shadowart
11-03-2015, 02:59 AM
I wanted to share my thoughts on the different ways to measure exp rates in the botting community. So let me start out introducing three different methods:
The 15-min average: This is what the Tibia client and the build Xenobot HUD displays. It's a 15 minutes rolling average, and it's essentially useless. I see no reason why you would ever care about this stat if you have access to something better. However, it is what most scripters use when they label their scripts, probably because it is the highest value.
The per real-time average: You measure the total exp earned across the entire session and divide it by the total session length. What is important to keep in mind about this number is that it includes refill times.
The per stamina average: You measure the total exp earned across the entire session and divide it by the total consumed stamina. This number includes 2 minutes of refill times regardless of what the actual refill times are. In general it's a good approximation of your exp rate inside the spawn.
This post is mainly a response to Joshwa534 who is a proponent for the per real-time average measure. I think that what measure you care the most about should depend on what is limiting how much you can bot. For example, if you can only bot 4 hours per day, or if you have 4 characters per account, then the real-time average is definitely what you should care about. Because the actual time that you have available is what's limiting you from botting more.
However, if you only have one character per account and can keep the bot running for 10h a day, then I'd like to argue that you should care more about the third measure, the per stamina measurement.
So let me give you a hypothetical example. Consider two different spawns:
In spawn A a hunt lasts for 55 minutes and refilling takes 5 minutes. Your exp rate is 350k/h (a per real-time measurement), which corresponds to ~381k/sh (a per stamina measurement).
In spawn B a hunt lasts for 50 minutes and refilling takes 10 minutes. Your exp rate is ~333k/h, which is 400k/sh.
Which spawn should you go for? What we ultimately care about is how much exp we can gain at the end of the day. So let's calculate that under the assumption that we will bot for as long as we have stamina available. Let H be the total time in the spawn per day and let R be the total time refilling per day. Regenerating 1 hour of stamina takes 3 hours of offline time so we know that (24-(H+R))/3=H. The right hand side is how much stamina we can burn on hunting each day, and the left hand side is how much stamina we can regenerate during the offline hours to fuel that hunt. In the equilibrium they must be equal.
Furthermore, for spawn A we know that H=11R, which solves for H~=5.86 hours. At 381k/sh this becomes 2233k/day. For spawn B we know that H=5R, which solves for H~=5.71 hours. At 400k/sh we'll gain 2284k/day. So spawn B would be better for us, under the assumption that we're not limited by much how time we have available to bot. In this case R evaluates to ~= 1.14 so we'd need to keep the bot running for around 7 hours per day.
I did not bring up the example to prove my point, merely to illustrate it.
What do I want you to take away from this? First of all, what you're limited by, should determine what measurement you use. Second, the per real-time average assumes that time spent refilling is just as important as time spent hunting. If you're not limited by how much time you have available, then this is wrong. On the other hand, the per stamina measurement assumes that time spent refilling doesn't matter at all. This is also wrong, but it is often less wrong than putting refilling time on the same pedestal as the time you spend hunting. The truth is that time spent refilling matters, because you're not regenerating stamina while you're refilling, but it is heavily discounted, since you're not consuming stamina either.
The 15-min average: This is what the Tibia client and the build Xenobot HUD displays. It's a 15 minutes rolling average, and it's essentially useless. I see no reason why you would ever care about this stat if you have access to something better. However, it is what most scripters use when they label their scripts, probably because it is the highest value.
The per real-time average: You measure the total exp earned across the entire session and divide it by the total session length. What is important to keep in mind about this number is that it includes refill times.
The per stamina average: You measure the total exp earned across the entire session and divide it by the total consumed stamina. This number includes 2 minutes of refill times regardless of what the actual refill times are. In general it's a good approximation of your exp rate inside the spawn.
This post is mainly a response to Joshwa534 who is a proponent for the per real-time average measure. I think that what measure you care the most about should depend on what is limiting how much you can bot. For example, if you can only bot 4 hours per day, or if you have 4 characters per account, then the real-time average is definitely what you should care about. Because the actual time that you have available is what's limiting you from botting more.
However, if you only have one character per account and can keep the bot running for 10h a day, then I'd like to argue that you should care more about the third measure, the per stamina measurement.
So let me give you a hypothetical example. Consider two different spawns:
In spawn A a hunt lasts for 55 minutes and refilling takes 5 minutes. Your exp rate is 350k/h (a per real-time measurement), which corresponds to ~381k/sh (a per stamina measurement).
In spawn B a hunt lasts for 50 minutes and refilling takes 10 minutes. Your exp rate is ~333k/h, which is 400k/sh.
Which spawn should you go for? What we ultimately care about is how much exp we can gain at the end of the day. So let's calculate that under the assumption that we will bot for as long as we have stamina available. Let H be the total time in the spawn per day and let R be the total time refilling per day. Regenerating 1 hour of stamina takes 3 hours of offline time so we know that (24-(H+R))/3=H. The right hand side is how much stamina we can burn on hunting each day, and the left hand side is how much stamina we can regenerate during the offline hours to fuel that hunt. In the equilibrium they must be equal.
Furthermore, for spawn A we know that H=11R, which solves for H~=5.86 hours. At 381k/sh this becomes 2233k/day. For spawn B we know that H=5R, which solves for H~=5.71 hours. At 400k/sh we'll gain 2284k/day. So spawn B would be better for us, under the assumption that we're not limited by much how time we have available to bot. In this case R evaluates to ~= 1.14 so we'd need to keep the bot running for around 7 hours per day.
I did not bring up the example to prove my point, merely to illustrate it.
What do I want you to take away from this? First of all, what you're limited by, should determine what measurement you use. Second, the per real-time average assumes that time spent refilling is just as important as time spent hunting. If you're not limited by how much time you have available, then this is wrong. On the other hand, the per stamina measurement assumes that time spent refilling doesn't matter at all. This is also wrong, but it is often less wrong than putting refilling time on the same pedestal as the time you spend hunting. The truth is that time spent refilling matters, because you're not regenerating stamina while you're refilling, but it is heavily discounted, since you're not consuming stamina either.