The Lone Wolf Combat Profiler performs an exhaustive simulation of a combat given by the specified input as governed by the rules of combat for the Lone Wolf series gamebooks. It computes the probability of success (Lone Wolf kills his opponent while himself surviving) or failure (Lone Wolf is killed) and the average ENDURANCE level for the opponents at each round.
This glossary assumes a working familiarity with the rules of combat for the Lone Wolf series of gamebooks by Joe Dever et alii.
There are two options for output. By default, the output is provided in easily human-readable text. You can also receive raw output for use in a spreadsheet. Each will be explained in turn.
When you press the "Calculate" button, by default you are provided with information like the following:
Let's examine each line on at a time. The first line provides a separator between each combat calculated. This allows you to simulate several combats and store the results for comparison.
The second line (Lone Wolf: 19 CS 3 EP) records what the vital statistics for Lone Wolf were at the beginning of the combat. The third line provides similar statistics for Lone Wolf's enemy. If either of the values for the penalty or the multiplier for either opponent has been changed from the default (i.e. 0 and 1 respectively), their values will be noted on these lines as well.
The fourth line will only appear if Psi-surge is used. The three values correspond (in order) to the CS Bonus, the EP Penalty, and the EP Cutoff. (Note that even though Psi-surge has been used, it will not impact the outcome of this combat since Lone Wolf's ENDURANCE begins below the EP Cutoff and therefore he cannot actually use it.)
If other options such as Sudden Death are used, they will be noted below the Psi-surge line.
The sixth line (the fifth line is blank) tells us that the statistics for the first round are going to be given next.
The seventh line (success: 80%) states that there is an 80% probability that this combat will end successfully with the first round.
The eighth line (avgerage LW EP: 2.1) states that if Lone Wolf successfully kills his opponent during the first round, he will have 2.1 EP on average afterwards. If you are wondering why the enemy's ENDURANCE isn't given, that statistic isn't as useful since an automatic kill (K) on the Combat Results Table will skew the average. The Combat Profiler program simply considers the enemy's ENDURANCE to be 0 when automatically killed even though, for example, subtracting 18 (when Lone Wolf doesn't score an automatic kill) from its score may have led to a much more negative value (e.g. -17).
The ninth line (failure: 20%) specifies that there is a 20% probability that this combat will end in failure for Lone Wolf during the first round. If this combat had continued to a second or subsequent round, the success and failure rates for the first round wouldn't have trivially added to 100%. An example will follow later.
The tenth line (overall: 100%) shows that there is a 100% probability that the combat will make it to the first round. (obviously!)
The eleventh and twelfth lines (avgerage LW EP: 1.4 ... avgerage E EP: -2.1) state what the average ENDURANCE for each opponent is after the first round regardless of successful or failing outcome. This gives an overall picture of the condition of each opponent.
The fourteenth line indicates that the cumulative results for the entire combat will be given next.
The fifteenth line (success: 80%) states that there is an overall probability of 80% that Lone Wolf will succeed in killing his opponent without being killed during this combat.
The sixteenth line (average LW EP: 2.1) gives an average ENDURANCE level for Lone Wolf after the combat concludes. This serves as a general measure of how healthy Lone Wolf will be continuing on with his adventure.
The seventeenth line (failure: 20%) indicates that there is a 20% cumulative chance for failure.
The eighteenth line (average E EP: 0.5) states that if the combat ends in failure, the enemy will have 0.5 EP on average. This value is useful in knowing how close the combat was even though Lone Wolf died.
That was a simple example. Practice interpreting the results with the next example that might last for two rounds:
It may not be easy to interpret raw output. The columns will probably not line up correctly in your web browser. This output is designed to be transported (e.g. via copying and pasting) to a spreadsheet where charts and other analysis can be performed. Each row (excluding the headers) corresponds to the results for one round starting with the first. An explanation of each column follows:
The above raw numbers are used to create the human-readable statistics and can be used to do further analysis.
[to be written]