A Guide To Using Elevation - Age of Mythology Heaven Forums

Topic Subject: A Guide To Using Elevation

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Angel Sith
Mortal
(id: X_SithLord)

posted 28 February 2004 02:36 PM EDT (US)

ExCalibur recently discovered that ranged units on higher elevation recieved a damage bonus vs those on lower elevation. Interested, I decided to look through TT's data files to see how much of a bonus this was and what units benefited from it.

A search of the proto file revealed that the damage bonus was due to a parameter, aptly named 'HeightBonusMultiplier', and that it was set at 1.25x damage for all of the following units:

Archers, Heroes, and Infantry
Heroes are not SPC unless stated

Slingers
Throwing Axemen
Pharaohs
Secondary Pharaohs
Peltasts
Toxotes
Priests
Chariot Archers
Arci
Hero Arci
Turmae
Hero Turmae
Gastraphetes
Chiron
Oddyseus
Hyppolyta
Regenlief (SPC)

Buildings

Fortresses
Towers
Town Centers
Citadels
Palaces
Hill Forts
Migdol Strongholds
Bandit Migdols

Myth Units

Trolls
Centaurs
Medusae
Sentinels
Satyrs
Lampades

Siege

Siege Towers

After, discovering this, I decided to test whether the damage done was greater when the height difference was greater.

The test results showed that once the difference in height was above a (then unknown) value, units affected by the parameter would recieve the 1.25x damage bonus. It did not matter how much or how little it was above that height difference, the damage bonus remained constant.

The Test

Notes

The Difference between the min and max height in the editor is 20 meters - to quote from gamex.cfg in gamesettings2.bar in the startup folder of AoM -

Quote:

// Terrain editing height limits
terrainMinHeight=-5.0
terrainMaxHeight=15.0

Using the 'Move Map Up' button in the Map Elevation menu in Reyk's New Editor raises the ground up by 1m. I counted how many times it takes to raise the height from the min to the max and then divided it by the height difference. It took 20 clicks to do this. 20/20 = 1 so it raises it by 1m every time.

Method and Results

What I Did

The test involved a modified proto file for convenience. The modifications were as follows:

Toxotes HP Changed to 10000

Toxotes Attack was changed to 1000

Toxotes Hack, Pierce, and Crush armour were reduced to 0

These changes were so that the toxote would not receive inconvenient amounts of damage such as 6.34.

After modifying the protox file I proceeded to experiment with changing the height, keeping 1 of the toxotes on the ground at the minimum elevation, and raising the other one a little each time until I got to the point where the toxote was dealing 1250 damage each hit, instead of 1000. After raising the elevation to a high level to see if the damage increased as the height difference increased, I discovered that it made no difference.

To find out the value of the minimum height difference I lowered the elevation back to the level where the toxote only just received the damage bonus. I Then raised it 1m at a time (using the Move Map Up tool) until the height difference between the two levels started to decrease. I counted the number of times taken once the difference was decreasing for it to level out, and found that it was 4. Since 4 * 1m = 4m I was able to work out the height difference required.

So therefore the above units do 1.25x damage when attacking a unit that are 4m or more lower than themselves .

Suitable variations in height can be found on most maps, noticably Acropolis, Anatolia, and Ghost Lake. Only very flat maps, possibly Mediterranean, will not have them.

Notes

A Zeus or Poseidon Toxote can defeat an equally upgraded Hades Toxote 1 on 1 making use of this damage bonus

Siege Towers are the only siege weapon in the game to benefit from being on higher elevation

Throwing Axemen are the only infantry in the game to benefit from being on higher elevation

4m is slightly higher than a Sentry Tower, to give some impression how high you must be.

Overall this is a potentially battle-winning bonus, so try to use it wherever realistically possible.

EDIT - few errors and such fixed

Sith
Halo 2 Stats | AoMH | AoE3H | FMT

[This message has been edited by X_SithLord (edited 03-20-2004 @ 08:01 AM).]

Author

Replies:

Peredhil
Mortal

posted 28 February 2004 02:48 PM EDT (US) 1 / 37

Very good and detailed article; worthy of a news post. Useful too. If you are in an even battle elevation can make an significant difference.

