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PART I: The Insider Point of View [page 3 of 4]

Attack Power and Armor

The repair workers are industrious as their encampment goes down in flames.

When one unit attacks another, both lose "hit points." Totals are reduced for the unit that strikes and for the unit that suffers a strike. All moving units begin with 30 (peasant) to 150 (battleship) hit points; buildings with 100 (watch tower) to 1,600 (castle/fortress) hit points. The hit points bar is a gauge of a unit's deteriorating "health." The bar's color changes from green to yellow to red as the damage worsens. Buildings that have been hit start to burn, but the fire does not grow over time. Instead, more flames come with each additional hit.

The game's mathematical program for "causing damage" weighs the attacker's strength and the strength of the defender's armor, then processes these figures with a random value to determine the total damage for a hit. While this formula is easy to understand, it is more complicated than the "damage" value displayed on screen might suggest. The damage value simply indicates the range of hit points within which the actual damage will fall. Here's how the math works:

A unit's attacking strength is formed by two components: "basic damage" and "piercing damage." (These values can be found in the Map Editor under "unit properties.") Basic damage suffered is reduced ­ if not completely blocked ­ by a unit's armor. Piercing damage, however, is totally unaffected by a unit's armor. These two damage values are calculated, and a random value is then applied to this figure to determine the final cost, expressed in hit points.

For example, say a normal (non-upgraded) grunt attacks a footman, his Human equivalent. The grunt has a basic damage value of 6 points, and the footman an armor value of 2 points. The basic damage of the attacker exceeds the armor value of the defender by 4 points. Add this number to the attacker's piercing damage (3), for a subtotal of 7 points. Next, 7 is divided by 2 and the result ­ rounded up when necessary, as in this case ­ equals 4 points. This figure is the rounded-up average of the two damage components (with the defender's armor value already subtracted from the basic damage).

"Damage" is displayed as a range of numbers, as its value depends on the defending unit and is influenced by chance.

With each subsequent strike, a minimum of 4 points is subtracted from the hit points of the unit under attack. The figure, however, is multiplied by a random value between 1 and 2, which means the total damage value can grow to twice the rounded-up average value. Therefore, in our example the damage per strike is between 4 and 8 points. Since an attacked footman begins with 60 hit points, it generally takes 9 to 10 strikes from a healthy grunt to slay the footman. Of course the unit under attack may strike back. If two equally healthy units of the same category (grunt/footman, archer/ax thrower etc.) go into battle, the one who lands the first strike almost always survives, albeit with only a few hit points remaining.

Buildings all have an armor value of 20. Now let's say a grunt attacks a farm, which has an initial hit point total of 400 points. The basic damage that a grunt may inflict on the building (6 points) is completely blocked, which means a resulting basic damage figure of 0. (Figures, by the way, cannot be negative.) Our only concern in this case is the grunt's piercing damage ­ 3 points. Add 0 (the blocked basic damage) and 3, divided by two equals 1.5 points, which rounds up to 2 points. Now multiply the score by the random value (of up to 2). The possible totals enable the grunt to inflict only 2 to 4 hit points of damage on the building for each strike. Assuming that the grunt inflicts an average of 3 damage points per strike, it would take more than 130 strikes to raze the farm. That campaign would take a lot of time, so you'd be better off enlisting several grunts and/or stronger units, such as catapults, if you're set on trashing the farm.

For specific illustrations of these attack principles, look at Tables 4 through 7. Table 4 shows the attack power rankings when basic damage is your priority. Table 5 gives the same rundown with piercing damage as priority. Table 6 shows all possible duels of units and the average damage (hit points subtracted from defender) per strike. Taking that average damage per duel, and assuming the attacked unit or building is not already deficient in hit points, Table 7 shows the approximate average number of strikes or shots needed to vanquish a defender / enemy, or raze a building. These figures will help you determine which of your units will fare best against a particular enemy unit.

Continues...

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