Sicnarf
Regular
How the looting skill affects how many items you get and their quality.
To read the conclusions just jump to the bottom, everything before that is how the testing was done.
In case you missed it last time -> Map speed/pack animals, Trade skill and town relations tested
http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,46362.0.html
Setup.
All tests were conducted using a cheated character with 30 in all stats and 10 points in all skills bar looting. I first collected 94 units, 5 companions and myself. I then cheat teleported as close as I could to a group of 30 Rhodok trained spearmen deserters (From now on referred to as spearmen) the largest even numbered nutral part I could find on the map. At this point I saved the game and made a backup of the save.
Testing.
I then disbanded all my troops and told my companions to leave so I was alone, I then saved the game and proceeded to attack the spearmen and cheat killed them with Ctrl+Shift+F4, took all the loot they dropped and sold it at Dhrim to the armour merchant while noting down the following. How many items were dropped, how much money I got at the end of the battle, how much experience I gained at the end of the battle and how much all the items sold for. I then reloaded the game and did the same again 9 more times before averaging the results and putting them in the table below. I then attacked and manually killed the spearmen on easy, then difficult and ensured that the results fell within the margin of error for the previous 10 runs to ensure that cheat killing or difficulty did not skew the loot given.
I then reloaded the game added 5 points to looting (+2 leader bonus) and repeated the above, then added 5 more points for 10(+4) looting and repeated the above.
I then restored the save game from backup and disbanded all but 14 units for a group total of 15 and repeated all the above again.
I then restored the same game from backup and kept all 94 units + 5 companions for a group total of 100 and repeated all the above again.
I then restored the same game from backup and disbanded all but 49 units for a group total of 50 and repeated all the above again.
*Note, After doing the 100 unit test I stopped noting the after battle Denar and Experienced gained as it was clear by then that lotting had no effect on them.
All items were sold in Dhirm to the armour merchant, my cheated character had 10 trading and 99 relation with the city.
All 144 test attacks on the spearmen took place within seconds game time in the hope of limiting and randomness that may occur due to time passing in game. However despite how close I was the spearmen sometimes turned away or charged towards me and I ended up fighting them on maps that differed from one another.
When averaged all numbers bar Number of items dropped were rounded down.
Trying to keep track of Item prefixes was to time consuming which is why I opted to sell the loot and use the sale price for testing.
The quantity and quality of loot received differed by a large margin within all ten 10 runs for any given looting skill. For example solo with loot 0, the least items found was 12 and the highest was 23, best selling loot was 1681 and least selling was 753. The averages received were a good meter stick but for very accurate average values you would need at least 50 rounds for each test which their is no way in hell I'm doing 624 battles even with cheats. So do bear in mind for the conclusions that the data is not optimal.
Legend:
Num = Number of items dropped.
Sell = How much all the loot sold for in Dhirm.
Den = How much after battle Denars were received.
Exp = How much after battle Experience my character received.
AveItemValue = Average value of each item sold.
Test 1
----------Solo character----------
Looting level 0,
Num Sell Den Exp AveItemValue
17.1 1233 1235 1307 72
Looting level 5+2, Solo character.
Num Sell Den Exp AveItemValue
16.2 1310 1187 1311 80
Looting level 10+4, Solo character.
Num Sell Den Exp AveItemValue
15.6 1149 1218 1167 73
Test 2
----------Me + 14 unitss----------
Looting level 0,
Num Sell Den Exp AveItemValue
14.4 911 551 563 63
Looting level 5+2,
Num Sell Den Exp AveItemValue
18.4 1325 519 560 72
Looting level 10+4,
Num Sell Den Exp AveItemValue
16.4 1211 548 510 73
Test 3
----------Me + 49 units ----------
Looting level 0,
Num Sell Den Exp AveItemValue
6.9 452 65.5
Looting level 5+2,
Num Sell Den Exp AveItemValue
10.5 812 77.3
Looting level 10+4,
Num Sell Den Exp AveItemValue
15.9 983 61.8
Test 4
----------Me + 5 companions + 94 units ----------
Looting level 0,
Num Sell Den Exp AveItemValue
4.1 323 105 104 78
Looting level 5+2,
Num Sell Den Exp AveItemValue
7.1 564 104 108 79
Looting level 10+4,
Num Sell Den Exp AveItemValue
9.9 661 103 97 66.7
CONCLUSIONS:
Ok easy one's first:
1)Looting appears to have no effect on the after battle experience gained by your character, oddly though according to the testing at 10(+4) looting you always averaged less experience gained than other levels. But I think I can safely say that is just a concidence.
2)Looting appears to have no effect on the after battle Denar gained.
Ok now the hard one's:
It would appear that looting does not actually provide you with more loot at all according to test 1. Looting just counteracts the theiving of your troops so you end up with more of the loot instead of them. If you are going solo looting does nothing for you, once you start adding troops and companions to your group you begin to receive less of the loot as they are getting a small share for themselves.
