WEATHER&WARFARE; Simulation Module - Rulebook feature

WEATHER&WARFARE Simulation Module - RULEBOOK

This article explains mechanism, the 'engine' that runs battles in Paradigm Worlds.

Despite all 'crazy' stuff you can find in PARADIGM WORLDS, all encounters are simulated by a complex code. It's aim is to bring realism to battle. Weather&Warfare Module (W&W) is a code that improves (I hope) vanilla Mount and Blade.

Table of Contents

PART I - Troop and Agent

PART II – On battle

PART III – The Code – Weather Module

PART IV – The Code – Warfare Module:

• PHASE 1. Personal skills modifiers.
• PHASE 2. Leader's skills modifiers.
• PHASE 3. Division modifiers.
• PHASE 4. Item quality modifiers.
• PHASE 5. Microchips - modifiers.

PART V – Courage / Morale

PART VI – Paradigm Worlds settings and tweaking options

PART VII - Damage dealing techniques

PART VIII - Critical Hits – more RPG in Paradigm Worlds

PART IX - Appendix

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What happens when player enters a battle? Game engine transforms troops into so-called 'agents'.

Troops that appear on the battlefield are called 'agents'. Agents are variations of troops, copies, avatars if you like. Troops can have multiple items in their inventory. Same as player, they can 'have' multiple weapons, armours and so on. Troop can have up to 64 items in its 'invisible' inventory.

Agents have only 4 weapons 'slots' , and relevant slots for armour, helmet, gloves, boots. So, if troop can have 4 different armours in its inventory, it means that agent will have at least 4 variations.

There is a very good description made by Lav, which sheds some light on that subject. So let me quote him, maybe his explanation is easier to understand:

An agent represents a single soldier on the 3D scene. Always keep this in mind when dealing with regular troops. A party may have 30 Swadian Knights. They will form a single troop stack in the party, and they will all be copies of the one and only Swadian Knight troop. However when the battle starts, this stack will spawn 30 distinct Agents.

Agents do not persist - they only exist in the game for the duration of the mission. As soon as the player returns to the world map, all agents who were present on the scene immediately disappear. If this was a battle during a normal game encounter, then the game will keep track of the battle results, and depending on the number of agents killed from all sides the engine will kill or wound some troops in the troop stacks of the parties who were participating in the battle.

There is one more difference between troop and agent. Troops, for example player, are described by attributes (strength, agility) and skills (power strike, athletics). Agent is described by following variables:

1. Speed – how fast does agent move
2. Accuracy – ranged weapons accuracy
3. Ranged damage – self-explanatory
4. Melee damage – self-explanatory
5. Reload speed - self-explanatory
6. Health Points (HP) – I call it Batllefield Health. BH can be higher than character health.

These modifiers together I do call 'Battlefield Efficiency'.

There are two more important variables:

• Courage / Morale – measured in morale points
• Mount speed – there is agent's modifier, dependent on 'riding' troop's skill

When troop is being transformed into an agent, all variables used to described troop are 'translated' into variables that describe agent. What is Weather&Warfare Sim Module in one sentence?

It is a unique, complex way of translation troop into an agent.

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If you are interested only in plain numbers you can skip this section. I try to explain my way of thinking, to show how accurate system I have tried to create.

What affects efficiency of a soldier on battlefield? This is question I asked myself when I was planning simulation.

• Weather?

If you know history of Napoleon's war with Russia you know what I mean. Not mentioning Nazis failed raid on Soviet Russia. But weather conditions can be broken into smaller, more detailed parts. What is weather in terms of warfare?

• Temperature – too cold, or too hot may cause lower efficiency.
• Clouds, haze – can affect accuracy, dense fog, can lower range of visibility
• Snow, rain – they affect willingness to fight, accuracy

These conditions depend on season: winter is harsh, summer helps waging a war. In Paradigm Worlds season affects all weather conditions.

