does speed affect melee fighting?

[fbas]

My current interpretation of speed and fighting is this:

speed (rings and other artifacts) will give you more turns relative to the game and other monsters. But if you attack one, you get your normal amount of blows vs. his amount of blows, so speed doesn't impact that specific interaction. However, having a high speed can reduce the number of creatures that get a chance to hit at you before you get another turn.

is this right? I'm debating the merits of speed rings vs rings of power nenya and vilya before I fight Morgoth and his summons.

[LostTemplar]

Speed affects every action, melee too, if you are twice as fast as monster, you can have two rounds of melee while it has one.

[Derakon]

Some variants split out combat speed from other speeds, but Vanilla doesn't. A Ring of Speed +1 functionally gives you 10% more damage output vs. a normal-speed opponent over the long term. This is part of why speed is king.

[fbas]

Some variants split out combat speed from other speeds, but Vanilla doesn't. A Ring of Speed +1 functionally gives you 10% more damage output vs. a normal-speed opponent over the long term. This is part of why speed is king.

Thanks, good to know. Now if only I can find the +10 boots of speed. was that taken out in 3.1.2?

[Derakon]

Boots of Speed have, since the 2.7 days when fractional speed was first introduced, been a flat d10 roll. So any time you find Boots of Speed, you have a 10% chance of them having a +10 modifier.

[Chud]

Some variants split out combat speed from other speeds, but Vanilla doesn't. A Ring of Speed +1 functionally gives you 10% more damage output vs. a normal-speed opponent over the long term. This is part of why speed is king.

Over the long term is important here (though the effect is more obvious for higher bonuses). +1 speed against things you kill in a few turns just means you get to go first, generally. In a longer fight, it means that every tenth round you'll get to go twice in a row, which is where the 10% comes from. You don't get a 10% damage bonus on every blow.

[Fendell Orcbane]

Something that no one has mentioned is that being slow can get you killed. If a monster is a lot faster than you he can get two rounds of attacks in. You don't want this to happen.

[PowerDiver]

Something that no one has mentioned is that being slow can get you killed. If a monster is a lot faster than you he can get two rounds of attacks in. You don't want this to happen.

It just has to be a little faster to get the occasional double move, and there is a small but significant chance that any non-unique will be 10% or 20% faster than average.

[Derakon]

Oh yes. I've lost several characters to the one orc in the group that was fast enough to nibble me to death while I fled for the stairs.

[Magnate]

Oh yes. I've lost several characters to the one orc in the group that was fast enough to nibble me to death while I fled for the stairs.

Me too. IMO this is really annoying and we should remove it to make the game easier ....

[Derakon]

Who are you and what have you done with Magnate?

[Magnate]

Who are you and what have you done with Magnate?

Heh - going slightly stir crazy after 2.5 days at home snowbound.