Defensive bonus. How does it work?

[Suicide Junkie]

Any combat modifier with the exception of the Death Shrine will affect only the chance to hit

Defense reduces the enemy chance to hit you by the stated %, Offence increases your chance to hit.
This is additive and subtractive, so if you normally have a 50% chance to hit an enemy, and they add a +50% defense modifier, you get 0%, and not 25%.
However, after this is calculated over (almost) all modifiers, the game will force a minimum to-hit of 1%, and maximum of 99%. Even shooting in random directions against an enemy you cant see, you hit 1 in a hundred times, and even point blank with a planet, you sometimes miss (don't ask me how).
Another however: after the above is caluclated, the Mount-based modifiers and the built-in-weapon modifiers are added.
The chance to hit is now set to a minimum of 0%, or a maximum of 100%.
So, if you are using a WMG (+30%), your absolute minimum to hit will be 31%.
Finally, any ship with an intact Religious Talisman gets 100% to-hit, ignoring all previous calculations.

The Death Shrine adds 5,10 or 15% to the damage of each shot fired by the owner of the shrine.

[Rusty_Nail]

Can anyone explain exactly how a defensive bonus of, say, 60% from an ECM component or otherwise, actually works? Does this only affect the chance of being hit, and if so, 60% of what?
Or does it add 60% to your damage levels? Or both? Or neither? The same question applies to attack bonuses. How does it actually work? Any help would be appreciated.

[Rusty_Nail]

That was helpful, S-J. Does this apply only to direct fire and fighters? Missiles and PD seem to hit 100% if they are in range. Yet sometimes the missile hit % is given as low as 1%. Is this based on the assumption that the target moves in a random direction? That would make some sense as it could move away.
Where do you get the information on the 30% hit bonus to WMGs? That is news to me. Are there other weapons with such a bonus? I did a check with the allegiance converter at two different mount levels and the hit % was the same for the same distance. So why would one invest in a higher mount? Perhaps there is also a percent chance of actually converting once you hit. I notice it does not seem to work every time even with a hit. But then it would be helpful to know the numbers.
Another thing I have wondered about regarding weapons like allegiance converter and worm, is what the "damage" numbers mean in cases like this. They do not seem to be related to hit percent. Maybe they are related to chance of conVersion when you hit. How is one supposed to know these things?

[Rusty_Nail]

S-J: A Master Computer is not a viable defense against the Allegiance Subverter in one on one combat in strategic mode. You can try "Don't get hurt" but the AS will eventually corner you. Of course, the AS needs massive shield defences in order to take the first hit from some powerful baddies.
I did look at ship strategies. The AS does best with a point blank/short weapons strategy. While optimal weapons damage is usually the best strategy for most direct fire ships, sometimes it is better to get close and ignore defensive considerations, e.g. if you are using a worm or an AS where you do not expect to get hit back. In a fleet though, this could be dangerous.
MM could enhance the game immeasurably by introducing some more sophisticated ship strategies. An example: I call this "just out of range". Place your ship at a distance away from your opponent equal to your opponent's strike range (move points plus direct fire range) plus one. This assures you of the first shot if he moves towards you, which will often be the deciding factor. Any human operating optimally would do this automatically in tactical combat, right? This would give a much more formidable AI as well as allowing PBW humans a more sophisticated use of ships in fleets.

[Rusty_Nail]

Sorry, I put my reply below in the wrong thread.

[Zarix]

In components data file weapons have weapon modifier. That is the minimum chance to hit. WMG has 30, Point Defence has 70, High - Energy Magnifier has 30, Tachyon Cannon has 10, Mental Singularity Generator has 20 and Incinerator Beam has 10. Every other weapon has 0.

As far as I know if seekers reach their target they never miss.

[This message has been edited by Zarix (edited 11 November 2001).]

[Suicide Junkie]

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Another thing I have wondered about regarding weapons like allegiance converter and worm, is what the "damage" numbers mean in cases like this. They do not seem to be related to hit percent. Maybe they are related to chance of conVersion when you hit

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Bingo! The normal mounts give you 50/50 at range 1. Large guarantees the conVersion at range 1 (assuming a hit, of course)

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That was helpful, S-J. Does this apply only to direct fire and fighters? Missiles and PD seem to hit 100% if they are in range. Yet sometimes the missile hit % is given as low as 1%. Is this based on the assumption that the target moves in a random direction? That would make some sense as it could move away.

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It applies to any weapon which hits as soon as it is fired.
PD has such a high built-in bonus that it gets the 100% rating almost always. Only if your enemy has ECM superior to your sensors is there a chance of missing, and that reaches an absolute minimum of 71%, due to the built in bonus.

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Where do you get the information on the 30% hit bonus to WMGs? That is news to me. Are there other weapons with such a bonus?

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Its all in the text files, and for my Pirates & Nomads Mod, I added a dummy ability, with a description of "+ ##% accuracy".

Also, check out the table of weapons I made. (Its most of the way down the front page, you can't miss it )

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I did a check with the allegiance converter at two different mount levels and the hit % was the same for the same distance. So why would one invest in a higher mount?

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If you look closely at the differences between a normal mount and the large ones you will find:
Large: Damage x2, size x1.5
Heavy: Damage x3, size x2
Massive: Damage x5 size x3
(P&N Planetoid Core: Damage x50, size x25)
The overall effect?
L: 33% more damage per KT space
H: 50% more damage per KT space
M: 66% more damage per KT space
(PC: 100% more damage)

Only my modded PC mount actually changes the To-Hit among these, giving a negative 30% to accuracy (since its so big, it can't be aimed well).

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But then it would be helpful to know the numbers.
How is one supposed to know these things?

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Comparison shopping (right-click the component in question), combat simulators, a handy calculator program, and the basic assumption that bigger is usually better

[Master Belisarius]

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Originally posted by suicide_junkie:
Any combat modifier with the exception of the Death Shrine will affect only the chance to hit.

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What about the Event Predictor? I think that affect the chance to hit and defense. I was looking into the Facilities.txt, and the Event Predictor - War Shrine were defined very similar.

[Suicide Junkie]

The DEATH shrine is different from the WAR shrine

Death increases the damage from weapons, war, increases to-hit offense and defense.

[Master Belisarius]

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Originally posted by suicide_junkie:
The DEATH shrine is different from the WAR shrine

Death increases the damage from weapons, war, increases to-hit offense and defense.

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As usual, I misunderstood your post!