• Terrain – it is easier to fight on plain land than in the forest, steppes are 'better' than mountains
• Weight – how much soldier does have to carry? How much tiring in can be? How that will affect Battlefield Efficiency?
• Quality of equipment? - old musket, cracked bow, rusty armour. We know from history that poor equipment can change result of battle. Italian army at World War II was poorly equipped, it's soldier were quite brave, despite popular opinions.
• Division – a simple soldier cannot handle a cannon, trained sniper should have better accuracy than let say marine. In Mount and Blade player can 'link' troops to certain divisions like infantry, cavalry too. I believe, that divisions represent certain way of training.
• Race – we can assume, that each race can have 'racial bonuses' to certain skills, eg. Elves have better accuracy than uruk, mutants are more resilient and so on. There are no racial bonuses in Paradigm worlds, yet.
• Microchips – instead of cyborg augmentations, Paradigm Worlds offers a feature of special items that improve certain battlefield skills. Details regarding microchips will be revealed in another article.

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Every 24 hours a general weather situation is simulated. It is based on season (spring, summer, autumn, winter), terrain (water, mountain, steppe, desert, snow forest, etc.). Every 3 hours this 'base' weather changes, because of changing conditions. To put that in other words: there is main-weather-script (24h) and sub-weather-script (3h).

For example if you move from snow forest area to a desert, every 3 hours temperature will rise. Even a fact if it is a day or a night affects weather.

Battle begins. Weather Module fires up. It transfers information from Weather report to battlefield:

• Rain type – can be rain or snow
• Rain force – how 'hard' is 'rain' from spitting to a storm
• Cloud force – same for clouds – if rain-force is bigger than clouds-force, then we have a rain or snow
• Density haze – how 'thick' is fog
• Fog distance – how close to scene fog is
• Temperature - self-explanatory

Let's remember that there is a vanilla engine that affects AGENTS on the battlefield. It defines agent's efficiency on the battlefield. If there were no W&W module all variables describing agent efficiency would be at 100%.

Just to remind:

1. Speed – how fast does agent move - 100%
2. Accuracy – ranged weapons accuracy - 100%
3. Ranged damage – self-explanatory - 100%
4. Melee damage – self-explanatory - 100%
5. Reload speed – self-explanatory - 100%
6. Health Points (HP) - 100% - Exactly same amount of health, that there is on the character sheet.
7. Courage / Morale – measured in morale points - 100%
8. Mount speed – there is agent's modifier, dependent on 'riding' troop's skill - 100%

A) WEIGHT

Equipment weight – it affects Battlefield Efficiency, not just agent's speed. Whole weight is calculated, then it is reduced by Bodybuilding skill 5 kg per point. 15 points of Bodybuilding 'reduce' weight by 75 kg.

If equipment weights more than 300 kg it is treated like 300 kg nonetheless.

negative effect to speed = equipment weight / 4 = UP TO 75%

negative effect to efficiency = equipment weight / 8 = UP TO ~38%

B) TERRAIN

Terrain effect on agent moving speed and general efficiency: each kind of terrain affects agent's speed and efficiency. I suspect that this text is complex enough so I will not post all numbers, just give an example:

Steppe: +5% speed, +5% efficiency

Water: -5% speed, -10% efficiency

Snow: -30% speed, -20% efficiency

and so on for desert, desert forest, mountain, mountain forest, etc.

C) DAY/NIGHT

Following bonus applies Battlefield Efficiency

Day: +20% Night: -5%

D) TEMPERATURE

Ideal temperature is 21C degree.

In the event of ideal temperature - agents get +15% to efficiency.

If temperature is 16-26 C degree, all agents get +10% to efficiency.

For each point below 16C agent loses 1% efficiency

For each point above 26C agent loses 1% efficiency

E) ATMOSPHERIC Conditions

Rain type, 'Rain' force, Cloud force, Density haze, Fog distance – they all can reduce efficiency. They are calculated together.

Maximum negative effect -40% to efficiency.

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At this point Weather module adds up all modifiers. At most cases the modifier has a negative value, due bad weather, harsh terrain, weight etc. It ranges from -60% to 10%.

Agent's Battlefield Efficiency can range from 40% to 110% at a moment.

Warfare module's aim is to simulate battle in the detail. Also to bring a RPG flavor to encounters.

