Yet another Reactive Armor post

[Mikel123]

...because I can't get enough of trying to figure out what this turd of a 1st circle spell does.

Attacker was a Tank mage (100 STR, 100 Tactics, 0 Anatomy) with an exceptional halberd. Defender took 54 hits with Reactive Armor freshly cast.

4 of the hits struck for 0 damage and returned some damage to the attacker (usually 4 damage I think).
50 of the hits struck for >0 damage, and did not return damage to the attacker. In these cases, I got the "Your Reactive Armor has been nullified" message.

The lowest damage hit I recorded was 12 damage.

If I take the average damage of my 50 non-zero hits, it is almost precisely the same as the average damage I take without Reactive Armor in a separate test with the same setup.

My hunch is that Reactive Armor works like this:

1) start with 11 (or 10?) points
2) get hit
3) if hit <= remaining points, reflect some damage to attacker, and prevent all damage to RA wearer
4) remaining points equals points minus damage prevented
5) repeat steps 2-4
6) if hit > remaining points, do nothing and give the "nullified" message

The biggest thing that surprised me was that Reactive Armor appears to do nothing if the attack damage is greater than the amount of RA points remaining. My understanding was that it would still block something. I.E. if RA absorbs 10 damage and reflects 40% of that, if I took a hit that rolled 30 damage, I'd end up taking 20 damage and giving 4 to the attacker. Here it seems like I take 30 damage and reflect 0.

[FishinPro]

On a side note: RA must be recast after server start so it is not being saved on the char like reflect does. Please fix.

[Kaivan]

From the sound of your tests, Reactive Armor isn't working the way it's supposed to at all. Here's how it works in the demo.

When reactive armor is first cast on a target, if the target does not already have reactive armor cast on them, it is placed on the target and has a callback script set up to remove the script in x seconds using the following equation:

Code: Select all

(25 + Caster's Magery) / 2 = Total Time for RA

While the reactive armor script is on a target, each time the target is hit, a percentage of damage is removed and reflected using the following equation:

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(10 + Target's Magery) / 4 * Incoming Damage = Total Reflected Damage

The result is that anywhere from 2% to 27% of all incoming damage is reflected from any source, provided that the target with reactive armor is standing within 1 tile of the attacker, and the attacker is a source that can have damage reflected back at it.

Finally, when a player logs in and they are loaded into the world (i.e. logging in from instant log out, after waiting 5 minutes, or after a server restart), the reactive armor script specifically removes itself from the player, provided the script is still on the player.

Cross referencing with the patch notes and newsgroups, there were a few minor bug fixes for interactions between reactive armor and other skills, but no indication that the functionality was changed until UOR.

[Mikel123]

From the sound of your tests, Reactive Armor isn't working the way it's supposed to at all. Here's how it works in the demo.

When reactive armor is first cast on a target, if the target does not already have reactive armor cast on them, it is placed on the target and has a callback script set up to remove the script in x seconds using the following equation:

Code: Select all

(25 + Caster's Magery) / 2 = Total Time for RA

Interesting. A usergroup post I found was complaining that "it only lasts like 15 seconds". I thought it was just an odd isolated complaint but it sounds like indeed there was a time limit associated with it.

While the reactive armor script is on a target, each time the target is hit, a percentage of damage is removed and reflected using the following equation:

Code: Select all

(10 + Target's Magery) / 4 * Incoming Damage = Total Reflected Damage

The result is that anywhere from 2% to 27% of all incoming damage is reflected from any source, provided that the target with reactive armor is standing within 1 tile of the attacker, and the attacker is a source that can have damage reflected back at it.

Cool. I didn't check the archery/spell from range=1, but that range check did come up a while back and is supposedly incorporated here.

