Quick Questions

Trey

Sena said:

Kayeil said:

If someone is in a hunting party and they are following someone, is it illegal for them to create a hunting system that makes them auto-attack off of the group leader's hunting attack even if the follower never leaves the computer? Based on HELP AUTO HUNTING, I think it's illegal to have the capability to walk away even if you never do, but they're arguing it's okay as long as if a Divine or someone in charge tries to contact them and they're able to respond.

In short, they're right.

You won't (according to various admin over the years, including Tecton when the current phrasing of the rules was put in, though notably not according to a strict interpretation of the rules) get in trouble for any amount of automation as long as you're actually at the computer paying attention to the game, and can respond to things (such as an admin checking to see if you're there, though I'd also be careful of ignoring other players as well in case an admin is watching and decides you're AFK based on that) promptly. But if you have full automation (and the hunting script you described would likely fall under that, though there have been times where it's been deemed acceptable if the automation is being triggered by another player, like attacking what the leader attacks or having triggers to do what someone tells you) and you do leave the game, even if it was just this one time and it was only for a minute and it was an emergency, you'll be punished if caught.

So it's technically acceptable, but risky and not advisable. At the very least, it would be a good idea to have some kind of automated cutoff so it can't continue for very long if you're away. And on that note, preventing scripts from being "fully automated" by leaving out a crucial part, for example an autofishing script that doesn't recast for you, won't necessarily protect you from punishment. Even if the script won't go on indefinitely without you, if an admin happens to test you and you don't respond during the time before the manual part of the script comes up (you go several minutes without catching a fish and needing to recast, for example), it won't matter (or at least there have been cases in the past where it didn't matter) whether the script would have stopped later. Being mostly automated instead of fully automated like that makes you a lot safer, but the only way to be completely safe is to never be AFK while you have any kind of automated or semi-automated hunting/fishing/tradeskill/whatever running.

It should also be noted that the admin tests can come in unexpected forms. It won't always just be a tell, it could be something like a sudden leak or fire on your ship while deep-sea fishing, or something else that you need to respond to but isn't an obvious attempt at communication. So you should be ready to respond to anything that might happen in the game, not just have alerts for tells/communication.

Disclaimer: This is all based on past admin statements on the matter, issue rulings, shrubbings, etc., but I don't know the current official position, which could have changed at any time.

I once had an admin make my forge go out five times in a row, I entered "tell someone stop being a dick, I'm here. For fucks sake" and got 'Someone powerful tells you, "Hahaha."

Ruth

They once sent a citadel after me.

And back when there was that shraymor. They sent that after me too. Nearly got a heart attack, then it just turned around and nuzzled my hull playfully. AND THEN KINILAN HAD TO KILL IT.

Sarathai

I wonder when we're going to see another of those things.

Tahquil

When we get a new Neraeos.

...

Awwww, I just made myself feel bad

Gamden

@Tahquil lol

Tharvis

@Tahquil apply for celani and -become- the new Neraeos!

Tahquil

Admittedly that was my intention when I returned from dormancy but after a critical self-assessment I came to the conclusion I would be a terrible Celani.

Tharvis

Tahquil said:

Admittedly that was my intention when I returned from dormancy but after a critical self-assessment I came to the conclusion I would be a terrible Celani.

how so? Unless you're terrible with deadlines or creative writing, should give it a spin

Antonius

I can't log in to check, so: What precision is the server time on the in-game custom prompt? The example in the HELP file (checked on the website) looks like it should do hundredths of a second, but I'd like to confirm.

Sena

It is hundredths of a second.

Trevize

Kayeil said:

I'm being argued with. ... they're arguing it's okay

Kayeil said:

They're mainly upset with me because they think asking for clarification will get them shrubbed,

I find it vastly amusing when someone tells me what they're doing is allowed, but not to tell so they don't get in trouble.

Heh.

Jukilian

My point exactly  

Tharvis

psst, @Sarapis, is "Kimberly'd" still a code word?

Sylvaria

another left-field question, but I have to know: serpent bashing: is horkval tankier than scalearmour for any other race? Is it better to go horkval over human for bashing purposes because their dex spec has +1 con over humans? If I knew the numbers I'd math it out myself but I kinda know that horkvals have shells and cows go moo.

Sena

Scalemail will probably be better than horkval resistance most of the time against denizens. I don't think it will be a huge difference though. Comparing horkval to human, I'd say horkval's higher con makes up for the difference in damage reduction, so horkval will be better than human defensively. Human has the critical bonus though, so they'll be a little better than horkval offensively at higher levels.

Serpent only stands out as a good bashing class if you focus on offence though, and where str/int-based classes have diminishing returns on their damage bonus, serpent effectively has increasing returns, so the best races would be the ones with base 13 dex (atavian, mhun, rajamala). If you go for a balance of offence (dex) and defence (con) and don't have an artefact lash, serpent will be pretty mediocre. At the very least, I'd recommend full dex spec (for a total of 15 dex) if you decide to go with human or horkval.