First let me point out difference between 'old vanilla' and new warfare module. In vanilla, there were skills that didn't matter in battle, they meant something only on world map. For example Spotting defined how far can you see on the world map. It was useless when it came to a battle. Not criticizing – just stating a fact.

To simulate battlefield Paradigm Worlds makes use of almost every skill. Let me remind you possible troop's skill categories:

Party – game engine chooses party character with highest skill – for example Logistics (former pathfinding) – you don't have to pump that skill yourself, you can train one of your companions to be your scout.

Personal – Combat Brutality – it is important only to a single character – for example defining melee damage, does not affect event on a world map

Leader - for example Leadership – it is important, only if you are commanding your own army, you don't care if you are just a grunt in someone's army.

In Paradigm Worlds skills do have more significant impact on the battlefield, 'they do more' than just one thing and some skills work as Party skills and Personal skills at the same time.

Example of both Party and Personal skill:

Eagle Eye (former spotting). Here is the description: PERSONAL: on the battlefield improves ranged accuracy. Must-have for a Sniper. PARTY: Party seeing range is increased by 10% per skill level. World map +1% speed. (Party / Personal skill)

To explain in most simple manner how Warfare module calculates agent's efficiency it is divided into PHASES.

a) MOUNTS – animals and machines. Speed and turning ability.

• Each mount has its own speed and agility (how fast it can turn). That values are modified by agent's 'driving' skills. This is how Warfare module calculates 'driving' skill:

Base mount speed can be improved by 5% for every point of Animal Riding (max 15 points) and by 3% for every point of Mobile Shooting (max 15 points).

b) MELEE DAMAGE

It is modified by skill Combat Brutality. Each point improves damage by 5%.

It is modified by skill Professional. Each point improves damage by 3%.

c) ACCURACY

Eagle Eye – each point improves Accuracy by 5%

Professional – each point improves Accuracy by 3%

Critical Precision – each point improves Accuracy by 1%

Automatic weapons, like machine guns suffer from recoil, that lowers their accuracy. Recoil is reduced by a Grenadier skill.

d) BATTLE HEALTH

Troop's health modified by Warfare module is called Battle Health. Battle Health represents not just vitality, but also willingness to fight and live, power of will. That's why it is higher than base health.

In numbers, Battle Health is a Health modified by skills:

Bodybuilding – adds 3% points to BH.

Professional – adds 2% points to BH.

Vanguard – adds 2% points to BH.

Survival – adds 5% points to BH.

In addition – each level adds 2 points to BH. 30^th level troop gets +60% BH points.

There is also special rule, that makes lords and kings more vital. It doesn't apply to a player though.

Lords – BH is doubled and +50 points added

Kings – BH is tripled and +100 points added

Each army has its leader. It can be a hero, like lord or a player, or a regular troop. When in dialog mode, troop you're speaking to becomes an enemy's army leader.

Leader skills improve abilities of all units in the army.

Skills and modifiers:

Professional – each point improves agent's Battlefield Efficiency by 1%

Leadership – each point improves agent's Battlefield Efficiency by 1%

Manipulation – each point improves agent's Battlefield Efficiency by 1%

Warfare – each point improves agent's Battlefield Efficiency by 1%

Field Medicine – each point improves agent's Battle Health by 3 points.

Divisions represent specific way of training a troop. They apply small, but important bonuses. At party screen you can allocate each troop to one of listed below divisions.

1. INFANTRY: health +20%

2. RANGED: accuracy +25%

3. CAVALRY: mount speed +15%, melee damage +5%, morale +60%

4. SHOK: melee damage +12%, morale +40%

5. COMMANDOS: speed +15%, reloading +15%

6. ENGINEERS: speed+10%, reloading +75%, use item speed +75%

7. MONSTERS: health +10%, speed +5%, morale +99%

8. ALL OTHER Divisions: Battlefield Efficiency +5% (health, speed, reload etc.)

Item's quality is described by names like 'strong, heavy, cracked'. Item's quality modifiers apply only to agents representing heroes, like player, companions, lords, kings, or bosses.

Each item modifier affects hero's Battlefield Efficiency. These modifiers can be positive or negative. That's why it's important to look for a good quality items. Sometimes it is even better to wear a good quality low-tier armor then set of high-tier cracked equipment.

