Arrows vs shields in dom2 and dom3

[mivayan]

I was curious about how shields protected from arrows in dom2 and dom3. Does the following match peoples' experience?

* arrows are better against shieldless units in dom3 than dom2
* but shields help a lot more.
* For a shield-less commander, a black steel tower shield is 7x better against arrows than an amulet of missile protection (but more encumbering).


A shortbow arrow hits a square in battle. One of the units in the square is always choosen as the target. The dom3 manuals definition of DRN (2d6, open ended) is same as in dom2.

Then comes a formula, which involves the shield. In dom2:
Attacker rolls: DRN
Defender rolls: DRN + shield defence

In dom3:
Attacker rolls DRN + (Size points in the square) +2 if magic weapon
Defender rolls 2 + DRN + (shield parry x2) - (Fatigue / 20)

Take a shortbow hitting a square filled with units (6 size points) which have no fatigue.

With no shield:
dom2- difference is +0, dom3 manual page5 table gives 46% chance to hit. Over half the arrows that hit a square with units miss in dom2? Seems low.
dom3- difference is +4, 76% chance to hit.

With a buckler which had def 1 in dom2, parry 2 in dom3
dom2: -1, 38%. dom2: +0, 46%

With round shield which had def 2 in dom2 and parry 4 in dom3. (vans, white centaurs)
dom2: -2, 30%, dom3: -4, 18%

With tower shield which had def 4 in dom2, parry 7 in dom3
dom2: -4, 18%, dom3: -10, 3% chance.

With a forged black steel tower shield which had def 4 in dom2, parry9 in dom3
dom2: -4, 18%. Dom3: -14, 1% chance.

[Maltrease]

Nice analysis. Thanks for laying it out like this.

Does any of this apply with "bolt" magic?

I did some test with the wand that shoots firebolts and it seemed like it would land in the middle of a group of units and not do any damage. This was a 22AP attack vs medium infantry!

I thought I remembered from Dom2, that a magical attack that landed in the correct square would always hit a unit (unlike an arrow). It seems like lighting bolts works correctly. Is it possible that a spell from an item is treated differently.

[Tyrant]

Thanks for the analysis.

M- AE spells always hit, but flame bolt is single target, not single square. No idea if shields work for that.

[Fate]

I have no idea about shields for spells, but the manual refers to magical attacks in the ranged section. I would therefore assume that the targeting -if not the complete equations- apply. It does seem weird, though.

[curtadams]

No specific numbers, but I noticed a bank of magma bolters were absolutely miserable shots. I had 4 Magi, Aimed to precision 16, and I was lucky if they scored 4 hits on fairly tight formations in 4 rounds of shooting. I remember Magma Bolt being far more effective in Dom2. This was against militia too, so even without shield there are problems.

[Corwin]

I assume the shield works the same way for all missiles, including crossbows, javelins, etc.
Which in some cases doesn't make much sense, IMHO.

For example. let's say the gaint has trown the boulder into the Ermor's undead legionarie. Legionare has 5 HP and tower shiled. Instead of being smashed to fine bone dust by the force of impact, according to above formula the legionare have 97% chance of avoiding any damage from huge boulder thrown by giant due to legionare's tower shield.


Also what about magical missile-style attacks? Like Yomi's "thrown flame"? Is it also calaculated the same way as arrows? (plus 2 to hit perhaps for being magical)

[PDF]

Corwin said:
I assume the shield works the same way for all missiles, including crossbows, javelins, etc.
Which in some cases doesn't make much sense, IMHO.

For example. let's say the gaint has trown the boulder into the Ermor's undead legionarie. Legionare has 5 HP and tower shiled. Instead of being smashed to fine bone dust by the force of impact, according to above formula the legionare have 97% chance of avoiding any damage from huge boulder thrown by giant due to legionare's tower shield.


Also what about magical missile-style attacks? Like Yomi's "thrown flame"? Is it also calaculated the same way as arrows? (plus 2 to hit perhaps for being magical)

Yes, there's something wrong here...In melee, if a shield parries it only adds its parry value to the wielder's prot, it doesn't "stop" the hit altogether.
It should be the same with missiles, else indeed if a puny small shield can "stop" a meteorite, it's funky !