Firepower

[lancer]

Goodaye,

A couple of questions on how firepower works in the Tactical battles. I understand that a unit's firepower is...
- proportional to its experience. Eg. 50% exp gives 50% firepower
- affected by readiness in a non-linear way (formula)

I also understand that a unit firing rolls to see if it hits and then the defending unit rolls to see if any of the damage is negated (defense strength + terrain modifiers). Where does the amount of damage that a successful 'hit' causes come into it? What determines that a 'hit' causes 3 or 13 casualities?

And what effect do the following have...

- range (apart from the cannon firing grapeshot at range 1)?

- unit strength (eg. does a 250 man regiment retain the same firepower as a full strength 500 man regiment)?

- formation (Can't fire when in column formation but what's the difference between line and skirmish)?

- additionally does formation affect your defense ability, eg. are there reduced casualities for skirmish vs. line?

It's a great game. Thanks in advance.

Cheers,
Lancer

[HussarGames]

Range effects for infantry
range 1: +50% firepower
range 2: normal
range 3: halved

For arty it also matters, but its a complicated formula, above range 2, this is used: fire:=(fire/3)+((fire*2/3)*(10-range)/10)
At range 2 arty firepower is the normal firepower while at range 1 it is doubled.


Casualties caused is proportional to unit strength. A unit at 70% strength will cause 70% casualties. In skirmish firepower is at 30% and skirmish is not guaranteed to cause -1 moral loss. In skirmish you will only cause a morale loss if you cause some casualties. Same goes for units below 50% strength. Defense in skirmish is increased by 50%.

Defense: you have a chance to halve damage at defense % chance and a defense/3 chance to reduce damage to 1/4 - most of the time this will negate damage.

There is also a random factor in casualty calculation.

[lancer]

Goodaye,

Thanks for the informative reply.

Cheers,
Lancer

[lancer]

Goodaye,

Am I correct in assuming that firepower is the base % chance for the 'to hit' roll?

For example an infantry regiment at full strength & 100% experience & all other things being equal would have a 70% to hit chance given their 70 firepower rating.

Speaking of infantry is the range effect calculated as +50% at 1 hex & normal at 2 hexes?

Once a unit successfully makes a 'to hit' roll based on firepower casaulities are calculated and a defense roll made to modify casualities. You mentioned unit strength and a random factor affect the number of casaulities. Is there a base figure for each unit type that is used, eg. Infantry at full strength cause 6 casaulities etc?

How big an effect do the random and unit strength factors have (I've seen casualites up to 25 dead in one volley on occassion)?

On an unrelated matter I've compiled a comprehensive list of all the additional information I've gathered off this and the old Battlefront forums on the game mechanics that aren't included in the manual. I'd be happy to post it for general use (it might cut down on questions from curious people like myself) if you think it's appropriate. If you'd like to check it for accuracy before hand let me know and I fire off a copy.

Oh, and the minimap in the tactical battles is a great feature. No more lost units and an instant overview. Thanks.

Cheers,
Lancer

[HussarGames]

Firepower is modified with range, readiness, experience, etc. Chance to hit is based on firepower, but the final casualty rate is also calculated based on firepower. With high FP you have a higher chance to hit and you will also cause more casualties. The base casualty rate for non-arty units is 1.7%. The random factor can be a multiplication by 1, 2 or 4 (this is based on FP too) + a random number between 1-3.

It is quite complicated really to go into any more detail than this. For arty units the casualty is always 1 or zero, except when hussars charge the cannons.

[lancer]

Goodaye,

There is a lot more detail in the game design than I thought. Well done and thanks, yet again, for answering my queries.

Cheers,
Lancer

[HussarGames]

I made a mistake in the above post, the base casualty rate for non-arty is actually 1.7% (corrected now in the previous post as well)