TomeNET

(9.7) Game engine limits                                                        
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The TomeNET server, aka the "game engine", runs at 60 frames per second.
This imposes certain limits that can clash when your character exceeds certain
speed and attack numbers, if you are not on a relatively deep dungeon floor:

The deeper you go, the slower time passes (compare (4.14)). On the world
surface time passes the fastest: A turn for your character takes around 0.7
seconds in real time. (Vice versa, 1 second equals ~1.4 game turns there).

A character moving at the maximum possible speed of +90 (actually you can get
more speed, but it will only help to counter the slowdown your character might
experience from carrying a heavy backpack, it will not increase your speed any
further) is able to perform 8 actions per character turn. That means in Bree
(or in general on the world surface, it's all the same) that character could
perform 8 actions in 0.7 seconds. That is roughly 0.088 seconds per action.
This means that the game engine (running at 60 fps) has approximately 5.3
frames for performing each action.

Usually this is fine, because an action only takes one frame. With two notable
exceptions! Shooting with ranged weapons and the auto-retaliator for melee
weapons.
Those split up the single attacks (each strike/each shot) so that each of them
takes one frame, instead of all of them being performed in a single frame.
Since the aforementioned character at +90 speed in Bree only has 5 frames
available, that means he can only utilise 5 blows or shots at best. So if he
attacks a target dummy in Bree to measure his damage, he will get no further
damage increase for more blows/round than 5.

If he moves at +70 speed, he can already benefit from a 6th attack, at +50
speed from a 7th. Remember however, this limit is so "low" only because he is
at dungeon level 0 (Bree/world surface).


However, this problem is not that bad when you consider that time passes much
slower at deeper dungeon levels, giving the game engine more room to fit in all
the actions:

At floor level 85 or deeper (aka 4250ft), the slowdown caps (although there is
a special further slowdown for the Nether Realm). At level 84 (4200ft) time has
already been slowed down so much that a character at max speed ('Fast +90')
will benefit from 14 blows or shots per round, which is the maximum you can
benefit from at max speed.

This limit can only be reached by a dual-wielding warrior, other warriors will
only reach 13 BpR, which is reached at dungeon level 77 aka -3850ft.

If boosted by friendly spells mindboost, zeal and by berserk magic (or ability)
a dual-wielding warrior could reach 14 + 1 + 2 + 1 = 18 BpR. The maximum speed
for which this high BpR still makes sense (on dungeon level 4200ft and deeper)
is +55 speed. If you regularly get boosted by party members in this crazy way,
consider using accuracy/damage or critical-hits equipment instead of
extra-attacks items so you can increase your speed above 55 and still get full
benefit of the EA boosts.

Even at floor level 67 (the first Angband floor) a character of speed +90 (or
higher) could already utilise up to 11 attacks per round without dps loss, and
a character of speed +71 can even utilise up to 13 attacks per round! Again a
feat that hardly any character will be surpassing.

This means that although the game engine limits get exceeded when testing dps
on the target dummies in Bree with a character that moves at extreme speed and
uses either melee auto-retaliator or slings/bows/crossbows, there is basically
no problem at all when fighting monsters in the deeper dungeons.


If you want to compare dps of different weapons or the effect of extra-attack
equipment vs critical-hit equipment in Bree, first remove all items that give
+speed (and apply to both scenarios) to make sure you get accurate numbers.
The limits in Bree (and hence on the world surface) are:
 +90 speed -> max 5 attacks or shots
 +72 speed -> max 6 attacks or shots
 +53 speed -> max 7 attacks or shots
 +43 speed -> max 8 attacks or shots (maximum attainable shots per round)
 +37 speed -> max 9 attacks
 +32 speed -> max 10 attacks
 +28 speed -> max 11 attacks
 +25 speed -> max 12 attacks
 +22 speed -> max 13 attacks
 +20 speed -> max 14 attacks
 +18 speed -> max 15 attacks
 +11 speed -> max 20 attacks (the cap for blows per round, actually!)
In case you test this and find rounding errors, let me know! :-p

Likewise, if you want to compare speed vs critical hits, first remove all items
that give extra attacks and would apply to both scenarios.