How to Calculate Speed & Distance

[Stone Gargoyle]

1 speed point is about 7mph. They break it down to feeet peer melee and such somewhere, but I would have to look it up.
Your attacks are how many actions you can accomplish in 15 seconds, the average melee round. The more you have, the quicker you move.The top is about 8 for a normal human, which about an action every two seconds.

[lather]

Speed is feet per second.

[wolfsgrin]

i have a write up of the formula, i'll try and post it today when i have my stuff.

[wolfsgrin]

without further a doo...doo?

10 speed points equals 7mph. (gee wiz StoneG, you munchkin )

speed x 20 = yards per minute

speed x 5 = yards per melee round (15 seconds)

Distance covered in a melee round (15 seconds) divided by number of attacks = yards per attack

[goodhometownboy]

see the movement in all palladium books post

[Stone Gargoyle]

without further a doo...doo?

10 speed points equals 7mph. (gee wiz StoneG, you munchkin )

Error detected...
I really had a brain fart, okay? It happens. I realized what I had done a couple hours ago while walking to the mall with a friend of mine and figured I would not hear the end of it, and I was correct at least on that count.

[wolfsgrin]

just thought i'd play captain obvious.

[Stone Gargoyle]

just thought i'd play captain obvious.

Yes, but thanks for posting the info.

[wolfsgrin]

np, been on this forum for a while and i need the post count. lol

[Spectre]

If you want to use the mph for speed...

SPD/1.465= mph

MPHx5280= ft per hour

[ft/hr]/60= [ft/min]

[ft/min]/4= [ft/melee]

[ft/melee]/number of melee attacks= [ft/attack]

[Talavar]

now figure this one out ...

why does a character with a speed of 10 (10x5 = 50 per melee) with 3 actions (50/3 = 16.667 - 17 rounded - per action) run farther and faster in a single combat action than a character with a speed of 14 (14x5 = 70 per melee) with 5 actions (70/5 = 14 per action).

Because their combat actions are not equal lengths of time. A melee round is 15 seconds, so the character with 3 actions takes 5 seconds per action. The character with 5 actions takes 3 seconds per action.

The difference between speed 10 and speed 14 isn't enough that this stands out clearly, but the faster character with more attacks is moving faster, they are just covering less ground per action.

[Talavar]

now figure this one out ...

why does a character with a speed of 10 (10x5 = 50 per melee) with 3 actions (50/3 = 16.667 - 17 rounded - per action) run farther and faster in a single combat action than a character with a speed of 14 (14x5 = 70 per melee) with 5 actions (70/5 = 14 per action).

Because their combat actions are not equal lengths of time. A melee round is 15 seconds, so the character with 3 actions takes 5 seconds per action. The character with 5 actions takes 3 seconds per action.

The difference between speed 10 and speed 14 isn't enough that this stands out clearly, but the faster character with more attacks is moving faster, they are just covering less ground per action.

umm not exactly ...

the combat sequence is A B A B A B B B

not A B B A B B A B which would be more accurate, but it simply doesn't work that way.

with combat as it currently is, each character takes their turn in sequence until one or both of them run out of actions. this also means that as long as all combatants have actions to spend they are taking exactly the same amount of time to take those actions otherwise the system would be even more broken than it already is.

on paper and in practice, one character runs out of gas first then stands there like a tool getting knocked around until the other guy runs out of actions as well. not one character takes longer than the other to complete their action which is just a theory that doesn't hold water within current PB game mechanics.

In game mechanics, yes, it goes A B A B A BBBBB, but this is a game mechanic attempting to represent action, and I wouldn't take it as game reality. Each of the character with 5 attacks' actions must be shorter in time than the character with three attacks, because the total of each equals 15 seconds.

And because the character with more attacks isn't much faster than the character with 3 attacks, he isn't going to move farther in the shorter time of one of his attacks, but he is still moving faster.

A more accurate representation of how it should work can be done if Character One has 3 attacks and Character Two has 6; for every one attack of Char One, Char Two should attack twice. Each of Char Two's actions per melee take exactly half as long to do as Char One's.

