Discussion on Damage Bonus, Rules, and the direction of the Emulator

[Cantus]

Originally Posted by ChaosSlayer

I havent looked ta actual code but in order to minimize extra calculation in mind it would look like this:

You store ALL values in a table which is accessed by parameters of Level and Dly

When weapon strike you simly add X(a,b) to the final damage, where X(a,b) points the table with pre-calculated values

Hi, Chaos!

What you're describing is a brute-force lookup table... just one that's built on-the-fly (which would, in all likelihood, be slower than a comprehensive, pre-built static lookup table.)

There are three options for calculating damage bonuses:

• A brute-force table like what you describe
• A pure-formula approach where damage bonuses are calculated mathematically
• A hybrid approach where formulas are used in cases where they're simple and fast, and tables are used for all other situations

I tried all three possibilities, and the third option -- the hybrid approach -- is what provided the best performance.

That's what's implemented here in this thread. As I mentioned above, testing (that you can easily re-create) proves that this function is a very efficient and fast way of calculating these values, and that it will have an absolutely unnoticeable impact on server performance.

Please don't think I'm shooting down your idea! It's a great one! I'm just pointing out that it was considered, tested, and found to be not quite as efficient as the solution presented in this thread.

[ChaosSlayer]

Originally Posted by Cantus

What you're describing is a brute-force lookup table... just one that's built on-the-fly (which would, in all likelihood, be slower than a comprehensive, pre-built static lookup table.)
.

Hiya!

I am not sure why you saying that this method is build on the fly
You create the table and populate it with values when server loads- and it NEVER changes - the values are very static.

You may very well put them directly into code. You simply pre-calc the values ONCE and then just add them to final dmg when/if needed

I am not arguing btw - I just not seeing the "complexity" in creating the table at server start up and keeping it static (just like you want it) until server shuts down

The bonus part of course is that BEFORE server loads you can populate the table with values based on ANY formula- again only once - and they stay static for whole duration

[Cantus]

Originally Posted by ChaosSlayer

I am not arguing btw - I just not seeing the "complexity" in creating the table at server start up and keeping it static

If you take a look at the code that's posted, you'll see many of these pre-calculated tables already included.

There'd be no reason to build the table at run-time, even if just when the server starts. Better to populate them at compile-time.

You could do a full, brute-force lookup table, but my point is that testing proves that the hybrid approach listed here is the most efficient implementation.

It works, it's fast, and it'll soon have (as requested) the ability to return damage bonuses for toons level 81+, and also an option for a custom, linear damage bonus progression.