R:TW Battle Model

[blacksnail]

Is there a comprehensive guide anywhere around here that explains exactly how the attack and defense stats interact with one another? IE, the battle model itself explained to the best of our knowledge? I want to know exactly what happens when one unit attacks another. If anybody has experimented with larger all-around stat attack/defense numbers as well (as in BI), I'd be interested in seeing the results. I've scoured the Scriptorium but all I ever see is "higher attack means the unit attacks better" rather than anything involving numbers.

Thanks!

[blacksnail]

Ping.

Is there any actual data on attack vs defense value in R:TW? Do we have any idea how this stuff works?

[Kull]

Probably should send a PM to Epistolary Richard, Dol Guldur, and nikolai 1962. If those guys don't know, nobody does.

[Aradan]

I believe a soldier's chance to kill is calculated by this formula:

chance_to_kill = dlf * const * lethality * 1.1 ^ (attack-defense)

where
dlf is the difficulty level factor (believed to be 1 for normal, 1.5 for hard, 2 for very hard)
const is some constant which's value is still a matter of debate
defense is the sum of all applicable defense values (eg only armour for rear missile attacks, armour+shield+skill for frontal melee etc)

This can tell you how much better a unit becomes when you change one of it's stats...

Consulting the big heads listed above isn't a bad idea at all...

[Dol Guldur]

Blacksnail,

Xerex and Aradan are working for the Fourth Age on researching all unit stats and attributes. It's been going on for some months now and they are doing a marvellous job. I've learned loads! Yep, even an old dog like me ;)

It is doubtful we will be finished for some time yet but rest assured all RTW/BI modding teams shall be the beneficiaries of such research, testing, and conclusions.

In the meanwhile feel free to open up a discourse, though our mathematician will be away for the next couple of weeks.

[blacksnail]

Hi folks, thanks for the feedback. Aradan, thanks for the formula, that helps. Dol Guldur, that would certainly be helpful. A few of us at EB are poking at the stat system in an attempt to see if we can make it more granular while still retaining the feel that it has now, but unfortunately we're working with too many untested assumptions.

I read something long, long ago - possibly on GameFAQs, possibly on the RTR boards, possibly here - which went into how the actual numbers interacted when units fight. I have no idea how close to accurate this is, so if I'm way off then please let me know which parts are wrong.

To my understanding, each individual character within a unit has its own stats as listed in the unit guidelines. Taking the Vanilla hastati unit with 80 men, each individual man has stats of Atk: 7 (melee)/11 (missile), Charge Bonus: 2, Defense: 14 (Armor 5, Defense Skill 4, Shield 5), HP: 1. When an individual man attacks another individual man - let's say hastati vs hastati, for an example - these stats are pitted against one another.

The three individual defense ratings are ablative - or at least some of them are. This means a hastati attacking another hastati head-on with a melee weapon pits the 7 attack vs the 14 defense. The game checks for a hit (is chance_to_hit another formula?). If the test fails, it's a miss and the unit is unaffected. If the test succeeds, the defense ratings are reduced in some manner by the total value of the attack - in this case, 7. (Is there a priority of reduction? Is it split between applicable ratings? Is shield rating inviolable and never reduced?)

As it reduces the ratings by 7, the engine checks to see if the damage exceeds the remaining armor. In the above case, the attacked man would retain a defense skill of 7 and still be okay. However, say he only had 5 left, leaving a difference of 2 "extra damage." Is this when chance_to_kill is checked? Or does it only check chance_to_kill if the current total defense value is 0? (Factoring in stuff like facing, missile weapons, etc here for the somewhat mutable "total defense.")

Anyway, upon checking of chance_to_kill (which in this case would be 1 * const * leth * 1.1^(7-11), or (const)(leth)(0.68) - if it succeeded the man would be dead, but if it failed then the man would be knocked to the ground. Or is there a separate chance_to_knockdown formula?

That's my limited understanding. How much of it is correct and how much of it is crap?