Item quality Battlefield Efficiency

plain 0 no change

cracked -10.00%

rusty -6.00%

bent -6.00%

chipped -4.00%

battered -4.00%

poor -3.00%

crude -2.00%

old -1.00%

cheap 0 no change

fine 2.00%

well made 3.00%

sharp 3.00%

balanced 3.00%

tempered 3.00%

deadly 5.00%

exquisite 12.00%

masterwork 9.00%

heavy 3.00%

strong 4.00%

powerful 5.00%

tattered -3.00%

ragged -4.00%

rough 1.00%

sturdy 1.00%

thick 2.00%

hardened 3.00%

reinforced 5.00%

superb 7.00%

lordly 8.00%

lame -7.00%

swaybacked -6.00%

stubborn -3.00%

timid -2.00%

meek 0.00%

spirited 5.00%

champion 6.00%

fresh 5.00%

smelling -2.00%

rotten -4.00%

Bonuses stack with multiple items. If you equip exquisite (+12%) helmet, and lordly (+8%) armour you got +20% base bonus to Battlefield Efficiency. But here is the trick. You need to know, how to use it properly. Let me explain.

Imagine yourself buying an ultra expensive guitar. Does it make you a great musician? Nope. You can buy a phone with billion features, but you have to be true nerd to make use of it. That 'nerd' factor is represented by ENGINEER skill.

Negative effect always apply. So, if you have got two ragged (-4%) items equipped, your Battlefield Efficiency gets lowered by 8%.

But if you have got items that give you positive boost to efficiency, you need an engineer skill to make use of it.

Each point of Engineer skill gives you 10% efficiency of base bonus. As maximum engineer skill is 15, you can achieve 150% of base bonus.

Example 1:

Player has exquisite (+12%) helmet, and lordly (+8%) armor. His engineer skill is 1 = 10%.

Base bonus 20% x 10% efficiency = 2%. Battlefield Efficiency +2%

Example 2:

Player has exquisite (+12%) helmet, and lordly (+8%) armor. His engineer skill is 15 = 150%.

Base bonus 20% x 150% efficiency = 30%. Battlefield Efficiency +30%

Example 3:

Player has ragged (-4%) helmet, and rides on a swaybacked mount (-6%). His engineer skill is 15.

Base bonus -10% Engineer skill does not apply when quality factor has negative value. Battlefield Efficiency -10%

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PHASE 5. Microchips - modifiers.

Microchips are unique items in Paradigm Worlds universe. For a sacrifice of one of the “weapon” slots, any troop can improve its efficiency in a significant way.

Official item category of microchips is 'shield' and they can be used on the battlefield as such. But their main goal is to improve troop's abilities on the battlefield.

How do they work? First of all, they have to be 'installed' – which means that AGENT has to wear them as any other weapon or shield. They do work during whole battle, even when they're destroyed by enemy fire or hit. As a matter of fact, player can even replace them and choose other shield or weapon, using chest on the battlefield.

Let me remind again basic attributes of AGENT:

1. Speed
2. Accuracy
3. Ranged damage
4. Melee damage
5. Reload speed
6. Health Points (HP)

Now, let's cross reference that info with microchips naming. There are 4 main categories of microchips, sorted by manufacturer:

SYNDICATE microchips, for example Syndicate Microchip +++SPEED

DARKNET microchips, for example Darknet BERSERK Chip ++SPEED ++MELEE DMG

NARVIK microchips, for example nanoParasite -ACC +MELEE DMG

and unique special microchips manufactured by 2 companies/organizations, examples:

Moebius Critical ++CRIT CHANCE by Moebius

Vritniht Vanguard ++VANGUARD by Vritniht

Be aware that you can find original microchips and fakes. Real ones are more expensive, but work more efficiently. Fakes are cheaper, but their quality is lower. How can you tell the difference? Real microchips almost never have negative quality modifier like 'cracked', 'old' and so on. Secondly fakes have small mistakes in naming, missing letters in description. You need to figure that yourself – which is which.

