I'm having a great time with the alpha! If it were released in its present state, it'd be my favorite space 4X since MOO2, and I play ALL OF THEM. I'll start posting bugs and feedback as soon as I stop having fun and clean up my list...



Have there been any clues from the devs on the actual numbers behind combat? The math is obviously more complex than a simple "beam attack strength vs. beam defense strength" comparison. Missiles, in particular, behave very differently from beams and kinetics in the timing of their damage, and seemingly, in how likely they are to bypass defenses. (In my experience, defense levels that would be overkill against beams and kinetics are often inadequate against missiles. Perhaps because their damage seems more focused on single targets -- perhaps because fewer overall salvos are fired?)



So: does anyone know any actual combat math yet? How do the various damage and defense numbers interact? How does a flak module's "interception chance" affect missiles compared to, say, how a shield's "absorption amount" affects beams? Obsessive ship designers and balance junkies need to know!



If you don't have real numbers, rampant speculation is also fine.

I'm just gonna take a guess how everything works... I don't know anything for sure.



Phases - Each phase appears to have 3 "salvos", for 9 total. Obviously we know that Missiles best in long, beam in medium and kinetic in close. I've seen things die to beam in long (and even kinetic), so they do work there too.



Weapons - They all have a "min-max" damage. Just appears to be a random roll between those 2 if the weapon hits. All weapon seem to have critical and accuracy... Dunno what either do. Accuracy says "1" for all weapons.

Missiles - Got an intercept evasion chance i dunno what that does. Seems to increase odds it won't get hit by flak.



Deflection and Shields - Both seem to be static "armor" values. e.g. If I have 50 deflection, you have to hit me with 51 kinetic damage to hurt me with kinetic. Dunno if these work at all for the other weapon type.

Flak - No idea how this works. Never gotten it to be really useful. Seems to increase intercept chance... Dunno.

All weapons fires at each stage. But a different kind of weapon get a bonus.

Missiles are always fired at the end of a phase.



Defenses just substract their value to the attacking force.

One last post... then I must sleep. So. Tired...



Ah, right! Math.



In my recent game (United Empire), I did some tests to try to figure out combat algorithms. At the start of the game, I was sure only MP affected combat; flagrantly not true. My next test was of course my complex; what does combat effect? So, I threw low-end ship designs repeatedly at the enemy, swapping weapons and kit to see how effective things were.



Some things I noticed (speculated):

- It is possible for grossly underteched, underequipped, underMP ships to win with the right kit. There is a huge amount of tacticality possible in combat... Unfortunately, it is not always obvious. Naturally, attacking an un-chaff-resistatent destroyer with missile barges is great fun; but more interesting still is that the number of volleys sometimes varies; I've had kinetics, for example, go off 1-5 times a round. WAD? I think so, probably relating to heroes/MP/a die-roll or RNG factor.

- Armor seems to be, ceteris parabis, the best investment for your money. Beams at least are highly affected by armor; I notice, however, that armor's effectiveness trails that of later weapons. Railguns+ still are stopped by armor, but eat through it at a greater percentile than Railguns- versus simple plating. Higher damage stat? Armor-piercing? Regardless, it's interesting to me. Possibly useful for ship design?

- Missiles are a favorite, but they are easier to shoot down in launch at melee range- and I think in melee, offensive chaff can hurt the enemy(!). Naturally, a confirmation of this would be appreciated.

- A bit pushing it for 'combat' stats, but does a scout's influence mod boost/stack with planetary invasion mods?



More to come when not tired. Rote some of this down somewhere, just can't remember where, wahahah!

If you hover above the weapons you'll see the crit range and the number of salvo (not always the same)

But defense is always the same it seems.