When the -C command line option was specified, PHost will generate a file combat.log. This file is intended for use by combat simulation programs. Programs can set up a game universe, run PHost on it, and read combat.log to obtain useful information.

The file contains three lines for each battle in vcr.hst. For example:

15 s 22
d 40 0 9 100 0 51 0 0.0 0.0 0.0 33.5 102.9 44.2 36.4 0.0 55.4 0 0
v 1300 84 6 0 0 255 0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 4.9 0.0 0.0 11.1 0.0 0 0

The first line identifies the battle, by stating the Id number of the left object, the type of the right object (s=ship, p=planet), and the Id number of the right object. The left object always is a ship.

The following two lines state useful information on the left and right objects. In order:

  • Status: v=victory, c=captured, d=destroyed, n=out of ammo
  • Crew (at end of battle)
  • Shields (at end of battle)
  • Owner (original)
  • Damage (at end of battle)
  • Number of surviving fighters
  • Number of remaining torpedoes
  • Minimum fighters aboard the unit during the fight
  • Three fractional numbers: crew killed, shield damage, and hull damage caused by enemy fighters
  • Three fractional numbers: crew killed, shield damage, and hull damage caused by enemy torpedo hits
  • Three fractional numbers: crew killed, shield damage, and hull damage caused by enemy beam weapons
  • Number of fighters lost through enemy's fighters
  • Number of fighters lost through enemy's beam weapons

Note that, due to rounding effects, the "damage caused by..." values may not sum up to the respective integer values. In our example, the left ship got 102.9% shield damage through torpedo hits (which translates into 100% shield damage plus some hull damage), and 44.2%+55.4% = 99.6% hull damage from torpedoes and beams (which is rounded to 100%).