AI War:Combat System

The Pre 4.0 Combat System With Shields

The "Shields" combat system involved "Chance-To-Miss" calculations based on:

• Range between attacker and defender,
• Defending Ship "Shields" strength,
• Attacking Weapon Ammo Type,
• Random Factors

This could lead to players seeing their shots hit a target, yet do no damage. A little green wave animation would indicate the shot they had seen hit had been judged a miss.

This system has been replaced by a simpler non-random system. If your target is in range your shot will hit 100% of the time. The raw damage power of your ship is now adjusted by these things:

• Hull Multiplier
  • Calculated based on your ships "Ammo Type" and the defending ships "Hull Type"
    • Found in your ships tool tip as "Attack Multiplier" and in the reference tab as "Hull Type Multiplier"

• Attacking Ships Armor Piercing Rating
• Defending Ships Armor Rating

• Other Boosting Ships/Structures/Conditions on the Planet

In the following calculation:

• "damage" is adjusted if there are boosting:
  • Ships like "Munitions Boosters and some Starships
  • Structures like "Military Command Stations"
  • Conditions like Zenith Mirrors have "All Attackers Get Damage Bonus 10x Against This Ship" or
  • firing from under the cover of a Forcefield reduces damage by 75%

• (armor - armor piercing)
  • This can never be less than zero.
  • Excess armor piercing is ignored.

• The minimum damage is at least (damage*hull multiplier)*5%
  • If armor is much stronger than armor piercing then it is possible for the first part of the complete equation below to go to zero.
  • This insures at least some damage occurs, unless the hull multiplier is zero, indicating imunity.^Verify

• Finally a game speed (Epic,Normal,Blitz) scale multiplier is applied

MAX(((damage * hull multiplier) - (armor - armor piercing)), damage*hull multiplier*.05) * speed scale multiplier

Selecting one of your ships in the game and hovering over a valid target will yield the final calculated damage your ship will do with every hit.

NOTE: Target Ship Immunities (like immunity to missiles), Force Fields protecting the target or , Attack Ship Immunities (like Forcefield Immunity) will affect the final damage number and can make the target invalid (zero damage), change the affected target (protecting force field take damage instead), surprise you (attacker ignores the protecting force field as if it was not there)

Immunities - Two Examples

Immunity to Insta Kill

• This defense related immunity results in Ion Cannons and other ships with the "Insta Kill" ability being unable to attack this particular ship.

Immunity to Force Fields

• This attack related immunity means this ship can attack ships/structures "protected" by force fields as if the force field was not there. In other words force fields are ignored by ships with this attack related immunity.
  • Example: Raid StarShips can attack command stations under force fields and kill them very quickly.
  • One exception: The Command Station Shield Guard Post Protects its Command Station from all attacks until the Shield Guard Post is destroyed.

Hull Types

The predictable interaction between Attacking "Ammo Type" and Defending "Hull Type" is at the core of the new combat system.

Hull Type Partial List

• Ultra-Light
• Light
• Medium
• Heavy
• Ultra-Heavy

• Artillery
• Close-Combat
• Composite
• Command-Grade
• Neutron
• Polycrystal
• Refractive
• Scout
• Swarmer
• Turret

Hull Multipliers

Vary from 0 to 50

+50 Acid Sprayer vrs Neutron and Composite Hulls

Armor

A separate value from Hull Type assigned to a particular ship for balance purposes.

Armor Piercing

A separate value from Ammo Type assigned to a particular ship for balance purposes.

Siege and Bomber Starships, A Class Apart

• Siege and Bomber Starships will not attack fleet ships regardless of Hull Type.
• They are designed to Kill:
  • Structures
  • Force Fields including force field bearers
  • Other Starships

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