With the 5 attacks to 3 example, it gets ugly, as the ratio is 1.67 attacks for every one of the character with less attacks. Since that's not very playable, we have the rule system we have. It's not an accurate representation, but it works.

I like the sound of the attack splicing, but not the character decision aspect of it. If a character has more attacks, he shouldn't necessarily get to be the one to choose when he or she can use them; that's a little too opportunistic for me. The ratio of attackers' actions should determine when everyone gets their extra attacks, not player choice, in my opinion.

[Stone Gargoyle]

now figure this one out ...

why does a character with a speed of 10 (10x5 = 50 per melee) with 3 actions (50/3 = 16.667 - 17 rounded - per action) run farther and faster in a single combat action than a character with a speed of 14 (14x5 = 70 per melee) with 5 actions (70/5 = 14 per action).

Because he has more time between attacks. This is why pacing in melee rounds can be tricky. Perhaps if you break it down to the time each action takes you can figure out how long the atack takes to execute. I ony use initiative for the start of the first attack, to see who can move that split second faster, not for the whole attack round order of attacks.

[Stone Gargoyle]

sure that's how it works in a simulation of reality, but play it out in a game and on paper ... it's not so clean as all that.

No, it does not work smoothly and I have had problems with running it that way, mainly players thinking they are being skipped due to low attack number allowing another player to get off two attacks before they get one, but I still try to pace things as best I can.

[verdilak]

To get around this an other silliness, like a juicer attacking 3-4 times at the end of a melee while everyone else watches, my group tried the Splice Attack house rule that was posted on the boards awhile ago.

Ever heard of it?

Anyway, what you do is pick a base number of actions/attacks in a melee round, we'll say 4, but it is usually equal to the lowest number of attacks of a combatant. That is now the number of base attacks everyone has during the melee.

Every extra attack over the base can be used to splice, which means do two things at once, so you can dodge twice, or dodge and shoot, or attack twice during an action. If you have more than twice the base, then those extra actions count in and you can do three actions at once, if you choose, up to your maximum. If you do not use your splice actions during the melee round they are wasted and do not carry over.

For example: A Juicer with 8 attacks, a Rouge Scholar with 4, and a Mercenary with 6 attacks all get 4 base attacks. During the melee the Juicer can splice every single action, acting twice, the Rogue Scholar cannot splice, and the Mercenary can splice twice during the melee, on actions of their choosing. Say if the Juicer had 10 attacks, that character could act 3 times on two of the base actions during the turn.

There can be problems if you mix games where low attacks meet high attacks, but it is easy to bump up the base actions and run with it. We used it in Rifts, N&S and BTS to some degrees of success and it really adds to the cinematic feel while keeping things straight like movement per action. Anyone else try it?

I have been interested in doing that, but how does it work out really? Is it about the same as PB's, or is it better, ect?

I'm not a huge fan of PB's rules on combat, so I usually give each opponent the same attacks per melee as the PC. But I like the theories and would like to know more about it.

In other words, explain in more detail!

[Stone Gargoyle]

Thanks. I think I will use the Splice system.

[GA]

Speed only affects running. It has no application to combat...unless you want it to.

[zor_prime1]

To get around this an other silliness, like a juicer attacking 3-4 times at the end of a melee while everyone else watches, my group tried the Splice Attack house rule that was posted on the boards awhile ago.

Ever heard of it?

.... Anyone else try it?

I invented it! I'm glad it's being put to good use! I can see how the base of 5 attacks per round could make things easier. This method of combat definately keeps everyone in the action and interested in the game.

Here is the URL if anyone else is interested:

http://www.geocities.com/zor_prime1/insert.htm

[KillWatch]

sooooo heres what I do;

1-Segmented attacks like in Champions. 15 seconds divided by the number of attacks so 5 actions = actions on segments 3, 6, 9, 12, 15

2-Take Speed into account for actions: Spd+PP/20=Base Attacks. Your maximum attacks=PE. Because that is all your body is able to handle or you die, but you probably will never need to know that.

3-Initiative: If you have a lower attack than your opponent yet still win initiative then you get 1 free attack taken from the non-existant previous melee