Let's have a closer look at 'standard' microchips made by SYNDICATE, DARKNET and NARVIK.

a) SYNDICATE Microchips offer improvement of a single attribute, like speed or accuracy. That improvement is larger than any other microchip can offer. That's why their description shows triple pluses, like '+++SPEED'.

• Original Syndicate microchips - 40% base boost - to a single attribute.
• Fake Syndicate microchips - 30% base boost - to a single attribute.

b) DARKNET Microchips offer combined boost, so they are more all-around solution. For example 'Darknet BERSERK Chip ++SPEED ++MELEE DMG' offers a 20% boost to mentioned attributes: Speed and Melee Damage.

• Original Darknet offer 20% base boost to 2 attributes.
• Fake Darknet offer 14% base boost to 2 attributes.

c) NARVIK Microchips are least expensive, but they work in a different way. They lower one attribute to rise another one. So they rather 'transfer' than 'boost'.

Example:

Narvik's 'nanoParasite -ACC +MELEE DMG' reduces accuracy by 50% and raises melee damage by 50%.

Narvik's offer can be interesting as a low budget offer, but also when you (or other troop) tries to specialise in specific fight type, like melee combat, at that matter.

• Original Narvik offers 50% boost to one attributes for a sacrifice of 50% of another one.
• Fake Narvik offers 30% boost to one attributes for a sacrifice of 40% of another one.

d) Unique Microchips.

Most expensive microchips offer unique boosts. They bend the rules, reality of a battlefield providing great power to their owners.

Moebius Microchips:

Moebius Critical ++CRIT CHANCE – almost guaranteed critical hit every time (ranged and melee)

Moebius Vampire ++RESTORE HEALTH ON ENEMY CRIT – regain health on each critical hit

Moebius Critical Damage ++CRIT DAMAGE – amplified critical damage

Vritniht Microchips:

Vritniht Vanguard ++VANGUARD – Vanguard skill works like armor, so chip is providing form of stone-skin to its owner

Vritniht Undistiputed +CRIT IMMUNITY – Immunity to critical hits and effects

Warning! There are rumours that unique Moebius and Vritniht chips have side effects. It is very probable that it has something to do with mutation. Each user has to determine if he wants to take a risk. There might a sinister scheme behind enormous power of these chips, or it may be just a rumor spread by a competition.

A little warning here - BASE BOOST may be still modified by a microchip quality. Item quality modifiers and engineer skill modifiers apply same as described in PHASE 4 Item quality.

Microchip quality Battlefield Efficiency

cracked -10.00%

rusty -6.00%

poor -4.00%

old -2.00%

cheap 0.00%

fine 2.00%

strong 4.00%

powerful 6.00%

exquisite 10.00%

CyberTech skill. Enhances microchip efficiency by 13% per point of skill. It squeezes all the juice from microchips bonuses.

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If you wonder how is it possible that battles are smoother, here is the answer. Jacob Hinds – Overhauled Morale and Routing - Forums.taleworlds.com Paradigm Worlds incorporated wonderful code written by jacob_hinds. Battles can handle more agents, offer higher FPS. How does it look like from battle rules' side?

Each agent gets constant amount of courage points, that defines agent's morale, bravery. This courage is modified by divisions. (SEE: PHASE 3. Division modifiers.)

You should be aware of one feature, however. If troop is designed as a ranged unit, it's courage will go down very fast when in melee combat.

Designed as a ranged unit – what does it mean? There is a code, called 'flag' that describes unit as 'ranged'. If unit is flagged as 'ranged_guarantee', then it will use ranged weapon for sure. Other troops can use ranged weapons, but it is not guaranteed.

You can speak to each of your troop and ask is it ranged or not. In general – all units that at the beginning of each game play are described as 'ranged' – are 'ranged_guarantee'. However if you manually change troop's division from infantry to ranged, that doesn't make it 'ranged_guarantee'.
And vice versa – changing ranged unit's division to let's say infantry or shock does not remove ranged flag.

You should be aware, that ranged unit can stand melee fight for a very short time. Surprised by cavalry charge, they gonna start running away in just a few seconds time. If enemy will pursue them, their withdrawal from battle is certain.

Troop's courage is replenishing every few seconds. There is always a chance that running away troop will decide to join back battle. That is calculated by amount of fallen comrades. If one side reaches critical amount of casualties – broken morale cause panic and battle is lost.

