Questions.

[Ford_Prefect]

In the factions file there is.
COMMERCE    = Increased commerce rate

what does it do?  Is it a percentage increase/decrease?  aka 50% would have half the commerace rate?


Rules:
3,2      ; Numerator & Denominator for artillery fire damage.  aka 1.5
Anyone know the formula that they are using for artillery damage?  Is it just  straight 1.5 x normal weapon damage?  How does it calculate how many times it hits the target?

[Nexii]

For the first, it's a +/- to your commerce rating.  Works similar to having ECON +3, +4, +5

From conceptsx.txt:

#ADVCONCEPT3
Commerce is computed base by base between factions with
$LINK<Treaties=4> and $LINK<Pacts=3>, as follows:
^
^(1) First, all bases for each faction are ranked from top to bottom
by Energy output.
^(2) Bases are paired off from top to bottom. If one faction has extra
bases, these are ignored.
^(3) For each pair of bases, sum the combined economic output and
divide by 8, rounding up.
^(4) Double this value if a Global Trade Pact is in effect.
^(5) Now, for each individual base, the commerce formula is as follows:
^       (ValueFromStep4) * (CommerceTech+1) / (TotalCommerceTech+1)
^(6) CommerceTech is the total # of economic technologies discovered,
plus faction & social bonuses.
^(7) TotalCommerceTech is the total # of economic technologies in the game.
^( Now, using the value from step 5, divide by 2 if no Pact (e.g. only a Treaty)
^(9) Add +1 if you are $LINK<Planetary Governor=28>.
^(10) Reduce to zero if sanctions are in effect against either faction.

[gwillybj]

I have a very similar question about the artillery numerator/denominator:

Is the formula anything like 3*A / 2*D ?

(A) being attack value (weapon)
(D) being defense value (armor)

If I change it to 5,3 would it be 5*A / 3*D ?

[Ford_Prefect]

I looked up on the wiki and all I could find was that artillery fire ignores armer and can only bring land units down to 50% health.
Artillery duels are weapon strength vs weapon strength.

So.... if I had to guess... the 3/2 is a small buff to the artillery attack power since it can only hit the unit once per turn.

[Yitzi]

In the factions file there is.
COMMERCE    = Increased commerce rate

what does it do?  Is it a percentage increase/decrease?  aka 50% would have half the commerace rate?

It gives +X commerce for that faction, same as learning X "boosts commerce rate" techs or having X+2 ECONOMY (although ECONOMY can't give more than +3).

With a lot of pacts, it is extremely powerful.  If you put it at 50, you'd have a commerce powerhouse.

Rules:
3,2      ; Numerator & Denominator for artillery fire damage.  aka 1.5
Anyone know the formula that they are using for artillery damage?  Is it just  straight 1.5 x normal weapon damage?  How does it calculate how many times it hits the target?

I expect to eventually get to looking at this (probably when it's time to add combat modding options), and then I plan to let people know what I discover.

[gwillybj]

I looked up on the wiki and all I could find was that artillery fire ignores armer and can only bring land units down to 50% health.
Artillery duels are weapon strength vs weapon strength.

So.... if I had to guess... the 3/2 is a small buff to the artillery attack power since it can only hit the unit once per turn.

Why would they do this? Weapon v weapon is just so wrong -- thinking compared to RL, where an M16 is no match for an 8-inch cannon ball. You can't shoot down artillery.

[Ford_Prefect]

I guess a better question is "What is the formula used for combat?"

[Ford_Prefect]

New question.

Is it listed anywhere the costs for the different technologies?  Or is there a formula that I'm not seeing that determines the cost of research and secret projects?

[Yitzi]

Why would they do this? Weapon v weapon is just so wrong -- thinking compared to RL, where an M16 is no match for an 8-inch cannon ball. You can't shoot down artillery.

You can shoot down artillery if you've got artillery of your own.  The M16 isn't artillery, and indeed when the target is not artillery it's not weapon vs. weapon.

New question.

Is it listed anywhere the costs for the different technologies?  Or is there a formula that I'm not seeing that determines the cost of research and secret projects?

The cost for research depends on how many techs you've already researched.  It is described here.

Project costs are taken from alphax.txt.

[gwillybj]

Why would they do this? Weapon v weapon is just so wrong -- thinking compared to RL, where an M16 is no match for an 8-inch cannon ball. You can't shoot down artillery.

You can shoot down artillery if you've got artillery of your own.  The M16 isn't artillery, and indeed when the target is not artillery it's not weapon vs. weapon.

Ah, okay So if my guy with a Particle Impactor is in a Plasma Steel Rover, incoming Chaos Artillery isn't necessarily fatal, because he has the armor protection? If, on the other hand, I have Chaos Artillery there, my Chaos Artillery will be what fights back (most likely)?

[Ford_Prefect]

Yeah.  I was wrong.

Artilary vs Artilary is a weapons only battle.

Artilary vs everything else is weapon vs armor.

[Ford_Prefect]

How is the health calculated per unit.  I know it involves reactor power... but I'm not sure of the actual formula. 

[gwillybj]

something like this:

In normal combat, each hit takes away a certain number of hit points based on the attack strength minus the defense strength, with a little fudge factor, and affected by previous damage. So if a hit from a chaos gun takes away 8HP from a fusion reactor, it will take the same 8HP from a singularity reactor, so it take more hits to kill the unit.

In psi combat, each hit takes a percentage, typically 30%, from the original full-strength amount, with a little fudge factor. So a fusion reactor (10HP) loses 3HP from a hit, while a quantum reactor would lose 9HP (30%) from that same hit (with a little fudge factor, and also affected by previous damage), and it takes the same number of hits (usually 4 or 5) to kill either reactor.

I don't know the detailed calculations. This is just from observation.

[Ford_Prefect]

Thanks for your observations. 

But, I was wondering more about the total health of the unit is for each reactor type. 

[gwillybj]

Ah, that's this:

Fusion 10
Fission 20
Quantum 30
Singularity 40

unless you want to edit it, which is done in alphax.txt:

;
; Reactors
;
; Name, power, preq
;
#REACTORS
Fission Plant,        Fission,     1, None,
Fusion Reactor,       Fusion,      2, Fusion,
Quantum Chamber,      Quantum,     3, Quantum,
Singularity Engine,   Singularity, 4, SingMec,

simply change the power to whatever you want and the health/hit points will be 10*power