Re:augemented obscenity

From: David Cake <dave_at_...>
Date: Tue, 16 Apr 2002 03:32:13 +0800

At 9:49 AM -0400 15/4/02, Toksickburn_at_... scribbled:
>Simon wrote:
>
>"Since ability ratings are are logarithmic in nature, it may make
>sense to scale the difficulty of augmenting with the rating of the
>ability being augmented."
>
>Sorry,i was a total loser in school,especially mathematics.I have a clue what
>a logarithm is,but i dont see it in this case.
>Actually the abilityratings seem quite linear to me-or is it because of the
>masteryjumps what makes them logarithmic ????
>
>Could you please explain ?!

        Basically, a difference between two numbers is HW is representing a relative difference in size, rather than a constant amount.

	The crucial thing to understand here is that -
	if we assume that w2 (well, 20w1 to be pedantic) is twice as 

good as w1 (twice is really a guess at the difference here, though it might not seem that way for this case), then,

        w8 is just as much better than w7 as w2 is than w1, because if you cancel out the masteries its exactly the same contest as w2 vs w1. So w8 is also 'twice' w7.

        So 'twice' w4 is w5, not w8. And so one.

        To put it another way - if you are so much stronger than me that have a level of mastery advantage on me on Strength, that might mean I can lift 50kg and you can lift 100kg (again, twice is just a guess as to what a level of mastery might mean). But if we were both giants, and I can lift 50 tons, lifting 50.05 tons isn't going to give you much of an advantage at all - certainly not a level of mastery. To have a level of mastery, and be able to conclusively beat me at lifting almost all the time, you would probably have to lift 100 tons. So the difference in what the ability numbers represent in the real world doesn't always mean the same thing.

        Its not just the mastery jumps that makes it logarithmic, but the mastery cancelling does make it easy to see why its logarithmic.

        The Community Support table gives you a good idea how this works in practice (with the number smoothed out a little for roundness). Notice how doubling (or quadrupling, or whatever) always gives you roughly the same advantage?

	Cheers
		David