Post by Ziphion on Sept 4, 2014 17:51:33 GMT -8
Ok, I tested this out. First I implemented the system as such: using the original derived stat system (Life Points = Build + Resolve + 3), two opponents take turns attacking each other until one of them dies (with an initiative flip to determine who goes first). Both opponents have a "blue" weapon, and zero for all stats except for Strength (for the "melee character") and Agility (for the "ranged character"). Here are the results:
So you can see that Agility still has the advantage here, even though Strength got the slight damage boost in adding pips to damage instead of checks. Since the ranged character had an advantage even before giving him an extra attack like DI suggested, I just skipped that and went straight into testing this damage scheme under the altered derived stats that I like so much: Life Points = Build + (Resolve or Strength) + 5. The results make me very happy.
So here's what you're looking at: The blue line indicates the melee character's chance to win in combat against the ranged character, if they're just trading blows; melee guy swings, ranged guy backs up and shoots, melee guy runs up and swings again. The red line indicates the melee character's chance to win if at some point during the fight, the ranged character is able to attempt a single shot without the melee character being able to attack him that round (this could be from being immobilized, hindered by terrain or a tank character, anything). The purple line is the average of those. Just look how close to 50% that average is! That means if a melee guy is harrying a ranged guy, and keeps running up and smacking him every time the ranged guy gets some space, the melee guy will have an advantage (makes sense to me), but if the ranged guy is able to maintain enough space to make one attack without retaliation in a fight, he gets the advantage. I like that. Here's some more data with different armor/weapon combos:
The average creeps a bit higher, meaning the melee character has a larger advantage when both characters have armor. But this makes sense, because if the fight lasts longer, that one extra shot means a bit less than it did when the fight was shorter. If I had implemented something like "every four turns, assume the ranged character can get an unreciprocated attack in", instead of "at the start of the fight, the ranged character makes one unreciprocated attack", then I imagine the red line would be lower.
Better armor, longer fights, more favor to melee character.
Green weapon and blue armor: Average hovers around 50% again, climbs a bit near endgame.
I don't know why I hadn't thought to try to simulate an agility-based character's range advantage before, but now that I see the results, I really like how this looks. I like how melee has an advantage (though not a huge one) when given the chance to attack a ranged character every round, and the advantage goes away if the ranged character can keep him at bay for one round every couple of fights. It's intuitive, and the actual mechanic adds a nice degree of differentiation between the two different types of attacks. Thumbs up!
So you can see that Agility still has the advantage here, even though Strength got the slight damage boost in adding pips to damage instead of checks. Since the ranged character had an advantage even before giving him an extra attack like DI suggested, I just skipped that and went straight into testing this damage scheme under the altered derived stats that I like so much: Life Points = Build + (Resolve or Strength) + 5. The results make me very happy.
So here's what you're looking at: The blue line indicates the melee character's chance to win in combat against the ranged character, if they're just trading blows; melee guy swings, ranged guy backs up and shoots, melee guy runs up and swings again. The red line indicates the melee character's chance to win if at some point during the fight, the ranged character is able to attempt a single shot without the melee character being able to attack him that round (this could be from being immobilized, hindered by terrain or a tank character, anything). The purple line is the average of those. Just look how close to 50% that average is! That means if a melee guy is harrying a ranged guy, and keeps running up and smacking him every time the ranged guy gets some space, the melee guy will have an advantage (makes sense to me), but if the ranged guy is able to maintain enough space to make one attack without retaliation in a fight, he gets the advantage. I like that. Here's some more data with different armor/weapon combos:
The average creeps a bit higher, meaning the melee character has a larger advantage when both characters have armor. But this makes sense, because if the fight lasts longer, that one extra shot means a bit less than it did when the fight was shorter. If I had implemented something like "every four turns, assume the ranged character can get an unreciprocated attack in", instead of "at the start of the fight, the ranged character makes one unreciprocated attack", then I imagine the red line would be lower.
Better armor, longer fights, more favor to melee character.
Green weapon and blue armor: Average hovers around 50% again, climbs a bit near endgame.
I don't know why I hadn't thought to try to simulate an agility-based character's range advantage before, but now that I see the results, I really like how this looks. I like how melee has an advantage (though not a huge one) when given the chance to attack a ranged character every round, and the advantage goes away if the ranged character can keep him at bay for one round every couple of fights. It's intuitive, and the actual mechanic adds a nice degree of differentiation between the two different types of attacks. Thumbs up!
