Re: Peasant Stack Leader

Carl Edman (cedman@cedman.remote.Princeton.EDU)
Fri, 23 Sep 94 07:39:39 -0400

The Good Doctor declares:
> Carl writes:
> >That makes no sense.
>
> Well, it does make some sense. Let me explain:
>
> * A stack with 1 dragon attacks with an average AF of 500.
>
> * A stack with 1 peasant leader and 1 dragon attacks with an average
> AF of 250.

That is what I meant. An "average AF" of a stack is just not a meaningful
concept in Olympian combat. It doesn't tell you anything about the
strength of a stack and doesn't allow you to make any sensible conclusions.

If you don't believe that a stack with a peasant leader and a dragon is
stronger against any enemy than a dragon alone, imagine that the peasant
misses whenever it gets to attack. That may be close to true in some
combats, but in all cases this assumption _underestimates_ the strength of
our stack because it neglects the possibility (however slim) that the
peasant may kill a few enemies. But if the peasant never hits and can
never be hit, the combat proceeds as if he wasn't there. An assumption
which weakened our stack made it just as strong as the comparison stack.
So our stack is stronger than the comparison stack.

Similiar analysis holds in all cases of adding fighters to a stack. They
will always make the stack stronger.

Carl Edman


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