How does Civ3's combat system work, exactly?

[DJ_Izumi]

I've always been a keen observer of game mechanics, be it watching AI work on procedures or things like that.

How exactly does Civ3's combat system operate? My understanding right now is that each 'Pip' in his strength bar, and each pip means how many rounds he can participate in the battle, he runs out he dies. Each round of combat is just like it is Civ1, side one gets his defensive points tossed into the hat, side two gets his offensive points tossed into the hat, and the computer draws a name. Which is why you see more 'unrealistic' results in combat then you did in Civ2. I've noticed that riflemen have this incedious tendancy to miraculasly fend off attacks, even from Modern Armor.

On another note, I've noticed something weird about the 'random chance'. Save, fight a battle, look at the result. Reload the save, fight the battle agian, the result is the same as the last time. Every time it seems that the battle has the same result.

 

[Mr. Dictator]

i just know it is random and needs some sort of classing

SO THE STUPID SPEARMAN DONT DESTROY MY CRUISE MISSILE!!!

 

[eg577]

The reason why you see the same results if you save and reload is because of the 'preserve random seed' option. If you check this option off (an option when you start a new game) the game will use a different random seed when you reload a saved game, meaning a different sequence of random numbers.

 

[DJ_Izumi]

Wow, really? I thaught that option was used for the spawning of the map squares and civilizations.

Is the random seed the same thing that keeps civilizations going to war with me, even if I 'go back in time' with an Auto Save and attempt to change history?

 

[RegentMan]

Originally posted by Mr. Dictator
SO THE STUPID SPEARMAN DONT DESTROY MY CRUISE MISSILE!!!

Well, a cruise missle is always destroyed after attacking any unit, so I don't see why you're angry.

As for the "how does battle work?" question, lets use an example: A knight (4/3/2) attacks a pikeman (1/3/1) (ignoring any terrain defensive enhancers). You take the attack power of the attacking unit (4 in this case), add it with the defensive power of the defending unit (3 in this case), add them together (7), and place the units' number over the total (a knight's chance to win each round would be 4/7 (4 attack over 7 total)) Likewise a pikeman's chance would be 3/7. Whoever loses a round loses an HP, and another round occurs until one unit wins.

The way the combat system is, however, a warrior could defeat an attacking modern armor unit (1/25 chance each round). This combat system had led many people to say the AI cheats when a unit survives what is thought to be a certain defeat.

 

[Qitai]

Originally posted by DJ_Izumi
Which is why you see more 'unrealistic' results in combat then you did in Civ2. I've noticed that riflemen have this incedious tendancy to miraculasly fend off attacks, even from Modern Armor.

If I remember right, Civ1 and Civ2 are worse (Too long to know if my memory is good), I have seen settlers sinking battleships many times back then, talking about extreme luck.

 

[DJ_Izumi]

No, Civ2's system was good, except it lacked the bombarding merthod that Civ3 had. Bombarding is like, the bomb too.

 

[Qitai]

Wouldn't say it is. Hate losing a battleship to a settler.

 

[Shirastro]

Yah i remember that, setlers wore a real war machines

 

[The Last Conformist]

Qitai: Sure that wasn't Civ1? A Settler sinking a Battleship in Civ2 is extremely unlikely, even with max defensive bonuses, since the Battlship has 4x the HP.

In general, Civ2 had the least percentage of freaky combat outcomes and Civ1 the highest. This because of Civ2 units having alot more HP than Civ3 ones (10-40 on undamaged units), while Civ1 units of course had only one.

This partly offset by the increased differences in attack and defense values - a Civ3 Tank has 8x more attack than a Spearman defense, a Civ2 Armor 5x than a Phalanx - but the net result is more freakiness in Civ3.

(There's also some inexplicate unit rebalances. In open ground, a Civ2 Musketeer would almost certainly kill a Pikeman - attack 3 and 20HP against defense 2 and 10HP. In Civ3, the Pikeman defends at 3, the Musketman attacks at 2, and they've got the same # of HP if both regular. Clearly something's wrong here.)

 

[ss3goku]

still, there has to be more realism. I've had spearmen fight off modern armor, nuclear subs being sunk by Galleons! That is messed up especially during my blitzkriegs. Still, how does a warrior with a wooden club blow up a tank? any explanations.

 

[MadScot]

@ss3goku

If only we had a search utility you could just put in "a spearman beat my tank" and have all the rationalisation - and whining - you would ever want.

Personally, I rationalise it by regarding obsolete units as obsoltete but modern. So it's not a warrior with a club - it's very badly trained militia, but they do have *some* modern weapons. So if they get lucky, they can win - it isn't technically impossible. If the graphics updated with eras this would be a lot less of an issue.

 

[Strider]

It's random... There is always a chance (though slim) that your elite spearmen is capable of spearing through 4 in. of solid metal.