Player can take measures to support morale by using right ranks. As a general rule - closer ranks means less morale shock. The closer ranks are, the harder to maneuver. It is a commander's role to balance ranks.

You can access Paradigm Worlds options to tweak, or change Weather&Warfare Module settings.

I strongly suggest to play a few battles before enforcing any changes. Paradigm Worlds options can be found in camp menu.

Options offered by Paradigm Worlds Weather&warfare Module support following:

Set move speed – as default it is set to a 125% of vanilla speed. Please remember that various weather effects like bad weather, low or high temperature, terrain – unlike vanilla - lower speed. So effective speed should be close to what you have experienced in vanilla game.

Changing agent's speed have it's consequences. Faster units will charge at you faster, giving you less time to prepare yourself to defense or attack. You are supposed to set division's ranks, place them in optimal strategic positions, before being attacked to avoid unpleasant surprise .

Some armies, factions will apply defensive tactic, but majority of so-called minor factions will simply charge at you.

Agent's speed does not affect mounts' speed. Faster agents reduce cavalry importance. You can even tweak agent's speed to the level, that they could outrun most of cavalry units. High speed will change battle play from a tactical to more 'slasher-type'. It is up to you what kind of challenge you would like to experience.

Set damage value – as default Paradigm Worlds set damage to 120% of vanilla value. Fighting is a bit more violent than vanilla. Damage dealing ability is also affected by Weather module.

Difference between low and high level units. Due to higher than vanilla armor values, low level agents have limited ability to endanger high level agents. By setting damage dealing ability to higher values, you will diminish difference between units and speed up battles (agents will die faster).

Set accuracy – Paradigm Worlds intention is to present world where ranged weapon, especially firearms are powerful, but least predictable weapon than in 'our' world. Armies commanders cannot afford long term training of their troops. That's why accuracy is lowered by default to 50% of the vanilla's value. Another argument is that infantry units could offer same accuracy that typical ranged unit's – unfair, right? Remember that each agent's accuracy is modified by Eagle Eye skill. Ranged units have that skill set to high values, so their accuracy will be better, no matter settings.

Set auto-fire damage – as you are probably aware, Paradigm Worlds are full of machine guns, assault rifles and so on. They are powerful weapons, so to provide some in-game balance their efficiency has been reduced to 75%.

Set Battlefield Info – There are 3 kinds of Battlefield Info settings. They provide additional info regarding Weather&Warfare Module. You can be informed about critical hits, weather effects, special events during battle. You can turn off all additional info and base just on vanilla feed, set basic info filter, or let W&W feed you with full set info.

Whenever hit or shot finds its target (is successful) an additional event triggers. Special code adds or substracts damage based on attackers and defenders skills.

a) Vanguard. No matter if it is a ranged shot or melee hit damage each agent / troop has a skill that decreases damage. That skill is called VANGUARD (former shield).

Each point of Vanguard skill decreases damage by 2.

Vanguard enhanced by Vritniht microchip. Troops might equip microchip called Vritniht Vanguard ++VANGUARD. It multiplies Vanguard skill by 3. In that event Vanguard skill might raise over '15 points' limit. That means that troop with 15 Vanguard skill and specific microchip can withstand 45 points of damage with no consequences at all.

b) Engineer. This skill increases damage dealt with automatic guns. Each point of engineer skill increases damage dealt by 1 point. This rule applies ONLY to automatic guns.

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To provide more dramaturgy and RPG flavor an additional Critical Hit rule has been incorporated into Paradigm Worlds. Critical Hit rules divide to Melee Criticals and Ranged Criticals. They work in a similar way, however, they are 'powered' by different skills.

Concept of a 'critical' shot. Successful critical ranged hit is a balanced combination of various skills. Imagine a skillful hunter, sniper. He has to value direction and strength of wind, weather effects, power of his ranged weapon. In seconds, or even fractures of seconds, has to calculate various elements that combine into a 'master shot'. He needs a keen eye to find a weak spot in enemy's armour, body. Precision, 'sharp' eye, experience and agility – these are attributes of a skilled sniper.

