Question about defense factors

[Bloodclot]

What are defense factors supposed to represent? Is it the ability to withstand punishment and/or the ability to counterattack? What I'm trying to figure out is what should the proper defense values be for latter game ground units, i.e. Infantry, Marines, Tanks, etc. The existing figures seem . . . unbalanced.

 

[biggrumpy]

i think it works like this:

lets say a swordsman (3/2) attacks an unfortified spearman (1/2) on grasslands. so the ratio of attacker's attack to defender's defense is 3/2. then the computer generates a percentage, and applies it to the ratio. in our case, 60% of the time, the attacker will "hit." 40%, the defender will "hit."

rinse, repeat until somebody is dead or is able to retreat.

it's simplistic, but pretty efficient. the only problem i have with it is that there's a chance that an archer can kill a tank, or <insert stupid result here>, even though it's small. those types of things should not be allowed to happen.

 

[Bloodclot]

Thanks biggrumpy, but that doesn't answer my question. I'm trying to understand what the defense factor of a unit signifies. Does it represent protection alone or a combo of protection plus counter-attacking firepower or something else. I figure, if I can understand this better, then I can modify the unit stats to make them more balanced. For instance, Paratroops have the same defense as Tanks and Marines have a lower defense then Paratroops and Modern Armor has a lower defense then Mech Infantry? What gives?

 

[etj4Eagle]

Originally posted by Bloodclot
What are defense factors supposed to represent? Is it the ability to withstand punishment and/or the ability to counterattack? What I'm trying to figure out is what should the proper defense values be for latter game ground units, i.e. Infantry, Marines, Tanks, etc. The existing figures seem . . . unbalanced.

You basically hit the nail on the head, as the defense value represents the ability to survive the assualt while counter attacking at the same time. The different terrain modifiers then enhance this defensive value by representing the difficulty in taking out a target in that kind of terrain.

On unbalancing or you referring to amongst themselves or in comparrison to say ancient age units. I remember a debate a while back about infantry having too high a defense value wrt to their attack value, however CW does call for 3-1 attack odds in taking out enemy troops on flat land. Well hope your attempts to come up with new values works to your satisfaction.