mbrasher1
01-04-2004, 20:45
This was taken from someone named Puzz3D on the .com site. I found it extremely helpful in understanding the importance of various factors in MTW combat.
The combat cycle is about 1 second. Within a combat cycle, men who are engaged in fighting will strike at one another. Each man gets one strike within a cycle even if mortally wounded in that cycle, but may have to parry more than once against multiple enemy men.
chance to kill = 1.9% * 1.2 ^ df
difference factor df = attack - defend + bonus
attack is the attack value of the striker
defend is the defend value of the parrier
bonus is any combat modifier that applies
(charge is added in as a combat modifier)
Each combat point changes the chance to kill by 20%, but it's compounded, so that adding +2 attack points gives a 44% advantage, and +4 points would give a 100% advantage. Due to the statistical nature of the combat, a 2 point (44%) advantage is pretty much what you need to guarranty beating an enemy unit with all other factors being equal. A one point advantage (20%) will win about 8 out of 10 times. Since +1 valor gives +1 to both attack and defend it is a 2 combat point advantage (although, I think it's a straight 20% + 20% = 40% in this case), and you get the +2 morale on top of that in multiplayer and custom battle.
Combat modifiers for MTW/VI:
Charge (from the Strategy Guide):
Clicking on an enemy unit causes your unit to go to charge speed once it gets close to the enemy unit. It takes 2 or 3 seconds to reach maximum charge speed (presumably from walking speed). A charging soldier makes immediate strikes against all opponents he contacts. Each time he fights a little momentum is lost. When sufficient momentum is lost, the charge ends and the soldier looses the charge bonus. (Note: we know now that running speed is above the momentum threshold for charge bonus. So, men moving at full running speed get the charge bonus if they contact enemy men. In MTW v1.1, the men in a unit tended to keep moving at full speed if the unit leader did not engage an enemy man and kept running towards a point beyond the enemy unit which kept the charge bonus active. In VI v2.01, this was changed so that the unit leader, and thus all the men in his unit, slow down if any of the men in his unit engage enemy men which causes the charge bonus to go away quickly.)
Pushback:
In an attack, the striker has a chance of pushing back his opponent which gives him a strong combat bonus on the next strike. Factors affecting the chance of pushback are: kill chance, advantage in supporting ranks, mounted vs foot. Charging cavalry always pushes back any foot soldier who is not facing him with a spear, pike or polearm. (Note: v1.1 patch altered spear, pike and polearm pushback so that charging cavalry has a chance to pushback these men even when they are facing the charging cavalryman.)
Combat modifiers:
Formations
+3 atk, -3 def for wedge formation
-2 atk, +2 def for hold formation
Spear/pikes
+1 def per rank (up to 2 for spear, 4 for pike)
+1 atk per 2 ranks when not charging
+1 atk per rank when charging
No rank bonuses in trees
Terrain
+1 atk for camels in sandy desert
-1 atk for camels in lush or temperate
-2 atk, -2 def for cavalry or camel in trees
Bonus to atk for being uphill (amount depends on height difference)
Penalty to atk for being downhill (amount depends on height difference)
Fear of camels
+4 def for camels against horses
+2 atk for camels against horses
Positional
+5 atk for flank attack
+7 atk for rear attack
+2 atk for charging into flank/rear
+6 atk on the following combat cycle after 'pushing back' the enemy
+5 atk when target squeezed too tight (example: bridge or castle gate)
Fatigue
-2 atk when quite tired
-3 atk, -1 def very tired
-4 atk, -2 def exhausted
-6 atk, -3 def totally exhausted
Routing
+4 atk against routing enemies
-8 def if routing
Armor Piercing
atk bonus = (target armor - 1)/2
(remove the contribution of the shield and horse to target's armor before making this calculation)
Shield
If striker hits target from the rear:
+2 atk if target is footman with large shield
+1 atk if target is mounted or footman with small shield
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The combat cycle is about 1 second. Within a combat cycle, men who are engaged in fighting will strike at one another. Each man gets one strike within a cycle even if mortally wounded in that cycle, but may have to parry more than once against multiple enemy men.
chance to kill = 1.9% * 1.2 ^ df
difference factor df = attack - defend + bonus
attack is the attack value of the striker
defend is the defend value of the parrier
bonus is any combat modifier that applies
(charge is added in as a combat modifier)
Each combat point changes the chance to kill by 20%, but it's compounded, so that adding +2 attack points gives a 44% advantage, and +4 points would give a 100% advantage. Due to the statistical nature of the combat, a 2 point (44%) advantage is pretty much what you need to guarranty beating an enemy unit with all other factors being equal. A one point advantage (20%) will win about 8 out of 10 times. Since +1 valor gives +1 to both attack and defend it is a 2 combat point advantage (although, I think it's a straight 20% + 20% = 40% in this case), and you get the +2 morale on top of that in multiplayer and custom battle.
Combat modifiers for MTW/VI:
Charge (from the Strategy Guide):
Clicking on an enemy unit causes your unit to go to charge speed once it gets close to the enemy unit. It takes 2 or 3 seconds to reach maximum charge speed (presumably from walking speed). A charging soldier makes immediate strikes against all opponents he contacts. Each time he fights a little momentum is lost. When sufficient momentum is lost, the charge ends and the soldier looses the charge bonus. (Note: we know now that running speed is above the momentum threshold for charge bonus. So, men moving at full running speed get the charge bonus if they contact enemy men. In MTW v1.1, the men in a unit tended to keep moving at full speed if the unit leader did not engage an enemy man and kept running towards a point beyond the enemy unit which kept the charge bonus active. In VI v2.01, this was changed so that the unit leader, and thus all the men in his unit, slow down if any of the men in his unit engage enemy men which causes the charge bonus to go away quickly.)
Pushback:
In an attack, the striker has a chance of pushing back his opponent which gives him a strong combat bonus on the next strike. Factors affecting the chance of pushback are: kill chance, advantage in supporting ranks, mounted vs foot. Charging cavalry always pushes back any foot soldier who is not facing him with a spear, pike or polearm. (Note: v1.1 patch altered spear, pike and polearm pushback so that charging cavalry has a chance to pushback these men even when they are facing the charging cavalryman.)
Combat modifiers:
Formations
+3 atk, -3 def for wedge formation
-2 atk, +2 def for hold formation
Spear/pikes
+1 def per rank (up to 2 for spear, 4 for pike)
+1 atk per 2 ranks when not charging
+1 atk per rank when charging
No rank bonuses in trees
Terrain
+1 atk for camels in sandy desert
-1 atk for camels in lush or temperate
-2 atk, -2 def for cavalry or camel in trees
Bonus to atk for being uphill (amount depends on height difference)
Penalty to atk for being downhill (amount depends on height difference)
Fear of camels
+4 def for camels against horses
+2 atk for camels against horses
Positional
+5 atk for flank attack
+7 atk for rear attack
+2 atk for charging into flank/rear
+6 atk on the following combat cycle after 'pushing back' the enemy
+5 atk when target squeezed too tight (example: bridge or castle gate)
Fatigue
-2 atk when quite tired
-3 atk, -1 def very tired
-4 atk, -2 def exhausted
-6 atk, -3 def totally exhausted
Routing
+4 atk against routing enemies
-8 def if routing
Armor Piercing
atk bonus = (target armor - 1)/2
(remove the contribution of the shield and horse to target's armor before making this calculation)
Shield
If striker hits target from the rear:
+2 atk if target is footman with large shield
+1 atk if target is mounted or footman with small shield
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