Stats... What do they actually mean

[AceofKnaves]

So I was looking at the multiplayer stats for FOTS and apart from noticing some things I had not seen before, I became puzzled at what a stat actually means.

1.Damage is not a stat, some things are called armor piercing or such, but comparing bow Kachi vs any rifle infantry, the stat is never given or addressed as to how damage is inflicted or if there is a difference. This must be a serious point as Bow Kachi have 25 more range at least 5-15 more reload skill, 25 less accuracy, but more than three times the ammo. Yet in a shootout they would get wasted? Their morale is only 1 less so its not that they would break more easily, and their armor is actually 3 to most rifles' 2... but rifles have armor piercing properties. So I guess I am just confused with projectile damage. This extends to cannons and more importantly, guns on naval vessels or torpedos. All of these are undefined versus one another.

2. Degrees. How much in distance is a point increase in range supposed to be? How much does a point affect reload speed/rate of fire? Same with accuracy and so forth.

3. Is hull strength for ships just another name for hit points?

4. Do all units that do not specify having more than one hitpoint, have one hitpoint?

5. How is melee combat resolved? Is it a calculation in rounds of units attack and defense vs one another? is it calculated on the individual model level?

I am asking all this because stats provide very vague ideas of one thing being better than another. Some stats provide apparently marginal benefits or require a lot of points to make a difference, while for others every point counts.

I looked around at the guides and wikis to try and find out this info but most of them just compare stats saying this unit is better than that one because it has better stats overall or a critically low stat that hampers them, but I couldnt find a guide to stats themselves. Something like that would solve my problem in one stroke.

[CptAustus]

1- Gunpowder units dont have AP. They just have a high enough damage armor is worthless.
2- Increased range for bows/gunpowder = 25. It doesnt directly infect reload/accuracy.
4- Yes. Only hero units have more than one hitpoint.

[AceofKnaves]

Thanks for the quick reply. on #2 I just meant for example a point in reloading or a point in accuracy, what do they actually do.

[CptAustus]

Accuracy makes the shots more accurate, not sure if range still matters (IIRC, in Empire the closer, the most kills). Reload skill is the time needed to reload, but there is a base reload time you cant reduce through "visible" stats.