In Total War, even though we’re not sure the behind-the-scenes systems actually support it, there’s a lot we do to seem like common sense. I’m assuming you put your archers on hills because you remember the loading screen hint that damage output increases with elevation, but by how much? And that applies to melee attacks as well mosquito?
Luckily, Creative Assembly recently started explaining what’s going on under the hood of Total War: Warhammer 3 in a series of blog posts called the Feature Focus series. Even though these assumptions are tucked into algebra, they do an excellent job of turning them into real numbers. Sometimes we say “coefficient” when we can only say “multiplier”.
elevation was the topic of the first post in the series, revealing that elevation-based damage multipliers are calculated from each model’s base. So, as CA puts it, “height doesn’t really affect the altitude adjustment factor.” It turns out that my Ogre chieftain, Large Mage, doesn’t actually take extra bonus damage when attacking goblins that are 5 feet short.
For ranged damage, the maximum bonus to damage is 30%, which requires a height difference of 40 meters. There is also a damage penalty for shooting upwards, and with the same 40m difference, the equivalent maximum damage penalty would be 30%. The post continues, “The flying unit is hovering at about 16 meters above the ground and benefits from an elevated damage bonus of 12% if the target is standing on the ground.” This bonus can be increased by placing flying units over high terrain to increase the difference between hovering altitude and flat ground. And yes, elevation is taken into account in melee damage calculations, but in melee combat the maximum difference in elevation multiplier is 1 meter.
The Elevation Post also clarified that the assumption that units would move faster on descents and fatigue faster on uphills was correct, but stated that “no fatigue benefit is gained on descents.” I’m here. Oh, and also units with the “strider” attribute basically ignore all terrain penalties, including penalties for shooting.
Here are the latest posts in the series damage. We’ll go into more detail on armor and armor piercing damage, and how resistances work. I’ve found that when a unit is on fire, the effect of healing the unit is half normal. After the iron drake flamethrower dwarves have done their job, wait for them to stop, fall, or roll before rushing to mend them. There is one more important explanation. Magical attacks do not ignore armor. This is good news for Bretons, who wear more armor than American football players.
Total War: Warhammer 3 seems to have so many different ways to hurt people that a second installment is needed to deal with the rest of the damage. The next installment in the series will explore the special characteristics of explosions, vortices, and wind effects, reveal how large monsters and lords deal damage using splash attacks, and be labeled ‘Game Ticks’. “Open the forbidden box”. Don’t threaten to have a good time, Creative Assembly. “We also have a detailed study on projectile and target penetration underway. In addition, we plan to parallel park on the topic of tanks, masses and assaults.”
It’s fun and might help me understand why my Vampire Count Legion was so undervalued by Black Coach. Black Coaches were expensive single-body tanks that tended to underperform other units such as local dogs. I rolled it up and put spikes on it.