Werewolf mechanics

[Gattamelata]

I'm curious how the werewolf mechanics work. Some things I've observed:

Some ravenous werewolves never seem to become blooded, no matter how many units I kill with them. I'm curious why.

On two occasions, werewolves created by Duin seem to have started blooded. This surprised me, but it seems to be quite rare. I'm curious why.

Duin's strength seems to rise over time. I'm wondering if that's linked to unit age or to kills or both or something else entirely. It doesn't seem deterministic and I can't get a fix on when it happens except that it seems to happen after combat.

Does anybody have a link to a text explanation of what's going on? If not, can anybody tell me where in the mod files I can find the python that controls the behavior?

Thanks!

 

[Valkrionn]

This is a change made by FF... I haven't played many games with it, so I'm honestly not entirely sure how it works.

I believe werewolves gain strength randomly after combat... Same way they upgrade.

I'll try to find a post in the FF forums detailing it.

 

[stupidnewbie]

The werewolf code is in cvspellinterface.py. It works like this:

Spoiler :

After a combat win, it takes the base strength of the defeated unit and multiplies it by five. This is the percentage chance that it will gain one point of strength, if it can, from that engagement.

Werewolves can gain up to 50% of their base strength from werewolfism. This is base strength, and combat bonuses like bronze weapons, +poison combat and heroic strength do, currently, count against it. Units that are below their base combat strength are considered ravenous, units at their base are blooded, and units that are at base +50% are greater.

When a unit is captured, it loses 1/4 its base combat strength. So, if you capture a warrior, it will lose 1 strength, but if it has bronze weapons, it will, for the purpose of determining werewolf state, be at its base combat strength, and convert as a blooded werewolf.

 

[xienwolf]

Good point, we ought to consider a comparison of base strength (unitinfo) against Strength Boost only, rather than ever asking actual current strength, so that we can dodge the weapons and other aspects of the unit from counting toward blooding.

Boost = negative --> Ravenous
Boost = Positive, but under Base Str --> Blooded
Boost = Base Str --> Greater

 

[stupidnewbie]

Also, imo, the grow chance should be based off the defeated units' attack or defense strength, whichever is higher, rather than just the attack strength.

 

[Gattamelata]

Thanks for the information!

Most of this information jives with my experience, except for the bit about poison and other attack bonuses counting for the purposes of ravenous/blooded/greater promotion.

Case in point: Last night Duin killed a Sheaim scout (strength 2) and converted him to a Ravenous Werewolf. I sent the scout to my capital to get a Blessed promotion from the Altar of the Luonnotar, which I had assumed would bring him to strength 3 and qualify him as Greater (because it's 50% of base strength). It didn't, though - he was just a Ravenous Werewolf (Scout) with +1 holy. Then I tried casting poison blade on it, and he was still a Ravenous Werewolf with +1 holy and +1 poison.

Then I upgraded him to an assassin. Shortly after that, he went on a rampage and wandered off into the wilds to kill a lion. He killed the lion and became a Greater Werewolf.

Based on that, it seems like a) promotion based bonuses don't count, and b) base strength is the strength of the original unit, not the unit it has been promoted into.

Of course, now that I've written this out, it occurs to me that perhaps there's another explanation: werewolf promotion can only occur after a kill, and so you can load a unit up with +strength buffs all you want, but without a combat it won't 'promote'.

 

[xienwolf]

You can only change your designation when the function changes you post combat. So I am amazed to hear that strength gains which put you over the Greater mark outside of combat actually do not break your ability to ever become a greater.

 

[stupidnewbie]

There is, perhaps, a third explanation: the blessed combat bonus gets removed after combat, and that put your unit just below the threshold for greater status.