Research:Jogloran's Portal of Cheaper Travel

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Revision as of 16:32, 25 May 2021 by Helia (Talk | contribs) (Replied to Pteri)

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Casting Speed

ma.sp.mi bonus Cast time (seconds)
208 - 210 34
211 - 214 32
215 - 218 30
219 - 224 28
225 - 230 26
231 - 236 24
237 - 246 22
247 - 255 20
256 - 267 18
268 - 284 16
285 - 299 14
324 12

If you'd like to contribute data points to this table, please use the following methodology:

Fill your command queue (e.g. with a few score brief commands) before casting so that the spell's timing begins on a server heartbeat. This will always be an even number.

Time the beginning of the cast on You prepare to cast Jogloran's Portal of Cheaper Travel and the end on solidifies with a satisfying thump. If you use Mushclient, you can see the timestamp for a line by hovering over it with your mouse.

JPCT's cast speed is affected by your ma.sp.mi bonus. You can modify it by changing your stats in various ways listed in Research. This will allow you to get multiple data points. Helia (talk) 00:36, 25 May 2021 (EDT)


Curious… can you elaborate on the methodology? e.g. did you test every bonus level individually, did you perform multiple trials, did you consider the potential impact of methods skills as well, etc?

If it's correct, it suggests the equation is very close to (within expected nuances of rounding etc that are likely involved in the actual code):

Approximate JPCT cast time formula.png

That predicts the next few steps in cast time reduction will be:

ma.sp.mi bonus Cast time (seconds)
300 12
318 10
340 8
370 6
412 4
480 2
624 0

It will of course be interesting to test this hypothesis with subsequent experiments. The further that extrapolation the greater the error margin, and I'd also not be surprised if there's some kind of hard floor (practically speaking I can't see the casting happening in less than one heartbeat, for a start, but also I've never seen a casting faster than about six or eight seconds, even from some of the highest-level wizzards currently playing).

Anecdotally, my experience has been that JPCT cast time is an exact power of two - when I was first casting it, it was 64 seconds (exactly 32 heartbeats). Then I advanced ma.sp.mi by a number of levels at once, and it fell to 32 seconds (16 heartbeats). Another batch advancement and it dropped to exactly 16 seconds (8 heartbeats). It's possible I just coincidentally happened to advanced in steps which hit power of two casting times, but that would be a bit of a coincidence.

Furthermore, when I've payed attention - on just a handful of occasions - to other players castings, they also have always been a power of 2 in seconds / heartbeats. I'll keep more of an eye open now, to try to find a counter-example to this power of two rule.

--Pteri (talk) 16:30, 25 May 2021 (EDT)

I tested each and every bonus level on the chart above so far and did multiple trials. I didn't investigate how methods could alter casting speed. Your extrapolated chart says that a bonus of 318-339 would have a casting speed of 10, but I just had a witch mock me to test a bonus of 324, and the speed was 12. I think we'll need more data points. Helia (talk) 17:32, 25 May 2021 (EDT)