Random Damage ?

There is no peace among the stars: the Imperium of Man is beset on all sides by all kinds of threats. Among them is the Orks, a barbaric and warlike xeno race. One of their fiercest leaders, Grukk Face-Rippa, leads his Red Waaagh! in the Sanctus Reach system...
Post Reply
TheSkirmishLord
Corporal - 5 cm Pak 38
Corporal - 5 cm Pak 38
Posts: 35
Joined: Sun Oct 29, 2017 5:08 am

Random Damage ?

Post by TheSkirmishLord »

I admit I have limited WH40K knowledge but it seems the damage from units is completely random.

I was playing a multiplayer game and had a large knight unit. I checked what the expected damage was if I shot the enemy's tank with it and it said "Very High". I let 'er rip with two shots for a total of NINE points of damage !!!
Next, I decided to use my unit with the Bolters to attack the same tank and the expected damage was supposed to be "Very Low". I shot the tank twice and caused 165 damage !!!
I understand that rolls decide what the damage should be but shouldn't that decide the points within a certain range? To throw random numbers out, shouldn't very low be between 10 and 50 while very high should be between 100 and 300?
There doesn't seem to be a lot of consistency in a single attack either. In both melee and ranged weapons, you can have one attack that causes over 100 points of damage while the next one causes 3 using the same units in the same positions. I agree that this isn't chess where taking an opponents piece is always a certainty but shouldn't there be SOME level of certainty as to what your attack will do ?

The armor system is somewhat mysterious as well. In single player, you can get Krak ammo updates which cause greater damage to armored units which works well but that's not available in multiplayer. What you're left with is Krak grenades, Krak missiles from missile men and meltagun units.

The problem is the meltaguns don't really cause any more damage to an armored unit than a bolter so the units are a waste of 200 points. The damage caused by Krak grenades and Krak missiles is usually in the 10 to 25 range which is unimpressive to the point of disqualifying it as an anti armor weapon. I've had cases where I've hit the same armored unit with a Krak missile and then a Frag missile and the Frag missile caused much more damage. Regardless of the roll, I don't think that should ever happen.

The only sure way to cause a lot of damage if to manage to get a unit with power weapons close enough to hit it in the side but ranged weapons are like throwing pebbles at a real tank.
BrotherNabor
Private First Class - Wehrmacht Inf
Private First Class - Wehrmacht Inf
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2019 7:27 am

Re: Random Damage ?

Post by BrotherNabor »

Sometimes I've wondered if the damage potential shows what you'd get in a best case scenario as I've seen those "very high" with little to no effect some times too. What you're describing sounds more like average damage (which would make good sense). For example, if I had an attack that did 1000 damage, but only 1 in 10 times and the other 9 no damage is dealt, the potential damage of 1000 is high, but the average damage at 100 nothing special and the most likely result of 0 is awful :).

Then again, I don't know for sure and it didn't take me too long to get a feel for the average damage on my own, so now I don't really check the damage potential anymore.

Look for crits also, those Bolters attacking the tank probably got a critical hit or two in there on the tank. With tanks, there is also the direction it's facing to worry about, tanks take a lot of damage from most weapons if shot in the back.

I don't really use meltaguns much as I'm not much for their short range... but I've had them used against me many times. They tend to do a fair bit better than bolters against heavily armored targets. If I have a soulgrinder near a melta squad, I'd definetely try to destroy those before I'd worry about bolters.
sIg3b
Master Sergeant - U-boat
Master Sergeant - U-boat
Posts: 523
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2013 2:43 pm

Re: Random Damage ?

Post by sIg3b »

I have also seen low damage predictions, and then did tremendous damage. I now tend to ignore predictions, since they are rarely accurate, and trust my experience only.
MartinG0011
Private First Class - Wehrmacht Inf
Private First Class - Wehrmacht Inf
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Dec 02, 2018 7:45 am

Re: Random Damage ?

Post by MartinG0011 »

That's probably a dumb question, but how do you see those predictions? Is there a keyboard shortcut?
BrotherNabor
Private First Class - Wehrmacht Inf
Private First Class - Wehrmacht Inf
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2019 7:27 am

Re: Random Damage ?

Post by BrotherNabor »

It's in the box of stats that pops up near your target, when you hover your mouse over the weapon you'd like to shoot it with.
MartinG0011
Private First Class - Wehrmacht Inf
Private First Class - Wehrmacht Inf
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Dec 02, 2018 7:45 am

Re: Random Damage ?

Post by MartinG0011 »

Thank you! Sorry for the late reply.
TheSkirmishLord
Corporal - 5 cm Pak 38
Corporal - 5 cm Pak 38
Posts: 35
Joined: Sun Oct 29, 2017 5:08 am

Re: Random Damage ?

Post by TheSkirmishLord »

@ sIg3b
My experience is that all the damage is completely random - lol
TheSkirmishLord
Corporal - 5 cm Pak 38
Corporal - 5 cm Pak 38
Posts: 35
Joined: Sun Oct 29, 2017 5:08 am

Re: Random Damage ?

Post by TheSkirmishLord »

@ BrotherNabor
Thanks for your input.
You mention as an example of damage ranging from 0 to 1000 but my point is the range should never be that wide.
If you're at the limit of your weapon range & you only have a 20% chance to hit it OR if you're using a pea shooter against a super armored tank, you should NEVER deal 1000 damage.
Conversely, if you're at a perfect range & have a flank attack, or you're shooting a super canon at unarmored infantry, the damage should NEVER be 0.

How can this really be a good strategy game when all the damage dealt is random ?
The cover seems to be completely random as well but that's for another post
Post Reply

Return to “Warhammer 40,000: Sanctus Reach”