With 0 looting ability you get the following drop in loot as you add units.
15 = 25% less loot
50 = 65% less loot
100 = 74% less loot
With 5(+2) looting ability.
15 = 0% less loot (Actually -7% but I doubt their was an increase)
50 = 35% less loot
100 = 45% less loot
With 10(+4) looting ability.
15 = 0% less loot
50 = 21% less loot
100 = 47% less loot
Moral of the story is that for the best loot keep your party as small as you can, going to 10(+4) appears to be a waste of time as the biggest gains to be made for the least point investment is 5(+2), you would be better off getting a companion to mule this skill as maxing it gives very small gains, gains that are easily overshadowed by the trade skill. Average Item values don't change that much at all so the chances of getting lordly items does not appear to be related to looting, if your going to get a lordly item you will, looting just helps cut down on the odds that one of your troops will get to it first.
Please bear in mind that all that stats above were averaged over 10 battles so their accuracy is not close to perfect so their are bound to be differences between what I averaged and what is 100% truth. So take the above with a grain of salt. The only thing I'm 100% certain of is that looting does not actually generate more loot, it just counteracts your troops taking stuff for themselves.
Edit : Someone posted that village looting time is also affected which got me thinking that loot gained might also be effected, so back to the testing character. Long story short when you loot a village you get the same amount of loot on average no matter what level of looting you have or how many troops you have with you.
Setup
Same character as above with 99 men, looting starting at 0 then incremented to 5(+2) then 10(+4), only averaged 5 runs for each test as all looting results were very consistent. All items sold in Dhirm, due to the shops limited space I always sold the first 30 items to the armourer and the remainder to the Weapons smith, all items were sold on the same day to avoid price fluctations.
Legend:
Num = Average number of items looted.
Sell = How much all the items sold for.
Den = How much denar I looted.
Catt = Average number of cattle looted.
Testing
----------Me + 99 units ----------
Looting level 0,
Num Sell Den Catt
37.2 3977 251 3.6
Looting level 5(+2)
Num Sell Den Catt
37.8 4182 216 3
Looting level 10(+4)
Num Sell Den Catt
36.4 4245 351 2.4
I then disbanded the 99 men, reduced looting to 0 and started again, after 3 test runs it was very clear that their was no change in the average quantity or quality of loot even with my character doing it solo. For village looting the looting stat only reduces time taken and additionaly it does not matter how many men you have with you they do not take any loot for themselves.
To read the conclusions just jump to the bottom, everything before that is how the testing was done.
In case you missed it last time -> Map speed/pack animals, Trade skill and town relations tested
http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,46362.0.html
Setup.
All tests were conducted using a cheated character with 30 in all stats and 10 points in all skills bar looting. I first collected 94 units, 5 companions and myself. I then cheat teleported as close as I could to a group of 30 Rhodok trained spearmen deserters (From now on referred to as spearmen) the largest even numbered nutral part I could find on the map. At this point I saved the game and made a backup of the save.
Testing.
I then disbanded all my troops and told my companions to leave so I was alone, I then saved the game and proceeded to attack the spearmen and cheat killed them with Ctrl+Shift+F4, took all the loot they dropped and sold it at Dhrim to the armour merchant while noting down the following. How many items were dropped, how much money I got at the end of the battle, how much experience I gained at the end of the battle and how much all the items sold for. I then reloaded the game and did the same again 9 more times before averaging the results and putting them in the table below. I then attacked and manually killed the spearmen on easy, then difficult and ensured that the results fell within the margin of error for the previous 10 runs to ensure that cheat killing or difficulty did not skew the loot given.
I then reloaded the game added 5 points to looting (+2 leader bonus) and repeated the above, then added 5 more points for 10(+4) looting and repeated the above.
I then restored the save game from backup and disbanded all but 14 units for a group total of 15 and repeated all the above again.
I then restored the same game from backup and kept all 94 units + 5 companions for a group total of 100 and repeated all the above again.
I then restored the same game from backup and disbanded all but 49 units for a group total of 50 and repeated all the above again.
*Note, After doing the 100 unit test I stopped noting the after battle Denar and Experienced gained as it was clear by then that lotting had no effect on them.
All items were sold in Dhirm to the armour merchant, my cheated character had 10 trading and 99 relation with the city.
All 144 test attacks on the spearmen took place within seconds game time in the hope of limiting and randomness that may occur due to time passing in game. However despite how close I was the spearmen sometimes turned away or charged towards me and I ended up fighting them on maps that differed from one another.
When averaged all numbers bar Number of items dropped were rounded down.
Trying to keep track of Item prefixes was to time consuming which is why I opted to sell the loot and use the sale price for testing.
