Unit Cost Equation

[BigDaddy]

Sushiboat, can you use Absolute value on Str and HP to force Size to be negative(with your software)?

I don't understand what you are requesting. I think that all units already have non-negative Strength and HP values, so running them through an absolute value function wouldn't change those numbers. Are you talking about the coefficients?

[/quote]

Yes, I'm talking about the coefficients. They really would do better as positives. I thought if you could force absolute value on them, then it would force Size to be negative. You also may get this result by changing the order. To some extent I agree with Evil Dave, except that we are talking about a correlation issue, even though Size and HP are very different. I would recommend making a model for human sized units IF you where going to cut size out. Otherwise, it is important enough to leave in. Besides, I assume it makes your model more accurate.

[sushiboat]

The coefficients are derived from the data, so you can't just change the
positive/negative sign without hurting the equation's performance. I could
take out all but one of a set of highly correlated predictors. However, all
predictors in the equation are making a highly significant contribution.
Perhaps a better solution would be to create a composite variable. A new
variable called Bigness could be the sum of the standardized scores of Size,
HP, and Strength. A little information would be lost by not keeping them
separate, but not much.

Edit: EvilDave, I don't have the output in front of me. (It's a Mac Classic app,
and I don't want to fire up the Classic environment just now.) I do remember
the predictors I kept having p-values that were very low, less than .0001. I
removed the predictors with p-values of .10 and higher from the three most
recent regressions. It just happened that there was a huge gap between the
predictors that weren't statistically significant and the ones that were.

[BigDaddy]

I DO realize that forcing the numbers will affect performance. But, building small strong units is trouble right now. . . SO, I would see if a Str and size composite (excluding HP) would be effective, it is a very good idea. I'd like to see HP remain alone, if possible. Then, little information would be lost.

Note to modders (who like this sort of thing), YES you can easily use this equation to min/max like never before and claim fairness. . .

[Scott Hebert]

Claim, yes. Hide behind for long, probably not.

[sushiboat]

Scott, I would be interested in seeing your figures for magic paths and cost.
Unless you are using the Unit Database spreadsheet and have numerical
entries for all mage units, I wouldn't be able to plug your numbers in directly
to my approach. As I said, I do plan to add magic paths to the analysis, but
no time for that today.

[Scott Hebert]

Dave: So... the p-values are like that 95% value for confidence testing, and the R-squared value is how much of the sample that the equation explains.

It sounds like math modeling and differential equations to me.

Sushi: If I had the Unit Database, I could supply that for you. It would be easiest if it were in Excel. It uses the Illwinter cost method.

[BigDaddy]

Scott,

Its here (and in Excel Format)

http://www.dominions-2.org/files.htm#docs

Under "Unit DB - by Edi"

[Scott Hebert]

Downloaded. I hope to have the magic path costs entered sometime today... if my New Era Pangaea game doesn't suck any more time away...

mmmm... Dryad Hoplites....

[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.