The Battle of Polytopia is a nice, awarded, strategic 4X-game. That means that the game mostly deals with exploration, expansion, exploitation and extermination. You take the role of tribal ruler and try to build civilisation, while you compete against hostile tribes.

One can play alone or online in multiplayer mode for up to 16 players on PC and Mac, and the game includes automatic matchmaking. There are 16 different tribes split across the Square, and each has own traits, strengths and weaknesses.

How Damage Works in Polytopia

In Polytopia the Damage can be quite a lot confusing. The stats of the units are hidden in invisible formula to give the final amount of Damage. It is not very clear, but this is how it works.

Damage is counted by a formula, where the attack result is teh amount of Damage done by the attacker, and the defensive result is the amount of return Damage done by the defender. Defensive bonus of 1 means no bonus, while 1,5 is the standard bonus.

The biggest Damage that some unit can do is its relevant battle value multiplied by 4,5 and rounded upward. During attack one uses the attack value, and during return one rather uses the defensive value. Health also really matters.

A unit with 6 HP can be immediately killed by a unit with 10 HP. But usually, a 10-HP unit striking another 10-HP unit will do only 5 of Damage, and the defender takes 5 of return Damage back. Damage seems to bee a function of the health percentage, which explains why a veteran with 6 health sometimes can do less Damage than a non-veteran with the same health.

Can feel truly troubling, when your unit dies and the enemy stays living with only 1 HP left. Here basic calculators become useful.

You can choose a troop in the game, and holding pressed on hostile troop shows how much Damage each unit would receive, on condition that they can reach one the other. If you type “polytopia calculator” in Google, you also find helpful tools. A popular choice is the Polytopia Basic Calculator done in Python; it now is open source and tracks decimal hit points.

Another unofficial combat calculator was done with improved interface to help players plan attack moves, counting attack and defensive Damage and showing the results early. Those tools allow players to enter units, health and bonuses for precise attack and return results.

There is also an interesting unit that deserves mention. It works as a replacement of the city Giant. Its HP is half, and its attack and defence is lower than normal giants, but its move range is 2 and it has the dash ability, so it moves much more quickly.

When itkills enemies, its real value becomes clearly visible.