Pinned The X-Factor

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  • The X-Factor

    Hello Everyone,

    In Call of War we have what is known as the "X" factor also known as the "possibility" factor for determining battle results.

    This is a randomly generated number that adds some randomness and excitement to a battle so nothing is ever the same and always something different to experience.

    This battle calculator is a Key feature of the game coding work behind for all Bytro games, which is what makes these game enjoyable as no battle outcome is always the same and so not always predictable.

    This X-factor keeps the game fun and enjoyable as not every battle will have the same outcome.
    Chánfucius
    Community Support
  • My quick explanation about the X factor is:

    In every battle there is an X-factor that means an attack might do from zero to 100% of the listed damage.

    The actual mechanic is quite complicated and my quick answer is very oversimplified. While if you want to get deeper into the actual math involved there is more than one roll of the dice, and there is an overwhelm factor in addition to the x factor. This explanation by Game Designer Freezy has more details:



    freezy wrote:

    There are of course also hidden calculations and mechanics going on in combat. One of note is called "overwhelm factor", which simulates encircling enemies, but which to some point also counteracts SBDE. The overwhelm factor basically compares the total attack damage of the attacker with the total defense damage of the defender, and the higher the damage of the attacker compared to the defender, the closer his damage output comes the theoretical maximum of 100% (plus x-factor). The maximum is reached when the attacker's damage is 20 times higher than defender's damage. If the stack's damage does not exceed the damage value of the defender or is even smaller, it can get as low as 30% of the theoretical maximum (+x factor). That is also the reason why many players observe in normal fights that their units deal less damage per tick than what is shown in the unit details, because the values shown are the theoretical 100%, before x-factor.

    If we put both overwhelm factor and SBDE together, the most efficient army (regarding damage output) would be a large stack consisting of many different unit types, to reach a high stack damage while not lowering SBDE. But one can have many different goals in combat. If the goal is to get over with combat as fast as possible, forming multiple stacks is the way to go, as attacks go out faster from both sides.

    Oh and even all what I just wrote is only a simplification of how combat is actually calculated, and there are other factors as well. So please still don't take it literally


    freezy wrote:

    The x-factor is probably working differently than everybody thinks. It is not some 0-100% value that is multiplied with the other values. Officially there isn't even an "x-factor", it is just a term coined by the community for the variance in combat results. This variance is already following a bell curve, and it is influenced by other factors like attack damage compared to enemy defence damage or SBDE.
    Speaking of this, there are damage limiting mechanics implemented, that prevent units from dying during an attack. Only if the attacking army's damage hugely outperforms the defending army's damage (by a factor of 20), the chance of killing a unit in the enemy stack in one hit reaches 100%. Otherwise that chance is as low as 30%, no matter how high the incoming damage is. This so called overwhelm or overkill factor. These mechanics were likely implemented to guarantee a minimum fighting time between normal sized stacks.
    There are also multiple "dice rolls" happening each combat tick for all units involved, not just one, and the chance for these rolls to succeeed are affected by things like damage and hitpoints.
    These are just some examples of the different calculations going on. Just wanted to clarify that this is not just a simple "apply between 0-100% of the attacker's damage".


    freezy wrote:

    The overkill factor is indeed a defensive mechanism that lowers the incoming damage to an army or unit. To put it simply, units in the game try to survive as long as possible. The formula should resembles something like this:

    maxChance=0.3 if attackStrength <= defenceStrength
    otherwise it is
    0.3 + 0.7*(min((attackStrength/defenceStrength*20)^2, 1)

    (For calculation it should compare values of the whole stack)


    Regarding how combat rolls are done in general, it should go roughly like this:

    1. UnitHits = unit size * unit hitpoints.
    2. Chance = Damage / Effective size / Hitpoints / 2
    3. Roll dice for every single unit to get a value. (unit size = number of times)
    4. If value > chance then reduce UnitHits.

    Noteworthy is, that this calculation is different in S1914, as we updated the forumla there ~2 years ago. There it uses:
    1. ExpectedUnitHits = UnitHits * Chance + CarriedUnitHits.
    2. AppliedUnitHits = ExpectedUnitHits +-50% (Roll dice once)
    3. CarriedUnitHits = ExpectedUnitHits - AppliedUnitHits.
    4. Directly apply damage or kill as much as AppliedUnitHits.
    War is a game that is played with a smile. If you can't smile, grin. If you can't grin keep out of the way til you can. - Winston Churchill



    VorlonFCW
    Retired from Bytro staff as of November 30, 2020.

    >>> Click Here to submit a bug report or support ticket <<<
  • An additional component of the damage calculations is this:



    freezy wrote:

    There is also a probability attached to each unit type how likely it is to receive the damage during the damage distribution phase during combat. Units like anti tank, anti air or artillery have a lower chance than tanks or infantry for example, mostly due to balancing reasons.

    (this doesn't mean that these units negate damage, just talking about how much of the incoming damage they get while in an army with other units)


    From:
    forum.callofwar.com/index.php?…&postID=169844#post169844
    War is a game that is played with a smile. If you can't smile, grin. If you can't grin keep out of the way til you can. - Winston Churchill



    VorlonFCW
    Retired from Bytro staff as of November 30, 2020.

    >>> Click Here to submit a bug report or support ticket <<<