Barding Difficulty

[CroMag1980]

Hi I'm training u some strong GD's and I notice despite very similar stats *edit* overall stats, skills resists everything, one has a higher barding difficulty. Could this be the hidden parry skill I read about here somewhere?

If I didn't know better I'd think one of them was quite a bit tougher than the other. Once bonded I will pit them against each other to the death - say 10 times (would have to retrain the loser). In fact that sounds like a headache I probably won't - but one seems to be better than the other. It would be great if there was still this mystery about something in UO.

p.s. these GD's were 130 and 134 barding difficulty as fresh tames, the latter is at 147 now with roughly 10 points to gain on all skills but med (and mage obv). I notice the other drag (130) is gaining wrestling slower.

p.p.s Considering they started off nearly at the same wrestle skill and similar dex I wonder why the stronger of the two has gained more wrestle skill. I wonder if the stronger drag has a higher parry so the other gd is whiffing more often and gaining slower as a result.

 

[Sarsmi]

I was reading another thread where someone said that the barding difficulty is a pretty good indicator of how good a pet is - I think I might start paying more attention to that number in the future when weeding through animals to tame.

Hrm, maybe the pet calculator should start asking for the barding difficulty of pets and factor that into it's calculations. Just a thought.

 

[Hinotori]

Barding difficulty takes into account skills as well as the other stuff. It's useless for certain critters where their skills don't matter. (as opposed to Greater dragons and rune beetles where skills DO matter) You can watch it go up as you train critters.

I farm kitsune all the time, hoping to find a perfect one. I've regularly seen ones that would that would rate around 3 stars (or less) with high barding difficulties from their skills. My best fox had low barding difficulty from it's low skills. (resists and stats were very high) Some of the lowest skills I've seen on a fresh one before I tamed it. It ranked a nice 4.4 stars. I don't even run them through the calculator until well after I've tamed them. I'm looking at stats and resists out there, the skills can all be trained up.

So barding difficulty can be a very good indicator for certain pets, but a poor one for others. I do find it works well for rune beetles when I farm them.

 

[Poo]

you guys should just come and ask a bard and you could save yourself all this speculating and such.

barding difficulty is calculated via a formula.
the formula (which ill go get here in a sec) relies on the critters skills via stats.

that said, if your training your critters and the str goes up so will the barding difficulty.

as well, if you have a pet that has maxed out str allready and you train it you wont see a marked in crease (or any increase) in the barding difficulty.

so using the barding difficulty to rate critters probablly isnt the best way as resists and such arnt taken into consideration when calculating the end #.

does that help?

ill go round up the calculation for you guys, back in a bit.

 

[Poo]

its math time people!!!!!

yaaaa math!!!!!

An approximate barding difficulty can be calculated by using the following method:

1. Use the Animal Lore skill on the creature
2. Add up the following attributes:
* Max Hit Points * 1.6
* Max Stamina
* Max Mana
* all Skills
3. Add another 100 points for each of the following abilities:
* Spell Casting
* Fire Breath
* Radiation or Aura Damage (Heat, Cold etc.)
* Resistance to Poison
* Lifeforce Draining
4. Add another 20 points for each level of poison attack the creature can do. This ranges from 20 for a level 1 poison attack to 100 for a level 5 poison attack
5. If the creature's stats and skills total is 700 or less, continue with step 7
6. If the creature's stats and skills total is greater than 700, subtract 700 from the end result of step 4, then multiply the result with 0.275, and finally add 700 to that result.
7. Drop the numbers after the decimal point and then divide by 10. The result is the creature's barding difficulty.

If the result of the difficulty calculation is higher than 160, then the creatures barding difficulty is lowered to 160.

the above can be found here : http://uo.stratics.com/content/skills/bardingdifficulty.php

 

[Poo]

is it just me or does that formula look like something that a group of college kids would make up on a friday night at the local pub after enough booze to preserve a small water buffalo?

 

[Hinotori]

Awesome! Thanks Poo.

 

[Old Man of UO]

I have seen my pet's barding difficulty increase -many times- with no increase in displayed skills. I can only attribute this to either small skill increases (which I doubt since the truncating and round in rule #7). That formula doesn't explain that. It's also been stated that pets have parry, but that formula does not include parry.

I still want to know why I see changes to barding difficulty with no displayed skill change. Any idea?

 

[CroMag1980]

I still want to know why I see changes to barding difficulty with no displayed skill change. Any idea?

Pets might be blessing themselves?

 

[Old Man of UO]

Pets might be blessing themselves?

A cu sidhe can't bless itself. I have trained dozens of these to sell and see it on every one.

 

[CroMag1980]

Oh ok I thought we were talking GD's, that's odd then. Might be worth screenshooting

 

[Poo]

ive allways just assumed it was the increase in stamina.

i assume that cause ive noticed the increase the barding difficulty and usually the only stat being effected on most tamed animals is the dex (going to the 125 cap)

critters that have over 125 dex i have never noticed them to increase in barding difficulty.

then again ive never really watched for it.

and when we talk about the 'hidden parry skill' and we look at the barding difficulty calculation i think we can all agree that the code that makes up UO is patch work ontop of patch's held together with gum and duct tape with some bale'r twin wrapped around the who bunch.

alas that is the only down side to playing a game that is 11+ years old.

 

[Old Man of UO]

ive allways just assumed it was the increase in stamina.

i assume that cause ive noticed the increase the barding difficulty and usually the only stat being effected on most tamed animals is the dex (going to the 125 cap)

critters that have over 125 dex i have never noticed them to increase in barding difficulty.

then again ive never really watched for it.

and when we talk about the 'hidden parry skill' and we look at the barding difficulty calculation i think we can all agree that the code that makes up UO is patch work ontop of patch's held together with gum and duct tape with some bale'r twin wrapped around the who bunch.

alas that is the only down side to playing a game that is 11+ years old.

I know it is not an increase in stamina, because by the time I noticed it, my dog was at its max stamina. I believe as you say it is either the hidden parry skill, or patchwork coding. Or both.

Meh... doesn't matter. Good Doggie!

 

[5% Luck]

Ok here it is. my brother is a "peace" tamer and his pets never(well a lil) get hit. He noticed that my pets as a "warrior" tamer have a higher BD then his so we set up a "test".

Note this is pre patch data from before the new pet commands where asking a pet to follow would engage a non attack mode for the pet. This made the testing alot more rigorous for us and we are looking for more current data.

He continually peaced a completely 100% trained cu side that is 100 in every skill and I had My cu side bite it for about 3 hours. The peaced cu side gained note this 2.4 points of barding difficulty.

This is totally true and you can test it any time just by having any pet in follow mode train another pet ON it so the total training on the second pet is done with out taking damage while you vet the 1st. Then take down the BD and turn the tables where the trained pet(#2) is in follow mode and let pet 1 bite it for a few hours.

It will gain in barding difficulty.

Now after all this testing I will say I have also tested the damage received and percentage of missed attacks on these pets compared to other lower bd pets of the same type and skill. I have not noted a difference of any note in even over 4 full points of BD difference.

To me yes it happens but it is just one of those unexplained things that keeps solid players here intrigued.

And thats a good thing!