Pered hil
Arguments are to be avoided;
they are always vulgar and often convincing - Oscar Wilde

Lime the Great
Mortal

posted 28 February 2004 02:49 PM EDT (US) 2 / 37

Very good and informative article. I never knew about this!

Rating - ~1700

[VnX_Lime]-[Lime_the_Great]

Angel Sith
Mortal
(id: X_SithLord)

posted 28 February 2004 03:12 PM EDT (US) 3 / 37

Thanks guys, but ExCalibur deserves credit too, he put quite a lot of work into his post.

Sith
Halo 2 Stats | AoMH | AoE3H | FMT

[This message has been edited by X_SithLord (edited 02-28-2004 @ 03:15 PM).]

ExCalibur
Mortal

posted 28 February 2004 03:39 PM EDT (US) 4 / 37

Where's my images!

I don't need too much credit - as long as it's said that I found it out. BTW, another thing. The elevation multiplier only works with pierce attack. Crush or hack attack get no bonus.

IRC: #pZ.no @ QuakeNet (download mIRC)
The partiZans - Invite-only AoM clan
We're just a bunch of noobs, but we're happy noobs!

Angel Sith
Mortal
(id: X_SithLord)

posted 28 February 2004 03:44 PM EDT (US) 5 / 37

Quote:

ExCalibur recently discovered that ranged units on higher elevation recieved a damage bonus vs those on lower elevation

- See I did give you credit

I would have put your images in but they were a little on the large side

Quote:

The elevation multiplier only works with pierce attack. Crush or hack attack get no bonus

Throwing Axemen also do bonus damage, and since they do hack damage, that is false.

Sith
Halo 2 Stats | AoMH | AoE3H | FMT

Angel Sith
Mortal
(id: X_SithLord)

posted 28 February 2004 04:48 PM EDT (US) 6 / 37

Yay, Soccy posted it in the news

one step closer to world domination

Sith
Halo 2 Stats | AoMH | AoE3H | FMT

Cataphract_40
Mortal

posted 28 February 2004 04:48 PM EDT (US) 7 / 37

Sorry, you guys didn't know about this?

That's odd---it was in both Age of Empires and Age of Empires II, as well as StarCraft.

I thought everyone knew this...

"To be a hero is about the shortest lived profession on Earth."
-Will Rogers

Shiva
HG Alumnus

posted 28 February 2004 05:08 PM EDT (US) 8 / 37

I did too..well, i guess it'll help folk who didn't

.¸¸.· · .¸¸.·´ §hïvå | RágeOf Haemòn · .¸¸.· · .¸¸.·
^« . • ° ¤ Scenario Designer | Woad Creations ¤ º • . _»

prankster959
Mortal

posted 28 February 2004 05:10 PM EDT (US) 9 / 37

No, I thought everyone knew that there were no height elevation bonuses in AOM because alot of ppl were complaining about it and that AOK had better strategy.

Pentium 4 2.8 ghz 800 FSB, xfx 7800gt OC 256mb, 1gb ddr2 ram @ 533mhz, 160gb raid 0 HD

Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

GOTD_FireCobra
Mortal

posted 28 February 2004 05:14 PM EDT (US) 10 / 37

I think AoE I and AoK also let melee units get an attack bonus as well. Kinda strange that AoM won't let that happen though. For the other "Age of" games I think the bonus was either +25% or +50%.

The very irregular poster...

VAL_The_Speaker
Mortal

posted 28 February 2004 05:18 PM EDT (US) 11 / 37

so this means that when a tox is 4 range from him he does a dmg multiplier of 1.25?
i dont get this really

––––•(-•speaker•-)•––––
:unsure:

Shiva
HG Alumnus

posted 28 February 2004 05:31 PM EDT (US) 12 / 37

4 height, speaker. Like, if I'm standing on top of a building and I throw a rock at you..you'll die.

Just think of AoM like that. If a toxotes is standing on top of a cliff and another unit is standing at the bottom, the unit standing on the top will do more attack to the one standing on the top.

