Combat ====== Combat in Olympia occurs when one stack attacks another stack. A unit will be defended by any other characters it is stacked with. Thus, a unit which is part of a stack cannot be attacked alone. No matter which unit is specified in the ATTACK order, the entire stack containing the unit will respond. Only the leader of a stack may initiate combat. If another unit in a stack wants to issue ATTACK, it must first drop out of the stack. Combat involves nobles, who possess strong heroic fighting abilities, and fighters who may accompany them. Fighters include soldiers, pikemen, swordsmen, knights, elite guard, crossbowmen, archers, and elite archers. Resolution of battle -------------------- Each kind of fighter has an attack and defense rating: attack defense missile +---------------------------- peasant | 1 1 worker | 1 1 sailor | 1 1 soldier | 5 5 pikeman | 5 30 swordsman | 15 15 pirate | 5 (15) 5 (15) knight | 45 (20) 45 (20) elite guard | 90 (65) 90 (65) crossbowman | 1 1 25 archer | 5 5 50 elite archer | 10 10 75 Numbers in parenthesis are for shipboard combat. Nobles have strong innate heroic abilities, and so even an unarmed, untrained noble is a formidable opponent on the battlefield. A noble is rated (attack=80, defense=80, missile=0). A blessed soldier fights with the same attack and defense values as a regular soldier, but has a 50% chance of surviving a hit. A pirate fights (15,15,0) on a ship, but only (5,5,0) on land. Knights and elite guard receive a -25 penalty to both their attack and defense ratings when fighting on a ship or in a swamp province. During combat, a random man is chosen to attack. If the attack succeeds, the target is removed from battle. This continues until the battle is over. More specifically: 1. A man is picked at random to attack. This man may be from either side in the battle. For example, if there are 10 men on side A, and 20 men on side B, there is a 1/3 chance that one of A's men will be chosen, and a 2/3 chance that one of B's men will be chosen. 2. The attacker chooses an enemy target at random. The target may be any of the men in the enemy's front units. A ship or building housing the enemy also counts as a potential target. In other words, if there are five men in a tower, each man has 1/6 chance of being selected as a target, and the tower also has 1/6 chance of being paired with an attacker. 3. The chance that the attacker will score a hit against the target is: A = attacker's attack rating B = target's defense rating A / (A + B) For example: A(attack=90) vs B(defense=45) A has a 2/3 chance of killing B A(attack=90) vs B(defense=90) A has a 1/2 chance of killing B 4. If the attacker scores a hit against a noble, the noble will receive a random wound of 1-100 health points. Note that there is a 1% chance that a perfectly healthy noble will be instantly killed, and a greater chance that a previously wounded noble will die. (See the section on health for more information on wounds, illness and healing.) Wounded nobles do not continue fighting, even if their wounds are minor. If a hit is scored against a fighter (soldiers, pikemen, archers, etc.), the fighter is killed. However, a blessed soldier has a 50% chance of surviving a hit. A man successfully attacking a building or a ship will cause one point of damage to the structure. A siege engine attacking a building will cause 5-10 points of damage. 5. Repeats until a side breaks. A side breaks when its total offensive plus defensive value falls by 50%. For instance, a noble plus two pikemen has a value of (80+80) + (5+30) + (5+30) = 230 break point: 115 A noble plus two knights has a value of (80+80) + (45+45) + (45+45) = 340 break point: 170 Therefore, a noble with two pikemen will continue to fight if the pikemen are killed. However, a noble with two knights will be declared the loser if both knights are killed. The offensive value used is either the attack or the effective missile rating, whichever is higher. Note that in step 4, if the target is not hit, the target does not immediately retaliate against the attacker. Only when the target is randomly selected to make an attack will it have a chance to score a hit. The winner in combat will attempt to take prisoners. The chance that a given defeated unit will be taken prisoner is proportional to the sizes of the remaining forces. (Taking prisoners in battle and claiming loot requires many soldiers to run after the fleeing enemy. Thus, the chance of success is based on numerical advantage rather than combat skill.) 1:1 25% 2:1 50% 3:1 75% If the winning side outnumbers the defeated force by 2:1, there is a 50% chance that a given defeated unit will be captured. Defeated units which are not captured retreat from battle. If they are occupying a building or are located in a city, they may flee into the outlying province. The victor always has at least a 25% chance of taking a unit prisoner, but no better than a 75% chance. The victor will claim the defender's position in the location list if it is better, or will move into the defender's structure, ejecting the losing force. (The attacker may specify a flag to the ATTACK order to inhibit this behavior.) Prisoners are stripped of their belongings by the victor, including any men accompanying the prisoners, such as workers or peasants. The stack leader of the winning force receives all of the loot from the battle. Front and rear -------------- Units may issue the BEHIND command to declare whether they will line the front or the rear in battle. Rear units do not become targets for the enemy until all of the units in the rows in front of them have been killed. Only missile fighters, such as archers, may attack from the rear. The leader of each stack (the top-most unit in the stack) will be the last unit to receive hits, regardless of its BEHIND status. Missile Attacks --------------- Units in the rear may attack with their missile rating. Units in front attack with either their missile rating, or their attack rating, whichever is higher. Thus, a noble with rating (attack=80, defense=80, missile=40) will do an attack of 40 when in the rear, and an attack of 80 when in front. If the location of the battle is windy, all missile ratings are halved. If it is raining, the missile rating for archers and elite archers is reduced to zero. If a fighter's missile rating is zero, it can not attack from the rear. In this case, the fighter will use its attack rating like a regular soldier. Fortifications -------------- Structures which may aid fighters in battle are rated for their defensive bonus. Castle Imperius [gx56], castle, defense 25 During battle, the fortification rating is added to the defense number for the men who fit inside the structure. structure men protected --------- ------------- Castle first 500 Tower first 100 Galley or roundship first 50 Other structures first 50 Attacking fighters may randomly select the structure instead of an enemy fighter. The attack is resolved in the same way as for two fighters, using the attacker's attack rating and the structure's defense rating. If the attacker is successful the structure's defense rating will be lowered by one point. Once the defense rating reaches zero, further hits will cause the building to become damaged. A fully damaged building (100% damage) will collapse, ejecting its occupants. Siege engines always select the structure as a target. engine attack defense missile ------ ------ ------- ------- catapult 25 200 25 battering ram 30 250 siege tower 30 250 Siege engines do 5-10 points of damage to the structure per hit. Siege engines are not used in combat at sea. Item bonuses ------------ Nobles may possess items which grant attack, defense or missile bonuses in combat. Only one item may be wielded for each category. If the noble possesses multiple items with bonuses in the same area, the item with the largest bonus will be chosen. For example, suppose Osswid had the following items: Shield of Achilles [fx78] +25 defense Sword of Death [gl23] +10 attack Mithril Axe [wt29] +15 attack Magic javelin [ht02] +5 missile Osswid would wield the javelin and axe, and wear the shield. He would not use the Sword of Death. Nobles automatically use items with combat bonuses in battle. No special orders are needed to wield them.