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anacreon:lexicon

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Anacreon Lexicon

This is a list of terms used to describe game concepts. Use this as a reference in conjunction with unit tables.

Unit Traits

area of effect

  • units with an AoE attack can hit more than one enemy unit in a wing per shot
  • effective attack damage is reduced for units further from the center
  • “Attack AoE” gives the radius (in Mm) within which additional units will get struck
  • it is unclear whether AoE works right now

armor

  • the general resistance of a unit to being destroyed in combat
  • units are never “damaged”- combat results in units being completely destroyed
  • large wings of weak units can still destroy units with armor much higher than their individual attack values

attack damage

  • the amount of damage that each attack a unit performs does
  • the combat equation values multiple low-damage attacks slightly higher than individual high damage attacks; a ship hit by 10 damage:10 attacks in a combat round has a higher chance of being destroyed than a ship hit by 1 damage:100 attack
  • this is offset by the fact that high-damage attacks are generally VERY high damage, e.g. the 960-damage HK missile used by the Typhon-class starcruiser
  • each attack can only destroy a single unit unless it is an AoE attack, so a small wing of high-damage non-AoE unit will not quickly destroy a large wing of weak units

attack type

direct

  • beam or cannon-type weapons
  • hit their target the instant that they are fired (hitscan)

missile

  • take a few moments to reach their target
  • units with missiles begin firing beyond maximum range to offset this
  • can be intercepted by units with point defense.

attack value

  • an estimate of relative unit strength
  • not a guarantee of which unit will win in a fight, as multiple factors affect this

delta V

  • max delta V is the highest speed at which ship wing can rise or sink through orbitals
  • high delta V is desirable on ships that will be fighting against other ships or defenses that have a longer firing range than themselves, since it allows them to close the distance faster
  • delta V is less important for ships that already have long attack ranges, like starfrigates
  • during battles, units with high delta V usually end up in combat before other unit types
  • Warphant transports land faster than Reliant transports because of their high delta V, which can be important when enemy player reinforcement fleets are en route

missile strength

  • for missile-equipped units, the resistance of the unit's projectile to being destroyed by point defense
  • all missiles aimed at wing will be destroyed if the aggregate value of missile-protection (point defense) in the target wing sufficiently outnumbers the number and strength of incoming missiles in each volley aimed at it (otherwise, only some will be intercepted)

point defense

  • units with point defense have the ability to destroy incoming missiles
  • also see “missile strength”
  • point defense strikes against missiles look like very-short-range direct attacks against incoming missiles
  • performing a point defense strike against a missile doesn't prevent a unit from firing its primary weapon
  • basic jumpships, starfrigates, and high-tech starcruisers all have point defense systems of varying effectiveness
  • point defense seems to prevent intercepted missiles from causing AoE damage
  • point defense doesn't protect ships from AoE damage caused by missiles striking other ships in the same wing (it is unclear whether AoE works at all, however)

range

  • the distance that a ship can fire (in megameters)
  • ships that outrange planetary defenses may be able to destroy the defenses without risk of retaliation
    • in practice, some attackers (like jumpcruisers) move into retaliation range even if they outrange defenses
  • in wing vs. wing combat, the wing with the longer range effectively gets “first strikes” and “departing strikes” against the shorter-ranged wing as the wings move in orbit relative to one another
  • range has historically been a decisive factor in combat, although it is unclear whether this is still true in Era 3

rebellion adjustment

  • only imperial guard units have this trait
  • modifies the planet's revolution index
  • adjustedRisk = (rebellion adjustment)^(numberOfGuardsOnPlanet/1000)

secession adjustment

  • only imperial guard units have this trait
  • modifies the chance that a sector capital will secede
  • adjustedRisk = adjustmentValue^(numberOfGuardsOnPlanet/1000)
  • secession adjustment from imperial guards stacks with the global 0.1 (90% reduction) modifier to secession rate imposed by the Law & Order doctrine

half-life

  • a measure of attrition
  • the number of cycles it takes for a fleet or group to be reduced by attrition to 50% of its initial count
  • units with high half-lives are said to have “low attrition”
  • for units, low attrition is usually offset by high initial build cost

WU cost

  • work unit cost; the number of work units directly used by the structure to build each unit

SCI WU cost

  • supply-chain inclusive work unit cost
  • a measure of the total cost to your economy to build a unit
  • includes the WU cost of the unit, the WU cost to create the resource that go into the unit, and the WU cost of the resources needed to create those resources
  • does not include the WU cost of consumer goods consumed by planetary population, since this is a factor of planetary tech level rather than individual resource type
  • never shown in-game; must be calculated by players

Units

ground forces

Basic unit of collective ground unit strength. Ground forces = sum(attack value/100) for all ground units at a planet or in transports. Not a guarantee of which side will win a battle, as multiple factors affect this.

kt

Kiloton. Basic unit of mass. Most resources weigh 1 kt/unit.

LY

Light-year. Basic unit of map distance.

Mm

Megameter. Basic unit of range; used to describe weapon range, attack diameter, and orbital height during combat.

space forces

Basic unit of strength for fleets and for the planetary defenses and ships stationed at a planet. Space forces = sum(attack value / 100) for all ships and planetary defenses in a fleet or at a planet. Not a guarantee of which side will win a battle, as multiple factors affect this.

WU

Work unit. Basic unit of labor. All resources and units have a WU cost to produce. WU is assigned to structures as a % of total WU production.

watch, period, and cycle

Basic units of time.

anacreon/lexicon.1526414879.txt.gz · Last modified: 2018/05/15 20:07 by wtvd0