Re: Odyssey Melee Combat

From: Brian Enright <bpest1+@pitt.edu>

Date: Wed, 06 Mar 1996 00:00:00 +0000

Hi,

>
>But is doesn't.  Have you plugged some numbers in?  What I had calculated
>made me realize, at all levels, that any armor heavier than leather would
>make your character easier to hit.  For instance, a character with a
>mobility of 20, melee of 1000, and defense of 1000 with glowing leather
>has the attacking score - 84.78 percent chance of being hit.  When wearing
>glowing chain, however, that is reduced to attacking score - 80.97, which
>of course equals a greater chance to be hit.  Basically, the defense
>bonuses of heavier armor didn't begin to make up the difference of the
>lost mobility.
>
>So when wearing heavier armor the following occurs:
>
>1.  Your initiative takes a hit and monsters are likely to get the 1st
>shot in in all rounds of conflict for every action.
>2.  You are more likely to be hit when you are attacked.
>3.  The amount of damage you can absorb increases by only a very small
>amount.  I think the number I came up with was a 6% increase which when
>you are looking at even a 200 point attack only comes out to being able to
>absorb about 12 more points of damage when wearing plate instead of
>leather.
>
>So to get ahead in combat in Odyssey, it would make sense to wear light
>armor and jack up your defense scores to absorb damage independent of the
>armor you are wearing.  Of course this is all calculated with armor
>available at the beginning of the game.  Perhaps during the course of the
>game armor might be found that would substantially increase the defense
>score making wearing it worthwhile.
>
>If my logic is flawed somewhere someone please correct me.

Your logic is correct as far as I can tell.  At early levels of armor, leather is
without a doubt better IMO than the heavier armors of the same level as the
ability to absorb increased damage is more than offset by the chance that you'll
get hit more often.

I didn't fully realize this the last time I set up, but if I was to setup today,
I woulnd't buy any thing other than leather or glowing leather.  Of course, once
you start hitting dens (which is where most of my equipment comes from during the
game) you can't control what you get, so the choice many come down to a character
wearing leather or wearing plate of a type that is a level or two higher.

This does change when you reach higher levels of armor.  To take an extreme
example,  your character (20 mo 1000 mh 1000 md) wearing legendary leather would
have a -89.03 chance of being hit, while wearing legendary chain mail he would
have a -90.34 chance of being hit.  So in that case legendary chain mail not only
provides the ability to absorb more damage, but it makes you harder to hit. This
is because the postive numbers of weapons and armor increases as you move up the
levels (Normal/Glowing/Enchanted/Radiant/Ensorcelled/Blazing/Mystic/Legendary/
Possessed) while the negative numbers stay the same.  So chain mail gives you -6
mo 125 md while legendary chain mail gives you -6 mo and 1000 md.  Even on a more
modest level, such as Radiant, things start to change.  For instance, radiant
leather gives you a -86.26 chance of being hit, while radiant chain mail gives
you a -84.35 chance of being hit, and radiant plate gives a-84.04 chance.  The
chance of being hit in heavier armor is still worse, but by only about as half as
much, and the ability to absorb damage has increased.

Brian Enright
bpest1+@pitt.edu

References

Odyssey Melee Combat
dman@p-o.widomaker.com (dman)
Tue, 05 Mar 1996 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Odyssey Melee Combat
dman@p-o.widomaker.com (dman)
Tue, 05 Mar 1996 00:00:00 +0000