The quantity and quality of loot received differed by a large margin within all ten 10 runs for any given looting skill. For example solo with loot 0, the least items found was 12 and the highest was 23, best selling loot was 1681 and least selling was 753. The averages received were a good meter stick but for very accurate average values you would need at least 50 rounds for each test which their is no way in hell I'm doing 624 battles even with cheats. So do bear in mind for the conclusions that the data is not optimal.
Legend:
Num = Number of items dropped.
Sell = How much all the loot sold for in Dhirm.
Den = How much after battle Denars were received.
Exp = How much after battle Experience my character received.
AveItemValue = Average value of each item sold.
Test 1
----------Solo character----------
Looting level 0,
Num Sell Den Exp AveItemValue
17.1 1233 1235 1307 72
Looting level 5+2, Solo character.
Num Sell Den Exp AveItemValue
16.2 1310 1187 1311 80
Looting level 10+4, Solo character.
Num Sell Den Exp AveItemValue
15.6 1149 1218 1167 73
Test 2
----------Me + 14 unitss----------
Looting level 0,
Num Sell Den Exp AveItemValue
14.4 911 551 563 63
Looting level 5+2,
Num Sell Den Exp AveItemValue
18.4 1325 519 560 72
Looting level 10+4,
Num Sell Den Exp AveItemValue
16.4 1211 548 510 73
Test 3
----------Me + 49 units ----------
Looting level 0,
Num Sell Den Exp AveItemValue
6.9 452 65.5
Looting level 5+2,
Num Sell Den Exp AveItemValue
10.5 812 77.3
Looting level 10+4,
Num Sell Den Exp AveItemValue
15.9 983 61.8
Test 4
----------Me + 5 companions + 94 units ----------
Looting level 0,
Num Sell Den Exp AveItemValue
4.1 323 105 104 78
Looting level 5+2,
Num Sell Den Exp AveItemValue
7.1 564 104 108 79
Looting level 10+4,
Num Sell Den Exp AveItemValue
9.9 661 103 97 66.7
CONCLUSIONS:
Ok easy one's first:
1)Looting appears to have no effect on the after battle experience gained by your character, oddly though according to the testing at 10(+4) looting you always averaged less experience gained than other levels. But I think I can safely say that is just a concidence.
2)Looting appears to have no effect on the after battle Denar gained.
Ok now the hard one's:
It would appear that looting does not actually provide you with more loot at all according to test 1. Looting just counteracts the theiving of your troops so you end up with more of the loot instead of them. If you are going solo looting does nothing for you, once you start adding troops and companions to your group you begin to receive less of the loot as they are getting a small share for themselves.
With 0 looting ability you get the following drop in loot as you add units.
15 = 25% less loot
50 = 65% less loot
100 = 74% less loot
With 5(+2) looting ability.
15 = 0% less loot (Actually -7% but I doubt their was an increase)
50 = 35% less loot
100 = 45% less loot
With 10(+4) looting ability.
15 = 0% less loot
50 = 21% less loot
100 = 47% less loot
Moral of the story is that for the best loot keep your party as small as you can, going to 10(+4) appears to be a waste of time as the biggest gains to be made for the least point investment is 5(+2), you would be better off getting a companion to mule this skill as maxing it gives very small gains, gains that are easily overshadowed by the trade skill. Average Item values don't change that much at all so the chances of getting lordly items does not appear to be related to looting, if your going to get a lordly item you will, looting just helps cut down on the odds that one of your troops will get to it first.
Please bear in mind that all that stats above were averaged over 10 battles so their accuracy is not close to perfect so their are bound to be differences between what I averaged and what is 100% truth. So take the above with a grain of salt. The only thing I'm 100% certain of is that looting does not actually generate more loot, it just counteracts your troops taking stuff for themselves.
Edit : Someone posted that village looting time is also affected which got me thinking that loot gained might also be effected, so back to the testing character. Long story short when you loot a village you get the same amount of loot on average no matter what level of looting you have or how many troops you have with you.
Setup
Same character as above with 99 men, looting starting at 0 then incremented to 5(+2) then 10(+4), only averaged 5 runs for each test as all looting results were very consistent. All items sold in Dhirm, due to the shops limited space I always sold the first 30 items to the armourer and the remainder to the Weapons smith, all items were sold on the same day to avoid price fluctations.
Legend:
Num = Average number of items looted.
Sell = How much all the items sold for.
Den = How much denar I looted.
Catt = Average number of cattle looted.
Testing
----------Me + 99 units ----------
Looting level 0,
Num Sell Den Catt
37.2 3977 251 3.6
Looting level 5(+2)
Num Sell Den Catt
37.8 4182 216 3
Looting level 10(+4)
Num Sell Den Catt
36.4 4245 351 2.4
I then disbanded the 99 men, reduced looting to 0 and started again, after 3 test runs it was very clear that their was no change in the average quantity or quality of loot even with my character doing it solo. For village looting the looting stat only reduces time taken and additionaly it does not matter how many men you have with you they do not take any loot for themselves.
