Armour (character stat)

Armour, identified in-game with the icon, is a character stat and translates to how much of a reduction in missile fire and melee attack damage a character or unit can have. However, it does not include:


 * explosive missile fire damage, such as catapult-like units
 * impact melee attack damage, such as a cavalry-like unit charge bonus damage
 * armour-piercing damage, as the name implies, pierces through the armour
 * any combination(s) of the above exceptions, for example, explosive armour-piercing missile damage

In general terms, the more armour a unit has, the less damage it will take from missile and melee attack sources. It is strictly related to damage reduction and entirely separate from melee defence, for example, which is the likelihood of hitting with a melee attack. Therefore, armour only affects the second stage of combat, after it has actually landed or hit. Armour is closely associated with weapon strength for melee attacks and missile strength for missile attacks.

Armour can never be less than 0 so if an ability or trait causes the armour value to be negative, it will default to 0 instead. There is no maximum armour cap.

Heavily-armoured units (> 50) can survive some punishment whereas lightly-armoured units (< 20) can stack huge amounts of damage very quickly and die. Therefore, average armour values vary between 20 and 50.

Armour is a dynamic stat so it can be increased or reduced through a number of unit abilities, traits and effects.

In-game description
"How resistant a unit is to missile fire and melee attacks."

Technical details
At the more advanced technical level, it acts as a randomized percentage-based reduction, where the minimum value of damage reduction is determined by the lower cap of the armour_roll (ar) value, coded as armour_roll_lower_cap and represented by armin, which is 0.5 by default. The armour_roll can vary between 0.5 and 1.0. Therefore, it can be written mathematically with the equation below."Damage reduction = 1 + Damage * (1 - Armour * ar%) where 0.5 < ar < 1.0"In other words, armour values of 200 more offer near immunity to missile and melee attack damages because it offers a 100% damage reduction to the damage variable; the actual final damage will simply be 1. This is why armour can be considered as similar to physical resistance. However, damage reduction from armour is calculated before physical protection is applied. Therefore, armour damage mitigation and physical resistance do not stack.

Example

 * Unit A successfully hits unit B and deals 400 melee damage.
 * Unit A has no special damage, such as armour-piercing damage.
 * Unit B has 60 armour, 10% physical resistance and no other special damage mitigation effects or traits.
 * Lets assume the worse case scenario in that the armour_roll is the minimum, 0.5.

"Damage reduction = 1 + Damage * (1 - Armour * ar%) = 1 + 400 * (1 - 60 * 0.5%) = 1 + 400 * (1 - 30%) = 1 + 400 * 70% = 281"


 * The 60 armour mitigated roughly 30% of the damage hit so instead of the unit receiving 400 damage it will only receive 281 damage.


 * Now apply the 10% physical resistance.

"Damage reduction = 281 * (1 - physical resistance %) = 281 * (1 - 10%) = 281 * 90% = 253"


 * The 10% physical resistance further reduced the incoming damage by 10% so instead of the unit receiving 281 damage it will only receive 253 damage.
 * Overall, unit B is hit with 253 damage instead of 400 damage, a 36.8% damage reduction (rather than 40% if armour and physical resistance were to stack).
 * This is an academic worked out example!

Related effects
There are some notable armour-related effects, such as:


 * Shielded