Vers. 1.

0 (09-22-04)

WARCRAFT III DAMAGE TUTORIAL

BACKGROUND
This tutorial will discuss the amount of damage sustained by a unit from a given
attack and the parameters that can be changed in the WE that influence the amount of
damage sustained. This information is useful to achieve the best balance between units
in any map. I will also discuss which factors do not appear to have any influence on the
amount of damage sustained, but would at first appear to do so based on their WE
name.

I will not discuss in detail the parameters that influence the attack damage value
(i.e. the amount of the attack such as 5-10) of any unit, and only generally discuss the
types of attacks (i.e., Pierce, Chaos, Siege, etc.) to the extent they affect the amount of
damage inflicted. I will also not discuss area-of-effect or other attack-related
parameters that modify the initial damage value that could be inflicted on a unit. Rather,
I focus here on the defensive factors that increase or reduce this initial value. I hope to
look at other attack factors in a later tutorial.

Most of the information I present has been obtained through trial-and-error play
testing and experimentally verified. I welcome any comments, suggestions, or
corrections to this information as there are some idiosyncrasies that I have discovered
and cannot explain.

DEFENSE BASICS
Each unit in WC3 includes a number of parameters that affect the amount of
damage that is sustained by the unit when attacked. These parameters are set in the
Object Editor module of the WE, and include Combat - Defense Base; Combat -
Defense type; and Combat - Defense Upgrade Bonus. Each is discussed in more detail
below.

Combat - Defense Base

This parameter sets what is commonly known as the “Armor” of the unit. When
selecting a unit in a WC3 game, the number entered here is shown under Armor in the
bottom center display (Figure 1), directly adjacent to an icon indicating the Armor Type
(set using the Combat - Defense Type Parameter discussed below). In game, if you
mouse-over the icon, a dialog pops-up showing the Armor value, the Armor Type, a
Damage Reduction Percentage, and a short narrative about how various attacks react
with the Armor Type (Figure 2).

Figure 1 Figure 2
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The Figures above also illustrate one inconsistency in the game that could result
in confusion. As described in more detail below, the selected Armor Type of “Normal” is
recognized as a valid Armor Type (Figure 2, showing “Type: Normal”), but the narrative
refers to “Medium armor.” In fact, as described in detail below, “Normal Armor” does
not behave the same as medium armor and is a unique Armor Type that receives 100%
damage from all Attack Types. It is unclear if the narrative referring to medium armor is
a programming error or if “Normal Armor” is an unused armor type left in the game
during development. I was not able to find any standard unit that uses Normal armor.

The Relationship between Armor Value and Damage Reduction Percentage

Here’s where things get a little mathematically complex. Obviously, more armor
reduces the damage sustained by a unit. Thus, it is critical to understand the
relationship between the two. The Damage Reduction Percentage increases with
increasing armor and asymptotically approaches 100%. By creating a unit having a
given armor value and then reviewing the pop-up dialog (Figure 2, above) for each, the
following relationship is found:

Armor Value and Damage Reduction Percentages as displayed in game pop-up dialog
Damage Damage Damage Damage
Reduction Reduction Reduction Reduction
Armor Armor Armor Armor
Percentage Percentage Percentage Percentage
Value Value Value Value
shown in shown in shown in shown in
Dialog Dialog Dialog Dialog
0 0% 20 55% 40 71% 60 78%
1 6% 21 56% 41 71% 61 79%
2 11% 22 57% 42 72% 62 79%
3 15% 23 58% 43 72% 63 79%
4 19% 24 59% 44 73% 64 79%
5 23% 25 60% 45 73% 65 80%
6 26% 26 61% 46 73% 66 80%
7 30% 27 62% 47 74% 67 80%
8 32% 28 63% 48 74% 68 80%
9 35% 29 64% 49 75% 69 81%
10 38% 30 64% 50 75% 70 81%
11 40% 31 65% 51 75% 71 81%
12 42% 32 66% 52 76% 72 81%
13 44% 33 66% 53 76% 73 81%
14 46% 34 67% 54 76% 74 82%
15 47% 35 68% 55 77% 75 82%
16 49% 36 68% 56 77% 76 82%
17 50% 37 69% 57 77% 77 82%
18 52% 38 70% 58 78% 78 82%
19 53% 39 70% 59 78% 79 83%

First, it should be noted that this is the percentage by which damage is reduced.
Therefore, to determine the damage that will be inflicted, the percentage shown should
be subtracted from 1. For example, a unit having an Armor value of 22 will have its
base damage reduced by 57% and thus will receive only 1-.57 = .43, or 43% of the base
damage.

