Discussion on Shields

I present a partial quote from the chat log:

05:30 < Ischaldirh> So I just wiz-mode upped four shields
05:30 < Ischaldirh> and CM'ed them
05:30 < Ischaldirh> All are +0
05:31 < Ischaldirh> The ebony shield weighs 350, is extremely accurate, and is rather sturdy
05:31 < Ischaldirh> The octiron shield weighs 315, is extrememly accurate, and is almost unbreakable
05:31 < Ischaldirh> The valpurium shield weighs 1050, is highly sccurate, and is almost unbreakable
05:32 < Ischaldirh> and the adamantium shield weighs 3500, is innaccurate, and is almost unbreakable.
05:32 < Ischaldirh> Now with a shield, the single most important stat is the accuracy.
05:32 < Ischaldirh> Which is tied to weight.
05:32 < Ischaldirh> It's strength is secondary.
05:32 < Ischaldirh> A hard shield doesn't actually deflect a blow any better than a soft one
05:33 < chaostrom> compare the octiron shield with one made of GEF
05:33 < Ischaldirh> Unbelievably accurate and almost unbreakable, and weighs 35.

05:41 < Ischaldirh> Arcanite would probably make a better shield than octiron
05:41 < Ischaldirh> It's weighs about half as much
05:42 < Ischaldirh> yet it's still hard as hell, so it's not likely to break
05:42 < Ischaldirh> To be honest an ebony shield will last for a LONG time
05:42 < Ischaldirh> Unless you run into like
05:42 < Ischaldirh> Danny or something
05:42 < chaostrom> Danny could probably break an arcanite shield
05:43 < Ischaldirh> I dunno
05:43 < Ischaldirh> I'll wis-mode test it in a second

05:43 < chaostrom> you do know that anything summoned in WM is weaker than anything summoned in a real game?
05:44 < Ischaldirh> It is?
05:44 < Ischaldirh> Huh.
05:44 < chaostrom> I don't think a test would show what Danny could really do when you meet him
05:44 < Ischaldirh> Well
05:44 < Ischaldirh> if he does break it
05:44 < Ischaldirh> we'll know that the real him could too
05:44 < chaostrom> because when you summon in WM, they've got default stats and equipment
05:44 < chaostrom> in a real game, they're stronger because they take your power into account
05:45 < chaostrom> you know it's possible to meet a mistress with a whip +11 or something
05:45 < chaostrom> well, you're never going to summon one in WM
05:45 < Ischaldirh> The arcanite shield actually doesn't look like much of an improvement on octiron
05:45 < Ischaldirh> you only lose about 70 lbs

05:48 < Ischaldirh> hahahahahahahahahahahhahaaaaaa
05:48 < Ischaldirh> So I summoned Ur-kahn
05:48 < Ischaldirh> I partially blocked ONE attack
05:48 < Ischaldirh> It broke the shield
05:48 < Ischaldirh> and I jumped to level 3 with the shield
05:48 < chaostrom> arcanite?
05:48 < Ischaldirh> No, ebony

05:49 < Ischaldirh> Arcanite survived a partial block (which still killed me, though I AM unarmored)

05:50 < Ischaldirh> Lets see how many hits the octiron shield can take

05:51 < Ischaldirh> I don't think he can break my shield
05:51 < Ischaldirh> It's taken 9 partial blocks
05:51 < Ischaldirh> Octiron
05:51 < Ischaldirh> Of course I'm only partially blocking these hits, so he's still killing me

05:52 < Ischaldirh> Yeah
05:52 < Ischaldirh> I don't think he can break the octiron shield
05:53 < Ischaldirh> Ruby has a hardness of 250, Octiron 275
05:53 < chaostrom> so default Urky can't break octiron
05:53 < chaostrom> what's the enchantment on his ruby halberd?
05:53 < Ischaldirh> Right... in fact, I don't think anyone wielding less than adamant (or diamond) can break it.
05:53 < Ischaldirh> Uhh
05:54 < Ischaldirh> 3
05:54 < chaostrom> I'm going to test it with 8
05:54 < chaostrom> you know that's probably the level it's going to be enchanted when you meet him
05:56 < Ischaldirh> No... when I ran into him
05:56 < Ischaldirh> it was +3
05:56 < Ischaldirh> With my neercs
05:56 < chaostrom> it was?
05:56 < Ischaldirh> yeah
05:56 < Ischaldirh> that guy had 40+ AStr too
05:56 < chaostrom> that's the default
05:56 < Ischaldirh> and 150 HP
05:56 < Ischaldirh> I know
05:57 < chaostrom> well, I'll just jump it to 5 then
05:57 < Ischaldirh> k
05:58 < Ischaldirh> I recommend dual wielding the octiron shields
05:59 < Ischaldirh> And summoning yourself up some armor

