Velocity vs. Accuracy

[vortex]

Recently, I've had a few questions regarding the mechanics involved in FF.  My thanks goes out to those who have explained things to me as best they could (yes, this means you, stumpy).  I'm in the process of trying to update some of my .hero files, and wanted to make them as accurate as I can!

Anyways, my next question is regarding the Velocity and Accuracy traits of Ranged attacks.  Supposedly, Velocity affects the chance for somebody to dodge an attack, and Accuracy is just that - how accurate the attack is (I'm guessing that this affects it's chance to hit).  Does a Ranged attack have to make 2 rolls to hit?  ie. One roll to hit, and another to see if it was dodged?

Again, if anybody has any specific game mechanics or formulas, it would be very much appreciated.  I hope somebody else can make use of this information, too.

[Blitzgott]

Velocity determines how hard it is to dodge an attack. Accuracy works in a way that, the lower the value, the higher the chance of an attack missfire and hit empty air.

For an example on that, stay distant from a gun thug (very low accuracy) and let him fire at you. You'll notice that most bullets won't even go straight on your character's direction and instead will hit the ground or simply fly away to nothingness. Now try the same with Eve (very high accuracy plus crackshot) and you'll notice that all the arrows she fires will go straight in your character's direction, and even if you move, it'll be very hard to make her miss the mark.

[vortex]

So basically, having a high accuracy and a low velocity on a beam attack (and vice versa), is pretty useless then, right.  eg. If the Accuracy is high and Velocity low, then your attack will land somewhere near the enemy but rarely hit.  If Velocity is high but Accuracy is low, it doesn't matter if they can dodge or not because the attack won't even come close to the target.

[Blitzgott]

Actually, the velocity vs. accuracy issue is more proiminent on projectiles; a.k.a. attacks that can be dodged. See, a low speed, high accuracy projectile would be pretty useless, since it would almost always reach the target, thanks to the accuracy, but be dodged, because of its velocity. Also, a high velocity, low accuracy would be almost as, if not more, useless, because the attack, if it hits, will certainly not be avoided, but most of the time it will be hitting the ground or the background.

As for beams, a low velocity, high accuracy beam, if it has a good range, can be useful, since beams cannot be dodged and they "follow" the opponent. A low accuracy beam with high velocity, on the other hand, would hit the ground almost all the time.

[stumpy]

I think Blitzgott covered it pretty well. The big distinction being that beams are cannot be dodged, so velocity on a beam determines only how long it takes to get to the target. BTW, that can be important, since that limits the number of attacks your character can get off in a given period of time. I have a character with a high KB repulsion beam she uses to keep brawlers at bay, but it wouldn't do her as much good if three or four attackers were coming her way and she could only knock one of them back with a slow beam by the time the others closed on her. The beam is fast and it has a fast animation (which adds expense, too), but it means she can keep several foes out of range while she tears into her main target.

By the way, fast characters, particularly fliers, can actually get out of range of very slow beams. I don't know if any of the AI (M25's or the in-game versions) is set to do that, but I have a couple of characters who, when I play them, stay near the edge of the baddies' beam attacks, rush out of range when they fire, then rush back into get in their own shots before the baddies can recharge. Also, for normal (non-penetrating) beams, the beam stops as soon as it hits something, so characters like Liberty Lad (who have low health and can be taken down by a single beam when you play on the harder settings) often survive against undodgable beams by staying near telephone poles and so on so that they can "lure" the beam into those before they hit him. A fav tactic of mine in the robot missions from the first game is to have LL draw the fire of the Flame Mechs and then he runs behind the normal Mechs so the flame beam hits them.

With projectiles, as mentioned, the accuracy is a measure of how likely the shot is to get to where the target currently is (or is going, assuming he keeps moving on the same trajectory). After the shot is fired, the target can move out of the way or change direction and the shot may miss because, unless it is homing, it can't change direction. Obviously, it's tougher to get out of the path of a very fast shot, so velocity has an effect even before the shot gets to the target. But, even when it gets there, the target (assuming he can see the shot or has DANGER SENSE) has a chance to dodge and that chance is based on the speed of the shot and the target's agility.

[Outcast]

I noticed that when you change the velocity of a projectile attack/melee attack, you can see the dodge percentage change accordingly when you right click a target. What i'm wondering is, why doesn't it change as well when you change the agility of the attacker or the target. How does agility come into play? Is there really some hidden calculation involved? Say first,accuracy determines the chance it reaches the target.Then velocity determines dodge percentages. Plus , minus a certain percentage determined by the attackers agility,then plus minus again based on the target's agility. :huh:

[stumpy]

The attacker's agility doesn't have any affect on the target's ability to dodge a projectile. The target's agility does change the dodge percentage chance you see on the status window. You should be able to see this if you create two characters who are identical except that one has different agility and take them into the Rumble Room along with a character with a projectile power. (This is easier to do if they are all on the squad.) Then place them some equal distance away from the projectile character - both facing him of course - and check the dodge percentages.

I had a big Excel spreadsheet of all this at some point when I had was doing a lot of testing, but I deleted it once I found out what I wanted to know. It turns out that the formulas behind all this are a little involved, since they take into account distance and other complicating factors.

[Outcast]

The target's agility does change the dodge percentage chance you see on the status window. You should be able to see this if you create two characters who are identical except that one has different agility and take them into the Rumble Room along with a character with a projectile power. (This is easier to do if they are all on the squad.) Then place them some equal distance away from the projectile character - both facing him of course - and check the dodge percentages.

Oops, my bad. :doh: Agility does change the dodge percentage chance in the status window. It's been a while since i last checked it in the rumble room. What i was really trying to figure out back then, was if agility had any effect on the chances to hit a target.

The attacker's agility doesn't have any affect on the target's ability to dodge a projectile.

Problem solved. ^_^  Now i see, that its mainly the velocity and the accuracy that determines the fighting skill of a character. Making a good fighter with a variety of attacks then cost more in terms of cp points. :unsure:

I had a big Excel spreadsheet of all this at some point when I had was doing a lot of testing, but I deleted it once I found out what I wanted to know. It turns out that the formulas behind all this are a little involved, since they take into account distance and other complicating factors.

Would have been interesting to see that. I think i wanted to do the same thing. Just hadn't have enough time lately. ^_^