in my battle tab.

2.5x npc rank

Rank: 200 Lazuli Refinery Center = 500 damage cap. So far makes sense. Trying to think how that's going to affect farming matched NPC, not the cap really just the general behavior.

The upper limit, whatever that is, basically punishes players that work for their gear and whatnot. I am talking about NPC hunting strictly. Right now I kill, for example, Crimson Hawks in the same number of hits (4) as I did 50 ranks ago with way worse weapons and being Inergon instead of Drannik. So basically working on NPC hunting gear,abilities, racial and buffs is totally counterintuitive since no matter how good you get at it the end result will remain the same. Actually, things get way worse since at rank 350 Flamehawks start spawning.

Also, on a tangent subject, I cannot understand what the hell do I need to do more to get some decent spawns. I am killing 100-200 NPC's per day and almost all spawns are bad. More precisely, as a rank 325, almost all rare/bosses are low rank spawns (i.e. Refineries, Xavox and so on). While other people get lots of great spawns. I got 1.5k buffed scan, in case anyone thinks of bringing that issue up.

In conclusion, if you think of doing the drannik chain to change your race to that, don't. It's a waste of energy, at least as far as I am concerned.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logistic_function -- this function is at least the shape of the pattern I observe. You get something like 1/2 of their max damage if attack = defense, I think. The exact scaling isn't known and there is some randomization and bonus for crits or beating their damage. btw, how can you kill a flamehawk in less than 7 hits ? According to the 2.5x rank rule, 400x2.5=1000 damage is the max damage on flamehawk, and therefore it takes 7 hits to kill 6200 hp. Anyway, yeah 40% drannik boost does not yield 40% more damage, if your attack is around enemy defense, and matched enemies usually keep the same minimum hits since they increase linear with rank, but so does their hp. As you get stronger the f.hawk should approach 7 hits, the dark runner and charger 2-3 hits, at minimum. I found it to be 20-30% damage depending on the situation, but I switched the Taltherian since like you I don't get any of the npc I am looking for (even just the RSL implant drops I commonly want).