Olympia: The Age of Gods PBEM (Oct 4 2000)
Each kind of fighter has an attack and defense rating:
attack defense missile +---------------------------- peasant | 1 1 postulant | 1 1 worker | 1 1 sailor | 1 1 skirmisher | 3 3 soldier | 5 5 ninja | 5 5 pirate | 10 (30) 10 (30) pikeman | 5 20 (*) fanatic | 10 5 lt. foot | 30 30 hvy. foot | 60 60 angel | 25 100 cavalier | 75 (25) 75 (25) knight | 90 (40) 90 (40) paladin | 180 (130) 180 (130) lt. xbowman | 1 1 15 hvy. xbowman | 1 1 75 archer | 1 1 35 horse archer | 1 20 40 elite archer | 1 1 45 (*) Pikemen double their defense against mounted troops (knights, paladins, cavaliers, and centaurs).
The algorithm by which combat is resolved is as follows:
After each phase, any men killed or wounded are removed from the battle (i.e., combat inside each phase is simultaneous).
In other words, if there are five men in a tower, each man has 1/6 chance of being selected as a target, and the tower also has 1/6 chance of being selected.
Each attacker selects his target independent of the other attackers, so it is possible that more than one attacker may select the same target. All attacks in a phase are considered simultaneous, so even if the first attacker kills the target, the remaining attacks against that target will not be redirected.
For some special attacks, the target may be any man in the opposing force (not just those in the front row).
A = attacker's attack rating B = target's defense rating A / (A + B)
For example:
A(attack=90) vs B(defense=45) A has a 2/3 chance of killing B A(attack=90) vs B(defense=90) A has a 1/2 chance of killing B
Wounded nobles do not continue fighting, even if their wounds are minor.
If a hit is scored against a fighter (soldiers, pikemen, archers, etc.), the fighter is killed.
A man successfully attacking a building or a ship will cause one point of damage to the structure. A catapult or battering ram attacking a building will cause 5-10 points of damage.
The chance to hit in missile combat is similar, except the attacker's missile rating is used instead of his attack rating. Note that troops can only use missile attacks when in the back rows of the combat.
For instance, a noble plus two pikemen has an offensive value of (80+80) + (5+20) + (5+20) = 210 with a break point of 105.
A noble plus two knights has an offensive value of (80+80) + (45+45) + (45+45) = 340 with a break point of 170.
Therefore, a noble with two pikemen will continue to fight if the pikemen are killed. However, a noble with two knights will be declared the loser if both knights are killed.
The offensive value used is either the attack or the effective missile rating, whichever is higher.
The exception to this is during the special attacks phase. Some special attacks (particularly certain magic spells) have secondary effects, such as draining magicians of their aura. In these cases, order of attack does matter, so the order of attack in the special attacks phase is determined randomly.