The more I read about how things work "behind the scenes", the more confused I get. Is this how it works:

I land on Tython with a new Jedi Knight, run into the field and whack a Flesh Raider with my training blade.

What has happened is I've generated an attack number from 1-100. Assuming my attack rating is 90, if I rolled 1-90 I hit him. If I rolled 91-100 I missed. Time to whack him again.

If I rolled a hit, then we have to compare my roll against his defense rating. Let's say I hit him with an 88 but his defense rating is 10, so I missed. Time to whack him again.

But let's say I rolled a 79 so I hit him after considering his 10 defense rating.

Now, having hit him, we have to determine how much damage I did. So first we consider my range of damage, let's say my range is 50-65. I rolled a 60.

But this is an energy or kinetic damage attack (don't know what training blade weapon damage is), so we have to factor in his armor. Let's say he has 10 armor rating. So now my damage is reduced to 50.

Now let's say the Flesh Raider has a shield. So now there's a roll comparing my guy's critcal chance to the Flesh Raider's shield chance.

If I win that roll the next roll is to determine the amount of the critical hit (surge). If he wins the roll, the next roll is to determine mitigation (absorb). Finally, after all this is done, he's still not dead so it's time to whack him again anyway and repeat the entire process.

Now, if I had used an attack that deals elemental or internal damage rather than energy/kinetic, all the armor and shield rolls are uneccesary and all we have to roll for is my to-hit, critical, and then surge in the event of a critical hit, since elemental and internal cannot be defended (though they can be "resisted").

I'm only talking PvE here, not PvP.

Can anybody tell me if this is accurate? Any shared knowledge or insight on this whole process would be greatly appreciated. I've googled all over the place and studied combat logs but I'm not sure if I'm spot on, close to home or not even in the right ballpark. Thanks.

I've played for a while now and can honestly say I don't have any idea about any of that, why can't it just be as simple as

Attack > damage or miss > repeat

Thanks for the reply. I'm continuing to look into this. I see now that armor reduces damage by a percentage so at least that much of my scenario was wrong. So instead that part would go like this:

"Now, having hit him, we have to determine how much damage I did. So first we consider my range of damage, let's say my range is 50-65. I rolled a 60.

But this is an energy or kinetic damage attack (don't know what training blade weapon damage is), so we have to factor in his armor. Let's say his armor rating converts into a 10% damage reduction. So now my damage is reduced to 54."