Game Mechanics

[jwallstone]

I'm finishing up Fantasy Wars and eager to start Elven Legacy. This is a gem of a game that unfortunately did not receive the attention it deserved. There does not seem to be any game guide or FAQ that I could find that talks about game mechanics. I'm really curious to learn about how the game mechanics actually work, and hoping somebody here knows a bit. I'm actually interested in writing a game guide/FAQ if I figure out enough to contribute.

Anyway, here are some questions:

1. How are Attack/Defense and unit Strength values used to calculate damage done?

As a first guess, it seems attack vs defense gives a probability that each unit strength (i.e. out of 15 or 10) will do a point of damage. "Single-entity" units, like flying units, heroes, and war machines, seem to always attack at max strength (10). That's only a guess though, and I haven't done any "experiments" to see if that's right. And I may be inferring too much from how Fantasy General worked.

2. When are units killed vs wounded?

Kills seems to be some constant fraction of damage, regardless of the magnitude of damage. Maybe around 20-25% or so, as a rough guess. Not sure it type of attack matters at all. Single entities don't get kills. The one weird case seems to be trolls, who are 3-units. So, you can kill down to 10 or 5 after wounding them enough. Not sure how the probability works for them.

3. How does Charge work?

It seems that charge is a bonus attack applied first; then the units engage in melee. Whereas most fights are done simultaneously, doing charge first greatly weakens the enemy before they can retaliate. Charge does not seem to be used on defense, except with the Counterattack perk. And it does not seem to be used on rough terrain like forests (possible exception for Mads?) Anyway, I'm just repeating this thread:
http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=7939

4. Terrain

To get a terrain bonus, does a unit have to be standing on it, or does the defender's tile count too? For example, light infantry or skirmishers standing on plains attacking a forest tile. If the defender's tile counts, what about hills, which are often in the middle of plains? Doesn't that render them useless if they give the bonus to attackers too? And relating back to Charge, does charge work if the charging unit is standing on plains but the defender is on a forest/hill tile? What about vice versa? Do urban perks (like City Fighter) help when attacking as well? (The descriptions are a bit unclear)

5. Hard Target, Armor Piercing, Shooting Protection

Hard Target seems to reduce damage from all sources, but how does it reduce damage? An effective reduction in Attack values? Reduction in damage received? It seems that Armor Piercing negates this, but is that all it does? Does it help at all against units without Hard Target? (The description can go either way). Shooting protection seems to work against archers, and maybe ballista, but not catapults? And definitely not bombers. Do Hard Target and Shooting Protection stack against missile attacks? And some units have Armor Piercing w/ missile attacks. Does that negate just Hard Target or also Shooting Protection, or one or the other?

Anyway, I'll leave it at that. It's getting into details, but I feel that understanding how all this works is pretty helpful in actually figuring out good strategies and how to use units effectively. Any knowledge here would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[valky]

1. In the manual are the formulas which are used. In your case:
"HP(i) / HP(current)
– The relation of the current hit points to the initial ones that characterizes
the decrease in a unit’s military efficiency with the losses
incurred. For heroes and other “single-figure” units, this parameter
is replaced by “1”."

2. Just do some quicksave/quickload action wounded/killed is kind of random I think. Don't know exactly for single unit types. Quite some time ago since I played fantasy wars.

3. Charge is only applied if the defender is standing on plains, while your location doesn't matter. You can attack from wood, hills and so on as long as you charge in a 'plain' hex.
Then usually your charge kills of some units and afterwards the fight based on both unit's attack values (-unit losses ^^) starts.
From my point of view, charge-damage is calculated on a units defence and 'Hard Target'. Try charging some knights you'll do way less damage unless you have armor-piercing.
(you could measure charge as a free-bonus first-strike attack if you want, as long as the defending unit is on a plain hex)

4. manual page 41: "The terrain bonus is always calculated based on the
hexes where the defender is situated." <- both your attack & defence will be altered according their table on the same page.
The exact tables used are come in handy if you want to know...

That's the point where your specials like 'City-Fighter' and so on counts.
So it gives you a bonus while:
-attacking a unit in a city
-standing in a city and being attacked

but not while attacking from a city to any other terrain.

BUT, both units get different values! e.g. attack on a hill both units are heavy inf: The defending unit gets a bonus to their att/def +2 while the attacking one +0/0
light inf vs light inf on rough, bot of them get +4/+4 while on a hill the defender gets +4/+4 and the attacker +2/+2

5. "Armor and Armor Piercing
A unit can have a perk called Armor. It means that the enemy’s attack will
inflict less damage on it.
A unit can have a perk called Armor Piercing. It means that this unit ignores
the enemy’s Armor-related bonus."

Don't know the exactly values either

But Armor piercing won't help against regularly units without the hard-target perk.

"Do Hard Target and Shooting Protection stack against missile attacks?" <- good point / don't know

-Armor-piercing missiles only negate 'Hard-target', otherwise it won't make sense to get rid of an unit's shooting protection too

hth

[jwallstone]

Thanks for the detailed answers! That helps a lot.

My guess about Hard Target and Shooting Protection is that they do stack. I had a Mighty Riders that had Hard Target & Shooting Protection, and shooters mostly did one or zero damage.

I'm wondering if it's possible to look through the game files to find some of these formulas. Probably not, I think the rules are hardcoded, just some of the stats are in xml.