* COMBAT RESOLUTION * (From Warlords III Central) I. PRE-COMBAT * Step 1: Curse, Poison, Disease and Paralysis Total any curse, poison, disease and paralysis bonuses for both sides. The value for all units in a side is summed up to give a total. That total is multiplied by 4 to give a Percentage Chance every opponent army will be affected. Eg. Side A has 3 mummies. The poison is summed up as 3+3+3=9 poison points. This is multiplied by 4 to give a total of 36% chance of poisoning every enemy unit. Resolve Curse first by applying the curse % to every enemy unit on both sides. Resolve Poison/Disease/Paralysis next in no particular order to every enemy on both sides.. The effects are as follows: Curse - removes blessing (if army is blessed) and medals (if army has medals) Poison - unit has strength reduced by 2 down to a minimum of 1. Disease - unit has hits reduced down by 1 to a minimum of 1 Paralysis - unit has all remaining movement removed for this turn and is -5 movement on all subsequent turns. NOTE 1: Units that are blessed are immune to poison/disease/paralysis. That's why curse goes first so that a blessed unit can suffer curse followed by poison/disease/paralysis in a single combat. NOTE 2: All effects of poison/curse/disease/paralysis are permanent until the unit is blessed or dies in combat. NOTE 3: A unit can only be affected by an ability once. So a unit can be poisoned in a combat and survive. Then when it enters the next combat it can't be poisoned again, but it could be diseased/paralyzed if it wasn't already diseased/paralyzed. However if a unit that is poisoned is later blessed (removing the poison), it can be cursed and poisoned again. NOTE 4: Units with poison/disease/paralysis/curse ability are themselves immune to their particular ability. So Mummies with poison are immune to being poisoned but they can be cursed/diseased/paralyzed. NOTE 5: Cursing a unit without a blessing has no effect on that unit (unless the unit has medals) and it does not need to get double blessed in order to be blessed. NOTE 6: When curse removes a blessing from a unit, it also removes 1 strength from that unit (since blessing gives a unit +1 strength). This reduces the unit back down to it's normal strength. However there is a strange effect with natural 9 str units. When a natural 9 str unit (a dragon) gets blessed it does not get +1 strength since the max strength for a unit is 9. But when it is cursed, it drops in strength to 8 due to the -1 strength modifier from curse. So be careful blessing those dragons if the opponent has curse. NOTE7: Medals removed by curse that came from a spell (Berzerk) or item (Medal of Valor) are automatically restored to the unit at the end of the battle (assuming the unit survives). But Medals that were awarded previously to a unit for surviving combat are permanently removed although the unit can get new ones in the future. NOTE8: Units with 1 strength are in effect immune to poison and units with 1 hit are in effect immune to disease. * Step 2: Calculate Combat Bonuses Calculate any terrain bonus for each unit from both sides and add it to that units strength. For purposes of combat the terrain is defined as the terrain the defending stack is in. Terrain bonus's are only applied to the unit with the bonus and not the whole stack. After adding the terrain bonus's do a check to make sure that the max strength of every unit is 9. Cities that are located in terrain like hills/marsh/forest convey both the city terrain and the hills/ marsh/forest terrain. eg. 2 Minotaurs and a Knight attack a city. The Minotaurs are +2 vs city, so before any other bonus's are added/subtracted the Minotaurs get a +2 to their strength taking them from a 5 to a 7. The Knight has an open terrain bonus so they get no extra strength due to combat in a city. If that same combat took place on an open road, the Minotaurs strength would instead be 5 before any other bonus's are added/subtracted but the Knights would get their +2 bonus in the open so they would go from a 5 to a 7 strength. Total all combat bonuses for each side with the following formula: (Side A Leadership - Side B Chaos) + (Side A Morale - Side B Fear) + (Side A Fortification - Side B Siege). Reverse the formula for Side B. Each individual value is limited from 0 to +5. The value range for each set of brackets is limited