Which Spellcasters Spell Will Hit First?

UnderstandMouseMagic

So this is something I've noticed, or maybe I haven't and it's just confirmation bias. So help me out if you can.

It's not about spells having different cast lengths, that is understandable.

But say you have two mage, you pause the game, you cast the same spell from both, you play and usually it seems to me, one caster lands the spell faster than the other.

OK, so this is where my confirmation bias maybe kicking in, because it always seems as if Edwin is quicker.

I play very lazily, (sorry), use a lot of web and ranged. And this is where it's most noticeable, Edwin always seems to release the spell first and can retreat safely just that tiny bit quicker.

It's probably imagination, but has anyone else noticed the same?

semiticgoddess

Sometimes two casters begin casting on different frames. Auto-pause displays this, and it virtually always involves just two frames: for a party of 6, all with clear auras, beginning to cast spells of equal casting time while the game is paused, the game will auto-pause twice on spell cast: once for three characters, and again for the other three characters.

But that's just a single frame. If you're noticing a longer delay, I would attribute that to confirmation bias and the fact that Edwin will usually cast a spell earlier (if he has more spell slots, you're more likely to be generous with his spellcasting than a normal mage), which means that his aura is going to be clear slightly earlier.

Another source of delay is turning. If a character is facing away from its target, it won't begin casting the spell until it turns around to face the target. Thus, if you have two mages castings Magic Missile on a troll, and one of the mages is turned slightly away from the troll, that mage will finish casting a few frames (like a fraction of a second or something) later than the mage that was already facing the troll.

So, possible explanations include the two-frame division of near-simultaneous spells, different timing for aura clearing, and turning to face the target. Combine that with some confirmation bias and it's entirely possible that a given mage appears to be acting faster than the other.

Otherwise, I don't know of any mechanism that would make Edwin act any faster, unless there's some mod that impacts his casting time (like a shield or armor on a fighter/mage in Item Revisions). Assuming two spells of equal casting time being cast simultaneously from clear auras while already facing the target, the timing should never be more than a single frame apart.

Grond0

You might also get that sort of effect if the mages are casting different spells. The speed of spell projectiles vary greatly, so if one mage is habitually casting spells with faster projectiles, their spells will activate earlier - even though the actual casting length is the same.

UnderstandMouseMagic

@semiticgod and @Grond0

Thanks for the feedback, I was inclined myself to think it was confirmation bias but just wanted to know if there was perhaps any technical reason.

I never use autopause, only manual, so even though I don't really understand about "different frames" that shouldn't affect anything?

And never even considered the speed of projectiles, have to look out for that now.