Can the effects of assault missiles and "Ruthlessness" stack together?

i.e. if I score a hit with an assault missile and cause a HIT on another ship at Range 1, can "Ruthlessness" lead to a second hit to be caused on the same ship?

Can the effects of assault missiles and "Ruthlessness" stack together?

i.e. if I score a hit with an assault missile and cause a HIT on another ship at Range 1, can "Ruthlessness" lead to a second hit to be caused on the same ship?

Well the splash damage from Assault Missiles doesn't count as a "hit", so wouldn't trigger any additional Ruthlessness damage, but the first hit from the Assault Missiles would.

So you'd wind up with one ship taking however much damage the Assault Missiles did, one ship at Range 1 of that ship taking two damage (1 from Assault Missiles, one from Ruthlessness), and any other ships at Range 1 of the original target taking 1 damage from Assault Missiles.

Thanks - that's more or less what I thought might happen

Yep, make you you keep the timing in mind as well, Assault Missiles cause the damage to the other ships at Range 1 of the defender when the attack hits ("If this attack hits" is determined before damage is actually dealt to the defender), and Ruthlessness causes damage to a ship at Range 1 of the defender after the attack.