from -1 to +5. The total for the 3 sets of brackets is also limited to an a range of -3 to +5. Add Side A's bonus to every unit in side A's stack and Side B's bonus to every unit in side B's stack. The bonus from a city fortification is included in that side's fortification bonus. For example: Side A has +3 leadership, +1 morale, +1 fortify, +1 chaos, +5 fear, 0 siege Side B has +2 leadership, +2 morale, +1 fortify, +2 chaos, +3 fear, +1 siege Side A bonus = (3-2)+(1-3)+(1-1) = (1)+(-2 limited to -1)+(0)= 0 bonus Side B bonus = (2-1)+(2-5)+(1-0) = (1)+(-3 limited to -1)+(1)= +1 bonus After adding the above bonuses, do a check to make sure that the min strength of every unit is 1 and the max strength of every unit is 14. Total any banding bonus for both sides and add it to the units with the banding bonus. Only units of the same type can get a banding bonus, not all units with a possible banding bonus. For example: 6 Giant Rats and a Peasant attack a city. After all other bonuses are factored in (none in this case), the banding bonus is calculated as +5 for the rats and 0 for the peasants. So the rats' strength would rise from 1 to 6 while the strength of the peasant would remain 1 (since there is only 1 peasant and he doesn't get the banding bonus from the rats since he is not a rat). Total any items with strength bonuses for heroes and add them to the hero's strength. After adding the above bonuses, do a check to make sure that the max strength of every unit is 15. NOTE1: Because banding bonuses are calculated AFTER other bonuses, units with banding can reach 15 strength. Hero's can also reach 15 strength. They are the only types units that can reach 15 strength. NOTE2: The stack totals for leadership/morale/fortify/chaos/fear/siege is arrived at via the following formula: Best unit bonus (heroes are units!) + best spell bonus + best item bonus. The one exception is fortification bonus from cities. That is added in addition to any other fortification bonus from unit/spell/item. eg. Hero with +2 morale ability and Archon with +3 morale equals +3 morale as hero and Archon are both units so +3 is the best bonus. eg. Hero with Orb of Balance for +1 morale and Archon equals +4 as item is +1 and unit (Archon) is +3. eg. Hero with +1 Leadership and two +1 leadership items equals +2 leadership as unit (hero) is +1 and best item bonus is +1. eg. Hero with Bravery spell for +1 morale and Orb of Balance item and an Archon equals +5 as item (orb) is +1, spell is +1 and Archon is +3. eg. Hero with +1 fortify and Iceguard with +1 fortify are in a city with +2 fortify equals +3 fortify as unit (hero/Iceguard) is +1 and city is +2. For this reason, it's important to distribute your items among your heroes to maximize their use. If your total in a category exceeds +5 it is rounded down to +5 for calculation purposes. So a hero with +5 leadership and a +1 leadership item equals +5 leadership for combat calculations. II. INDIVIDUAL UNIT COMBAT There are 9 basic steps to combat once the units start facing each other. They are as follows: 1) Any acid ability for the attacker and defender is calculated and checked to see if an attacker or defender took an acid hit. A check is made to see if a unit died. If so, next unit in stack steps up and go back to step 1. If a stack is empty, combat is done. 2) Any lightning ability for the attacker and defender is calculated and checked to see if an attacker or defender took a lightning hit. A check is made to see if a unit died. If so, next unit in stack steps up and go back to step 1. If a stack is empty, combat is done. 3) Any assassination ability for the attacker and defender is calculated and checked to see if an attacker or defender took an assassination hit. A check is made to see if a unit died. If so, next unit in stack steps up and go back to step 1. If a stack is empty, combat is done. 4) Any missile ability for the attacker and defender is calculated and checked to see if an attacker or defender took an missile hit. A check is made to see if a unit died. If so, next unit in stack steps up and go back to step 1. If a stack is empty, combat is done. 5) A die is rolled for both attacker and defender. 6) If either/both units have a medal, an extra roll is made for that unit(s) and the lower of the 2 rolls is chosen. 