A) Base chance – Ranged critical

Build-up Critical Attack – Attacker skills and attributes:

• weapon precision x 2
• eagle eye
• professional
• agility / 6

+ ________________

Critical Attack

Build-up Critical Defense – Defender skills and attributes:

• bodybuilding
• survival
• vanguard
• strength / 6

+ ___________________

Critical Defense

Critical Attack – Critical Defense = Critical Chance %

Critical Chance is tested against 100d roll what means that on each hit engine 'rolls' random value 1-100. If Critical chance < Random Roll = Critical Hit!

Successful Ranged Critical Hit Damage:

Additional damage – calculations. Additional to base damage, critical is calculated using ATTACKER skills and attributes:

• weapon precision
• agility / 2

+ ________________

Critical Damage - Ranged

Furthermore - Critical Effect is applied to a victim. Effect is common to ranged and melee hit and is described below.

B) Base chance – Melee critical

Concept of a 'critical' strike. Unlike ranged critical, critical strike is more an effect of a extreme brutality, than precision. Critical strike is an effect of enormous power, almost inhumane strength, heroic violence. Imagine fighter so brutal, that is able to cut through any defence, using pure primitive brutal rage. Melee fight is more a test of barbarian brutal power than swordsmanship finesse.

Test for a critical hit is a duel of two brutal powers, a bit of skill and speed.

Build-up Critical Attack – Attacker skills and attributes:

• Combat Brutality x 2
• Critical Precision
• Combat Speed
• strength / 4

+ ________________

• Critical Attack

Build-up Critical Defense – Defender skills and attributes:

• Bodybuilding x 2
• Vanguard x 2
• strength / 4

+ ________________

Critical Defense

Critical Attack – Critical Defense = Critical Chance %

Critical Chance is tested against 100d roll what means that on each hit engine 'rolls' random value 1-100. If Critical chance < Random Roll = Critical Hit!

Successful Melee Critical Hit Damage:

Additional damage – calculations. Additional to base damage, critical is calculated using ATTACKER skills and attributes:

• combat brutality x 2
• strength / 2

+ ________________

Critical Damage - Melee

Furthermore - Critical Effect is applied to a victim. Effect is common to ranged and melee hit and is described below.

C) Critical Effect – additional consequences of Critical Shot / Hit

It has been mentioned that critical hit causes additional damage. Moreover critical wounds cause severe damage to agent's combat ability.

When critically hit one of 5 events may happen, with even chance (20% for each):

Victim:

1. loses ½ of its speed (movement)
2. loses ½ if its reloading speed
3. loses ½ if its melee damage dealing ability
4. loses ½ of its accuracy
5. loses ½ of its ranged damage dealing ability

This negative effect stack. Agent hit twice with same effect will end with only ¼ its base ability.

D) Special rules – Microchips and Books

It has been mentioned that unique microchips can cause almost guaranteed critical hit / shot. However there also exist microchips that guarantee immunity to critical wounds. As this seems to be contradiction, immunity is set to be superior. It will negate any critical effect.

(Warning! Following rule apply to the yet unpublished mod version 1.30)

Player can enhance his battlefield abilities by reading specific books. After reading a book he will be informed on gained new abilities.

Example: After reading a book titled 'Terror, Torture - Forbidden Knowledge' player will gain ability to cause psychic terror to with each hit. After successful hit, all enemies within 2 meters will suffer terror resulting in small loss to Battle Health.

This rulebook is a constant work in progress. Weather&Warfare Module is being improved, based on players experience.

As it has been stated before, English is not my first language, not even second as a matter of fact. I do my best.

Whole sets of rules seems very complex, probably, but there is no reason to be afraid of that. First of all, this is only detailed description of things that are being calculated automatically by game's engine. It took several MONTHS to construct whole system, make it work. And, yes, that system is a bit more complex that let's say AD&D or Warhammer, but it's advantage is that is being calculated by a processor, not human.

Most of presented information is just a developement of short info on skills, on troop's character sheet.

If you do not understand some parts, or you think that you can help in making this tutorial clear, easy to understand in a manner of used language, phrases or visual presentation - your help is always appreciated.