Mechanics

[feline monstrosity]

I was reading a post by xerex asking what each of the stats actually did and I had a thought. Somebody said that Mr. Jeff the Almighty liked to keep in secret the mechanics of his games and finding out what the stats actually did was left to the calculations and experiments of players with far too much time. So I was wondering, has anybody actually done this or will they? Because I would be interested to know exactly what each stat did and how damage is calculated in battle etc.

Could anybody do this?

[Callie]

Well, I suppose someone who has the capability of reading computer script can. Otherwise everyone should cope just fine.

[John S]

Quote:

Originally written by Excalibur:
Well, I suppose someone who has the capability of reading computer script can. Otherwise everyone should cope just fine.

As far as I know, there is no way to directly view the game formulas without the source code. The only Spiderweb Software game whose source code is accessible is Blades of Exile. There have been significant engine changes between Blades of Exile and Avernum 5.

However, as the original poster wrote, people may have already determined the formulas by changing their stats and examining the resulting changes.

[Lilith]

We actually do know a lot about how damage is calculated, mostly thanks to the Blades of Avernum documentation, which gives a fairly detailed explanation of how damage works in the Avernum series.

 

Every weapon has a basic number of dice of damage and also a die size. For example, let's say that a particular sword does a base damage of 10-30. Divide the maximum damage by the minimum and you'll see that it uses three-sided dice; the damage it does is equivalent to rolling 10d3.

 

Now, here's the part that's important for powergamers: every level of Strength, Melee Weapons and Blademaster will add one extra die of damage -- that is, 1-3 damage. So if you have 10 Strength, 10 Melee Weapons and 5 Blademaster, you get an extra 25 dice of damage above the base, bringing its total damage to 35-105.

 

Short version: most of the time, weapons with bigger dice are better.

[Student of Trinity]

To be specific: even highly enchanted short swords generally have 2-sided dice, while broadswords have 3-sided, and halberds have 4-sided. So somebody with high Strength, weapon skill and Blademaster skill will often do a lot better with a plain broadsword or halberd than a super-magic shortsword, even if the damage listed in the weapon description is much higher for the short sword. And a magic weapon with larger dice than usual can be really, really valuable.

 

You can tell what kind of dice a weapon rolls, as Thuryl explained, from the stated damage range.

 

It's also worth noting that some magic weapons do different kinds of damage. The fiery longsword, for instance, does fire damage rather than physical damage. Since some monsters resist fire very well but physical poorly, or the other way round, it's definitely worth keeping that fiery sword in a quickslot, and switching it in or out depending on your enemy. The difference can be really dramatic.

 

Then there are side effects for some special weapons, like spraying acid or cursing, or raising ability scores. Which is worthwhile when? Between this and the battle disciplines, A5 melee combat is actually somewhat interesting.

[feline monstrosity]

Hehe, forgot I'd posted this.

 

This is interesting and informative... I'll have to do some calculations with the equipment I have.

 

This is the sort of thing I was looking for.

 

Thanks for your help guys!