SOTHR Game Mechanics - Stats

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Note: This article is copied from the SotHR manual. It has been slightly wikified for navigation and presentation purposes. The following edits have been made:
  • Page numbers have been removed
  • A few sub-headers have been introduced
  • The characteristics has been turned into bullet points
  • To preserve something of the paragraph appearance of the manual the manual text has been restricted to 600px screen width.
  • Weapon strength tabulations have been turned into Wikitables
  • Boldface has been applied to the first sentence of selected paragraph to help designate topic matter.
  • The experience progression list has been turned into a numbered list
THE WIKIFICATION IS NOT COMPLETE. YOU CAN HELP!

ABOUT TROOP CHARACTERISTICS in SOTHR Manual

Which may help us Understand/comprehend how Dark Omen works but there will be differences.

Contents


SotHR Manual pages nn -- 110

CHARACTERISTICS

Each type of person or creature in the Warhammer world is described by means of a set of characteristics. These characteristics are measured on a scale of 1 to 10 - the higher the number, the better. A table giving the characteristics of all regiments in the game can be found on page 110.

The characteristics are:


  • Movement Allowance (M)

This represents the speed at which a regiment can manoeuvre, and is also used as a basis for calculating their charge distance.


  • Weapon Skill (WS)

This defines how skilled a warrior is with his weapons, or how vicious a monster is. The higher the value the more likely the fighter is to hit a hand-to-hand combat opponent.


  • Ballistic Skill (BS)

This defines how skilled a warrior is with ranged weapons such as bows or crossbows, or how accurate a ranged war machine such as a cannon is.


  • Strength (S)

This shows how strong a creature is, and therefore how hard it can hit. Strength is used to determine how easily a creature can hurt an opponent it has struck. The strength of the weapon is also taken into account.


  • Toughness (T)

This is a measure of a creatures or a machines ability to resist damage when hit. The higher the value, the lower the chance of landed blows actually inflicting wounds.


  • Wounds (W)

This shows how much damage a creature or machine can take before it dies or falls unconscious (or in the case of machines, before it is ruined).


  • Initiative (I)

This indicates how fast a creature can react. In close combat this is used to determine the order in which creatures strike.


  • Attacks (A)

This defines how often a creature attacks during close combat. A creature with more than one attack can potentially strike more than one enemy creature in the same round (see COMBAT MECHANICS on page 89 for more details on rounds).


  • Leadership (Ld)

This shows how brave and solid a creature is. A creature with a high leadership is less likely to flee from close combat (rout), and is more likely to rally if they do rout. Also, all regiments with a leader use his Leadership in any tests (explained below).

ARMOUR

Any regiment equipped with armour will be less likely to sustain wounds from hand to hand attack, missile weapons and some spells. You will notice that all regiments have an Armour Rating which is shown on screens such as the Troop Roster and the Troop Selection Screen. These Armour Ratings range from 0 (no armour) to 5 (full armour). In the tabletop WARHAMMER BATTLE game each armour type has a name such as shield, chain plus shield etc. The reason we have Armour Ratings as opposed to written descriptions is simply for ease of comparison. After all, there are many different combinations of armour which would produce the same result. For example, a mounted regiment with a shield would have approximately the same protection as a foot regiment with heavy armour, making an Armour Rating of 2. In WARHAMMER BATTLE, any wounds on such an individual would be ignored on a roll of five or more on a six sided die (known as an armour save of 5+).

The Armour Ratings are as follows:

Armour Rating Tabletop Warhammer Equivalent
Armour Rating 0 (Armour Save: None)
Armour Rating 1 (Armour Save: 6+)
Armour Rating 2 (Armour Save: 5+)
Armour Rating 3 (Armour Save: 4+)
Armour Rating 4 (Armour Save: 3+)

Note that if a troop is mounted, his Armour Rating is increased by 1. Therefore the Armour Ratings for mounted troops are:

Armour Rating Tabletop W arhammer Equivalent
Armour Rating 1 (Armour Save: 6+)
Armour Rating 2 (Armour Save: 5+)
Armour Rating 3 (Armour Save: 4+)
Armour Rating 4 (Armour Save: 3+)
Armour Rating 5 (Armour Save: 2+)


WEAPONS

Some weapons are exceptionally powerful and they give their wielder a Strength bonus in hand to hand combat. This means that the wielderÕs Strength is increased by the value indicated below:

Hand weapons

Weapon Strength bonus Greatsword (two handed sword)+2 Two-handed Hammer +2 Mounted Lance +2 (on charging only) Halberd +1

Projectile weapons

Projectile weapons inflict damage relative to their strength, as below:

Weapon Strength
Short Bow 3
Long Bow 3
Wood Elf Bow 3
Crossbow 4
Gyrocopter Bomb 4 (2 for indirect hits*)
Volley Gun 5
Mortar 7 (3 for indirect hits*)
Rock Lobber 10 (5 for indirect hits*)
Cannon 10 (5 for indirect hits*
Imperial Cannon 10 (5 for indirect hits*)
Doom Diver Catapult 10 (5 for indirect hits*)
Doomwheel 2, 4, 6, 8 or 10 (For Lightning attacks)

(*) An Indirect hit refers to the blast area of the weapon, i.e. the shell has not hit the target but the blast from the explosion has.

For an explanation of how Strength influences damage see COMBAT MECHANICS on page 89.