Sylvaria

Sena said:

Scalemail will probably be better than horkval resistance most of the time against denizens. I don't think it will be a huge difference though. Comparing horkval to human, I'd say horkval's higher con makes up for the difference in damage reduction, so horkval will be better than human defensively. Human has the critical bonus though, so they'll be a little better than horkval offensively at higher levels.

Serpent only stands out as a good bashing class if you focus on offence though, and where str/int-based classes have diminishing returns on their damage bonus, serpent effectively has increasing returns, so the best races would be the ones with base 13 dex (atavian, mhun, rajamala). If you go for a balance of offence (dex) and defence (con) and don't have an artefact lash, serpent will be pretty mediocre. At the very least, I'd recommend full dex spec (for a total of 15 dex) if you decide to go with human or horkval.

Awesome! so I guess by that raja/atavian/mhun will beat out human and horkval, then horkval and human sorta tie with human slightly more offensive due to crit and horkval tankier due to con. I will check it out and maybe drop my reincarnation into atavian or raja

When you say increasing returns, is it exponential like diminishing returns or are we speaking just a linear increase instead of a infinitely approaching limit?

Sena

It's hyperbolic growth (which is more than exponential) when looking at DPS. A linear decrease in balance times.

Serpent gets a flat percentage reduction per point of dex.
So 12 being the base, 13 dex gives 6% faster balance which is effectively a 6.4% (1/0.94=1.0638) DPS boost.
14 dex gives a 13.64% DPS boost compared to the base, so +1 dex from 13 is about 13.64% more effective than +1 from 12.
15 dex gives a 21.95% boost, which is about 14.63% more effective than the last point.
It grows especially quickly at high dex, if you're at 24 dex then another +1 dex alone would add almost the full base DPS (and bring your total DPS multiplier from dex to about 454.55%, whereas str/int can't even double your damage at 25).

That's assuming there's no cap up to that point; the highest I've actually seen data on is 20 dex (which is already far more effective than 25 str/int for other classes).

Krypton

And at 26 dex, your balance is so fast, everything in the room dies before you can even finish typing garro-...

Sena

If you could reach 29 dex, and there was nothing in place to prevent it, your balance time would be 0 (or negative, which I'd assume the game would either treat as 0 or give an error), so your DPS would only be limited by how fast the game can process your attack spam (you should be able to easily get 10 attacks per second minimum).

Trevize

Sena said:

If you could reach 29 dex, and there was nothing in place to prevent it, your balance time would be 0 (or negative, which I'd assume the game would either treat as 0 or give an error), so your DPS would only be limited by how fast the game can process your attack spam (you should be able to easily get 10 attacks per second minimum).

And at 30+ dex, you gain balance...

Valkyn

Atavian Serpent with 17 dex total, level 2 lash, level 1 boots and level 1 pendant, and wondering what would be best value for the next artie upgrade for offence. Level 89 if that changes it.

Exelethril

When does the latest combat rankings season end?

Cynlael

Valkyn said:

Atavian Serpent with 17 dex total, level 2 lash, level 1 boots and level 1 pendant, and wondering what would be best value for the next artie upgrade for offence. Level 89 if that changes it.

Dirk if combat, upgrade pendant to level 2 if hunting.

I'm guessing hunting, since you included the lash, so really.. You're fine as is and would likely benefit more from buying health-related artifacts (or SOA if you don't have one)... if you're set on upgrading, then the pendant would be the best cost:value.

Valkyn

Cynlael said:

Valkyn said:

Atavian Serpent with 17 dex total, level 2 lash, level 1 boots and level 1 pendant, and wondering what would be best value for the next artie upgrade for offence. Level 89 if that changes it.

Dirk if combat, upgrade pendant to level 2 if hunting.

I'm guessing hunting, since you included the lash, so really.. You're fine as is and would likely benefit more from buying health-related artifacts (or SOA if you don't have one)... if you're set on upgrading, then the pendant would be the best cost:value.

Have SoA and some health arties, and level 2 dirk. Don't 1v1 much either. Thanks, that answers my question.

Sylvaria

keep weaving up for bashing yay/nay?

Kiet

Weaving's useless for bashing

Dairon

Sylvaria said:

keep weaving up for bashing yay/nay?

Nay

Aegoth

Dairon said:

Sylvaria said:

keep weaving up for bashing yay/nay?

Nay

yay!!!

Sylvaria

Thanks, my napkin math had it useful but that could have been the random damage from mhuns in moghedu, and a really terrible sample size at that . I asked a few questions in game but I did get told to watch the insanity a bit so I tended to err on caution for in game stuff, I found out a lot there but some things I wanted to safely ask out here (weaving got me a few different answers though).

Also Kiet are you happy now?! Now I just need to perma steal some wings...

Kiet

Haha are you asking because of the name? I was laughing earlier that Sylvaria went serpent just like Silvaria, yes