Game mechanics

[Madscientist]

We should have a pinned thread that explains the basic game mechanics. The problem is that after several posts it will be hard to find the relevant information fast. If somebody has an idea how to do this in a good way, please go ahead.

I will start with the damage and speed formula since I guess those are the most importent and most complicated ones.

 

Damage formula ( Thanks to MaxQuest and kmbogd for finding it )

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Every dmg bonus/malus has an actual "step" associated to it.

 

 

Since damage bonuses are positive in nature their step is positive and equal to the percentage damage increase. Some examples of steps of dmg bonuses:

• Weapon specialization bonus(+10% dmg) => step=0.1
• Crit damage bonus (+25% dmg) => step=0.25
• Sneak attack bonus (+50% dmg) => step=0.5

 

In the case of maluses the formula for the step is a bit different: 1-1/(1-malus). Here are some examples of steps of dmg maluses:

• Graze malus (-50%) => step=1-1/(1-0.5)=1-1/0.5=1-2=-1
• Light under-penetration (-25%) => step=1-1/(1-0.25)=1-1/0.75=1-4/3=-0.333
• Severe under-penetration (-75%) => step=1-1/(1-0.75)=1-1/0.25=1-4=-3

 

Now, all the steps of the dmg bonus and maluses are summed up together.

 

If the sum is >=0 you have the formula that you mentioned: rolled_dmg * (Step_SUM + 1)

 

If the sum is <0 you have the following formula: rolled_dmg/(1-Step_SuM)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

I did some attacks in the game and the formula seem to be correct.

[Madscientist]

These are my comments to the damage formula.

The numbers are from the beta so they may be wrong, but the general concept is correct.

 

 

So this means:

- If there is only a single modifier the effect is exactly what it says: sneak attack = +50% damage, graze = -50% damage

- If there are several bonusses and no penalties the bonusses are added: 50% sneak attack + 40% biting whip = +90% damage

- If there are several penalties and no bonusses the penalties have diminishing returns, which means that several penalties result in a bigger penalty than every single one of them but the total penalty is smaller than the sum of all penalties ( because otherwise you could have negative damage )

- If you have both bonusses and penalties, the penalties have a bigger wight than the bonusses

 

result:

If you have several bonusses and penalties it is impossible to determine the effect of each modifier unless you are a math expert or you use a calculator. It is hard to tell if a specific combination of modifiers result in more or less damage than normal. The combat log will be confusing for many players because the can see +X% damage from something and -Y%damage from something else but the numbers do not add up.

[Madscientist]

This is a post of MaxQuest from the beta about attack speed.

Can somebody please confirm if it is still true in the final game?

I can check the damage numbers with the combat log, but for attack speed you need a way to count frames.

 

------------------------------------------------

 

I've taken a look at how Attack/Action Speed works in Deadfire, and will list the aggregated info in this thread.

First of all here are the main differences between Beta2 and PoE1:
- weapons' recovery duration (on average) was doubled
- but they now have almost halved attacking duration
- reloading weapons no longer have recovery phase at all
- weapons deal damage right at the end of attacking phase (instead of doing that somewhat in the middle of it)
- in PoE1 we could "abuse" Quick Switch and skip recovery of firearms along with reloading. This is not possible in Deadfire even if firearms would still have said recovery.
- many PoE1 "+x% Attack Speed" effects were changed to "+x% Action Speed"
- in PoE1 attack phase duration was influenced only by DEX. In Deadfire everything that states "+x% Action Speed" affects it. This is minor for weapons (since they have really fast attack), but big for spells.
- speed system / formulas / stacking was heavily rewritten
- dexterity bonus is no longer multiplicative with other coefficients. All multipliers are now aggregated in additive manner.
- and maluses go through double inversion (like in current damage calculation) In practice that results in: if you have many bonuses and let's say 1 malus - that malus will have a much greater effect on the final value.
- stacking speed bonuses subject to increasing returns in PoE1; and is subject to diminishing returns in Deadfire.

Notes:
- it looks like reload duration was decided to be left unafected by the armor type.
- Swift Strikes and Frenzy seemed to not affect attack duration in Beta1 (they do in Beta2, and it's now consistent with other "+x% Action Speed" effects, like: potions, bloodlust and dex).

 
Now regarding the formula: 
phase_duration = base_phase_duration / speed_coefficientwhere: 
speed_coefficient = steps_sum >= 0 ? steps_sum + 1 : 1 / (1 - steps_sum)     where:
steps_sum = step_1 + step_2 + ... + step_nwhere:
step_n = coef_n >= 1 ? coef_n - 1 : 1 - 1 / coef_n 

 

And a concrete example. Warbow has:
- 1.1s base attack duration
- 3.0s base recovery duration

Q: What attack/recovery it will have at 20 DEX with overdraw?

> Let's compute attack duration:
- steps_sum = (1.3 - 1) = 0.3
- speed_coef = 1.3 + 1 = 1.3
- attack_duration = 1.1s / 1.3 = 0.846s

> Let's compute recovery duration:
- steps_sum = (1.3 - 1) + (1 - 1 / 2) = 0.3 + -1 = -0.7
- speed_coef = 1 / (1 - -0.7) = 1/1.7 = 0.588
- recovery_duration = 3.0s / 0.588 = 5.1s

Result: at 20 DEX and overdraw, warbow will have:
~ 0.8s attack duration
~ 5.1s recovery duration

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Edit: I have copied the text but the formula looks bad.

I do not know what the ? in the formula means.

Edited May 12, 2018 by Madscientist