7) A check is made to see if either unit took a hit. If a unit took a hit a check to see if the unit which delivered the hit has the trample ability which does extra damage. If a unit took a hit a second check is make to see if the unit which delivered the hit has a slayer ability and the unit which took the hit is vulnerable to that particular slayer ability. If so, a roll is made to see if the slayer ability is successful. 8) A check is made to see if a unit died. If so, next unit in stack steps up and go back to step 1. If stack is empty, combat is done. 9) If both units survived go back to step 5. * Step 1: Acid Special Attack Each plus of acid equals a 10% chance to hit with acid. A successful acid hit reduces the enemy strength by 1/2 rounded down. Acid automatically kills 1 strength units if it hits them (no chance for the dead unit to lightning, assassinate or missile etc). The acid total is calculated as unit acid ability + best acid ability from spell + best acid ability from item. Acid bonuses between attacker and defender are offset. eg. A Black Dragon with +5 acid faces a Peasant with 0 acid. The Black dragon has a 50% chance to hit the Peasant with acid. eg. A Black Dragon with +5 acid faces a Green Slime with +2 acid. The Black Dragon has a 30% chance to hit the Green Slime with acid and the Green Slime has 0% chance to hit the Black Dragon. eg. A Monk with +2 acid from Wrath of Kali spell and Black Dragon faces a Peasant. The Black Dragon has a 70% (5+2) chance to hit the Peasant with acid. NOTE1: The acid attack is calculated once for every unit faced in combat. So if a Black Dragon survived a combat vs 8 units it will have had 8 acid attacks, 1 for each enemy faced. NOTE2: Units with self warding or warding from a group warding ability reduce the chances of an acid hit. In case there are several units with the group warding ability, these values are added up to a total group warding of +3. The total value for group warding is then added to any self warding other units may have to yield the total warding score for that unit. Each plus of warding cancels out a plus of acid. The warding bonus is in addition to any acid bonus for calculations of offsetting acid attacks. Warding is effective against every unit faced in combat. It works the same way against the lightning (see step 2) and assassin (see step 3) special attacks. eg. A Black Dragon with +5 acid faces a Knight with +1 warding. The Black Dragon has a 40% chance to hit the Knight with acid. eg. A Black Dragon with +5 acid faces a Green Slime with +2 acid and a Knight with +1 group warding. The Black Dragon has a 20% chance to hit the Green Slime (5-2=3, 3-1=2) with acid and a 40% chance to hit the Knight with acid. * Step 2: Lightning Special Attack Lightning works exactly the same as acid except it reduces the opponents hits by 1/2 rounded down. NOTE1: Warding is also effective against the lightning special attack (see note 2 above). * Step 3: Assassination Special Attack Each plus of assassination equals a 10% chance to kill. A successful assassin roll kills the enemy unit outright. Assassination is only effective vs the first enemy unit faced in combat regardless of whether or not the assassination chance is successful. The assassination total is calculated as unit assassination ability + best assassination ability from spell + best assassination ability from item. Assassination bonus's between attacker and defender are offset. eg. A Gnoll Cavalry with +4 assassin faces a Archon with 0 assassin. The Gnoll Cavalry has a 40% chance to kill the Archon outright with assassination. eg. A Gnoll Cavalry with +4 assassin faces a Gnoll with +1 assassin. The Gnoll Cavalry has a 30% chance to kill the Gnoll outright with assassination and the Gnoll has 0% chance to kill the Gnoll Cavalry with assassination. eg. A Thief with +2 assassin and spider ring +3 assassin faces a Green Dragon. The Thief has 50% (2+3) chance to kill the Green Dragon with assassination. NOTE1: Once a units assassination chance is used up that units assassin chance is no longer used when calculating offsetting assassin bonus's. eg. 2 Gnolls attack 2 Gnolls. The first 2 Gnolls cancel out each others assassination bonus so there is no chance for assassination. The attacking Gnoll kills the defending Gnoll. The next defending Gnoll steps into combat. Now the defending Gnoll has a 10% chance