On Wed, 22 Sep 1999, Kimes, Dean W. wrote:

>
> Lowering deviation from average however, does increase predictability which
> means less dying. The faster weapon means you'll die less from mobs you

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Depends how you play. Personally, I don't rely on my ability
to kill a mob to keep me alive. I always have at least one of
Lullaby, Screech, or Accelerando memorized in case I have to
bail from a fight. I have died many many more times from
having bad situations dumped on me (trains, unexpected spawns,
etc), than from getting into fights that turned bad.

> have easily killed before, while with a higher damage weapon you'll
> sometimes easily beat a white con andthen get thoroughly trounced by the
> same white con the very next time. Fast weapons are the best defense
> against clumpy random number generation. Missing 5 times in a row with my
> Dirk is meaningless in a fight where I have to hit 100 times anyway.
> Missing 5 straight times with a delay 45 weapon is equivalent to 10 plus
> straght misses and will cause death. Of course 5 straight hits are as
> advantageous as the misses are disad., but its the lack of predictability
> that kills. Can I take this blue dangerous? Only if I don't get bad luck,

OTOH, say you have a high blue that you predictably cannot
defeat using fast weapons. If you switch to slower ones, you
increase your chance of beating it. If you start to lose, you
can always hit Accelerando (or Screech underground) and zone.

That's what I meant about it on average making no difference.
Any "benefit" you can think of for faster weapons because the
chance-of-less-damage end of the bell curve is smaller, is
matched by a equal "drawback" because the chance-of-more-dam
end of the bell curve is likewise smaller. Factor in that the
system rewards more experience for riskier fights and the
decision to side with the easy and predictable fights is not
so clear.

--
John H. Kim
kim@...