Damage, Defense and Criticals - The Damage Formula

This thread will explain in depth how the damage formula works and how it was derived. The information here was taken straight from the guides I wrote two years ago, but the damage formula has not changed at all since then. The guide will be split up into three sections.

Section 1: Damage - More specifically, raw damage; the damage you do when an object has 0 defenses.
Section 2: Defense - How enemy defense mitigates the raw damage that you deal.
Section 3: Criticals -...

Damage, Defense and Criticals - The Damage Formula