Weapon damage formula

[Mikel123]

Inspired by Kabal's reagent steal testing, I decided to test out weapon damages to ensure my weapon tables are using the right formula. For reference, I calculate damage like this:

GM Weapon, 100 Tactics, 100 STR:
Final Damage = [(BaseDamage+4)*(1.5+0.2)]/2

+25 vanq weapon, 100 Tactics (+25), 100 STR:
Final Damage = [(BaseDamage+9)*(1.5+0.25+0.2)]/2

Upon testing, I saw the following:

GM Halberd, 100 STR, 100 Tactics: 28.4 average dmg (expected: 26.4)
+25 Vanq Halberd, 100 STR, 100 Tactics: 32.2 average dmg (expected: 35.1)

This was across a sample of 50 swings with each. Both are within the 95% confidence interval of the expected value, so that's fine.

HOWEVER... with the +25 vanq weapon, I got a swing that did less damage than I thought possible. One swing hit for merely 12. According to my formula, I can plug in the base damage of 5+9 for "base damage" since 5 is the lowest Halberd roll possible and it's a vanq so I add 9:

Final Damage = [(BaseDamage+9)*(1.5+0.25+0.2)]/2
Final Damage = [(14)*(1.95)]/2
Final Damage = 13.65 = 14

The halberd Arms Lore'd as unused after that hit of 12, so that shouldn't be the issue.

I see three possibilities: (1) the formulas in the game are wrong, (2) my derivation of the formulas is wrong, or (3) perhaps there is some rounding to integers during the damage calculation.

Can anyone shed some light on this?

[Mikel123]

Hmm... even if I round down everything:

14 base damage
10 Tactics damage
2 STR damage

...that still adds to 26 and thus 13 damage after you divide by 2. So perhaps my (3rd) possible explanation can be ruled out.

[Kaivan]

A fourth possibility is that the damage modifier is added at the end of the calculation such that Vanquishing adds 9 damage to the overall damage of the weapon calculation like the tactics bonus. As far as I know, this is how it's handled on UOSA. Of course, we don't have any real information showing how these bonuses were applied during the era, and what's worse is that any information we reveal from the demo may be incorrect information given the retroactive weapons fix that was applied as part of the 11/10/98 patch which adjusted all weapons to a new weapons scale.

But if we operate under the assumption that such calculations are placed at the end, a +25 vanquishing halberd's minimum damage should be 11 damage, with 100 strength, 100 tactics, and 0 anatomy.

[Mikel123]

Yes, seems like that would explain it.

I get slightly different numbers though. BaseDamage = 5, vanq bonus =9, +25 tactics, so:

Damage = (5+9) + 5*0.75 + 5*0.2
Damage = 14 + 3.75 + 1
Damage = 18.75
divide by two and get 9.375

Do you know if we round each bonus section down to the nearest whole number? (won't impact this particular calculation above, just curious though)

Thanks!

[Mikel123]

Of course, we don't have any real information showing how these bonuses were applied during the era

Looking at the Combat damage page (http://www.uosecondage.com/stratics/combat.html), I'd actually say it would make the most sense if the ruin->vanq bonuses were applied to STR, Anat, and Tactics bonuses due to being considered a part of the "base damage" of the weapon. If vanq et al. were applied independently, I'd expect we would see a separate line item for them in the calculations:

1) Determine Speed of Attack.
2) Determine % Chance to Hit.
3) Randomly determine base damage, within weapon's damage range.
4a) Determine Tactics Modifier to Damage Dealt to base damage.
4b) Add STR Bonuses to Damage Dealt to base damage.
4c) Add Anatomy Bonuses to Damage Dealt to base damage.
5) Double all Spell-damage against non-players.
6) Check for magical defenses. (Reactive Armor, for example).
7) Modify for Chance to Block an Attack with / Damage Absorbed by Shield. (Ignore if Defender is not wearing a shield).
Determine Hit Location
9) Modify for Damage Absorbed by Armor
10) Halve all remaining damage.
11) Apply final damage.

[Kaivan]

Yes, seems like that would explain it.

I get slightly different numbers though. BaseDamage = 5, vanq bonus =9, +25 tactics, so:

Damage = (5+9) + 5*0.75 + 5*0.2
Damage = 14 + 3.75 + 1
Damage = 18.75
divide by two and get 9.375

Do you know if we round each bonus section down to the nearest whole number? (won't impact this particular calculation above, just curious though)

Thanks!

Your calculation is correct, I accidentally did the math using 9 as the base damage and added 5 to it.

Of course, we don't have any real information showing how these bonuses were applied during the era

Looking at the Combat damage page (http://www.uosecondage.com/stratics/combat.html), I'd actually say it would make the most sense if the ruin->vanq bonuses were applied to STR, Anat, and Tactics bonuses due to being considered a part of the "base damage" of the weapon. If vanq et al. were applied independently, I'd expect we would see a separate line item for them in the calculations:

1) Determine Speed of Attack.
2) Determine % Chance to Hit.
3) Randomly determine base damage, within weapon's damage range.
4a) Determine Tactics Modifier to Damage Dealt to base damage.
4b) Add STR Bonuses to Damage Dealt to base damage.
4c) Add Anatomy Bonuses to Damage Dealt to base damage.
5) Double all Spell-damage against non-players.
6) Check for magical defenses. (Reactive Armor, for example).
7) Modify for Chance to Block an Attack with / Damage Absorbed by Shield. (Ignore if Defender is not wearing a shield).
Determine Hit Location
9) Modify for Damage Absorbed by Armor
10) Halve all remaining damage.
11) Apply final damage.

It's possible that this is the case, but I'd like to get more definitive information than the combat page for stratics.