What exactly is the "attack rating"?

Mostly combat relevant skills and attributes are explained by their influence on the ability to hit a target and/or to penetrate its armor.
But in W8 there is also the term "attack rating"... Is this the "To Penetrate" ability or a combination of "To Hit" and "To Penetrate"?

In know it's supposed to be influenced by the attributes DEX, SPD, and (for melee) STR, as well as by the skills Close/Ranged Combat, the respective weapon skill, Dual Weapon (if dual wielding), and Power Strike (melee) or Eagle Eye (ranged). But it's not really explained how it relates to "To Hit" and "To Penetrate".

I do have the information from somewhere (correct or not) that "To Hit" by itself is not influenced by combat skills, but only by STR, DEX, SPD, Power Strike (Melee) or DEX, SPD, Eagle Eye (Ranged). After all, Weapons also modify only "To Hit", never an "attack rating"...

So it has nothing to do with armor penetration? Then what - in additon to "To Hit" - is included in "Attack Rating"?

Is there also an influence on damage? I do know that STR modifies damage defined by the respective weapon in a way that everything below 50 gives a 1% penalty per pt STR and everything above gives a 2% bonus.

But could there be some influnce on where you lie within the given damage range? For example, Diamond Eyes has a damage range of 7-22. Could a high attack rating bias this towards higher numbers? Or is there no connection at all?

Or does just nobody really know?

Hello,
That was the data I pulled from my manual. I have this additional data.

Strength 2.5 lbs carry weight, .7 stamina
Melee: .1 to Hit, .1 Attack Rating, 2%/1% damage above/below 50
Ranged: 1%/.5% damage above/below 50
Intelligence ? spell points
Piety .7 stamina, ? spell points
Vitality 1.25 lbs carry weight, .7 stamina, .125 HP/Level
Dexterity Ranged: .1 to Hit, .125 Attack Rating
Melee: .1 to Hit, .083 Attack Rating
Adds extra attacks as you level up, although slower than speed
Speed .04 AC, .2 Initiative
Adds extra attacks and swings as you level up
Senses Melee: .05 to Hit, .05 Attack Rating
Ranged: .05 to Hit, .05 Attack Rating
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Power Strike Melee: .05 to Hit, .05 Attack Rating
Iron Will .2 all magic resistances
Iron Skin .25 damage resistance
Reflection .06 AC
Snake Speed .1 Initiative
Eagle Eye Ranged: .0625 to Hit, .0625 Attack Rating
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Close Combat Melee: .05 Attack Rating, .01 # of attacks
Ranged Combat Ranged: .05 Attack Rating; maxing this gives you an extra swing
Dual Weapons .005 of weapon skill Attack Rating bonus for primary weapon
.0025 of weapon skill Attack Rating bonus for secondary weapon
note: percentage-wise enables all the extra attacks, swings,
and attack rating you'd receive from weapon skills
note: 0 skill gives 1/2 weapon skill bonuses for primary
1/4 weapon skill bonuses for secondary
note: strength damage bonus for second weapon starts off 1/4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sword .1 Attack Rating, .01 # of swings
Axe .1 Attack Rating, .01 # of swings
Polearm .1 Attack Rating, .01 # of swings
Mace .1 Attack Rating, .01 # of swings
Dagger .1 Attack Rating, .01 # of swings
Staff .1 Attack Rating, .01 # of swings
Shield .01 * shield AC
Modern Weapon .1 Attack Rating, no extra swings, no strength damage bonus
Bow .1 Attack Rating; maxing this gives you an extra attack
Throwing/Sling .1 Attack Rating
Martial Arts .1 Attack Rating, .085 damage
Stealth .1 AC

The base AC is the value you start with before adding some clothes (or steel in some cases). The base AC is naturally high for Fairies and is modified by speed and dexterity, I think. Ninjas' and Monks' base AC is increasing with level and attributes. A ring or a locket also counts as base AC, since it effects the whole body (or so it pretends in Wizardry).
If you add clothes, it doesn't effect the base AC, but the average AC. It's not simply adding the +1 AC of a robe to the base AC, but calculating the importance of the body part (body and legs count more than hands, feet and head) in relation to the whole body. So a +14 body armor is worth more (for the average AC value) than a +14 head armor, because the body is say 40% of the whole armor, whereas the head is say only 10%.

If my fighter gets a blow on the head, is the value of the head's AC important.

Yeah, I know all this. Thanks anyway.

I also know this data file (which is not entirely correct; e.g. Senses also adds to Initiative - I believe also with 0.2, like Speed - also Dual Weapons is no bonus, it compensates for the penalty you get by using both hands), but the data doesn't explain the term Attack Rating as well.

