Speed

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Speed and Activity

Your character's speed controls how often you perform attacks in combat, how many actions you can take in a given period of time, and so on. You can view your speed in the character sheet displayed by 'show character', in the status summary displayed by 'show vitals', or by using 'show speed'.

Your numeric speed value is the number of "activity points" you receive every round. (A round is about two seconds.) The "average" speed, at which a character with nothing altering its speed moves, is 20 points; the "base" amount that one's first attack in combat costs is also 20 points, though many things can modify this. You can see the initial activity costs of your attacks with 'show attacks'. Other actions cost various amounts of activity depending on how long they take. You can perform one quick action each round without interfering with your attacks, but more involved actions can cause you to lose your attacks. Defending yourself in combat also takes activity, and your combat mode determines when you will choose to defend yourself and when you will save your activity for attacks; see 'help set combat mode'.

The activity costs displayed in 'show attacks' are for the first attack using a given attack form in a given combat round. Each time you use a particular attack in a particular round, it costs 5 more activity points the next time you use it during that round. So, if the first time you swing your sword it costs 15 activity, the next time in that round will cost 20, the third time 25, and so on. If you are wielding two such swords, the first attack with each would cost 15 activity, the second attack with each would cost 20, and so on. (Attack forms used repeatedly within the same round also also suffer from somewhat reduced attack ratings.)

In combat, your activity points can build up between rounds. The highest point they can build up to is your speed or twice the activity of the most expensive of your attacks, whichever is higher. This is so that "extra" activity points you have can accumulate to give you additional attacks. In the case where your speed is 25 and you have two 20-activity-point attacks available: you will normally build up 5 extra activity points each round until, on the fourth round, you will have 40 activity points, allowing you two attacks that round, as shown by this chart:

       --- Speed 25, Attack Activity 20 ---
        Combat  Activity  Attacks  Activity
         Round    Before              After
       ------------------------------------
         First        25        1         5
        Second  +25 = 30        1        10
         Third  +25 = 35        1        15
        Fourth  +25 = 40        2         0

If your speed were 30, you would have two attacks every other round:

       --- Speed 30, Attack Activity 20 ---
        Combat  Activity  Attacks  Activity
         Round    Before              After
       ------------------------------------
         First        30        1        10
        Second  +30 = 40        2         0
         Third  +30 = 30        1        10
        Fourth  +30 = 40        2         0

Speed 35 would mean two attacks three rounds out of four:

       --- Speed 35, Attack Activity 20 ---
        Combat  Activity  Attacks  Activity
         Round    Before              After
       ------------------------------------
         First        35        1        15
        Second  +35 = 50        2        10
         Third  +35 = 45        2         5
        Fourth  +35 = 40        2         0

If your speed were only 10, then you would attack once every other round:

       --- Speed 10, Attack Activity 20 ---
        Combat  Activity  Attacks  Activity
         Round    Before              After
       ------------------------------------
         First        10        0        10
        Second  +10 = 20        1         0
         Third  +10 = 10        0        10
        Fourth  +10 = 20        1         0

Actual situations are generally more complex than these examples, which are only meant to illustrate the principle involved.

Many different factors influence your speed. The most common factors that slow people down are tiredness and wounds. Individuals with high agility are a bit faster than others, as well as those trained in the quickness skill. Larger individuals are slowed down a bit, though this can easily be overcome by other factors, so take care not to assume a large opponent is slow. Your level of encumbrance can be a major consideration, and many races are naturally faster or slower than others. Of course, a broad variety of spells, magical items, and other effects can also alter your speed.

Most of the actions you can carry out require some amount of activity to perform. You will know when you have used up the activity you have available when you receive a message like "you cannot do so many things at a time; your action will automatically be performed as soon as you are able". This means that the action you tried to perform has been added to a queue, and you will do it as soon as you have enough activity available.

Speed

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