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Sometimes I just can't figure out how the unit strength value is calculated in combat. For instance, yesterday I was sinking poor outdated barbarian ships with my sub, and when peeking at the combat preview I saw this:

Submarine vs Caravel

Why is the caravel's strength listed as 6 and not 15? And why is the sub's strength listed as 130.8 and not 60 * (1 + 0.6 + 0.33) = 115.8? Does anyone know the formula the game actually uses?

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Sub vs. sailboat, how is that even fair? Anyways, 60 * 1.33 * 1.60 is a bit closer, 128, but still not quite there. Maybe it's base damage is really 61.3 and it's rounding heavily to 60 :P – Nick T Sep 10 '11 at 10:32
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@Nick it may not be fair, but it is historically accurate :) – Oak♦ Sep 10 '11 at 11:07
What Honor social policies did you have. Anything? – Raven Dreamer♦ Sep 10 '11 at 20:47
@Raven nothing... and even if I had anything, shouldn't it be listed in the bonus list? – Oak♦ Sep 11 '11 at 0:06
@Oak - depends. For instance, you don't see the modifier you get based on your damage taken, even if, say, Bushido, is providing a large "effective" modifier. So, for clarity - what civ are you playing as, and is the unit damaged? – Raven Dreamer♦ Sep 11 '11 at 0:19
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2 Answers

up vote 1 down vote

130.8/60 = 218% =

  • 100% (base)
  • 33% bonus vs barbs
  • 60% bonus vs domain (that's targetting 3, right?)
  • 25% unlisted bonus (it's unlisted because the screen is too short to list it)

A few possible sources for that 25%...

  • Himeji Castle for 15% in friendly territory.
  • Nationalism Social Policy for 25% in friendly territory. <-- we have a winner.
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up vote 0 down vote

As far as I know, all combat modifiers are additive.

Ranged units use ranged strength to defend ranged attacks. Thus I can only assume that there's a hidden -15% modifier to the barbarian's 7, reducing it to 6 str.

It appears that the sub is being affected by an unlisted/hidden or off-the-screen 25% bonus that you aren't seeing:

60 * (1 + 0.6 + 0.33 + 0.25) = 130.8.

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