Or at least a second "damage at range" entry, for those shots that miss. (for splash damage)
Could be set to zero for weapons such as DUC's, or even higher than direct hits for "improbability cannons", whose damage is inversely related to your accuracy
Typical area weapons could be set to do 1/4 damage when they miss.
This small-scale type of splash damage would have the coding advantage of hitting only one ship (the targetted one), and would require only a small change (that misses do damage just like hits, with a different amount)