Attack and defense damage questions

[jaket]

Has anyone figured out when the damage is rounded off to the nearest whole number? When you have estimated damage it reads something like Attack 1, defender 2. I believe this means that the calculated damage the attacker should take is about 1 and the Defender is about 2 (does this mean it has used the readiness*etc calculation and is is between .5 and 1.5 expected damage?)

It then takes that ~1 and ~2 damage and the random damage that is actually done is 0,1,2 to the attacker and 1,2,3 to the defender. Is this correct? Seems to be, but I could be way off. Now my specific question is that if you actually only should do 1.6 points of damage, does it randomly assign damage between .6 and 2.6, then round off to the actual damage or does it round off .6 to 1 then calculate damage. This may seem small, but has anyone found out? If it rounds off early, very small amounts of readiness or strength could be the difference in many battles.

Or just ignore this post because you are waiting for SCII

Thanks

[Terif]

Combat formulas take many factors into account (i.e. experience, attack and defence types, defensive bonuses, entrenchment, HQ ratings, rivers etc). After all calculations have been done, it is rounded up to the next whole number and displayed as expected combat results before you attack.

After that - in the real combat - there is a +/- 1 point variation thrown into the mix to add some randomness to the battle.

Since it is rounded at the end of the calculations, small amounts of readiness/strength etc. make either no difference or a full point difference, there´s nothing between.

[zappsweden]

The biggest jump in SC is when your unit instead of getting a 1-1 gets a 0-2 odds (due to experience).

By knowing this you can change the order of your attacks so that a unit near the rounding barrier gets on the right side

Yooooda, are you sleepy?!

Took you 3 hours to reply, do your duty dude

[jon_j_rambo]

Lighter side of Yoda, sucking down a Bud w/ a very large Switzer Sweet Cigar after watching some American football via satelitte.

[jaket]

Thank you. That is very valuable information. If I read that correctly, the damage calculated with the Defender losses formula is say 1.1, then it will be rounded up to 2 damage, while if it is .95, it will still round to 0. It does this rounding before it uses in random battle damage that can be +/-1 from the already rounded number. That is wear your experience or which HQ you are with in some cases can make all the difference.

I did not realize it rounded up. That makes Zapps point very important.

The other interesting aspect of this is that on the defensive end, the entrenchment, and defensive terrain bonus can make a big difference as well to keep the defender losses down. I believe a wise man on these forums made it clear that any kind of defensive bonus, even forests, is way better then nothing. That defensive bonus applies to every attack that turn. I have seen the forest hex in France take a beating when it had HQ support. It must have been just barely high enough to round everyone down a point.

[Terif]

It rounds mathematical correct (not 1.1 = 1 ), so it is:

0.5-1.49 i.e. it rounds to 1

1.5-2.49 = 2

etc.

And yes, terrain is very important for a defender. That´s why as Russia you should never defend in open terrain, but entrench behind rivers and marshes, in cities, forests and mountains. Entrenchment is good, but since it is removed after the first attacks, terrain bonus is better .

[jon_j_rambo]

Yoda on mathematics, I like it. Do they have greatest integer function in Germany?

[jaket]

Great, mathmatically correct rounding would be logical in math applications, however, I was making no assumption of logic for SC.

The .5 rounding makes the threshold for higher damage relatively low.

I am not sure how this knowledge will help me, but I feel that it will.

Thanks again!