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DF Gameplay Questions / Does mechanism quality affect how fast it works?
« on: July 06, 2008, 03:55:30 am »
I decided to test this theory with an experiment.
Setup:
1 brook
6 passages leading from the brook
6 floodgates (all no-quality and made with the same material)
6 pressure plates (1 of each quality, all set to trigger on 1 level of water)
6 ramps (which don't affect results)
1 lever (above the unused mechanisms stockpile)
6 connections from the lever (to each floodgate, all mechanisms of the same quality)
6 bridges, all made of the same material
6 connections from pressure plates (to each bridge, mechanism quality is the same as the pressure plate)
The mechanism quality of the pressure plates and the links to the bridge decrease in quality from top to bottom. The top bridge is linked by masterwork mechanisms, the bottom bridge is linked by no-quality mechanisms.
Method:
1. Pull lever
2. The floodgates are all equal. They are made from the same material, are the same quality, and are linked to the lever with the same quality mechanisms. In theory, they should all open at the same time.
3. Water flows into each chamber, triggering the pressure plates all at the same time.
4. The masterwork pressure plate will use its masterwork mechanism links to open the top bridge first. The second-highest will raise second, and so on.
Results:
The bridges raised in exactly the WRONG order! The no-quality mechanisms raised its bridge first, the - and + quality mechanisms went up next. * quality came in fourth and then finally the highest quality mechanisms finished their work.
With 5 repetitions of the experiment, the masterwork mechanisms have still yet to beat the no-quality mechanisms in raising its respective bridge.
From this, I think it is safe to say that mechanism quality has no effect on the speed with which mechanisms work.
Setup:
1 brook
6 passages leading from the brook
6 floodgates (all no-quality and made with the same material)
6 pressure plates (1 of each quality, all set to trigger on 1 level of water)
6 ramps (which don't affect results)
1 lever (above the unused mechanisms stockpile)
6 connections from the lever (to each floodgate, all mechanisms of the same quality)
6 bridges, all made of the same material
6 connections from pressure plates (to each bridge, mechanism quality is the same as the pressure plate)
The mechanism quality of the pressure plates and the links to the bridge decrease in quality from top to bottom. The top bridge is linked by masterwork mechanisms, the bottom bridge is linked by no-quality mechanisms.
Method:
1. Pull lever
2. The floodgates are all equal. They are made from the same material, are the same quality, and are linked to the lever with the same quality mechanisms. In theory, they should all open at the same time.
3. Water flows into each chamber, triggering the pressure plates all at the same time.
4. The masterwork pressure plate will use its masterwork mechanism links to open the top bridge first. The second-highest will raise second, and so on.
Results:
The bridges raised in exactly the WRONG order! The no-quality mechanisms raised its bridge first, the - and + quality mechanisms went up next. * quality came in fourth and then finally the highest quality mechanisms finished their work.
With 5 repetitions of the experiment, the masterwork mechanisms have still yet to beat the no-quality mechanisms in raising its respective bridge.
From this, I think it is safe to say that mechanism quality has no effect on the speed with which mechanisms work.
