Question re: ship defense

from GalCiv2 Forums
OK, I'm not so good at math, so bear with me.

OK, so "off type" defenses are reduced to the square root of their value. So if you have shields valued at 4, and you get hit by a mass driver, your defense is 2. OK.

So, this means that all defenses are equivalent at value = 1. Since the square root of one is one, there is no difference between any of the defenses at value 1.

Now, when you make a defense roll, you roll between one and value of the defense. So, if you've got a defense of 4, you roll between 1 and 4. You do this for each kind of defense.

So here's my question. Isn't it better to have one of each defense, rated at 1, then it is to have a defense of 3 for one of them, even if you know what you're facing? Say you're fighting a guy who only uses beams. Aren't you better off building ships with 1/1/1 defenses, rather than 3 shields?

Because the average roll of defense 3 is 2, and the defense of a 1/1/1 ship will ALWAYS be three.

Maybe I'm overlooking something.
8,291 views 5 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I believe the defense values are totaled and then rolled against, not that they're rolled against individually. I may be mistaken, though.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Oy, it's been too long since I've done math to give you a proper, statistics-based answer here. However, as far as I know you're incorrect about defense rolls - I'm pretty sure you can roll a 0 for defense.

Edit: *Facepalms* I just checked the manual, which states that defense does roll from 1, and not 0. So yes, at that particular level of the game, it seems like it'd be a better option to have one of each than all three.
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Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
One thing to consider is the space requirements though. And the time spent researching all three defences.

That's a good point about having all defences at a lower level being more effective though. I hadn't even thought about it before.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I'm pretty sure arcanum is right though the defences are applied once per attack not one at a time. And then i think its only the most effective defence not all of them.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I was going to mention the space requirements as well. When you look at low level armor techs they all require huge amounts of space. That in itself means that going for 1 point of each kind of defense is harder than going with an advanced form that offers 3 defense for much less space. In a game im playing now the AI all have mass drivers so I have teched way up the armor tree and have the second grad of the third kind, tri something or other. I noticed that it only uses up 6 or 7 space compared with the basic titanium which used 14 or 15(forgive me for incorrect numbers im at work.)

A defense that way is an option but it will be a big trade of in offensive capabilites on smaller ships, even with decent tech in miniturization.