Combat Cover Questions

[_alphaBeta_]

I've been trying to observe combat to more detail, and have some questions I couldn't find discussion on by searching. I tried a few setups but can't seem to observe anything conclusive. The wiki article on this is a nice start, but I'll looking for some more information regarding cover that colonists can fire over.

• Does the cover effect stack? If a bullet travels over multiple sandbags, does each add to the likelihood of the bullet missing its target? Do they provide diminished returns (non-linear progression of protection for every covering object in the flight path of the bullet)?
• Does a colonist need to be standing next to cover in order to receive the bonus? If there's a sandbag between a bullet and a colonist is cover achieved if the bullet crosses the sandbag (regardless of the position of the colonist behind it) or does the colonist need to be directly behind it?

These questions are posed in the context of the game. In real-life, your distance to the cover would most certainly matter (closer the better to minimize your target silhouette), but the cover wouldn't really stack (just talking straight flying bullets right now - no explosives or lobbed grenades).

The same could apply to other objects as well, such as turrets. Do sandbags need to be right up against the turret (adjacent tiles), or can they be a tile or two in front? Does it make any sense to have a few layers of sandbags around the turret?

[UrbanBourbon]

Cover stacks to some extent. The cover applies only to adjacent tiles, which means the colonist/raider/anyone needs to stand next to the cover block, if he intends to take advantage of the cover. If you aim manually at a raider who's standing next to a row of sandbags, from an angle, that's when you'll see the effects of multiple cover blocks stacking, in the tooltip. Also, shooting angle determines the amount of cover as well, but on the other hand, for offensive purposes, flanking a little bit to the side might trigger the cover bonus from the adjacent cover block. It's unclear to me if it's better to fire at a raider from a slight angle (and risk shooting through 2 cover blocks) or from straight ahead. Since only the adjacent tiles can provide cover, no more than 2 blocks can offer cover simultaneously, and even then the attacker needs to be shooting at an angle in order for that to happen.


That is my understanding.


The wiki doesn't mention this but I'm pretty sure cover has two functions.
1. it lowers the chance to get hit
2. it provides damage reduction
Different types of cover should provide both types of cover in varying amounts. It was my understanding that sandbags provide worse damage reduction than rocks but that they give better cover (lower chance to get hit).


Either the wiki is outdated or my memory is failing me.

[REMworlder]

I believe cover is somewhat directional, in regards to your your first question, but only applies to adjacent blocks like Urban says.

You may know this already, but you can mouse-over enemies while having one of your units selected and it'll show you the probability of a shot from your unit hitting the enemy based on what cover items are playing into that probability. That might help answer some of your questions if you want to experiment with different setups, since it shows the factors in play.

example: http://i.imgur.com/yfRl61H.jpg

[UrbanBourbon]

example: http://i.imgur.com/yfRl61H.jpg

Ah, see that image? That's what was bothering me - It's the two numbers that are unclear to me. First it says 'Cover' that is 76%, but then 'Rock debris stops 24%'. What does that mean exactly? Is it a coincidence that they add up to 100%?

I take it the 'Cover' means that it reduces the chance to hit same as 'Weather' or 'Range' but what's the role of that 24%?

Ah.. Wait. El Hefe is standing diagonally to the nearest rock, so he probably doesn't get much cover from it. Maybe that's why 'rock stops' only 24%? I'm guessing Snotface (the shooter) is a bad shot, but she has a Lee-Enfield, which has a great range, which is why the 'Range/equipment' is... high? So this actually means that the higher the percentage, the smaller the penalty? That would make sense since darkness probably makes aiming far more difficult than bad weather, which is why darkness is 60% and weather is 80%.

That, in turn, would mean that... yes... '76% cover' which is actually LOUSY cover! Holy sh... Ok. So, the higher the cover %, the worse cover it is...? Could this be true? But what about the 24%? Does it mean that the rock stops 24% of the incoming bullets or does it let through 24% of the bullets? Or does it mean that if filters the damage down TO, or down BY 24% ?

Goddamnit.

[FowlJ]

The percentage shown is essentially the chance of a shot 'succeeding' any given step. So there's a 20% chance for the shot to hit due to Snotface's Aim/Skill - if it fails that, it misses, if it doesn't there's a 91% chance to hit due to Equipment/Range, and so on. (It most likely doesn't actually roll for every step like that, but that's basically how it works mathematically). So, there's a 76% chance of successfully getting past the cover, because the rocks block 24% of shots that reach them. You can see it works that way by just multiplying all the numbers together (as fractions of 1) -

0.2 * 0.91 * 0.6 * 0.8 * 0.76 = 0.0663936 , or about six percent.

[_alphaBeta_]

I didn't know about the mouse-over information, thanks. That should answer some questions. Mousing-over units without pausing the game is difficult, and I haven't paused much during battles, so I've missed this so far.

Thanks also for the example. In keeping with this example, there's a 6% chance of Snotface hitting El Hefe. In terms of cover, the rocks are providing 24% cover in this case, hence the 76% chance of the shot being successful when considering only cover. Makes sense mathematically, but I'm still a bit confused on why it's 24% cover from the rocks in this setup, when the base cover from debris like this is 40% per the wiki. Perhaps it's because the only rock providing cover is the one to the immediate NE of El Hefe, and given the angles, he's partially exposed. I would think cover would increase if Snotface moved W and continue to decrease if he moved S. Agree?

I suppose what is not shown is the damage that would take place if the shot were successful. Does cover factor in to that? It's absence from the tooltip implies cover is only about stopping the bullet.

[FowlJ]

Cover does not affect damage, no. And I believe that only adjacent cover stops anything at all* so moving south probably would remove the bonus altogether. Moving to the side might do something, but I wonder if El Hefe is even actually diagonal to the cover he is behind? He looks like he is readying a shot, and when pawns are shooting they lean out from behind cover, which might be why he is further down and why the bonus is lower. Not sure though.

EDIT: Woops I missed that you were talking about the shooter for that. Dunno - it might.


*The exception to this, which I don't know the math on, seems to be other creatures. I've definitely witnessed a squirrel taking bullets that were meant for a colonist before.