Stronger Opponent Logic

== Overview ==
Some skills have their experience rate modified by the "strength" of your opponent. The logic behind this is never explained in-game, leaving many players in the dark about how it works. This page is an attempt to explain exactly what it's checking to determine these modifiers.
When an attacker swings their weapon, a check is run against their stats to determine the multiplier. This check is always run between two skills, one from each character, though the specific skills changes depending on the role of the character in the engagement and their fighting style (more on this later). This exp rate multiplier scales from x0.1 at 22.5 levels (The value is set for 0% XP at 25 levels over your opponent's skill however it has a minimal XP % of 10% which is achieved at 22.5) above the opponent's opposing skill, to x6.0 at 50 levels below the opponent's opposing skill.
As of right now there are eleven known stats that are affected by this logic.
* Melee Attack
* Melee Defense
* Martial Arts
* Dodge
* Dexterity
*Blunt
*Hackers
*Heavy Weapons
*Katanas
*Polearms
*Sabres
While not technically part of this system, it is important to note that exp gain will be drastically altered based on if the swing was a hit or not. When a unit is hit the defense experience is given to that unit first, and then attack experience is given based on the new defense value. Getting hit grants 8x the defense experience compared to blocking. Having your attack blocked grants only half of the attack experience. (Dodging can also sometimes reduce exp gain to 0, as the attack needs to make contact with their hitbox to trigger exp gain at all for either side, and some dodges will cause the character's hitbox to avoid the attack altogether.)
== Combat Styles ==
The skills checked depend on whether you are wielding a weapon or not. These are explained below.
=== Weapon ===
Offensively, this style will use Melee Attack as its offensive stat. It will challenge the opponent's Melee Defense if they have a weapon, or Martial Arts skill if they are unarmed (Note: Only for the purposes of exp calculation, it will still challenge the Dodge skill to determine if you hit or not, it just has no bearing on exp rate here).
Defensively, this style will use Melee Defense as its defensive stat. It will challenge the opponent's Melee Attack if they have a weapon, and their Martial Arts skill if they are unarmed.
=== Unarmed ===
Offensively, this style will use Martial Arts as its offensive skill. It will challenge the opponent's Melee Defense if they have a weapon, or Martial Arts if they are unarmed (Note: Only for the purposes of exp calculation, it will still challenge the Dodge skill to determine if you hit or not, it just has no bearing on exp rate here).
Defensively, this style will use Dodge as its defensive skill (Yes, despite the other skills not challenging it to determine their exp gain, it will challenge them to determine its own exp gain). It will challenge the opponent's Melee Attack if they have a weapon, and Martial Arts if they are unarmed.
=== Animals ===
Animals are mostly identical to the weapons combat style, with a notable exception. Animals will use Melee Attack as their offensive stat when being challenged by someone else's defensive stat, however when determining their own exp gain they will challenge both their Melee Attack and Martial Arts skills against the opponent's defensive skill, and both skills will gain exp independently of each other (i.e. one could gain 4x exp rate, and the other 0.5x).
Defensively, they just use Melee Defense as their defensive skill.
== Dexterity ==
Dexterity is unusual, as it is never actually used in any of this logic. It is however modified by the results of the challenges mentioned above. It only gains exp on attacking. And it will check your offensive skill vs the opponent's Defense or Martial Arts (If unarmed), and then modify its gain by the result. The experience gained is then multiplied by the ratio of cut damage to total damage on a weapon. Cut damage / (Cut damage + Blunt damage) To give an example, (If all skills are at the same level) if landing an attack when using a weapon with 0.3 cut damage and 0.1 blunt damage results in 45% of an attack level then the unit will also gain 33.75% Dexterity experience. (As 0.3/0.4 is 0.75 and then 0.75 x 45 results in 33.75)
== Weapon Skills ==
The experience gained is based off your weapon skill level vs your opponents modified defense/martial arts level. (Modified meaning wearing armour that reduces/increases their level in the skill) You only gain 40% of this amount if your opponent blocks your attack. 
If blocking an attack you will gain a small amount of weapon skill XP based off your weapon skill level vs your opponents modified attack/martial arts level. 
== Stat Modifiers ==
There are many sources of modifiers to the skills involved in these calculations, but none of them affect the exp gain from the Stronger Opponent Logic; the base, unmodified stats are used solely. The following modifiers will affect some challenges, which will use the modified levels of the stats in the calculations rather than the base levels.
* Armour Modifiers
* Backpack penalties
* Encumbrance penalties (though the penalties are only applied to Martial Arts and Dodge)
* Indoor bonuses/penalties
* Injuries (though the penalties themselves are only applied to Dodge)
* Weather penalties
* Weapon modifiers (though obviously only weapon users get the modifiers themselves)
Then there is one more source of modifiers, and it is treated differently depending on the skills. Block Mode will be ignored by Melee Attack, Melee Defense, Martial Arts, and Dexterity Challenges. The only skill that accounts for the bonus provided by Blocks Mode is Dodge, which will gain less exp with the mode toggled on, as it increases your effective level.
Category:Statistics