AoD combat stats and discussion thread

[Perkel]

STR:
- Damage bonus/mallus
- Stuff you can wear and hold
- crit acc up for legs, hands, whirlwind
DEX
- AP you have
- initiative (who goes first)
CON
- HP you have
- Critical strike defense CONx5 usually
PER
- to hit bonus/malus
- crit bonus acc for torso, arthery
INT
- more/less skillpoints
CHA
- nothing in combat
- provide ways to improve stats by training when you talk to people.

ARMOR STATS:
- DR - Damage reduction. How much armor will take from every strike damage. For example to beat DR 5 armor you need weapon that makes more than 5 damage or use attacks that make more than 5 damage.
- Hardness - resistance to denting (loosing DR)
- Max AP - max AP allowed in that armor to use each turn
- Armor penalty - dodge penalty/block penalty
- Sneak penalty - how hard is to sneak in it
- vs CS - defence against critical strikes
- THC reduction - To hit reduction (on helmets and on shields)

WEAPONS STATS:
- Damage - like you need to figure it out
- AP cost - same as above
- hardness - how hard/easy is with that weapon to dent enemy armor. More harder weapon way faster damaged armor
- CS bonus - critical strike bonus
- THC - To hit chance bonus
- passive value bonus - chance of dealing passive effect of your weapon increased. For swords bleeding, daggers piercing armor and so on.

TIPS:
DON'T MIX DODGE AND SHIELD. Those are mutually exclusive and only best one matters.

DODGE is best for nimble fighters that don't want to use armor. You have chance to counteratack which usually does much damage.

SHIELD is for heavy fighters that use armor (as it combines both DR values of armor and shield). Shield also has bash and power bash as abilities so you can safely move away from enemy range without causing attack of opportunity just by using shield.

 

[Saark]

Don't daggers increase the chance to critically hit when aiming, therefore enabling you to stack up on -accuracy/dodge on enemies quite easily?

 

[Bubbles]

Is it intended that the armor penalty on shields doesn't show up on the stat sheet? Does it even factor into the calculations?

edit: Ah, I see now - only the larger armor penalty from shield or armor is applied. Alright.

- Armor penalty - dodge penalty

And block penalty.

DON'T USE SHIELD WITH WORSE DR THAN YOUR ARMOR - They don't add up. So if you have DR 10 armor and use small shield only 3DR of all hits will be stopped when you block with shield and rest of damage will go like you wouldn't have any armor.

They stack for me.

One tip that nobody should miss: you can switch between fast, normal, and power attacks with the 1,2,3 keys

 

[Lurker King]

DEX is the main factor in combat initiative. Highest Dexterity goes first, if equal, highest Perception, if equal, highest weapon skill. It also adds 5% to Dodge for every point over 6. Shields, Bows (not crossbows!), Axes and Hammers are governed by STR. CON diminish the penalties of heavy armor, the effects of poison and the chance of stat damage. CHA does nothing in combat, but provide lots of training [CHA 6 or 7] that increase your chances at succeeding in combat.


Passive value bonus: is the chance of a special effect that each weapon has in a critical strike.


Swords – bleeding

Axe – savage blow (20% more damage, I think)

Hammers – dent the armor

Daggers – bypass armor

Crossbow – knockdown

Spear – Push the enemy back

Bow – I never used bows, you need to look inside the game for more information

 

[Lurker King]

Aimed attacks on arms and legs can do a stat damage or disarm your opponent. I think this happens when you do a critical strike. Something related should happen with aimed attacks at the head and the torso, but I don't remember.

 

[Bubbles]

Passive value bonus: is the chance of a special effect that each weapon has in a critical strike.

I'm not sure if weapon passives have any relation to crit effects; the help file doesn't mention it.

Spear – Push the enemy back

The stat screen claims it's "interrupt an opponent's attempt to get within melee range".

 

[Azrael the cat]

DEX is the main factor in combat initiative. Highest Dexterity goes first, if equal, highest Perception, if equal, highest weapon skill. It also adds 5% to Dodge for every point over 6. Shields, Bows (not crossbows!), Axes and Hammers are governed by STR. CON diminish the penalties of heavy armor, the effects of poison and the chance of stat damage. CHA does nothing in combat, but provide lots of training [CHA 6 or 7] that increase your chances at succeeding in combat.


Passive value bonus: is the chance of a special effect that each weapon has in a critical strike.


Swords – bleeding

Axe – savage blow (20% more damage, I think)

Hammers – dent the armor

Daggers – bypass armor

Crossbow – knockdown

Spear – Push the enemy back

Bow – I never used bows, you need to look inside the game for more information

Possibly more important as a crossbow bonus - unlike bows, you can shoot from point-blank. Very important for non-fighters with not enough AP to get free and take a shot, but who still want to use their high perception score for a couple of easy murders once they're geared up (Feng's rival, 1st arena fight).

 

[Saark]

Aimed attacks on arms and legs can do a stat damage or disarm your opponent. I think this happens when you do a critical strike. Something related should happen with aimed attacks at the head and the torso, but I don't remember.

Theres no aimed attacks for head. Torso Aimed attacks ignore 25% of the DR, criticals ignore 75% and lower their CON by 1. They also have a high chance to dent the armour.

Aimed leg attacks decrease dodge by a set amount, criticals double that amount aswell as decreasing DEX by 1.
Aimed arm attacks decrease accuracy by a set amount, criticals double that amount aswell as disarming and decreasing STR by 1. So far the only enemy I encountered that was immune or at least resistant to the -dodge/accuracy was the guardian in zamedi, he still got his stats reduced on crits though. Usually critting with a 4 AP dagger lowers it by 20, the guardian got a reduction of 0. Not sure if heavier weapons can still lower it or if he is entirely immune to it.

