Does attack and defense really matter?

[Kevin]

Do they really matter that badly if the unit's lethality is what kills? Does defense lower the attacking units lethality?

[antisocialmunky]

Attack/Defense affects to-hit I believe. They affect completely different parts of the combat equation.

[mcantu]

attack and defense affect the chance that a hit is made. lethality determines the chance (in %) that a hit results in a kill

[Apázlinemjó]

attack and defense affect the chance that a hit is made. lethality determines the chance (in %) that a hit results in a kill

Then the enemy's defense decreases your unit's chance to hit? I'm curious about this too.

[Watchman]

Common sense (and AFAIK experiments by the kinds of weirdoes who actually are willing to spend weeks to figure out this kind of "under-the-hood" engine mechanics) suggests the comparision of attack value to defense score affects the likelihood of "scoring a hit", obviously, while lethality then governs the likelihood of the "hit" being a "telling" one, ie. taking off a hitpoint from the target...

[Ludens]

Check out this post for an explanation of R:TW's combat engine.