How do the catacombs work?

[Zanfib]

Can anyone tell me what stats effect sending girls into the catacombs and how?

I've been sending Kos-Mos into the catacombs but nobody ever want's to play with her. Even when she does find something, she doesn't seem to find much loot.

[chronos]

The first thing that happens is a random number check against the higher of the girls combat or magic skill. If she has really low combat and magic skill then she won't encounter monsters or monster girls very often.


If she passes the check then the game generates a random number of monsters, monster girls, and loot. The girl then fights each of the monsters and monster girls in turn. Combat occurs by alternating blows between the two combatants. A girls ability to dodge attacks is based on her agility, her ability to do damage is based on the higher of combat or magic although combat will be used if they are equal, and her ability to withstand damage is based on constitution.


As far as calculating damage goes, in theory there is a function that calculates damage based on her abilities and is modified based on various traits (Adventurer, Assassin, etc) but as near as I can tell from looking at the code it's not currently used. Damage has a base value with a bonus added on based on how good she is at combat or magic, and then the defender negates some of that damage based on their constitution. The girl who's health reaches 0 first loses.


The only short circuit trait currently is Incorporeal. If a girl has Incorporeal she always wins, unless she is fighting another Incorporeal girl, in which case it is an automatic draw. Also, if she does not have Incorporeal but her opponent does then she automatically loses.


So, basically, the way the game is currently programmed, you want high Combat, Magic, Agility, and Constitution.

[frostking]

Having a 90, or above in combat/magic, constitution and agility, is an almost guaranteed victory. I've gotten the 'no one wants to play with her' message when the girl's combat/magic skills were both below 50.

[Zanfib]

Just to clarify, there is no advantage to having both magic and constitution at 100? You only need one of them?

[chronos]

Having 100 constitution and 100 agility is always useful. High agility will increase the chance that the attacker simply misses. High constitution will reduce the amount of damage the girl takes if she does get hit. Between magic and combat, if the girl has both at 100, combat will always be used. Which is odd, because the way the code works magic does more damage, but is reliant on how much mana she has. From what I can see in the code comments the plan is eventually to add a mana check so that if she will use magic instead of combat until her mana runs out, and only after it runs out will she switch to combat.

[Zanfib]

Whoops! I ment combat, not constitution. Thank you for your answer.

[frostking]

How you outfit your girls matters a lot too. I've gotten some of my best results by combining Armor of the Battlemaiden with King Fu shoes, and a long sword.  The Kung Fu shoes offsets the agility hit from heavy armor. Some of the worst results I've had were after combining plate mail, and plate boots. Too slow. Every time a girl sticks her nose into the catacombs, the monsters mop the floor with her.

[Zanfib]

So do items have an effect even when the skill they improve is already at 100?

[trex]

They do with net reductions, so at 100 agility, wearing plate boots will lower it down. frostking's post highlights the net effect, but you cannot have a higher amount than 100, so no use other than money burn/RP if you equip when they have 100 in all aspects.