Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Stormbright 07-19-04, 11:36 AM	I've decided to undertake a project to create a program algorithm to determine optimal usage of Combat Expertise and Power Attack in order to maximize damage dealt and minimize damage received. Probably will set it up on the TI-83. If anyone has approached this problem, please fill me in. If anyone knows a site that already has something like this figured out, then please point me in that direction.
crazysamaritan 07-19-04, 12:21 PM	This has almost been done already, it was done in excell. You can make a search on the boards (I suggest Skill/Feats) with the words excell, power, and attack. I think you might be the first one to ask about the Combat Expertise part. You might want to add another collum, for people with Karmic strike, as well as dodge. EDIT: this seems like it may very well turn out to be complex... try using a sheet for each level of combat expertise.
ksbsnowowl 07-19-04, 12:23 PM	There was a thread called 'A Treatise on Power Attack' (or something close to that) over at the Character Optimization boards a few months ago. I tried to get it in a search, but the search function has been going hay-wire for the past few months. Ah... Here we go. (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=167952&highlight=treatise)
MrkGrismer 07-19-04, 04:57 PM	Originally posted by Stormbright Probably will set it up on the TI-83. Gad, I thought I saw T-80 and thought I had accidently been sucked back into the 80s. Wew! :twitch:
RaKhan 07-19-04, 05:30 PM	You should do it in QuickBASIC 4.5! :devil: :P
Stormbright 07-20-04, 10:07 AM	Wanted to put it on TI-83 so that I could hide it under the table, LOL. In spreadsheet would probably be a lot easier. Of course, the idea goes to pot as soon as you figure in the other aspects of battle, (flanking, magic, etc) It may be more trouble than it's worth. Alas, I'm sadly addicted to math, so I'll probably do it anyway.
Sensei Gith 07-20-04, 01:51 PM	If you want an optimum ratio between damage dealt and damage taken, it shouldn't be too complicated. It sounds a bit like linear programming, meaning that you would only haver to test a few points as opposed to maximizing an equation every time. However, it wouldn't work that well in practice. You could be attacked by several opponents, by touch spells, by spells that don't require attack rolls, etc.. I'd just stick with the PA figures.
True Archon 07-21-04, 09:13 AM	LMAO What ever happened to the thrill of rolling the dice after making that critical decision of using power attack or expertise? I can see taking it a step further by going "hmmm, I need a roll of 12 or higher to hit the BBEG, should I dump a few points for a power attack?" However, averaging out your hits and damage out over a time period? Eck! Sounds a lot like the show I recently watched involving the MIT students trying to break Las Vegas with the law of averages. Of course, they were doing it for money.... and Vegas won... If your DM is like any I know, the DM=Las Vegas.
cryptictravler 07-22-04, 05:36 PM	I think that Expertise has too many variables to be useful. Gauging AC isn't very hard...but attack bonus is. Plus the comparision for damage output vs take least damage is subjective. You can maximize damage with PA because the maximized value is singular. Put simply there is no optimal ratio of AC to damage. That said Expertise is also very dependent on multiple variables in a way PA is not. PA has inputs of base damage, attack bonus and one variable: AC. Thus you can maximize damage by manipulating the one variable. If you face multiple opponents with different attack bonuses..there is simply no effective way t do it. Also the card counting aspect of gauging attack bonus vs multiple enemies is way harder. Also, this is off topic but, MIT has had lots of Black Jack teams...and most of them netted profits in the millions.