Time  Nick        Message
11:25 LazyJ       ABM chance and interval - I've seen chance greater than interval and in other mods interval is greater than chance. Why and when would you want one greater than the other or equal?
11:33 Zefram_Fysh there's no inherent connection of that nature
11:34 Zefram_Fysh there's a bit of an *inverse* correlation, because the "chance" number is an inverse probability
11:34 LazyJ       Which one acts more as a throttle?
11:35 Zefram_Fysh if you have, say interval=10 and chance=1, this bears some resemblance to the situation where interval=1 and chance=10.  in both cases, you will on average get the ABM firing once every ten seconds
11:36 Zefram_Fysh the former gives you exactly one operation every 10 s, at precise 10 s intervals.  the latter gives you a more variable result, with a possibility of firing each second, and no guarantee about the interval between two consecutive firings
11:36 LazyJ       So if I have a low interval, the ABM doesn't fire as often but when it does, if the chance is high, then the ABM is more likely to do what it's coded to do?
11:37 Zefram_Fysh the product of interval and chance gives you the average interval between firings.  this is the main throttle control
11:38 Zefram_Fysh low interval = more frequent, high interval = less frequent.  low "chance" = high likelihood, high "chance" = low likelihood
11:38 Zefram_Fysh the "chance" figure is an inverse probability, and is what controls the degree of randomness
11:39 LazyJ       So if there is more of a node for the ABM to work on, it may be better to have the interval larger and the chance lower so as not to bog down the computer trying to affect all those nodes?
11:40 LazyJ       On the other hand, if only a few nodes exist for the ABM to work on, then having a shorter interval and greater chance would get things done and over with?
11:40 Zefram_Fysh no, that doesn't hold.  if you want to reduce the overall rate of ABM operations, you need to increase the *product* of chance and interval, which you can achieve by increasing either chance or interval
11:42 Zefram_Fysh tweak the product to affect the overall rate.  tweak the chance, keeping the product constant, to affect the degree of randomness
11:48 LazyJ       Hmm... Okay. I'll have to experiment more with this new insight.
11:48 LazyJ       Thanks, Zefram_Fysh ;)
11:48 Zefram_Fysh yw