EXPERIENCE POINTS

Experience points are the means by which a regiments characteristics can be increased. You will notice in the Troop Roster that each regiment has its own number of experience points. These are gained by killing enemy troops and they represent the troopsÕ level of field experience or how battle hardened they are. Experience points are awarded after each battle to the participating regiments who actually scored kills. The amount of points awarded per kill is dependant on how powerful the enemy was. For example, 4 points are awarded for each Goblin Sticker killed, while 28 points are given for defeating a Giant. As a regiments experience points increase their characteristics will increase as follows:

  1. 2000 Points - Regiment receives +1 Weapon Skill (missile firing regiments receive +1 Ballistic Skill)*
  2. 4000 Points - Regiment receives +1 Strength*
  3. 6000 Points - Regiment receives +1 Wound*

(*) These awards are only given once, i.e. a regiment will not have received three +1 Weapon Skill awards by the time they exceed 6000 experience points!

NOTE: Wizards do not receive the above awards. Instead, they advance through Wizard Levels. See WIZARD LEVELS on page 95 for details.


PSYCHOLOGY

In addition to the characteristics described above, many types of creature either cause, or are subject to, psychology rules. The following descriptions mention various tests. These are not physical tests that you (the player) have to witness or participate in. These are tests performed by the game, based on the various TROOP CHARACTERISTICS. In the tabletop WARHAMMER BATTLE game tests are rolled by the players on two six sided dice. For example, a leadership test is often performed to see if a regiment will rout (run away) from combat. If the result is higher that the regiments Leadership value then the test has failed and the regiment will rout. In Shadow of the Horned Rat the computer simulates these dice rolls.


FEAR

Fear is a reaction to huge monsters or unnerving situations. If a regiment wishes to engage an

enemy that it fears, it must first take a Leadership test to overcome its fear. If a regiment is

charged by an enemy that it fears it must take a Leadership test - if the regiment fails the test the

regiment will flee.

For a list of regiments which cause or are subject to fear see SPECIAL RULES on page 114.


HATRED

Hatred is a powerful emotion borne of rivalry, grudges and irreconcilable feuds. Troops which

hate their hand-to-hand adversaries take any rout tests with a Leadership value of 10, making them

unlikely to rout from the combat. In the first ÔroundÕ they will also re-attempt any blows which

fail to hit the enemy.

For a list of regiments which are subject to hatred see SPECIAL RULES on page 114.


FRENZY

Certain warriors can go into a fighting frenzy, a whirlwind of destruction in which all concern for

their personal safety is ignored in favour of blood-letting. Frenzied troops fight in hand-to-hand

combat with double their normal attacks, and will always pursue a routing enemy.


COMBAT MECHANICS

The characteristics described above are used most often during combat. Note that the

descriptions which follow are summarised - the actual computations dont exactly make

interesting reading! You dont need to know the information that follows, but it will help you to

understand how the results of combat are decided.


CHARGING

When a regiment engages an enemy regiment, calculations are made to determine which regiment

is to gain the charge and which is to receive the charge. These calculations are based on the

regimentÕs Movement and Initiative characteristics, with an element of chance included too.

The regiment with the highest Movement and Initiative is most likely to gain the charge and will

get to strike their foe first as well as be awarded a Strength bonus for the duration of the initial

combat round.


ROUNDS

Once your regiment clashes with the enemy, the resulting combat is resolved by the computer

calculating a series of combat rounds. Each round lasts thirty seconds and during this period of

time, the computer makes certain combat calculations to see who is winning.


HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT

In each combat round, the front rank of each regiment in the battle attacks. The regiment with the

highest initiative attacks first. The ÔAttackÕ characteristic shows how many times each mercenary

warrior can attack in each round. When an individual attacks another, the Weapon Skill of the

combatants is compared to determine whether the attacker landed a blow. If so, the attackers

Strength is compared to the victims Toughness to determine whether the blow caused a Wound.

If so, there is a chance his armour may save him. If this armour save fails, the blow hits home and

the wound is caused. NOTE: Some weapons give the attacker a Strength bonus during combat.

For details of these see Weapons on page 86.


If the troop has more than one attack, the above process is repeated until his attacks have been

exhausted. Note that each attack may target a different enemy troop if sufficient enemy troops are

close by; this is particularly relevant for monsters, some of whom can have as many as 7 attacks

per round.


After a round has been completed, the total number of wounds caused by each side in the melee

is calculated. If applicable, bonus points are added for any regiments which charged the enemy in

the flank or the rear. Once it is determined which side scored less, all regiments belonging to that

side in the melee must take a Leadership test***. Any regiments which fail the test will rout from

the combat.


      • Leadership tests are subject to psychology rules, for example Dwarf Slayers will never rout

from combat. See the PSYCHOLOGY section above for full details of the psychology rules.


MISSILE REGIMENTS

When a missile regiment attempts to fire, the range of its weapon is first considered to determine

whether or not it will fire. If the target is out of range, you will be told in the Text Window and

no firing will take place. Providing the target is in range and can be seen, a calculation is made

using the regimentÕs Ballistic Skill characteristic (with an element of chance), to determine

whether the projectile hit the target. If so, the projectileÕs Strength is compared to the victims

Toughness to determine whether the projectile caused any Wounds. The Strength of the projectile

is taken from the Strength of the weapon which fired it. For details of weapon Strengths, see

Weapons on page 86. If the victim is wounded he attempts to make an armour save, based on his

Armour Rating, to deflect the blow. If the armour save fails, the projectile hits home and the

wounds are caused.

Apart from the range of the strike and the fact that damage is taken from the weapons Strength

(as opposed to the attackers Strength), missile attacks are resolved the same as hand to hand

attacks.


Some missile weapons such as cannon also have a blast area, which can cause damage to a large

number of enemy troops in one strike.


WAR MACHINES

War machines can be prone to fail or misfire in one of the following ways:

  • May not shoot - a minor fault prevents the machine shooting in this round.
  • Disabled - a more serious fault prevents the machine shooting for the next 2 rounds.
  • Destroyed! - the machine breaks up under the strain placed upon it and is permanently destroyed.
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