.¸¸.· · .¸¸.·´ §hïvå | RágeOf Haemòn · .¸¸.· · .¸¸.·
^« . • ° ¤ Scenario Designer | Woad Creations ¤ º • . _»

Angel Sith
Mortal
(id: X_SithLord)

posted 28 February 2004 05:34 PM EDT (US) 13 / 37

Quote:

Like, if I'm standing on top of a building and I throw a rock at you..you'll die.

This guy is a genius

*chokes on sarcasm*

Sith
Halo 2 Stats | AoMH | AoE3H | FMT

Teddy_Horse
Mortal

posted 28 February 2004 05:53 PM EDT (US) 14 / 37

Honestly: I started RTS with AoM more than 1 year ago and I am 27 (so I learn slowly). And I did not know about it. Thx 4 the post.

My computer beats me in chess. But I am much better in kick-box...
GREEN CERTIFICATE: this message contains recycling electrons

SoiK
Mortal

posted 28 February 2004 06:33 PM EDT (US) 15 / 37

Finally someone tests this theory out!

I've thought elevation might have an effect since I heard of aom cos it had an effect in aok.

~ There shall be no dawn for man ~
Soik

SeaBass
Mortal

posted 28 February 2004 07:23 PM EDT (US) 16 / 37

Perhaps posting a picture showing what the minimum height difference is that a unit will get a bonus for would help illustrate this informative thread.

Angel Sith
Mortal
(id: X_SithLord)

posted 28 February 2004 07:51 PM EDT (US) 17 / 37

I'll see what I can do about image hosting ... I might be able to get Shiva or someone to upload a cropped screenshot.

Sith
Halo 2 Stats | AoMH | AoE3H | FMT

knight4
Mortal

posted 28 February 2004 07:58 PM EDT (US) 18 / 37

I already knew about this,but i thought that the higher the elevation, the attack would keep increasing, i never knew the bonus stayed the same

sock900.tripod.com/downloads

Matei
Mortal

posted 28 February 2004 08:33 PM EDT (US) 19 / 37

I knew that elevation had a big benefit in AoK, but I thought several people tried it at the start of AoM and didn't notice any difference. The bonus in AoK was pretty large and made battles more interesting IMO. For example, a spearman would normally defeat a knight, but if you put the knight halfway up a hill and the spearman below it, the knight won. Same thing applied when your villagers were being chased by wolves. Also, if using towers or castles, putting them on the smallest of hills made them a lot more useful.

Programmer on 0 A.D., author of Norse Wars, co-author of Fort Wars.

VAL_The_Speaker
Mortal

posted 29 February 2004 05:19 AM EDT (US) 20 / 37

tnx shiva

btw thanks for killing me...

––––•(-•speaker•-)•––––
:unsure:

VAL_The_Speaker
Mortal

posted 29 February 2004 09:01 AM EDT (US) 21 / 37

btw what ranged units don't get a bonus?

––––•(-•speaker•-)•––––
:unsure:

Angel Sith
Mortal
(id: X_SithLord)

posted 29 February 2004 09:14 AM EDT (US) 22 / 37

All of the ones that aren't on the list

, I can't think of any at the moment but I'm certain that there are some that don't.

Sith
Halo 2 Stats | AoMH | AoE3H | FMT

[This message has been edited by X_SithLord (edited 02-29-2004 @ 09:15 AM).]

Cataphract_40
Mortal

posted 29 February 2004 10:16 AM EDT (US) 23 / 37

For all your image hosting needs, look no further than http://www.walagata.com/

"To be a hero is about the shortest lived profession on Earth."
-Will Rogers

The Adlantean
Mortal

posted 29 February 2004 10:28 AM EDT (US) 24 / 37

in AoK i think it gave them longer range too.

im not sure about this but does it happen in AoM also?

ExCalibur
Mortal

posted 29 February 2004 10:54 AM EDT (US) 25 / 37

Quoted from X_SithLord:

Throwing Axemen also do bonus damage, and since they do hack damage, that is false.

Er, yeah. Right But does the siege tower's crush damage get any bonus?

IRC: #pZ.no @ QuakeNet (download mIRC)
The partiZans - Invite-only AoM clan
We're just a bunch of noobs, but we're happy noobs!

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