Attempts to experimentally verify these numbers, however, show that the

Damage Reductions Percentages are not integers, but rather floating point numbers
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that are rounded when displayed in-game. To confirm these percentages, a unit for
each armor value having 10,000 HP was attacked with an attack doing 10,000 of Chaos
damage (which negates the armor type as described below). The resulting remaining
hit points were then recorded and a Damage Reduction Percentage was calculated to 2
decimal places for each armor value. As can be seen in the Table below, the Damage
Reduction Percentage shown in the dialog is merely the more precise value determined
during play testing rounded to the closest integer.

Armor Value and Damage Reduction Percentages as determined from play testing and differences with
Percentages displayed in game pop-up dialog
Damage Damage Damage Damage
Reduction Reduction Reduction Reduction
Armor Armor
Percentage Percentage Difference Percentage Percentage Difference
Value Value
shown in from Play shown in from Play
Dialog Testing Dialog Testing
0 0% 0.00% 0.00% 20 55% 54.55% -0.45%
1 6% 5.67% -0.33% 21 56% 55.76% -0.24%
2 11% 10.72% -0.28% 22 57% 56.90% -0.10%
3 15% 15.26% 0.26% 23 58% 57.99% -0.01%
4 19% 19.36% 0.36% 24 59% 59.02% 0.02%
5 23% 23.08% 0.08% 25 60% 60.00% 0.00%
6 26% 26.48% 0.48% 26 61% 60.94% -0.06%
7 30% 29.58% -0.42% 27 62% 61.84% -0.16%
8 32% 32.44% 0.44% 28 63% 62.69% -0.31%
9 35% 35.07% 0.07% 29 64% 63.51% -0.49%
10 38% 37.51% -0.49% 30 64% 64.29% 0.29%
11 40% 39.76% -0.24% 31 65% 65.04% 0.04%
12 42% 41.87% -0.13% 32 66% 65.76% -0.24%
13 44% 43.83% -0.17% 33 66% 66.45% 0.45%
14 46% 45.66% -0.34% 34 67% 67.11% 0.11%
15 47% 47.37% 0.37% 35 68% 67.75% -0.25%
16 49% 48.98% -0.02% 36 68% 68.36% 0.36%
17 50% 50.50% 0.50% 37 69% 68.95% -0.05%
18 52% 51.93% -0.07% 38 70% 69.52% -0.48%
19 53% 53.28% 0.28% 39 70% 70.06% 0.06%

The next question is what mathematical relationship exists between the armor
value and the Damage Reduction Percentage? As further discussed below, the answer
can be found in part under the Gameplay Constants (in the WE menu, Advanced |
Gameplay Constants - Figure 3 below) the parameter entitled Combat - Armor Damage
Reduction Multiplier, abbreviated ADRM. The default value for this parameter is 0.06.
After a little trial and error, the mathematical relationship can be found to be:

1
Damage _ reduction _ percentage = 1 −
1 + ( Armor ) * ( ADRM )

I further modified the value in the Gameplay Constants and confirmed that the above
relationship appears to hold true.
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Figure 3 - Gameplay Constants Window

Combat - Defense Type

This parameter sets the Armor Type, as shown in the pop-up dialog (Figure 2,
above). There are eight choices and in the WE, your options are Unarmored, Normal,
Small, Medium, Large, Fortified, Hero, and Divine. These are reflected in the game
identically, expect that “Small” is called “Light” when viewed in-game.

Each Armor Type suffers different damage depending on the type of attack that it
receives. In the WE, the parameter Combat - Attack Type can be set to None, Normal,
Pierce, Siege, Spells, Chaos, Magic, and Hero. In the same way you can mouse-over
the armor icon in the game to receive a pop-up dialog, you can also mouse-over the
attack icon (Figure 4) and receive a pop-up dialog with information about the attack
(Figure 5).

