Combat Difficulty setting

[soulmata]

Can anyone shed a bit of light on how the combat difficult setting modifies gameplay?

I have been playing through SI on +3 (Hardest) and am definitely getting myself stomped on quite a bit. I am trying to make it through, start to finish, without ever dying once. That's a tall order considering the low HP max, but it might be made easier if I understood more how the setting adjustment combat mechanics.

Does it increase your chance to get hit? If so, percentages?

Does it decrease your chance to hit? If so, percentages?

Does it increase the damage you take? If so, how much?

Does it decrease the damage you deliver? If so, how much?


Also, I am curious if anyone has a firm answer on how exactly the "Combat" skill affects you in combat. Does it in any way reduce the amount of damage you take, decrease the damage you take or anything else? I am curious as to how exactly exult handles a "Damage Roll" if it were.

[marzo]

For all intents and purposes, the difficulty setting does the following things:
* Increases enemy Combat, damage and armor;
* Decreases your Combat, damage and armor.
The change in the value is equal to the difficulty rating; you add it to enemy statistics and subtract it from yours.

The to-hit roll is effectively a 30-sided dice; 30 always hits and 1 always misses. You take your Combat value, subtract your opponents' and add 15; if the die roll is at least equal to this value, you score a hit. So a difficulty of +1 effects a change of 2/30 in probability, or 6.666...% (it is actually slightly different from that because of 1 and 30). There are some other bonuses or penalties (some weapons and missiles give bonuses to hit, some always hit, missiles have range penalties), but that is the basic.

Damage is rolled differently: a random value from 1 to 1/3 your strength (if nonzero), plus a random value from 1 to all weapon and missile bonuses (if the total is nonzero). Enemies increase their damage by a fixed amount equal to the combat difficulty, while party members lower it by the same value.

Damage is reduced by armor; armor protects by a random value between 1 and the total protection of all armor pieces. Enemies add difficulty setting to total armor, party members subtract it (this is before randomizing); armor can never be negative.

Damage is further complicated by the fact that some damage types do not use strength (e.g., lightning), some ignore armor (lightning, ethereal and sonic) and a weapon that does 127 damage (e.g., glass swords) do a fixed 127 points (ignoring strength and difficulty) *and* ignore armor. Also, some armor and monster flags give immunity to a damage type, and some monster flags give vulnerability to a damage type (doubling final damage).

Moreover, paralyzed, sleeping or unconscious characters may still take damage even if armor gives complete protection (the strength portion of the damage, regardless of damage type or anything else).

[soulmata]

Really? I was under the impression that armor *only* reduced your chance to get hit, and had no impact on the actual amount of damage you sustained. Is this wrong?

[marzo]

I was under the impression that armor *only* reduced your chance to get hit, and had no impact on the actual amount of damage you sustained. Is this wrong?

Aye, it is wrong: armor has no effect on the likelihood of being hit, it directly affects damage taken. As far as I can tell, the originals work in the same way.

[soulmata]

That +3 is more powerful than it seems

Even wearing full plate mail and using a shield, Dupre takes a royal beating from cows and deers.

[marzo]

You must remember that it takes effectively double effect: it hurts party members *and* helps enemies, all at the same time. Not only will enemies cause more damage, but your armor will be less effective; and not only will you cause less damage, but your enemies' armor will be more effective. Not only will enemies "dodge" better, but your fighting skill will be reduced; likewise, not only will you "dodge" worse, your enemies' fighting skill will be improved.

[Shaun]

Just as an aside: I LOVE this feature! I've been playing with the game at +2 difficulty and it brings a whole new tactical level to surviving encounters. Used to be you could just hit the combat button and get up and go get a drink. Not anymore!