The Borderlands Gun Damage Per Second Formula
Mon, 10/12/2009 - 23:35
Damage Per Second = ((Damage)*(Accuracy/100))+(((Damage*(Magazine-1))/(((Magazine-1)/Rate of Fire)+Reload Time)*((Accuracy-Recoil)/100))
DPS is equal to the accurate damage of a gun's first shot followed by the lesser accurate shots that follow it over the time it takes to empty a clip and reload.
I was trying to figure out a way to evaluate guns so that in situations where you don't know what gun to equip based on its general strength, you can figure it out. For example, at level 40, should you keep your level 27 purple or switch to your level 39 green. Or, how to decide between a high powered but low ammo capacity revolver and a less accurate, less hard-hitting but high capacity SMG.
Unfortunately, the formula above is the best I could do. :-( It has strengths and weaknesses.
- Most weapon stats are already accounted for in gun stats, so just feed Damage, Rate of Fire, etc. into the formula.
- Reload time is no longer listed in weapon stats. It looks like reloading for all weapons is 2 seconds based on the videos, but that may be inaccurate.
- It does not include elemental damage bonuses.
- It does not include bonuses that indirectly relate to stats. For example, weapon with a scope/Zoom ability.
- It does not include critical hit bonuses. 1st, critical hits are based on a player's skill in aiming. 2nd, I don' know how much extra damage criticals do.
- It does not include bonuses from skills. You have to apply those bonuses first before feeding the numbers into the formula.
- Shotguns are a special case. According to the videos, weapon stats for shotguns flash 2 different numbers in the Damage value: an actual damage value, and a modifier for the number of pellets the gun fires. You have to multiply the damage with the number of pellets first before applying it to the formula.
Sorry for being a WoW nerd here, but I figured that working this out may give the Borderlands community a way to judge guns and improve their playing.
UPDATE: Updated formula. Now accounts for burst damage and steady damage.
UPDATE: Added Critical Hits.
X = % Chance of player making a Critical Hit while playing
DPS w/ Critical Hits = DPS+(Magazine*X*((1.5*Damage)+(Critical Hit Bonus*Damage))
Tue, 10/13/2009 - 11:06
#2
awesomr job, messanger. your
awesome job, messanger. your rank has increased to Math Magician! gratz
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Tue, 10/13/2009 - 12:09
#3
Good job, I'd also add in
Good job, I'd also add in distance as a factor in the equation somewhere to flesh out the value of things like accuracy, recoil, and shot pattern since point-blank dps will be different than dps at 50 meters or 100 meters, etc...
Tue, 10/13/2009 - 14:26
#4
Yeah, I would imagine that
Yeah, I would imagine that (thinking of physics) the damage would decrease exponentially as you move out from point blank range, and the exponential modifier would be different for each gun, very large for shotguns and very small for sniper rifles, for example. I'm not sure exactly how this would fit into the above equation but maybe something like:
[damage at point blank]*(percentage in from maximum range)^[gun's exponential modifier]
For example a gun that does 200 damage at point blank with a moderate drop off in damage would be:
[200]*(1.00)^[0.3] = 200, obviously this is at 100% in from the maximum range, or point blank
Then as you go out farther away towards a distance where shooting has little to no effect (maximum range) you decrease your percentage of point blank, hard for to explain so I'll just show you.
[200]*(0.80)^[0.3] = about 187 damage
Lets say that a distance where your gun will have little to no effect is 100 meters. Then when you're 80% (0.80) in you're 80 meters in from that point thus being 20 meters away from point blank at your enemy. And 187 damage is a slightly reasonable output for such a distance. As you go farther and farther away the damage drops off significantly.
[200]*(0.10)^[0.3] = 100 damage
So now you are about 90 meters away and you are doing 100 damage. As you can plainly see my numbers are very very rough. The equation basically came off the top of my head (besides that fact that it is standard exponential regression) and the exponential modifier, damage at point blank, and maximum range are in no way proportional and really don't make much sense (like at 100 meters you'll still be doing some good damage =S)
But such an equation can be used in combination with Messenger's to give you an idea of ranges of guns. Again sorry for the rough estimates.
And no I'm not a nerd... =D
Tue, 10/13/2009 - 14:37
#5
Formula
I have tryed to do formula for it too :
Long : Value = 1000 * [ (Damage * Fire Rate) / (Magazine * Reload Time) + (Accuracy / 100) + Type Of Damage] / Level Requierement
Short : V= 1000 * [ ( D * FR ) / ( M * RT) + ( A / 100 ) + TOP ] / LR
Type Of Damage = 0 if weapon does normal type of damage; TOD = 1 if weapon does 1x Fyre/Acid damage ... 1000 * Is optional I have it there, becouse it looks like better after you count it.
I will add bonuses like bonuses to Melee Damage and Critical Damage later. Does anyone know how much damage does critical damage compared to regular damage ?
Tue, 10/13/2009 - 14:35
#6
i think that would only
i think that would only differ for shotguns.... bullets hurt the same wether at 1 foot or 1000 feet. if they hit you, it will hurt. shotguns differ because less pellets would actually hit the tagert but thats impossiable to calculate exactly because the scatter effect is impossiable to judge.
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Tue, 10/13/2009 - 14:42
#7
Yeah Purlox I'm not so sure
Yeah Purlox I'm not so sure about your formula and what it's accomplishing. You said the *1000 is optional so wouldn't you just be dividing the dps by your level requirement. Are you trying to do a formula for damage based on distance or just expanding on Messenger's DPS formula?
Tue, 10/13/2009 - 15:05
#8
I´m just creating formula
I´m just creating formula to count the value of gun by using all stats of the gun. No it wouldn´t be usefull if you just divided DPS by level requirement. And the 1000* is here so the nubmer doesn´t end like 1,539 (one and ...) .
Tue, 10/13/2009 - 14:55
#9
Huh? I'm sorry but it sounds
Huh? I'm sorry but it sounds like English isn't your first language =D
Tue, 10/13/2009 - 15:07
#10
That´s becouse it isn´t. Is
That´s becouse it isn´t. Is that really all you wanted to say ?
And I agree with DFAZaNDRiC in that bullets do always same damage if they hit.
I just want to say thank you for doing this should help when finding kazillion guns with different stats and all
live & kill the rest XBOX 360 % PS3 tag - grollum (playing borderlands on both)