The only thing this file makes obvious is that there is a clear difference between To Hit and Attack Rating. But there's still no explanation what it is exactly.

It's also interesting that the Combat and Weapon Modifiers in the Character menu show a "To Penetrate" modifier, which, however, can not be influenced by skills or attributes (probably only by spells, like Enchanted Blade).

This is actually regarding critical strike and how it actually works, but it also applies to attack rating.
___________________
Critical Strike
Critical Strike is a highly debated skill. It is very powerful when it hits and can sway the battle in your favor. Lets take a little closer look at how this skill works.

Critical Strike is a class skill for monks, sams, and ninja. Ninja having a 25% bonus to the skill.

This translates to about a 4% chance to crit for monks and sams with 5% for the ninja when the critical strike skill is maxed. (Doesn't seem like much does it?)

You can combine crit weapons like the coc, fang, sod, etc to have a combined critical strike chance as high as 20%. (Now we are getting somewhere)

With that in mind, there are 3 things that must happen in order to get a critical strike to work.

1. You must hit the enemy and penetrate to do at least 1 damage.
-This means that you need a good +to hit like any other melee or range class.
-This also means that your weapon skill must be high enough to penetrate.
-One exception. Ninja throwing will always penetrate. (but it still has to hit)

2. The character must make a successful critical strike attempt.
-This includes your chance to crit and the weapoon bonus to crit.

3. The monster has a chance to resist the effect or die.
-This is highly dependant on the level of the monster vs the level of the character.

Number 3 is the problem. If we look at level vs level we find that (depending on the monster) your critical strike will hardly ever hit. Example: a level 15 ninja vs a level 26 Nesse. You can successfully land the critical attack against Nesse, but the resist roll of Nesse with those comparative levels gives Nesse a 95% chance to shrug off the attack. In comparison, a level 25 ninja vs a level 26 Nesse would translate to about a 68% chance for Nesse to shrug off the attack. (Better...but still less than 50%)

Personal note: Has anyone waited that long to take on Nesse? My average team level (6man) is around 10-11 when I run accross that battle. This really puts a damper on the effectiveness of critical strikes. (IMHO)

Evaluating this further:

In a 6 man/woman team, the ninja will be lower level and therfore not able to land critical strikes as often. (Even with the coc) This is not to say that it will never happen....cause it will. This is to give you an idea why its so important that the ninja (monk or sam) have multiple attacks to give more chances at landing the crit.

Where the Critical Strike really shines is in smaller teams. Since the experience of all battles is split up based on the number of players in your party, the ninja will gain higher levels earlier. This will break the balance of the game and allow your ninja to land those beloved crits much more often. And its all because of number 3.

I hope this gives new players a better idea of how Critical Strike works and to not get frustrated with the way the game handles crits. It's a great skill that does shine later on as your ninja, monk, or sam levels. Just don't bet the bank on this one skill. (Unless you have a small team.)

Interesting.

I suppose equal levels means the chance your critical strike goes through is 50%.

So this means that if my level 15 Monk with 50 Critical Strike hits a level 15 monster, then (provided he penetrates its armor) he has a 1% chance of a critical hit? (2% from the skill * 50%). Assuming he has no weapon with +Kill%.

Where did you get those numbers (15 vs 26 => 5% for Critical; 25 vs 26 => 32% for Critical)? This dependency seems to be very steep. Does this go both ways? So if I my level 26 Ninja with Critical Strike of 125 hits a Level 15 Pestilent Rat (or whatever) does he have a 5% * 95% chance to succeed with a critical hit?

Thanks.

The game has a level dependency on a bunch of the different vs. skills. Critical strike is just one of them. This is one of the reasons why on a small team the critical strike skill becomes so massive. That means due to over leveling that most battles are over in a flash against a ninja. Your party would be level 15 versus a level 20 boss. That is one of the reasons why they do this, so you have a very low (usually 5%) change of critical strike against the boss creature. What that means is in almost all fights most of the kills with a 1 or 2 person party are going to be critical kills. Let's say you are fighting that boss with a level 22 ninja due to overleveling. You end up killing it on the second round due to a critical strike. The same party would lose team mates and kill the boss after a 12 round fight.

Yeah I know. But what is the formula behind the 15vs26 = 95% of resisting / 25vs26 = 68% of resisting? And where is this written down?

Don't get me wrong, the numbers seem to make sense. And I do know all the principles of level dependencies etc. you are talking about. I just don't know the exact dependencies.

Hello again,
I've been doing more reading over at the steam forums where there has been some extensive research. One thing that does not effect success is the ability score themselves. What they effect is the skills, attack ratings, and armor class that effect success.