Unit Cost Equation

[sushiboat]

Scott, I can't use magic path cost. (I am interested anyway, if you have a
formula for it.) What I need is the path levels in different columns -- 13
different columns if you have columns for elemental random, sorcery
random, and full random and you include holy and unholy. For example, a
F2E1 mage would have 2,0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0. If you don't have
information in that format already, please don't enter it by hand. When I have
time, I will use search and replace in a text editor to reformat the Magic
column into something I can use.

[Scott Hebert]

Ah. Mm, okay. I can probably do that.

[BigDaddy]

OK, here's an "update" to Edi's Unit_DB (its actually a spreadsheet). Another tab has been added to include a column for almost everything. If anyone feels like parsing all 198 special abilities!!! Go for it!

Dom2_Unit_DB_Sorttable.xls

Sushi, this should give you more to work with than you need.

[sushiboat]

EvilDave, here is the output with p-values for the mage commander equation.
As I have alluded to before, I am using a stepwise procedure. I first include all
the predictors I have available at the moment. Then I remove one predictor at
a time, starting from the highest p-values, until all remaining predictors have
p-values less than .10.

Code:

---

            Coeff.     Std. Error  Std. Coeff.  t-Value  P-Value

Intercept   -232.976    63.326    -232.976     -3.679    .0004

Morale         7.680     3.028        .155      2.537    .0127

MagicRes      16.015     3.847        .281      4.163   <.0001

Defense       11.466     2.624        .397      4.369   <.0001

ldr_norm        .882      .314        .181      2.805    .0060

ldr_undead     1.142      .313        .178      3.643    .0004

ldr_mag        3.476      .466        .440      7.463   <.0001

Strength       4.118     1.608        .137      2.561    .0119

Attack       -10.712     3.643       -.225     -2.940    .0041

Precision     -5.653     3.108       -.112     -1.819    .0719

---

[Scott Hebert]

Sushi: From this,I assume that a mage's HPs do not correlate well (or they are not well-predicted) by the gold cost of that mage?

This seems... weird. Very weird.

[Oversway]

That makes sense to me. Most national mages have about the same hp: between 10 and 20. It is the increased magic that bumps the price up. I think only jotun and pan have really high hps mages. I may have missed some, but the majority do not. So the difference in hp is a wash compared to other attributes.

[Scott Hebert]

Perhaps, but the main reason that the Pan (to take an example) costs so much is not his magic, but his other abilities (HPs, Str, etc.).

I mean, if I tried to use this to make a mage, I could conceivably give them 1000 HPs, and have it cost no more than a mage with 10.

It's an interesting piece of math, but as a way to cost things, I'm not sure how useful it is.

Is there any way to get simple correlative data?

[Oversway]

Another explanation is that hp and strength (or some other attribute) are not independant: every high hp mage also has high strength, and the so the curve happens to fit well enough by just using one of the attributes.

Hence the dangers of using interpolation for extrapolation

Then again, one could argue that your 1000hp mage with 5str doesn't fit well with dominions.


p.s. I'm not a math genius. I might have it all wrong.

[Scott Hebert]

Oh, I think I have a decent enough grasp of the math to agree with you that high-HPs and high-Str correlate to the point that one might overshadow the other in this equation.

However, for the purposes of uncovering a unit cost equation, the correlations need to be explicit.

What I mean is, if you tell me 'HP base is 2/3 Str, with a direct proportion after that', that is a lot more helpful as a gauge of making units. If that is what is necessary to make the equation truly useful, then I'd really like to have that.

[BigDaddy]

This equation is meant to give you a guideline for developing or repricing units. If you want to min/max your units you CAN, but it doesn't follow the spirit of the game. For instance, any size 2 unit with more than 17 hps better have a good explanation (like the fact that its a lich).