There is a third possibility, rounded to the nearest. I have wondered this myself. I think rounded to the nearest makes the most sense. Do you really want non-optimal 8 to be the same as non-optimal 2?! With rounding to the nearest non-optimal 2-6 -> 2 and 7-9 -> 3.

It rounds it down.

That is why they are "non-optimal" defenses. You will be severely punished for not keeping an eye on your enemies weapons systems, so as to research the appropiate defenses and build fleets that can deal with them properly.

Truncation is par for the course when converting a float into an integer.

There's not even a law that says you have to use integers. You can roll a number between 0 and 2.3719357 just as easily as you can roll a number between 0 and 2.

Hey, why didn't you code it in Ruby in the first place?

A square is a number multiplied by itself. For example, 2 squared means 2*2, which results in 4. 3 squared is 3*3, making 9. And so on.

A square root is the reverse of that. You take a given number, and find out what number you have to multiply by itself to get that one. So the square root of 4 is 2, the square root of 9 is 3, and so on.

In this case not all the numbers have a whole number as the square root. For example if you tried to find the square root of 5, you would get 2.236 (with more decimals repeating after that).

Since you can't have factional defenses in GC2, you have to convert those non-whole-number results into whole numbers. In this case the easiest thing to do (and what the devs chose to do) is just drop anything after the decimal point. So for example 2.2, 2.5, 2.9, will all become just plain 2.

I think he is trying to ask what the square root calculates or why its used at all Not what a square root is, heh

"non optimal" defenses are counted only as square root of their value. As opposed to matched defenses.

Here is an example:
Fighter attacks another fighter
Fighter = beam attack of 4, beam defense of 4, missle defense of 4, massdriver defense of 1

The fighter's beam attack (rolled 1-4) is compared against the other fighters defense. The defense is calculated as:

Beam defense = 4 ('optimal or matched' defense)
Missle defense = square root of 4 ('non optimal' defense so it is only counted as square root) = 2
Massdriver defense = 1 square root of = 1

TOTAL defense = 4 + 2 + 1(above) = 7

So the attack of 1-4 is compared against the defense of 1-7.

Thats where the square root is used.

Seems like its beneficial to always have at least a 1 in each defense category since thats probably technologically cheaper than a 3 in any optimal category, no?

Yes, the difference of attack minus defense is directly removed from HP.

It's really not usually a great idea to try for multiple defenses (or multiple attacks for that matter)--taking 1 point in each, for example, will cost you piles of space on your ships, since you'll be using lower level versions of each defense. Whereas if you focus on one path, you'll get modules in pretty short order that add several points to one in the same or less space.

Keep in mind, as a general rule in GC2, higher tech = more efficient (more effect in the same space, or the same effect in less space).