Damage may be affected by skills, I'm not entirely sure offhand, but Zhao has said before that combat formulas will not be released to avoid turning even more things into Excel spreadsheets of odds and outcomes.
Weapon skills are included in the equation (although the equation itself is not public, nor is the degree to which the skills influence anything, as Mikel says). I have the logs on my other computer an ocean away, but off the top of my head I believe that the # of weapon fires is random, and weapon skill contributes to whether the attack hits or misses.
..It's either that or the exact opposite, but I am almost positive that # of weapon fires is the random factor. Which makes sense.
Edited By: Syn on Year 13 Day 204 4:18 ____________