Creative Assembly Investigation of Battle Odds

PC Mode

dismal 23:14 10-31-2005

Atilius, just to avoid confusion, let me make it clear that I'm talking about at least 2, maybe 3 different things.

1) The "battle strength" indicator, which appears as a number in "Vegas odds" form (e.g., 1:1, 2:3) when you hold your cursor over the red-blue slider on the scroll before the battle map is entered

2) The "initial probability assessment", which is a phrase like "defeat is a distinct possibility" or "the balance of forces is evenly matched" when you gold your cursor over the red-blue slider during the troop deployment stage.

3) The "BattleOdds" variable, which can be observed in various scripts as a trigger for gaininfg retinues

Originally Posted by :
Trigger trigger_office_son_of_chinglu1
WhenToTest PostBattle
Condition WasAttacker
and IsGeneral
and WonBattle
and BattleSuccess >= clear
and I_ConflictType Normal
and BattleOdds < 1.5
and CultureType hun
and PercentageEnemyKilled >= 51
and not IsFactionLeader
and not IsFactionHeir
and not FactionwideAncillaryExists office_son_of_chinglu1
and Attribute Command >= 4

AcquireAncillary office_son_of_chinglu1 chance 100

After observing various diverging examples of #1 and #2 for the same battle (that is, 1:1 can be anything from "defeat is a distinct possibility" to "vistory is a distinct possibility), I'm convinced that they are separate but related calculations - with #2 likely taking into account more factors related to the specific battle besides raw troop strength.

Exactly what #3 is remains a bit of a mystery. But it seems to be more related to #2 than #1. It wouldn't surprise me if the game calculates "BattleOdds" then translates it to a saying something like "defeat is a distinct possibility" within a certain range.

The one time I won "Son of Chinglu", I started with "Defeat is almost a certainty" and won.

Single Sign On provided by vBSSO