Figure 4 Figure 5

Comparing Figure 2 and Figure 5 shows parity between the narratives for Armor
Type and Attack Type. That is, Figure 2 makes clear that Medium armor reduces
damage from piercing attacks and Figure 5 similarly shows that Piercing attacks do
reduced damage to medium armor. What is not shown from these narratives, however,
is how much the damage is reduced or increased. These values are, however, set
globally in the Gameplay Constants. The default values are shown in the following table
with the percentage increase (red) or decrease (green) for any attack/armor
combination.
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Defense Type
Unarmored Normal Small Medium Large Fortified Hero Divine
None 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 75% 5%
Normal 100% 100% 100% 150% 100% 70% 100% 5%
Attack Type

Pierce 150% 100% 200% 75% 100% 35% 50% 5%

Siege 150% 100% 100% 50% 100% 150% 50% 5%
Hero 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 50% 100% 5%
Chaos 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Magic 100% 100% 125% 75% 200% 35% 50% 5%
Spells 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 75% 5%

There are some points worth noting. First, the Attack Types “Spells” and “None”
will show in-game in the Attack narrative window (as in Figure 5) as “Normal.”
However, the default damage reduction percentages when attacking Hero and Divine
Armor Types differ from any other Attack Type. Therefore, it is again unclear if these
Attack Types were simply not removed during development or what their purpose is. I
was not able to find their use in any standard unit in the game.

Also, it should be noted that Divine Armor, which is asserted to only take damage
from Chaos Type attacks (See Figure 6 below), in fact suffers 5% damage from all other
attacks. Thus, while the armor is strong, it is not impenetrable when using the default
values.

Figure 6

As noted above, these values can be changed in the Gameplay Constants as noted
above, See Figure 3. The Gameplay Constants in a parameter for Combat - Damage
Bonus Table for each type of attack. Following those numbers are a series of
percentages, separated by commas, which define the percentage increase or decrease
for each attack/armor type combination. It is important to note that the order of armor
types in this list is small (light), medium, large, fortified, normal, hero, divine, and
unarmored. Thus, the default data shown in the chart above can be changed in the
Gameplay Constants as desired. It is not clear that the parameter for “ethereal” has any
effect.

Combat - Defense Upgrade Bonus

This parameter appears to have no direct effect on the damage received by a
unit, but is used instead when Armor is upgraded, for example by researching Iron
Plating in the game. As shown above in Figure 4, when an attack or armor upgrade is
available, it is shown in-game with a small level number in the lower right corner.
Researching the appropriate upgrade results in an increase in armor by the Defense
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Upgrade Bonus value. This is set by selecting Data - Effect 1 (See Object Editor |
Upgrades) to equal “Apply Defense Upgrade Bonus.”

What doesn’t have an effect: Combat - Armor Type?

There are certain parameters in the WE that I at first thought would have an
influence on the damage suffered by a unit. The Combat - Armor Type parameter is an
example. This parameter can be set to one of five settings - Ethereal; Flesh; Metal;
Stone; or Wood. It does not appear, however, that this setting has any affect
whatsoever on the amount of damage suffered during an attack. The only difference
appears to be the sound set used when the unit is attacked. That is, the sound effect is
altered based on the setting to “thunk” against wood, “clink” against metal, and “scrape”
against stone. Be careful not to confuse Combat - Armor Type with Combat - Defense
Type, discussed above.

Summary - Putting it All Together

From the above, I have found that there are 2 primary factors that affect the
amount of damage a unit will sustain when attacked. The first parameter is its armor,
set using the Combat - Defense Base and the second factor is the Armor Type set using
the parameter Combat - Defense Type. The total damage to be inflicted in any given
attack/armor type clash can be found by multiplying these two percentages and
increasing or decreasing the base damage by this amount. Consider a unit having an
armor value of 9. This would result in a nominal default damage reduction percentage
of 35%. If this unit further has an armor type of small (light, when shown in-game) and
is attacked by Piercing Attack, the attack will be increased by 200%. If the attacker
inflicts 90 base damage, then the total damage would be 90 * (1-0.35) * 2.00 = 117
damage.