0% and 100% aren't 'on' that scale, they are the ends of the scale. They basically denote if something is on or off. 0% means nothing in one direction (no evasion) and 100% means nothing in the other direction (no hits). Going from 99% to 100% or going from 1% down to 0% isn't the same as anywhere off the scale, because you're basically stepping off the end of the scale.
That's simply wrong. Of course 0% and 100% are valid values and hence "on the scale".
Even if not, the example you were given in the beginning was 1%-2% and 98%-99%. You just didn't accept it.
But what you don't realize is that it doesn't matter. What your effective percentage of defense is in comparison to the previous rating doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is what your evasion % is. 99% evasion is only 1% better than 98%.
Of course it's only 1 point better, and no one said differently. It STILL gets you from 20 to 10 hits on average. That's halving the damage taken.
0->1: 10/1000 dodged -> 1/100 fewer hits
0->2: 10/990 dodged -> 1/99 fewer hits
...
96->97: 10/40 dodged -> 1/4 fewer hits
97->98: 10/30 dodged -> 1/3 fewer hits
98->99: 10/20 dodged -> 1/2 fewer hits
99->100: 10/10 dodged -> 1/1 fewer hits
As you can see, 0% and 100% are very much
behaving like any other value. Every point in evade only increases your evade chance by exactly 1%. AND your hits taken decrease by a constant amount (10 hits on avg in the example).
BUT the relation "old hits/new hits" does not increase linearly.Getting wrapped up in 'how much better' any given 1% is on that scale from 1%-99% is a trap. It's what I've been trying to explain over on reddit (but get downvoted till my comments are invisible) and trying to explain to you here. I don't know how else to explain it. I've used examples that you even acknowledge are right, but keep falling back into a misconception about relative values of perceived worth of any given single point.
Maybe you should consider, that you are in fact mistaken.
I don't want to go over it again, you'll either understand what I'm saying or you wont. I just was hoping someone knowledgeable with the mathematics / coding of the game could give some clarification on how a shot hits a ship / how evasion works in game.
Considering that you have an "evade chance" of a given, absolute percentage value, there is really only one way it CAN work. And that's the simple way described above.
If it did work any other way, the value in game would simply be wrong.
Allow me to give you one last example. Lets say there's a candy factory. In this factory there's a machine that puts out 100 candy bars at a time. The candy bars are all the same in every way, shape, and form, and even come off the machine all at the same time. The only single distinction between the 100 candy bars is that they have a paper wrapper around them with a unique number on it ranging from 1 to 100. Now, if I tell you that you can take 99 of those candy bars, does the candy bar with the label 99 have inherit value on it over any other candy bar? No, candy bar number 99 is the same as candy bar 62, 33 or 1. The only thing that might matter is if I let you take zero candy bars, or all of them. Because then one of us would have none.
This example is not related to the problem at hand though. At all.
Try this instead:
Your candy bar machine. Same amount of bars, same numbers.
I pick one bar at random and you have to guess the number. If you guess correctly, you win the game!
Chance to guess correctly:1/100 = 1%
Now let's reduce the amount of bars produced by 1%. Chance to guess correctly?
Chance to guess correctly: 1/99 = 1.01%
Increase in your chance to guess correctly? About
0.01% points
Remove 1% production again:
Chance to guess correctly: 1/98 = 1.02%
Increase in your chance to guess correctly? About
0.01% points
...skip a few steps...
Chance to guess correctly: 1/50 = 2%
Remove 1% production again:
Chance to guess correctly: 1/49 = 2.04%
Increase in your chance to guess correctly? About
0.04% points
...skip a few steps...
Chance to guess correctly: 1/5 = 20%
Remove 1% production again:
Chance to guess correctly: 1/4 = 25%
Increase in your chance to guess correctly? About
5% points
Your chance to guess correctly does not increase linearly, even though every step only one more bar is removed. What you are trying to argue for is that reducing the production from 5 bars to 4 has the same effect on your chance to win the game as the reduction from 99 to 98. This is not true. One case will increase your chances to win by 0.01% points, the other by 5% points!