06:09 < chaostrom> 0_0
06:09 < chaostrom> Urky broke an octiron shield
06:10 < chaostrom> and all I did was to enchant it up to 5
06:17 < Ischaldirh> Hmm
06:17 < Ischaldirh> Sounds like you need to enchant the shield too
06:17 < Ischaldirh> To be honest
06:17 < Ischaldirh> If you're running into ur-kahn, and you have an octiron shield
06:17 < Ischaldirh> you ought to have it enchanted
06:17 < Ischaldirh> probably up to +5
06:17 < chaostrom> yeah
06:17 < Ischaldirh> Unless you're just that unlucky
06:17 < chaostrom>
06:18 < chaostrom> now the next test is...
06:18 < chaostrom> how long will a valpurium shield and a GEF shield last against Urky AND Danny
06:18 < chaostrom> >

06:28 < chaostrom> 0_0
06:28 < chaostrom> Danny just hacked my adamantine belt +5 into pieces
06:28 < chaostrom> the shields are still all right though
06:29 < chaostrom> 0_0
06:29 < chaostrom> Danny just broke my GEF shield +5 too
06:29 < chaostrom> damn
06:31 < chaostrom> Urky's probably doing his bit too, but so far Danny's the only one breaking stuff
06:34 < chaostrom> looks like a valpurium shield +5 is unbreakable...

06:49 < Ischaldirh> Yeah, so it sounds like
06:49 < Ischaldirh> Hmm.
06:49 < Ischaldirh> I dunno
06:49 < Ischaldirh> I geuss for bosses, valpurium is the way to go
06:49 < chaostrom> yeah
06:49 < Ischaldirh> I'm still going to say octiron is best for normal baddies
06:49 < chaostrom> I mean damn
06:49 < Ischaldirh> High accuracy means better chance of blocking
06:50 < chaostrom> it's not often you'll get hit with both Danny and Urky
06:50 < chaostrom> but to break a golden eagle feather shield +5...
06:50 < chaostrom> I didn't give their weapons enchantments either
06:50 < Ischaldirh> Yeah
06:51 < Ischaldirh> I wonder how it factors that stuff
06:51 < Ischaldirh> I thought it was funny though --
06:51 < Ischaldirh> Urky broke my arcanite shield in three hits
06:51 < Ischaldirh>
06:51 < chaostrom> haha
06:51 < Ischaldirh> Still...
06:51 < Ischaldirh> using any of the iron series materials for a shield is a bad idea
06:51 < Ischaldirh> with the possible exception of meteoric steel, though even then
06:52 < chaostrom> unfortunately, that's the material it spawns in most

Is the amount of damage blocked by a partial block dependant and random, or is it a fixed amount/percentage (like e.g. always 50% of the attack it blocks)? Anyone know this? Any way to test it except code-diving?

Tested it in WM by getting an unenchanted GEF shield and summoning Ur'Khan (+3 enchant on the halberd) to beat on me.

First sample had 21 strikes with no shield or armor equipped, which ranged from 80 to 50 damage (or 61, since there might've been a mistake as the difference between least and second least damage was so high.)
Average 68
Median 68

Second sample had 25 partially blocked hits without any armor, damage range was from 12 to 47.
Average 32
Median 34

Drawing a chart from the second sample showed a slight decrease in damage as the character's skill with shields increased, altough that might just be a coincidence since the sample was so small. I really don't have time to record hundreds or thousands of hits.

By looking at the results, damage taken through a partial block does seem more random than the 50% Alveradok suggested above. My guess based on these results is that a partial block damage reduction ranges between 25% and 75% of a full block.

To get a more exact answer, a code-dive is required.

Chart of the second sample attached

If you enchant the valpurium shield it can become unbelievably accurate. I think at +8