There are a lot of things we do in Total War because it seems like common sense, although I'm not sure if the system behind it really supports it. I place archers on hills because I remember the loading screen saying that damage increases with elevation, but does that apply to melee attacks as well?

Fortunately, Creative Assembly recently began explaining what's going on under the hood of Total War: Warhammer 3 in a series of blog posts called the Feature Focus series.

Elevation was the topic of the first post in this series, revealing that damage multipliers based on elevation differences are calculated from the base of each model. In other words, as CA says, "being tall does not actually affect the elevation modification". I found that my ogre chieftain, Large Marge, does not actually gain any additional bonus damage from hitting a goblin that is 5 feet shorter in height.

The maximum bonus to damage from range is 30%, which requires a height difference of 40 meters. There is also a damage penalty for shooting upward, with the same 40 meter difference equaling a maximum damage penalty of 30%. Flying units hover at a height of approximately 16 meters above the ground and therefore benefit from a 12% elevation damage bonus if the target is standing on the ground. This bonus can be increased by placing the flying unit over higher terrain to increase the difference between the hovering height and the flat ground. And yes, elevation also affects the calculation of close combat damage, but in close combat the maximum difference in elevation is one meter.

We also clarified that in our post on elevation, we assumed correctly that units move faster downhill and fatigue faster uphill, but noted that they "do not get the benefit of fatigue downhill." Also, units with the "Strider" attribute essentially ignore all terrain penalties.

The latest posts in the series are all about damage. It details how armor and armor-piercing damage works, as well as resistance. We now know that when a unit is on fire, recovery is half as effective as normal. After a Dwarf with an Ilondrake flamethrower is active, you might want to wait for them to stop, fall, and roll before rushing in to patch them up. Magic attacks do not ignore armor, which is good news for Bretonians, who wear more armor into battle than American football players.

A second article on damage is in order, as there seem to be enough different ways to hurt people in Total War: Warhammer 3. The next installment of this series will "examine the peculiar quirks of explosions, vortexes, and wind effects, figure out how large monsters and lords use splash attacks to inflict damage, and open the forbidden box labeled "Game Ticks." Creative Assembly, don't scare me." They also plan to delve deeper into projectiles and target penetration. In addition, we will be parallel parking into the topics of tanks, mass, and charges.

It will be fun and may help me figure out why my vampire count army didn't get much value from the Black Coach.