The 'Advantage' Rule

[kineas]

From the manual:

"The Advantage Bar at the bottom of the AI Selection screen allows you to balance play between two players of unequal skill or to balance play against the AI. To set an Advantage, hold down the left mouse button over the slider Bar control and move it to the left or right (the keyboard’s arrow
keys can also be used to adjust the advantage). Advantage values can range from 0 to 100 for
either side. Depending on the value you set, the side with an advantage will inflict higher than
normal combat losses on the other side and suffer lower than normal combat losses themselves.
Advantage must be set before play begins in E-Mail, Modem Play, and Two-Player Hot Seat games.
Otherwise, the Advantage can be adjusted at any time during the game."

Does anybody have more specific info on the subject? What quantity gets modified and how? Is it possible to indicate the modified values on the UI? I'd like to try this feature in pbem.