Battle Simulation?

So for a long time I've seen threads on here of fights about magic accuracy, ws damage, etc. The list goes on nearly forever. But although with enough study you can generally figure out things like what the exact accuracy rate will be given a specific set of gear and mob, there's always the great unknown of how it will really play out. All that extra damage might be nothing if you get K.O.'d at the wrong time.

I know that ffxi calculator exists to help figure out static stats, but are there any programs around to actually see how things perform, and how they might differ given small changes? What I had in mind was something like say, given a typical birds meripo, how would you personally differ if you used one weapon over another? Wouldn't it be neat if you had a program that could simulate 50 hours of typical meripo and just look at the parse?

I also know I'm capable of writing such a simulation ... and I've given it a lot of thought, but before I really decide whether I want to do that, do any exist? I know the biggest hurdle in making something like this is handling mob enmity, since it's the hardest to keep track of, but I've read enough enmity analysis that I think at least a decent guess could be made.

Thoughts???

I personally have never seen something like this. I would be extremely interested in seeing it implemented though. I usually use the ffxicalculator to tell my exact acc, how fast I'll hit in seconds, how to make different sc's, etc.

You can't create a simulation based on information you don't have. We know precisely *** all about the numbers behind the game, which is why there are parsers. So to run your simulation:

1. Get a parser.
2. Go merit on birds for 50+ hours for each variable you change.
3. ???
4. PROFIT!

Yeah, there are varied analyses on what does what in the game.. There are some formulas that we know to be accurate, but not necessarily complete. Empirical testing can't really give one a 100% answer, even if you remain consistently close, because you can't know for certain that the method you use is taking every factor into account in the same way.

ffxicalculator works well because it takes values from 'approved' formulas and applies them as it can. It can give you near-to-precise estimates of certain things, but there's still too much we don't (may never) understand. As such, a simulation as you've proposed might be possible, in some aspects, but it likely couldn't take everything into account.. With the combined potential of bias from all of these different formulas, odds are high that you'd end up with a simulator that might be largely useless in the sense that the tolerances might be within the range of bias, especially by changing weapons and the like.. Because while some weapons have astronomical differences, many of them are fairly similar, especially in the choices you'd be making.. We already know a Thalassocrat is going to beat a Harpoon, but seeing a a huge sampling of Thala v Mezraq might be a little closer..

And that's where the problem would lie. In weapons that are similar, you'd not be able to trust the results as they'd likely fall within the bias.

Parsing is the easiest method of checking this values, as it merely compiles the results of the formulas SE is most certainly using, and simply benchmarks them. This means we see no biases, at all, provided the correct steps are being taken. If you wanted to test Thala for 50 hours, and then Mezraq for 50 hours, the result you'd get would be more conclusive. The sample size still might need to be larger to appease some people, though, I'm sure..

With this simulation, though, you have to create these results, and without knowing every formula, it's not entirely feasible. Possible? Sure. Things are reverse engineered all of the time. But without access to the source code, a lot of time, and the ability to decrypt it.. It's a tall order.

http://projectxi.org/

Still a very long way from working/done, but its the best form of game simulation there is. Its not designed as a simulator, but its the best we have.

Can't simulate anything with pXI beside things that doesn't require interaction with the server. So it's a /no for damage, accuracy, and so on. Only good to determine fastest way from point A to point B (movement only, everything is clientside) or stuff like that.

That never seems to want to work for me, I wanted to test something out but it's so quirky.

That project is cool, but certainly in a different direction from what I was hoping to see.

And Rylis certainly is right on the comments - there's a lot that isn't absolutely known about how certain formulas work. I think I would be content, though, in getting approximate answers. For example, if a simulation shows Thalassocrat consistently beating Mezraq, then I tweak a few things slightly and it still wins, etc., that might be good evidence on what to go purchase. If however, I find that making small adjustments has them frequently flipping sides, then I can probably safely guess it's a wash between the two.

And really I think that's the core question what I'm after the most - given two pieces of gear that are similar, should I be using one over the other, should I be macro switching them out, etc.

I think you're looking for simple answers in a very complex system. What exactly are the criteria for one weapon to "win" over the other? Accuracy? Delay? TP accumulation? DoT? WS damage? Augmentation of job traits or skills that do not affect your gameplay in an easily measurable way?

Generally people don't want to know which of two weapons will "win" over the other, they want to know if one or the other will allow them to "win" over the other guy. The best weapon for you will be a varied melange of the above items, and probably a few more relating to DRG I can't think of.

If you want some advice, pick the weapon you like the best and stick with it. Then tell anyone that objects to cram it with walnuts. It works for me! ^^

http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/jobs.html?fjob=4&mid=1239392995109441515&num=96&page=1
dmg calculator for wars, should be able to use for other melee as well, check it out, might help

http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/jobs.html?fjob=4&mid=125409699676415079&num=17&page=1
this is pretty cool, its just... well click the link and find out!

http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/jobs.html?fjob=5&mid=1240328283110818613&num=15&page=1
I havent used this one but i think its the same as the dmg calculator but for pld

hope those help you out, they might not be totally universal to all jobs, but i'm sure with a little tweaking you could make it work.

Here you go:

http://code.google.com/p/ffxidmgformula/

Doesn't work in OpenOffice though so you'll need Excel.