Knowing how much damage you'll make beforehand

[cheezoh]

Hi,

I'm pretty new to these kinds of games and have a few doubts regarding the numbers that pop up after you attack someone.

1) When I attack someone, I see a small number "fly out". The higher the number the better the attack, but this number seems to have no direct relation with any number in the stats when I right-click. If I hit someone and the number 10 flies out, shouldn't a number in the stats be decremented by 10?

2) Sometimes the fly-out number is marked in yellow with a red star-like background. What does this mean?

3) A somewhat unrelated question. Sometimes my battles start in auto-play mode and I can't seem to be able to grab control of the game for like two turns. Is this a setting of sorts?

Thanks,
Cheezoh