A Few Tips About COMBAT SIMULATOR

Hi everyone,

Today I was fiddling around with the COMBAT SIMULATOR in order to figure out some stuff for another post and I realised a couple of very basic things about it.

As such I decided to write up a bit about it so that perhaps that info (and some more) may prove useful to you.

MULTIPLE WAVE ATTACKS
I do not know if any of you noticed but the Combat Simulator (CS) will actually enable you to predict 1 to 5 wave attacks. This means you can more than just do wave 1, take down the numbers and punch in wave 2. You can just add wave one and wave 2 simultaneously and let CS work it's number crunching! If you see, on the left-hand side, under the General icon, you have the word WAVE, with some empty circles, if you click on the next empty one (to your right) you will be able to punch in wave two and, in result, have the outcome of the TWO waves.

WATCHTOWER TYPE SELECTION
Another thing to notice is that you can select the type of watchtower for the enemy camps. I generally do not need it at all BUT, if you are attacking a camp which is a TOWER you will need to select the corresponding option, otherwise your results will not be accurate and you are likely to send LESS units than NEEDED!

RESULTS PAGE
The next thing I would like to point out is the Results page underneath the troop and camp composition selection part.

It says Minimum and Maximum Losses. How does it work? Well, CS runs the configuration you have provided a number of times. And it keeps track of the outcome (of all outcomes calculated) that gives you most losses and least losses - and displays those results.
So, the more times the scenario is tested, the more accurate will be the results. The maximum number of times the CS will run any given simulation is 2200. So you might have to click several times on the SIMULATE BATTLE button until it gets to that value.

What about the info displayed?
Well, it tells you your minimal and maximal loss and the enemy's minimal and maximal loss.

If it's a one wave attack you need the minimal and maximal loss to WIPE OUT ALL enemy units. This means ALL bandit units must show as both Minimal and Maximal Loss.

CONSUMED RAW MATERIALS
You will notice that you also have a button with a "+" sign that says Consumed Raw Materials. If you click there it will give you how much Settlers, Brew, Swords and so forth that you will need to replace the units lost in both Minimal and Maximal Loss.

BUILDING DESTRUCTION TIMES
Below this you have a table called Building Destruction Times and, as the title says, there you will be able to see:
the building types you may be attacking (you need to look at the row that corresponds to the camp you are simulating)
the number of rounds your setup will take (both minimal and maximal loss)
the battle duration time if you're using a NORMAL general
the battle duration time if you're using a FAST general
the TOTAL battle duration time (considering now the number of rounds the battle will take) for the NORMAL general
the TOTAL battle duration time (considering now the number of rounds the battle will take) for the FASTgeneral

NOTE: this table will only show if you destroy the camp in both minimal and maximal loss scenarios.

ADVANCED FEATURES
Below you have the opportunity of copying and pasting the link so you can send your simulation to others. This might be particularly useful if you want someone you're sharing a multiplayer adventure with to see your setups and corresponding results.

EXAMPLE SIMULATION
And, at the very end, comes the thing I wanted to tell you about the most. The Example Simulation.
When you click on this what you get is a, round by round breakup of the battle. Even though this might not be the most useful of things in regards to the actual battle - IT IS AN INSTRUMENTAL TOOL IF YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW HOW COMBAT TAKES PLACE WITHIN SETTLERS ONLINE!
You will see, each round, and within each round, each attack by each unit! How much damage each allied unit gives - and how much damage each enemy unit gives! Here you will be able to see how the unit's accuracy and damage play out - as well as damage received by the enemy.

It breaks each Round into First Strike, Normal Strike and Last Strike. And, within each of these you have Caused Damage and Interim Result.

CAUSED DAMAGE
Details, UNIT BY UNIT, the damage exchange between all units within the same strike. Particularly, you will be able to see the Hit Points of every unit go down as each enemy unit attacks! This is where you truly see the probability associated with damage (in other words, accuracy) play out. Completely! It is a simulation, of course, but it reveals the innards of how combat actually takes place. I strongly suggest you - if you have read this far in the post! - to simulate something and look at this at least once. It makes everything so much clearer!

INTERIM RESULT
Details how many units are left and what is their combined number of hit points at the END of each STRIKE within each ROUND.

SURVIVORS
As if this wasn't enough, at the very end of this section you have a small table clearly stating what are the numbers of survivors to be expected after such an attack. It represents simply an average but, still, quite informative!

More tips about the Combat System can be found HERE!

I hope this has been useful to you!