Hanibal, manager of Cannibalz in Aruak City (DM 11) and formerly of Noblish Island, has asked a series of questions of the experienced managers of that arena. I believe you might find these questions and answers instructive, or at least interesting. Feel free to comment or question in response. That goes for other experienced managers, too; I'm sure your input would be valuable. -- Jorja, The Middle Way
Question, turn 396:
All -- If 2 identical warriors (theoretically) ran 10-10-2 and 10-10-8, who would swing first? Would they both have an equal chance? -- Hanibal's question of the week
Replies, turn 397:
Hanibal -- Of the three numbers, I think KD is least influential in determining who swings first. I'm not discounting its involvement entirely, but there are many factors that weigh more heavily. I ran aimers 10-10-1 for a long time, when it was the 'in' thing to do, and they fought quite aggressively. KD might be more important in determining who swings LAST. -- Generalissimo Puerco
Hannibal -- I firmly believe that 10-10-2 will sometimes outjump 10-10-8. And vice versa. -- Kennelworth The Seasoned
See also Captain K's article on "Getting the Jump." It was printed in this newsletter a few turns ago, but if you want a copy and don't have it, email me at jputney@zianet.com and I'll send it to you. Okay, okay, if you don't have email, request it in the personals or even send me a diplo. -- Jorja
Question, turn 397:
All -- If two warriors have a good damage rating, one has 11 str. and one has 13 str., would it make a difference in the amount of damage they do? -- Hanibal's Q.O.W. P.S. Warriors are same size.
Replies, turn 398:
Hanibal -- Regarding your QoW, it is a very good question. I think that there is a difference in damage done between warriors with different strengths but similar damage comments. Of course the attack rating a warrior has can make a world of difference too. I've got a piker (the Consortium may know Lustra from DM 52) that has a 5 str. and does normal damage with a blow. Yet, she performs like a warrior that does little damage. (And I have a lot of experience with those.) Not only that, she has normal endurance, too, but she seems to get tired awfully quick for a piker with normal endurance. So that's one example. Another is my overall look at warriors that do 'little' damage.
If you take one with 9 str. and another with 13 str. I think a clear Difference can be discerned. On the high end, my experience doesn't go much past 'good' damage.
But what I can say is that my warriors that do 'good' damage seem to do more damage than my few warriors that have done 'tremendous' damage. That is probably because those big strong warriors have relatively lousy attack ratings. So in a nutshell I would say yes, there is a minor but still noticeable effect. What you might be finding is that there seems to be differences within those broad categories given on the warrior overview. It's just like if you raise con you improve your warrior's ability to sustain damage a little bit, even if the comment on the overview stays the same. Your questions are getting at some of the interesting subtleties of the game. Keep asking them! -- Generalissimo Puerco
Q.O.W. (Hanibal) -- I don't think so. -- Adie
Pagan's replies:
Question, turn 396:
All -- If 2 identical warriors (theoretically) ran 10-10-2 and 10-10-8, who would swing first? Would they both have an equal chance?
This is a loaded question. There are a number of factors which will determine which warrior swings first. In speaking of this I can only tell you what I have a 'feel' for. In no way does anyone know all the factors or how this works exactly unless someone gets to look at the source code for the program. I will ignore the KD dispute simply because I don't know.
The Factors:
1. At warrior creation, the program initiates a random string class to be used for your warrior. Each string has a series of numbers that are pre-generated and always the same. It however appears random except for the facts that some strings are good for some warriors and bad for others. You'll notice this only over time. This string class is permanent and not all of them are created equal. This is above and beyond any total number of skills.
2. At fight time, the program calls a random string to be used for BOTH warriors. This string affects the string of the warrior. This is why you will never see two fights that are line-by-line exactly the same. But if the fights were constantly run with exactly the same string, and no strategy changes are made then you will consistently have the same fight line-by-line.
3. Fight-String modified Warrior-String# are taken for each warrior and #Decise-skills + OE + string# + tactic + weapon-weight + style-adjustment equates to a number.
4. These bonuses could be negative in adjustments also: IE. Running responsiveness would be the addition of a negative number equal to warrior's Decise. Running decise would increase a lot, running lunge, slash, or bash use initiative instead of Decise if higher than current #decise skills. Biggest controllable factors are OE, tactic, & weapon-weight
5. If the number for JUMP does not have a disparity of a specific number then a continued clash will occur until that disparity is shown. Then the fight actually begins. You can have a series of 8+ clash statements until the program finds who starts and initiates the fight sequences. Example: fighterA ends up with a jump# of 60 and fighterB ends up with a jump# of 65; if the disparity had to be 10 points then what would happen is a clash statement would be printed and the steps repeated. The next number from the Fight-String is called along with the next number in each of the Warrior-strings ; the computation is done again until the disparity (for the computer anyway) becomes true. Then the fight sequence is activated. -- Pagan
Question, turn 397:
All -- If two warriors have a good damage rating, one has 11 str. And one has 13 str., would it make a difference in the amount of damage they do? -- Hanibal's Q.O.W. P.S. Warriors are same size.
Most definitely. Weapon damage is equated to Strength + damage class. So damage is done like this:
Question, turn 398:
All -- If you lower your kill desire in desperation, do you have less of a chance of being killed? -- Hanibal's Q.O.W.
Replies, turn 399:
Q.O.W. -- I think that if your KD is lower in desperation, you're more likely to surrender than draw out the fight. Drawing out the fight by having a higher KD gives the attacker more chance to kill you. But you could defend and make a come-back. But that higher KD also lowers your defensive ability somewhat. -- Adie
Hanibal's Q.o.W -- Yes, lowering your own KD helps keep you alive and allows you to surrender...hopefully in time. -- Armalias
Hanibal -- The choice of kill desire in desperation seems to be a very tactically important one. I do believe that lowering kill desire will tend to preserve a warrior's life by making him give up (and end the fight) sooner. This also means the warrior may end up losing fights he could have won if he had hung around. I think scum strategy is a good example of this. While it may be counterintuitive, a good scum strategy involves using a moderate to high kill desire. This is done to prevent them from giving up prematurely. Also, most managers don't care too much if their scum gets killed, so there's no point to running with a low KD. There's a very good article on the total parry written by Scrag, in which this scheme is discussed. Maybe you saw it in Noblish. Personally, I either lower or raise KD in desperation, based on my expectations for a particular warrior. I think it was Miles that first wrote on this way of looking at kill desire, and I believe it to be the most correct. Other published theories, such as Jessie Jest's, are variably more questionable. (But then, everything Jessie Jest wrote should be taken with a grain of salt.) -- Generalissimo Puerco
Question, turn 399:
All -- If you have 18 HP and cannot take a lot of punishment and raise con once to normal--20 HP, does the rating affect the rate at which you take damage or do you just have 2 more Hit Points? -- Hanibal's Q.O.W.M
Replies, turn 400:
Hanibal's QOW -- I think you just get a bump in hit points. But that little bump makes a big difference. I think armor and warrior experience are the only factors that affect the rate of damage per blow. -- Adie P.S. There's a new chart for hit points that is more accurate and does not involve a luck factor.
Hanibal -- I think the amount of damage a warrior can take is not variable but constant. The variables in the equation are: the weapon being struck with and the armor it is striking, and the attack and damage-dealing ability of the warrior doing the swinging. Not to mention kill desire, as discussed last turn. -- Generalissimo Puerco