After 3 years of playing this otherwise great game i have to know

how is the damage in melee combat actually calculaed , and what effect does high armour valus do or how is this calculated

i know a bit silly but i never bothered to check ot out and last weekend while playing a few hours while trying to kill a silverhand boss i started wondering why i had trouble killing him while he was only wearin a mix of unenchanted orcish and steel armour

Without going into specifics, The damage displayed in your inventory for a weapon is the health you will reduce from an opponent who has no armor. Armor reduces that damage by a percentage with a maximum reduction of 80% at around 550 armor rating.