to kill the attacking Gnoll by assassination since the attacking Gnoll no longer has an assassination chance (used up). If the defending Gnoll then kills the attacking Gnoll and the 2nd attacking Gnoll steps up it will have a 10% chance to assassinate the defending Gnoll. NOTE2: Warding is also effective against the assassin special attack (see note 2 above). * Step 4: Missile Special Attack Each plus of missiles equals 1 free 'shot' at an enemy unit when the unit with the missile ability first enters combat. A successful missile hit kills the enemy unit outright. Each missile shot is resolved as 1 round of normal combat which is described in step 5. During these missile attacks, the unit with the missile ability can't suffer a hit in combat, but if they get a successful hit on the enemy, then they kill it. If a unit kills the enemy with a missile hit then any left over shots carry on to the next enemy unit. The missile total is calculated as unit missile ability + best missile ability from spell + best missile ability from item. Missile bonus's between attacker and defender are offset. eg. A Moonguard with +4 missile faces an Minotaur 0 missile. The Moonguard has 4 rounds of combat to kill the Minotaur with missiles. eg. A Moonguard with +4 missile faces a Archer with +2 missile. The Moonguard has 2 rounds of combat kill the Archer with missiles and the Archer has 0 rounds of combat to kill the Moonguard with missiles. eg. A Ranger with +3 missile and the bow of speed +6 missile faces a Minotaur. The Ranger has 9 (3+6) rounds of combat to kill the Minotaur with missiles. eg. A Moonguard with +4 missile faces 2 Light Infantry with 0 missile. The Moonguard has 4 rounds of combat to kill the 1st Light Infantry with missiles. If he kills the Infantry with the 2nd shot, then when the next Infantry steps up, the Moonguard has 2 rounds of combat left to kill the second Light Infantry with missiles. NOTE1: Non-Flying units with 4 hp (either naturally or from a spell/item) when they enter combat are immune to missile fire. This immunity will use up all the enemy units missile shots so none will carry over to the next unit. This immunity persists even if the 4 hit unit drops down to 3 hits during the battle and then faces a unit with missile ability. But if a 4 hit unit is diseased or lifedrained down to 3 hits then it is vulnerable to archery. eg. A Moonguard with +4 missile faces a Dwarf Runner with 4 hp. The Moonguard has 0 rounds of combat to kill the Dwarf Runner with missiles due to the 4 hp immunity and all missile attacks are used up. eg. A Moonguard with +4 missile faces a Priest with Mighty Feast Spell and an Undead Beast. The Moonguard has 0 rounds of combat to kill the Undead Beast with missiles due to the Undead Beast due to the 4 hp immunity (3+1 from Mighty Feast) and all missile attacks are used up. eg. A Moonguard with +4 missile faces a Dwarf Runner who is diseased. The Moonguard has 4 rounds of combat to kill the Dwarf Runner with missiles due to the Dwarf Runner only having 3 hp (4-1 from disease). eg. A Moonguard with +4 missile and a Light Infantry faces a Dwarf Runner. The Light Infantry manages to hit the Dwarf Runner twice before dying reducing the Dwarf Runner to 2 hits. The Moonguard now faces the Dwarf Runner and has 0 rounds of combat to kill the Dwarf Runner with missiles due to the Dwarf Runner have 4 hp immunity when combat started even though it currently only has 2 hits. NOTE2: Units with a missile ability get +3 strength for missile combat purposes when facing units that are flying. This includes natural flyers like Dragons and ground units that are flying due to a spell/item/hero ability. eg. A Moonguard with +4 missile faces an Undead Dragon with 0 missile. The Moonguard gets 4 rounds of combat at +3 strength (9 instead of 6) due to the Undead Dragon being a flying unit. If the missile attacks are all unsuccessful then normal combat takes place with the Moonguard having a strength of 6. eg. A Moonguard with +4 missile faces an Vampire with Flight ability and an Undead Beast with 0 missile. The Moonguard gets 4 rounds of combat at +3 strength (9 instead of 6) due to the Undead Beast flying from the Vampire Flight ability unit. If the missile attacks are all unsuccessful then normal combat takes place with the Moonguard having a strength of 6. NOTE3: Once a