Sonja SCOP

EDIT: It appears that the below is not valid, as the basis for the conclusion may have been caused by a streak of Sonja's bad luck rather than a true lack of first strike on her part. At this time it is believed that Sonja always gets first strike due to her SCOP on AWBW, regardless of how the original games worked or how her SCOP is worded on any reference pages. More testing will follow.


There was some confusion about the phrasing with respect to how the first strike component of Sonja’s SCOP treats attackers that can deal a finishing blow. The AWBW CO page and AWBW Wiki say:

Sonja's SCOP wrote:a unit being attacked attacks first (unless it would be destroyed by the attack

It’s been confirmed that Sonja’s SCOP operates by giving her first strike against any attacker unless the attacker would kill Sonja’s unit even if Sonja had first strike. In essence, AWBW calculates the outcome of the attack in the scenario that Sonja hits first and in the scenario that the attacker hits first. If both of these calculations show that Sonja’s unit will be destroyed, Sonja will not get first strike and will deal no damage to the attacker before being defeated. Otherwise, Sonja always gets first strike on her SCOP.

There is, however, the question of how luck impacts the outcome. As of now, it appears that Sonja’s calculations will assume the best possible luck in her favor- If there’s any chance that her first strike could knock the attacker’s HP down to the point that a KO is no longer guaranteed (i.e. 99% damage), she will get first strike, even if that would result in her unit being KO’d after dealing damage the majority of the time. This was tested by Xmo5 and Vonrich using md tanks and mechs as follows, with each test being repeated multiple times to confirm the results:

In one scenario, Max’s md tanks with 2 towers attacked Sonja mechs while Sonja was using her SCOP; all units were on roads. The mech, if given first strike, would deal 16% damage without accounting for luck. At 9 HP, the md tank would deal 107% damage and at 8 HP it would deal 95% damage, both without luck. Therefore, if there is a chance for the mech to drop the md tank to 8 HP, reducing damage (without luck) to less than 100%, the mech gets first strike. This was observed in testing; the md tank attacked and was struck first by the mech, taking 1 HP in damage, before attacking and destroying the mech. This test was repeated, but with the md tank on a plains tile, decreasing the mech’s no-luck damage to 14%, and the same outcome was observed.

Similar tests were performed to further investigate the limits of Sonja’s first-strike calculation; in these tests, the chances of a successful outcome for the mech were reduced as much as possible. In one case, Max was given 14 towers and a md tank on plains while Sonja was given a mech on a mountain with her SCOP activated. The mech was calculated to deal 14% damage without luck, if given first strike, while the md tank would deal 111% at 9 HP and 98% at 8 HP. Sonja still received first strike in this situation, dealing 1 HP damage and losing her mech. This was also performed with Max having 11 towers and a md tank on a mountain instead, leaving the mech with a 9% calculated no-luck damage with first strike and the md tank with 98% and 109% at 9 and 10 HP, respectively. The mech survived once by dealing 1 HP damage, but it was unclear whether the other defeated mechs received first strike, as they did not deal any damage before being destroyed. Based on the similarities to the previous test, it is assumed that the mechs did receive first strike, but did not break that 10% damage threshold, just as none of the mechs from the previous test broke the 20% damage threshold.

Finally, a test was performed to verify that the mech would not get first strike if the md tank had a guaranteed KO. Max was given a md tank on a mountain with 2 towers while Sonja had a mech on a road with her SCOP activated. The mech was calculated to deal 9% damage without luck, while the md tank would deal 107% and 95% at 9 and 8 HP respectively. Based on this information, the mech would have to reduce the md health to 8 HP in order to have a chance of survival, and 9% damage without luck should not be able to deal 20% damage or more after accounting for luck. Regardless, the mech received first strike, dealing 1 HP damage to the md tank in some cases, and being destroyed in all cases. It is uncertain why the mech received first strike here, but it is likely due to the borderline nature of this specific scenario, as other, clearer scenarios resulted in the expected outcome in which Sonja did not receive first strike when her defending unit did not have a chance of survival. This was shown by the fact that Max's md tank on a road would destroy a Sonja mech on a road while both COs were using their SCOP, giving Max a stronger advantage and a guaranteed (107%) KO at 8 HP, while the mech could only deal 16% without luck.

This post will be updated with additional tests and information as it becomes available.