ok thanx to all the help from the people on this message board i pretty much understand most of the game, yet there is still one thing i dont get...speed factor
i cant figured out if a higher number is faster than a lower number or whatever
i dont understand why jan's crossbow which takes forever to attack has a speed factor of 2 while a dagger also has a speed factor of 2 can someone please explain this to me?

Yes, and can somebody also explain the rounds and how long it takes to cast a spell? How many turns are in one round? Etc. Thanks. :D

speed factor determines in which order attacks are made - the lower speed factor strikes first (same as casting time for spells)

a) looks like a managed to answer a question I didn't know had been asked - but to clarify: you can cast 1 spell pr. round - the longer the casting time - the more time of that round it will take to finash casting the spell.

So a magic missile (casting time 1) will interrupt an enemy mage trying to cast cloudkill (cating time 5)

BUT each attack/spell have a random variation to ajust the timing slightly (BG1-manual p. 77)

b) a round is 6 seconds and there is 10(?) rounds in a turn (a minute)

Hmmmm... going by memory here.

1 round = 6 seconds
1 turn = 10 rounds, aka 1 minute

Each round has 10 cycles.

Weapon speed determines who will hit first in a combat round. The lower the number, the faster the weapon. This does not affect the number of attacks per round, just who will strike first.

Therefore a Fighter equipped with a Katana will always hit a Fighter equipped with a Two-Handed Sword first, because a Katana has a lower weapon speed factor.

A Light Crossbow has a weapon speed factor of 4, hence its' slowness. Daggers have a weapon speed factor of 1.

Remember! Weapon speed factor does not affect the number of attacks per round!

On to spells. Each round has 10 cycles. When a spell says its' casting time is 4, it means it takes 4 cycles to cast. 4/10 of 6 seconds to be precise. If a spell's casting time is one round, then it means it takes 10 cycles to cast. A casting time of 0 means the spell is cast instantaneously.

[ADD]
And you can only cast one spell per round.
[/ADD]

There you go, a basic foundation on how these things work. Any further questions?

[ 06-18-2002, 10:43 AM: Message edited by: Dundee Slaytern ]

uh yea i allready knew the ten rounds in a turn thing but thanx anyway

The reason Jan Jansen's crossbow takes forever to attack is because crossbows give 1 attack/round while a throwing dagger is 2/round. Darts are even faster with 3/round, I believe.

Attacks per round can be increased by specialization and mastery, and aren't affected by weapon speed factor (ie a weapon speed of 1 with 4 attacks per round will get the same # of attacks as a weapon speed of 10 with 4/round, the faster weapon will just hit first).