units missile chance is used up that units missile chance is no longer used when calculating offsetting missile bonus's. eg. 2 Moonguard attack 2 Moonguard. The first 2 Moonguards cancel out each others missile bonus so there is no chance for missile hits. The attacking Moonguard kills the defending Moonguard. The next defending Moonguard steps into combat. Now the defending Moonguard has 4 rounds of missile combat to kill the attacking Moonguard by missiles since the attacking Moonguard no longer has any missile shots left. If the defending Moonguard then kills the attacking Moonguard and the 2nd attacking Moonguard steps up it will have 4 rounds of missile combat to kill the defending Moonguard with missiles. NOTE4: Medals are not taken into account for the attacker or defender when doing the missile combat rounds. So if either/both units have medals they will not get an extra roll for the missile attacks. * Steps 5-9: Normal Combat A die is rolled (normally 20 sided) for the attacker and the defender and compared against their strength. If either/both the attacker or defender have medals then a 2nd die is rolled (30 sided for 1 medal, 26 sided for 2 medals, 22 sided for 3 medals and 18 sided for 4 medals). The lower of the 2 rolls is kept as lower rolls are better. The attackers die roll is compared to the defenders strength and vice versa. If a roll is lower than the units strength it indicates a potential for a hit. The results for both units are compared as follows: Attacker roll <= attacker str AND defender roll <= defender str : no effect Attacker roll <= attacker str AND defender roll > defender str : hit defender Attacker roll > attacker str AND defender roll <= defender str : hit attacker Attacker roll > attacker str AND defender roll > defender str : no effect If a unit takes a hit it loses 1 hit point and 2 checks are then made. The first check is to see if the unit which delivered the hit has trample ability. If it has a trample ability a check is made to see if the unit which was hit is flying (either a natural flyer or flying from a spell/item/hero ability). If the unit is flying, it is immune to being trampled and if not 1 extra hit is removed for each plus of trample ability eg. An Iron Golem with +3 trample hits an Undead Beast with 3 hp. The Iron Golem has trample ability and the Undead Beast is not flying so the Iron Golem does 1 hp of damage from the hit and 3 more from the trample for a total of 4 hp which kills the Undead Beast. Any extra damage above what is needed to reduce the enemy unit to 0 hp is not carried over to other enemy units. eg. An Iron Golem with +3 trample hits a Green Dragon with 3 hp. The Iron Golem has trample ability but the Green Dragon is flying so the Iron Golem does 1 hp of damage from the hit and 0 from the trample so the Green Dragon has 2 hp left. The second check is to see if the unit which was hit is vulnerable to a slayer ability. If it is vulnerable to a slayer ability a check is made to see if the unit which delivered the hit has that slayer ability. If so, then a slayer roll is made where each plus of slayer ability equals a 10% chance to kill the unit outright. The slayer ability is calculated as unit slayer ability + best slayer ability from spell + best slayer ability from item. Slayer abilities are NOT offset between attacker and defender. eg. An Knight Lord with +2 dragonslayer hits a Green Dragon with 3 hp. The Green Dragon is vulnerable to dragonslayer and the Knight Lord has a dragonslayer ability of +2 so a roll is made with a 20% chance to kill the Green Dragon outright. If the slayer roll is unsuccessful the Green Dragon is reduced to 2 hp otherwise it is dead. NOTE1: Any slayer ability from a unit/spell/ability is automatically conferred to every unit in the stack. eg. An Knight Lord with +2 dragonslayer and a Minotaur attack a Green Dragon. The Minotaur hits the Green Dragon who still has 3 hp. The Green Dragon is vulnerable to dragonslayer and the Minotaur has a dragonslayer ability of +2 (from the Knight Lord) so a roll is made with a 20% chance to kill the Green Dragon outright. If the slayer roll is unsuccessful the Green Dragon is reduced to 2 hp otherwise it is dead. If a unit drops to 0 or less hp it is killed and the next unit (if there are any left) in the stack steps up to battle and you go back to step 1.