Flow of Damage

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The Flow of Damage
Don't you hate it when you're fighting some monsters and it seems like you just can't hurt them? Maybe it seems like they're getting more turns than you are. Or maybe it seems like they're impossible to hit. Or maybe when you hit them it really doesn't do that much damage.

If this has happened to you (and is there anyone to whom it hasn't?) then you've already discovered the Flow of Damage (so-dubbed by Tennessee Ernie Ford). It's important to understand the Flow of Damage because all combat depends on it.

Let's take a closer look.

1) Structures

MM6 has many individual features which act as building blocks. These features include the Primary and Secondary Stats, the Skills, the Items, and many others. Furthermore, these features are connected with each other, in turn creating larger logical structures which we'll call Structures. The Flow of Damage is such a Structure. We will discuss some other Structures under the Cycle of Combat heading.

The core of the Flow of Damage is formed by the relationships that connect Speed, Accuracy, Might, Attack Bonus, Shoot Bonus, Attack Damage and Shoot Damage. Nearly every other feature of the game is also related to it in a lesser way.

2) The Determining Factors

Whenever we Attack we want to be fast, accurate, and powerful. If any one of those is missing we're probably taking a beating. These factors break down into two and a half pairs -- three strengths and two counters. There's a table a few screens down to help summarize.

a)    The Rate of Attack

You can only deliver Damage when you Attack and you can only Attack when you have the opportunity -- ie, it's your turn. The rate of our Attacks relies on many elements and it is the most complex of all the factors of the Flow of Damage. The Speed stat figures in here, but only for non-magical Attacks. Our opponents have no counter to our rate of Attack short of evasion.

b)    The Chance to Hit

You can't deliver Damage if you don't Hit. The likelihood of succeeding with physical Attacks depends primarily on your character's Attack or Shoot Bonus. It is countered by your foe's Armor Class. Some magical Attacks also rely on the Shoot Bonus, but most do not.

c)    Damage Conferred

When you finally do connect you want to deliver as much Damage as possible. For Weapons and Bows this is where the Might stat fits in. Most Attacking Spells rely on the level of Skill in its particular school of magic to determine the amount of potential Damage.

However, a Monster's Resistance can counter the Damage you deliver. Resistance can not eliminate the Damage entirely, but it can reduce it to as little as 1 hit point!

3) The Other Direction

The discussion above addresses only one side of the Flow of Damage -- our Offense. The same determining factors come into play when we are being Attacked -- our Defense.

Although the factors are the same, the elements that affect them aren't necessarily mirrored. Whereas our strengths can improve or decline, the extent of a Monster's strengths is (almost always) fixed. Likewise our counters can change, but a Monster's counters can not.

a)    The Rate of Being Attacked

There is no Skill or statistic which robs our opponents of the opportunity to Attack. We can avoid Attacks by Maneuvering in Real-Time mode, but only by vertical flight in Turn-Based mode. I suspect that the inclusion of Turn-Based motion in MM7 was designed to address these inequities.

b)    The Chance to Be Hit

Armor Class is our counter to a foe's ability to Hit. The Speed stat also figures in here in a manner that depends on character class and promotion.

c)    Damage Acquired

Your character's Resistance to a particular type of Damage can reduce the amount of acquired Damage to as low as 1 hit point. Whereas Damage comes in six flavors, we only have explicit Resistance to five. It may be that we do have something equivalent to Physical Resistance. I'm still checking on it and will let you know.

4) Summary

The Flow of Damage forms the backbone of this work, and you'll be able to see that reflected in the Menu topics. Later, in the Cycle of Combat, we will place the Flow of Damage back into the context of the game.

**The Determining Factors of the Flow of Damage**
	Our Offense		Our Defence
	Our Strength	Foe's Counter	Foe's Strength	Our Counter
Rate	A & S Times Speed Casting Time	Maneuvering	Recovery Time	Maneuvering
Chance	A & S Bonuses Accuracy	Armor Class	Level?	Armor Class Speed, Luck?
Damage	A & S Damage Might	Resistances	Fixed Probabilities	Resistances and ?