Magery spell casting delay
The base spell casting delays specified in the EC magery spellbook tool tips when hovering over various spells appears incorrect in several cases. That's OK/low priority fix, so long as the correct delays are documented somewhere.
@Mariah
The delays specified at this link appear at least out of date:
https://uo.com/wiki/ultima-online-wiki/skills/magery/magery-spells/
First the two odd ball cases:
Fifth circle Blade spirits should be 5.25 seconds (total).
Fifth circle summon creature should be 8.75 seconds (total).
The other delays specified at the page above appear to use a formula: delay = 0.25 + (spell circle * 0.25 seconds).
It appears the actual formula may be: delay = 0.5 + (spell circle * 0.25)
that would yield:
1st circle - 0.75 seconds
2nd circle - 1.00 seconds
...
8th circle - 2.5 seconds
It's possible the formula was changed at some point, as with FC2 (without running protection), combined with FCR6, you'd be able to non-stop spam first circle spells if the casting delay was really 0.5 seconds (instead of 0.75 as would be the case in the adjusted formula). If you create an EC macro with multiple chained lesser heals targeting self, you can clearly see the current specified delays are incorrect (you get "already casting", and you also get frozen in place for brief periods). That probably allows for more opportunity to have casting interrupted as well.
The net delays above don't include what I'll call a "fudge factor", where additional delay is effectively added in practice (network latency/jitter, server processing delays, etc). That's typically 0.05 - 0.25 seconds. That would bring the formula to delay = 0.75 + (spell circle * 0.25) more reliably in practice, for creating macros.
(this thread doesn't cover other spell schools).
@Mariah
The delays specified at this link appear at least out of date:
https://uo.com/wiki/ultima-online-wiki/skills/magery/magery-spells/
First the two odd ball cases:
Fifth circle Blade spirits should be 5.25 seconds (total).
Fifth circle summon creature should be 8.75 seconds (total).
The other delays specified at the page above appear to use a formula: delay = 0.25 + (spell circle * 0.25 seconds).
It appears the actual formula may be: delay = 0.5 + (spell circle * 0.25)
that would yield:
1st circle - 0.75 seconds
2nd circle - 1.00 seconds
...
8th circle - 2.5 seconds
It's possible the formula was changed at some point, as with FC2 (without running protection), combined with FCR6, you'd be able to non-stop spam first circle spells if the casting delay was really 0.5 seconds (instead of 0.75 as would be the case in the adjusted formula). If you create an EC macro with multiple chained lesser heals targeting self, you can clearly see the current specified delays are incorrect (you get "already casting", and you also get frozen in place for brief periods). That probably allows for more opportunity to have casting interrupted as well.
The net delays above don't include what I'll call a "fudge factor", where additional delay is effectively added in practice (network latency/jitter, server processing delays, etc). That's typically 0.05 - 0.25 seconds. That would bring the formula to delay = 0.75 + (spell circle * 0.25) more reliably in practice, for creating macros.
(this thread doesn't cover other spell schools).
Comments
First the two odd ball cases:
Fifth circle Blade spirits should be 5.5 seconds (total). Faster casting reduction ~0.75s per FC (up to 2 / 1.5s).
Fifth circle summon creature should be 9.00 seconds (total). Faster casting reduction ~1.25s per FC (up to 2 / 2.5s).
EC doesn't account for protection penalty in time calculation.
EC doesn't appear to handle negative FC correctly in time calculation.
At least spell circle 7 appears to have up to a "hidden" 0.25 penalty in casting time, bringing it inline with circle 8 (so the formula above doesn't strictly hold true). This might actually be a server bug, as there is no notification that "you are already casting a spell" -- you get the words of power, but the spell (often) simply doesn't cast.
You can see this with the following macro, running at FC2, FCR6 without protection on:
flamestrike (target current)
delay 2.
(copy those actions so it occurs 4 times -- not repeating -- single click a target, and activate the macro).
You'll see the Kal Vas Flam words of power 4 times at the formula calculated interval (1.75 + 0.25 fudge factor) but it usually casts some number of times less than 4 (with no "you are already casting" notification between). You need to increase the delay to 2.25. Whereas if the delay was 1.75 in the above, you'll see "you are already casting a spell" when it doesn't cast.
It'll show you the time the client sees the "Kal Vas Flam" casting system message that comes from the server. For the "This might actually be a server bug, " part of my reply above, the server starts casting the spell (emits the message), but silently doesn't complete the casting action (no FC nor FCR related or other error emitted).
This might also relate to the occasional reported cases where people occasionally dont get a targeting cursor after casting. In the case I've outlined, the issue readily reproduces. So, have at it devs!