And presumably this reflection lasts the duration of the spell? This would sort of explain the various posts talking about casting RA on a blade spirit and letting Balrons essentially kill themselves on it. I had chalked this up to a bug. I guess it requires the blade spirit (or EV) to have a massively higher effective HP than the Balron, so maybe the effectiveness of this strategy is a mix of truth and hyperbole.

Finally, when a player logs in and they are loaded into the world (i.e. logging in from instant log out, after waiting 5 minutes, or after a server restart), the reactive armor script specifically removes itself from the player, provided the script is still on the player.

Sounds like according to FishingPro this actually already happens here. Great!

Cross referencing with the patch notes and newsgroups, there were a few minor bug fixes for interactions between reactive armor and other skills, but no indication that the functionality was changed until UOR.

Yeah, the major bug in 1999 appears to be the Paralyze bug, in which a Paralyzed player with Reactive Armor on would not break out of paralyzation if damaged by a spell.

[Robbbb]

Actually the RA is only removed after server down...the 5 minute logging thing doesn't matter.

[archaicsubrosa77]

Did you do any testing with RA and Physical Armor...just curious

[Mikel123]

Did you do any testing with RA and Physical Armor...just curious

I didn't. What would I be testing?

[uniqueuser]

Did you do any testing with RA and Physical Armor...just curious

I didn't. What would I be testing?

Whether RA mitigation occurs before or after armor mitigation in the damage calculation sequence (incidentally, it occurs after).

The implementation of RA on this server doesn't come close to approximating the spell's function from any era, let alone T2A.

[Mikel123]

I'm sure Derrick could easily determine if it's happening before or after armor. As for what's correct, I have no idea.

[uniqueuser]

I'm sure Derrick could easily determine if it's happening before or after armor. As for what's correct, I have no idea.

I said that it occurs afterwards.

You can easily determine this by allowing yourself to be struck by a monster (or player using a weapon) that deals more damage than RA absorbs, due to the fact that when damage received from a blow exceeds the amount that RA absorbs, its effect is canceled without absorbing any damage from the blow.

[Mikel123]

That assumes that the monster does more damage, every time, than RA can absorb. I don't know if that's the case; I have no idea how monster damage rolls work.

In any case, this still doesn't tell us if RA is supposed to work before or after the armor, and I haven't been able to determine that from anything I've read either, unfortunately.

[uniqueuser]

In any case, this still doesn't tell us if RA is supposed to work before or after the armor, and I haven't been able to determine that from anything I've read either, unfortunately.

Its effect is applied before armor, a fact which can be gleaned from reading the demo scripts and verified by in-demo testing.

Here's how it works in the demo.

A notable peculiarity is that the effect isn't triggered if struck while casting a spell, probably since the RA effect and the casting concentration check are both wasHit events.

[Mikel123]

Its effect is applied before armor, a fact which can be gleaned from reading the demo scripts and verified by in-demo testing.

LOL. Why not post this 3 posts ago?

[Kaivan]

In any case, this still doesn't tell us if RA is supposed to work before or after the armor, and I haven't been able to determine that from anything I've read either, unfortunately.

Its effect is applied before armor, a fact which can be gleaned from reading the demo scripts and verified by in-demo testing.

I don't think we can tell, for sure, whether reactive armor was applied before or after armor absorption strictly by looking at unmodified scripts. Although, it is currently understood that the washit event is passed to the scripts before any damage absorption is done through looking at the demo core.

Another source is the stratics combat page, which has reactive armor placed before damage absorption.

Here's how it works in the demo.

A notable peculiarity is that the effect isn't triggered if struck while casting a spell, probably since the RA effect and the casting concentration check are both wasHit events.

This is true, and this issue might be the same issue that's referred to in the 4/14/99 patch notes:

A problem with the interaction of paralyze and reactive armor was fixed.

[uniqueuser]

LOL. Why not post this 3 posts ago?

Because until now I was talking about the behavior of the bastardized implementation of RA currently on UOSA:

Did you do any testing with RA and Physical Armor...just curious

not the historically authentic version.