Are arrow's cumulative?

[Landtuber]

After the debacle of Rome II, I'm waiting for some mods to come in before I go back. In the meantime, came back to MW2 again, SS 6.4. I'm just under 100 turns in on an early campaign as the Seljuks on VH/VH (No BGR, just playing to pillage and rape the world), around 60 provinces are mine and basically just having a lot of fun rampaging around killing things. I missed this game...

My question is:
1) Do arrows have a percentage chance to pierce armor and kill the target based on the armor of the target and the damage/properties of the arrow?
OR
2) Do arrows work on a cumulative system and once they hit they then stack their damage up until the total damage on that one target from arrows is equal to or greater than the armor so the target dies?
OR
3) Is armor used to calculate the actual hit percentage (higher armor = lower hit chance), and if its a hit they die?

I'm curious as every once in a while my hordes of HA circle a Khwarezmian (SP) family member and they seem to stand up for a while, then start dropping like flies.

Anyone know for sure?

[Vissewalde rex de Gerzika]

They stand up because they have 2 hitpoints and decent armor, once one of those hitpoints are gone and a little bit extra shot into them because of their armor, they start dying quickly.

[Mihajlo]

Answers:

1) no for "percentage chance to pierce armor", yes on a second part. Higher armor = you need more damage on arrows to deal with some success...
2) no
3) no

Turks generic HA have crappy damage and they are 1tier units (IIRC anyway...) so taking onto heavily armored K-shah BG's with arrow barrage is not effective that much. Also IIRC non of the units in SS (except of a elephants) have multiple HP's. Only problem there is actually their high armor and low damage/low quality arrows on horde HA. Try to deal with HC with some spear units, HC and ap units (axe, mace, halberd, etc...).

[Landtuber]

They stand up because they have 2 hitpoints and decent armor, once one of those hitpoints are gone and a little bit extra shot into them because of their armor, they start dying quickly.

Ah, they aren't shown as having multiple hitpoints in the unit description but after looking through the EDU I see they actually have 4 hitpoints. As do all cavalry apparently it seems, interesting... Thank you for that Baltic, that clarified that part of the question,

--> type ME Bodyguard
--> stat_health 1, 3

Answers:

1) no for "percentage chance to pierce armor", yes on a second part. Higher armor = you need more damage on arrows to deal with some success...
2) no
3) no

Unless there is another system for calculating how arrows work with armor (which is entirely possible) the answer to all 3 questions can't be no! Anyone know the actual system for arrow vs armor?

Turks generic HA have crappy damage and they are 1tier units (IIRC anyway...) so taking onto heavily armored K-shah BG's with arrow barrage is not effective that much. Also IIRC non of the units in SS (except of a elephants) have multiple HP's. Only problem there is actually their high armor and low damage/low quality arrows on horde HA. Try to deal with HC with some spear units, HC and ap units (axe, mace, halberd, etc...).

I agree it isn't nearly as effective as some other methods in terms of killing speed, but the ability to kill the bodyguard without taking any losses makes it a preferable method. At least in my eyes. 3 units of crappy HA with a bit of experience can easily take down a ME bodyguard unit without ever getting hit. Compare that with a couple high quality heavy spear units taking down the bodyguard and losing half there number or more from charges and the brawl, seems like HA are the way to go.

[Andytheplatypus]

I believe damage is determined by the cumulative armor of the unit + hit points - the damage of the projectile/melee depending on if its from the front, side or rear of the unit.

[Souka]

Ah, they aren't shown as having multiple hitpoints in the unit description but after looking through the EDU I see they actually have 4 hitpoints. As do all cavalry apparently it seems, interesting... Thank you for that Baltic, that clarified that part of the question, --> type ME Bodyguard --> stat_health 1, 3

The first number is the actual hitpoint of the soldier, the second number is the hitpoint of the mount/horse.

[Andytheplatypus]

Horses/camels don't have seperate hit points. Only elephants I think.

[Landtuber]

Horses/camels don't have seperate hit points. Only elephants I think.

I saw that note in the EDU as well, wasn't sure what it meant though. I assumed it meant that the hit points (health) were added together so the whole unit (soldier + mount) has 4 HP. IE: You can't get a lucky arrow that hits the soldier on top and kills him so the mount dies as well. Or is the health of the mount ignored for all intents and purposes, so they really only have 1 HP? That would be more consistent with what I've seen playing the game.

[Andytheplatypus]

Or is the health of the mount ignored for all intents and purposes, so they really only have 1 HP? That would be more consistent with what I've seen playing the game.

That

[Mihajlo]

stat_health 1, 3 --->> 1 is hp, 3 is also hp BUT only for AR balancing. Does not count in fighting battle.

arrow damage is not cumulative, it works kinda like chance or % to kill enemy. Like someone already said "depending on if its from the front, side or rear of the unit." However armor determines how much damage is actually "possible" also shield is counting towards actual defense from fatal blow. Only from the front and left side. That is why archers preform the best when you put them behind or on the right side of the attacked unit.

Everything is already explained in a sub forum here in RR/RC thread: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forum...nt-Compilation

[Point Blank]

The second number is secondary hp, it is used to balance autoresolve battles.

[Landtuber]

Thank you Mihajlo and Point Blank for the final confirmations on the topic. This has been bothering me for a while,

[k/t]

"shield is counting towards actual defense from fatal blow. Only from the front and left side. That is why archers preform the best when you put them behind or on the right side of the attacked unit."

In M2, the shield counts at half strength on both left and right sides.