Dagger passive increases the chance on getting a critical on aimed attacks, in addition to what your regular critchance is. Thats why even against heavily armoured targets who have high 'vs CS' values you crit almost always which helps greatly thanks to the stat reductions aswell as the 75% DR reduction on aimed torso strikes.

 

[Lurker King]

I'm not sure if weapon passives have any relation to crit effects; the help file doesn't mention it.

It's related to the chance to trigger a special ability - I'm not sure about critical strikes.

The stat screen claims it's "interrupt an opponent's attempt to get within melee range".

The same thing: when the enemy tries to get close, you have a chance to push him back with the spear.

 

[Lurker King]

Theres no aimed attacks for head.

There is no aimed attacks for head in some weapons, like daggers. You can use aimed attacks to the head with the crossbow.

 

[Lurker King]

Dagger passive increases the chance on getting a critical on aimed attacks, in addition to what your regular critchance is.

That is correct.

 

[Saark]

Ah right, though the weapons that have aimed attacks for the head don't have them for the arms, do they? Cause I remember being hit in the head by a crossbow and it reduced accuracy like arm attacks usually do. Do they also reduce DEX or PER?

 

[a bear named spigot]

Ah right, though the weapons that have aimed attacks for the head don't have them for the arms, do they? Cause I remember being hit in the head by a crossbow and it reduced accuracy like arm attacks usually do. Do they also reduce DEX or PER?

you get aimed: head and don't lose any others with bow and sword, dunno about other weapons.

that's aimed: head effects.

 

[Perkel]

They stack for me.

how they stack ? Are you sue of that ? Because i tested it and i used best DR10 armor and worst shield and enemy get through my DR like nothing

edit
Scratch that. It seems to work now...

 

[skallagrim]

What is this crossbow thingy that you people are talking about? Because the only ranged weapons in my version of the game are bows, throwing weapons and some odd looking semi-automatic rifles...

 

[Lurker King]

What is this crossbow thingy that you people are talking about? Because the only ranged weapons in my version of the game are bows, throwing weapons and some odd looking semi-automatic rifles...

Crossbows?

 

[Lurker King]

I forgot about this one. The scoped crossbow allows for attacks from longer distances. It even has a snipe attack option, that improves critical chance. The more distant you are, the better is the THC.

 

[Mozg]

Aim:Whatever attacks have extra effects on criticals, like Aimed:Head criticals give you a "concussion" (your aim drops). Aim:Arm crits do double the normal defense penalty and disarm the opponent (not that big a deal - they have to use 1 AP to rearm it, or 2 AP for a two-hander). It's noticeably important for crit strike dagger people because they can get pretty guaranteed crits on aimed attacks due to the dagger passive (but arterial strike [which hits head armor] doesn't get that crit bonus, and daggers can't do Aimed:Head).

Incidentally I have no idea how that one dude with 300 kills and zero defensive skills on steam did it without going crazy, because the AI will absolutely hose you down with Aimed:Arm attacks if you don't have defense. I have been trying a crit striking dagger guy and he's total shit compared to a plain one attack skill/one defense skill build. The only saving grace is CYOA throat slitting.

 

[Lurker King]

Incidentally I have no idea how that one dude with 300 kills and zero defensive skills on steam did it without going crazy.

His defense skill is the heavy armour crafting. Probably, he absorb most of the damage and kill them with his axe.

 

[Elhoim]

There is no aimed attacks for head in some weapons, like daggers. You can use aimed attacks to the head with the crossbow.

Arterial Strike checks for head. Should probably change it to Aimed: Neck to make it more clear. Thoughts?

 

[Mozg]

But isn't it not considered an Aimed: X type of attack for the purposes of the dagger passive critical boost? I assumed that's why it wasn't named Aimed: Neck to start with. You could just call it throat slash or something. Or carotid slash to specify the particular necky artery.

His defense skill is the heavy armour crafting. Probably, he absorb most of the damage and kill them with his axe.

The problem with that is that the AI will stack tons of Aimed: Arm hits on you if you don't have something to force them not to try -20 or whatever accuracy penalty A:A attacks have. You can grind through Teron doing fights where you fall to 30% hit rates but it's annoying and F9tastic.

 

[Elhoim]

But isn't it not considered an Aimed: X type of attack for the purposes of the dagger passive critical boost? I assumed that's why it wasn't named Aimed: Neck to start with. You could just call it throat slash or something. Or carotid slash to specify the particular necky artery.

It is considered.

 

[Mozg]

Hrm, I guess I wasn't noticing that enemies usually have better vs crit on their heads than on their chests, because art strike usually has a markedly worse crit % at the point of the game I'm at with my dagfellow.

 

[skallagrim]

Crossbows?

Impossible. Unless Iron Tower have invented some kind of semi-automatic magazine-fed crossbow. They do look like crossbows though.

 

[Shadenuat]

Since DEX influences sequence in combat it's strange there is no stat for it like INI in Wasteland.
And if there would be I think PER should influence it - would allow ranged characters to go first and make for more variety in builds (like AP vs INI in Wasteland 2).
If DEX gives you more AP AND you act faster in combat it's instantly #1 combat stat.

Still not enough info on char screen, like denting armor with Hammers, is it cumulative? Probably is since otherwise it won't be a worthy bonus, but still.

Doesn't even tell you what stats affect the skills. Sure STR > Hammers, intuitive, but remember Fallout did that inside chargen back in 199-whatever.

DEX not affecting anything ranged even throwing? Eh? Well guess it's a balance feature.
I am surprised that no stats affect civil skills, unlike combat skills. Thought pumping CHA would instantly boost a few social ones.

I also think it's wrong to mix flavour text and mechanical hints like that block and dodge aren't compatible. That should either have separate lines or italic/bold lines.