Difference between revisions of "Bravery"
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== Improvement == | == Improvement == | ||
| − | When a unit's Morale drops below 50, it has a chance of panicking or going berserk (see [[Morale#Panicking_and_Berserking]] for full details). If a unit ''successfully resists'' panicking, it will gain a "Bravery experience point". For each Bravery experience point gained during a combat, a unit will have an additional | + | When a unit's Morale drops below 50, it has a chance of panicking or going berserk (see [[Morale#Panicking_and_Berserking]] for full details). If a unit ''successfully resists'' panicking, it will gain a "Bravery experience point". For each Bravery experience point gained during a combat, a unit will have an additional ~9% chance of gaining a point of Bravery at the end of the mission, up to a possible 100% chance with 11 or more Bravery experience points. (For supporting data, see [[Talk:Bravery|Discussion]].) Thus, if you keep an eye on your Morale, you can tell exactly how many Bravery experience points you have received - Every turn that Morale is below 50 and you don't panic/berserk, you get another point. |
The ''average'' number of turns needed to panic/berserk is simply the reciprocal of the chance of going panic/berserk: | The ''average'' number of turns needed to panic/berserk is simply the reciprocal of the chance of going panic/berserk: | ||
Revision as of 16:03, 2 July 2006
The Bravery stat is a measure of how brave a unit is in the face of danger. A higher bravery score reduces the amount of Morale lost due to morale-decreasing events, so a brave unit (alien or X-COM) has less likelihood of panicking or going berserk during combat.
Stat Range
New X-COM recruits will always begin with a value between 10 and 60. Due to the way the Bravery stat is stored in the data files, it will always be an exact multiple of 10. X-COM soldiers' Bravery is capped at 100, although tanks and certain alien races can have a Bravery of 110. Unlike other stats, Bravery cannot overflow its cap because it can only increase by one unit at most per combat mission.
Improvement
When a unit's Morale drops below 50, it has a chance of panicking or going berserk (see Morale#Panicking_and_Berserking for full details). If a unit successfully resists panicking, it will gain a "Bravery experience point". For each Bravery experience point gained during a combat, a unit will have an additional ~9% chance of gaining a point of Bravery at the end of the mission, up to a possible 100% chance with 11 or more Bravery experience points. (For supporting data, see Discussion.) Thus, if you keep an eye on your Morale, you can tell exactly how many Bravery experience points you have received - Every turn that Morale is below 50 and you don't panic/berserk, you get another point.
The average number of turns needed to panic/berserk is simply the reciprocal of the chance of going panic/berserk:
Chance of Ave. Number of Turns
Morale Panic/Berserk Until Panic/Berserk
45% 10% 10.00
40% 20% 5.00
35% 30% 3.33
30% 40% 2.50
25% 50% 2.00
20% 60% 1.67
15% 70% 1.43
10% 80% 1.25
5% 90% 1.11
0% 100% 1.00
The chance of getting an experience point (EP) is much higher, just below Morale 50. But even if your soldier's Morale is well below 50, their Morale increases by 15 each time they panic/berserk, so it will cycle closer to 50 over time... IF they don't keep getting Psi-panicked continuously (see Training, below). Thus, if you can keep soldiers at the "edge" of where Ethereals or high-level Sectoids will try to Panic them, it should be relatively easy to get 11 EPs.
Bravery Training
Your soldiers' Bravery can be trained easily and safely once you have completely secured a mission field, particularly after your troops have received Psionics training. Capture (i.e, Mind Control) one or more psi-enabled aliens (Ethereals or Sectoid Leaders/Commanders) and box them into a corner (or the Avenger) so you can shoot them later. Fully disarm the aliens using the inventory trick, and have all your soldiers drop all their weapons and grenades as well so they don't kill each other.
- Now you can hit the End Turn button repeatedly while the aliens go to work on your psi-weaklings. Soldiers with a Psi Strength of 80+ seem to be immune to psi attacks (use them to wall the aliens in), but all others can be trained. In addition to possible Bravery gains, bravery training can also trigger secondary stat increases. See Experience#Secondary Stats for more details.
- Move any soldiers that have been psi-attacked repeatedly as far away from the aliens as possible to give less psi-weak soldiers a chance to get trained. Aliens will favor attacking psi-weak soldiers, but also focus on nearby soldiers. They also cannot mind-control soldiers past a certain distance, so move your weakest soldiers to a distance where they can only be panicked, not controlled. You may need to mind-control the aliens periodically in order to regain control of your troops so as to move them away.
- Alternatively, you might stun your psi wimps while they're mind controlled, to remove them from the picture. This has no effect on score, etc. (Just make sure their bodies are safe from explosions!)
Bravery and Psi Attacks
Psionic panicking attacks will reduce a target's morale by an amount dependent on the unit's Bravery. Although high Bravery will not make a unit more psi-resistant, particularly to mind control, it can greatly reduce the impact of panicking attacks performed on that unit. See Morale#Psionic Panicking Attacks for full details.